User:Paramandyr/Battle of Peshawar(1001)

Battle of Peshawar
Date	28 November 1001
Location	Near Peshawar
Result	Ghaznavid decisive victory
Belligerents
Ghaznavid	Kabul Shahi
Commanders and leaders
Mahmud of Ghazni	Jayapala
Strength
15,000 cavalry; Unknown number Ghazis	12,000 cavalry; 30,000 infantry; 300 elephants
Casualties and losses
	15,000 dead

Battle of Peshawar, was fought on 28 November 1001 between the Ghaznavid army of Sultan Mahmud bin Sebuktigin and the Hindu Shahi army of Jayapala. Jayapala was decisively defeated and forced to pay an annual tribute to Mahmud and was returned to Lahore.

Background

In 962, Alp Tigin, a Turkish ghulam or slave soldier, who rose to be the commander of the army in Khorasan in the service of the Samanids, seized Ghazna and set himself up as a ruler there. A successor Sebuk Tigin started to expand vigorously his domain, first capturing Kandahar, then began a struggle with the Hindu Shahi kingdom.^[1] The Hindu Shahi ruler Jayapala attacked Sebuk Tigin, but was defeated, then again later when his army of a reported size of over 100,000 was beaten.^[2] Lamghan was plundered, and Kabul and Jalalabad were annexed by the Ghaznavids. In 997, Mahmud ascended the throne at Ghazni, and vowed to invade India every year until the northern lands were his.^[3] In 1001 he arrived at Peshawar. This battle was the first major battle between Mahmud of Ghazni and the Shahi kingdom and was well recorded by the historian al-Utbi in his book, Tarikh Yamini.^[4]

Battle

According to Al-Utbi's Takikh Yamini Mahmud pitched his tent outside the city upon reaching Peshawar. Jayapala avoided action for some time waiting for reinforcement, and Mahmud took the decision to attack, and the army of Jayapala was decisively defeated.^[5] According to some sources, Jayapala was captured, and figures of death ranged from 5,000 to 15,000.^[5]^[6]

Aftermath

Jayapala felt the defeat to be a great humiliation, and later he built himself a funeral pyre, entered it and set it on fire.^[7]

References

^ Satish Chandra. Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) Part 1 (3rd ed.). Har-Anand Publication Pvt Ltd. p. 17. ISBN 8124105227.
^ Sir H. M. Elliot (1869). "Chapter II, Tarikh Yamini or Kitabu-l Yamini by Al Utbi". [[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]. Trubner and Co. pp. 18–24. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
^ Susan Wise Bauer (2010). The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-05975-5.
^ Pradeep Barua, The State At War In South Asia, (University of Nebraska Press, 2006), 25.
^ ^a ^b Sir H. M. Elliot (1869). "Chapter II, Tarikh Yamini or Kitabu-l Yamini by Al Utbi". [[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]. Trubner and Co. pp. 24–26. Swords flashed like lightning amid the blackness of clouds, and fountains of blood flowed like the fall of setting stars. The friends of God defeated their obstinate opponents, and quickly put them to a complete rout. Noon had not arrived when the Musulmans had wreaked their vengeance on the infidel enemies of God, killing 15,000 of them, spreading them like a carpet over the ground, and making them food for beasts and birds of prey. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
^ Captain G. Roos-Keppel, Qazi Abdul Ghani Khan (1906). Translation of the Tarikh-i-Sultan Mahmud-i-Ghazvani. Anglo-Sanskrit Press. Sultan Mahmud behaved bravely and victory fell to him, he become famous as a Ghazi; and he captured Jaipal with fifteen men, who were some his sons and some his relations, and he killed five thousand Hindus and brought back much plunder.
^ Sir H. M. Elliot (1869). "Chapter II, Tarikh Yamini or Kitabu-l Yamini by Al Utbi". [[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]. Trubner and Co. p. 27. When Jaipal, therefore, saw that he was captive in the prison of old age and degradation, he thought death by cremation preferable to shame and dishonour. So he commenced with shaving his hair off, and then threw himself upon the fire till he was burnt {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

[1] Satish Chandra. Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) Part 1 (3rd ed.). Har-Anand Publication Pvt Ltd. p. 17. ISBN 8124105227.

[2] Sir H. M. Elliot (1869). "Chapter II, Tarikh Yamini or Kitabu-l Yamini by Al Utbi". [[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]. Trubner and Co. pp. 18–24. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

[3] Susan Wise Bauer (2010). The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-05975-5.

[4] Pradeep Barua, The State At War In South Asia, (University of Nebraska Press, 2006), 25.

[history_of_india-5] Sir H. M. Elliot (1869). "Chapter II, Tarikh Yamini or Kitabu-l Yamini by Al Utbi". [[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]. Trubner and Co. pp. 24–26. Swords flashed like lightning amid the blackness of clouds, and fountains of blood flowed like the fall of setting stars. The friends of God defeated their obstinate opponents, and quickly put them to a complete rout. Noon had not arrived when the Musulmans had wreaked their vengeance on the infidel enemies of God, killing 15,000 of them, spreading them like a carpet over the ground, and making them food for beasts and birds of prey. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

[6] Captain G. Roos-Keppel, Qazi Abdul Ghani Khan (1906). Translation of the Tarikh-i-Sultan Mahmud-i-Ghazvani. Anglo-Sanskrit Press. Sultan Mahmud behaved bravely and victory fell to him, he become famous as a Ghazi; and he captured Jaipal with fifteen men, who were some his sons and some his relations, and he killed five thousand Hindus and brought back much plunder.

[7] Sir H. M. Elliot (1869). "Chapter II, Tarikh Yamini or Kitabu-l Yamini by Al Utbi". [[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]. Trubner and Co. p. 27. When Jaipal, therefore, saw that he was captive in the prison of old age and degradation, he thought death by cremation preferable to shame and dishonour. So he commenced with shaving his hair off, and then threw himself upon the fire till he was burnt {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

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