GHURID SULTANATE

rulers of a kingdom centred in Ghur (modern Ghowr) in west-central Afghanistan from the mid-12th to the early 13th century. Its founder was 'Ala'-ud-Din Husayn. Ghur is a mountainous territory situated southeast of the region of Herat and northwest of the Helmand River valley. Ghur was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazna (Ghazni) in 1009/1020, and it subsequently paid tribute to the Ghaznavids until the mid-12th century. Its inhabitants converted to Islam during this period. In 1149 the Ghaznavid ruler Bahram Shah poisoned a local Ghurid leader, Qutb ud-Din, who had taken refuge in the city of Ghazna after a family quarrel. In revenge, the Ghurid chief 'Ala'-ud-Din Husayn sacked and burned the city of Ghazna and ended the Ghaznavids' rule. Although 'Ala'-ud-Din was unable to hold Ghazna, his triumph enabled his nephews Ghiyas-ud-Din and Mu'izz-ud-Din to retake the city in 1173 from the Oguz Turkmen nomads who had ruled it since the fall of the Ghaznavids. Between 1173 and 1202 Ghiyas, the senior Ghurid leader and suzerain, and Mu'izz-ud-Din, his brother and loyal subordinate, raised Ghurid power to its peak. Ghiyas struggled with the Khwarezm-Shah for control of the Seljuq Turks' former holdings in Khorasan (in northeastern Iran). Ghiyas occupied Herat (in western Afghanistan) in 1176 and went on to establish control over most of Afghanistan, eastern Iran, and what is now Turkmenistan by 1200. Meanwhile, Mu'izz-ud-Din and his lieutenant, Qutb-ud-Din Aybak, were establishing Ghurid rule over northern India from the city of Multan in Sind to Gaur in Bengal. (See Mu'izz-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Sam.) The Ghurid empire proved short-lived, however. Ghiyas died in 1202, and Mu'izz-ud-Din was assassinated in 1206. A confused struggle then ensued among the remaining Ghurid leaders, and the Khwarezm-Shah were able to take over the Ghurids' empire in about 1215. Though the Ghurids' empire was short-lived, Mu'izz-ud-Din's conquests laid the foundation for subsequent Muslim rule in India. The cooperative relationship between the two ud-Din brothers, free of jealousy, greatly contributed to their success and is unusual in Muslim dynastic annals.