The sand between the Bhati country and the Indus, where the road is not a road but a chain of wells thirty to fifty kilometres apart (board).
Nothing here can be garrisoned, taxed at a gate or fought over in the ordinary way; poison or hold a well and the route moves or dies. The Bhatis of Jaisalmer live on the tolls of the caravans between Sind and the Marwar towns and on raiding the ones that will not pay; Muizz al-Din's army crossed the Thar in 1178 on its way to defeat at Abu.
Allies and rivals
Bhati toll-takers and raiders against caravans and against anyone who comes by Sind or Multan.
How things stand that morning
A standing condition of the desert.
Military
Last campaign: a Ghurid raid on the Bhatis (the campaign board attributes the last sack of Lodhruva to one; the date is not pinned); Muizz al-Din's crossing of 1178 (Wikipedia). Anchors: Jaisalmer and Lodhruva (Bhati), Pokaran, Barmer, Kiradu on the Marwar side.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Wikipedia's Bhati and Muhammad of Ghor pages and the campaign board.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A rough polygon over ground that neither side can hold or farm; the edges are not fixed.
Primary sources for Independent Rajput houses
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Crown of Glorious Deeds, Hasan Nizami (Sadr al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan Nizami of Nishapur) (begun about 1205 at Delhi, carried on to about 1217). The earliest history written in Muslim India and the only contemporary account of Qutb al-Din Aibak's campaigns. Read online
- The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- Historical Inscriptions of Gujarat, Various (the Chaulukya and Vaghela chanceries), edited by G. V. Acharya (inscriptions of the 10th to 14th centuries; edited 1933 to 1942). The standard corpus of Gujarat's inscriptions. Read online
- Inscriptions of the Paramaras, Chandellas, Kachchhapaghatas and two minor dynasties, Various, edited by H. V. Trivedi (inscriptions of the 9th to 14th centuries; edited 1978 to 1991). The collected records of the Paramaras of Malwa (parts 1 and 2) and of the Chandelas of Jejakabhukti (part 3), re-edited from Epigraphia Indica and earlier journals with new finds.
- The Victory of Prithviraja, Jayanaka (a Kashmiri poet at the Chahamana court) (about 1191 to 1192, left unfinished). A court epic written at Ajmer in the months between Prithviraja III's victory at Tarain in 1191 and his defeat and death in 1192. Read online
- The Wishing-Stone of Narratives, Merutunga (a Jain monk of the Nagendra gaccha) (1305 (Vikrama 1361) at Vadhvan in Gujarat). A Jain collection of historical anecdotes about the kings of Gujarat and Malwa, a century after 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, 'Bhati'
- Wikipedia, 'Muhammad of Ghor'
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead only; checked against the sources above)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.