Gwalior and Tughril

Who he is

Name

Baha al-Din Tughril; Iltutmish (not pinned); the Parihar rai Sulakshanapala

Title

Muqta of Bayana (Thankar) and, by the usual account, Gwalior; Iltutmish said to be made amir of Gwalior in 1200

Since

Gwalior surrendered after a long siege in 1196 (Wikipedia, Iqtidar Alam Khan) or about 1200 (the Aibak page)

Born

not known

Family

Tughril: a senior slave of the sultan; later styles himself sultan at Bayana after 1206. The Parihar chief (Sallakshanapala) is the Hindu ruler of Gwalior who surrendered.

Confidence

low

Wikipedia (Muhammad of Ghor): about 1196, Thankar's ruler Kumarpal defeated, Tughril put in charge of Bayana, then reduced Gwalior; the Parihar chief Sallakhanapala surrendered after a long siege. Wikipedia (Aibak): "Bahauddin Tughril besieges Gwalior; defenders surrender the fort to Aibak" in the account placed between the Varanasi campaigns and Kalinjar, c. 1200. Wikipedia (Iltutmish): 1200, conquest of Gwalior, Iltutmish appointed amir.

Overlord

Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad of Ghor, directly; Qutb al-Din Aibak is Tughril's rival for the credit of Gwalior, not his overlord

What it holds

• Gwalior fort and the near country
• Narwar (holder not pinned)
• The southern road into Malwa

How things stand that morning

Either a tributary Parihar rai under Tughril's overlordship, or a Ghurid garrison commanded by an amir (Iltutmish named by one account). On 1 January 1200 it is "four years old or about to begin" (board).

Threats

• Parihar recovery (they retake the rock about 1210 and lose it to Iltutmish in 1232)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200 on the second reading (Wikipedia's Iltutmish page); on the usual reading Gwalior has been Ghurid since 1196 and this is already doneA Ghurid garrison occupies Gwalior and Iltutmish is made its amir; on the reconciling reading, 1196 was only the Parihar rai Sulakshanapala's submission to Tughril.Depends on: The 1196 surrender was a tribute and not an occupation; Aibak and Tughril act in accord. Stopped by: A Parihar rising; the quarrel between Aibak and Tughril over who owns the credit (the campaign board: the sultan promised Gwalior to Tughril and Aibak took it).
2. 1199 to 1200A Ghurid column goes south past Gwalior and Narwar into Malwa (Fakhr-i Mudabbir).Depends on: Aibak and Tughril in accord.

Later, on the likely course

1. about 1210The Pratiharas retake Gwalior when Aibak dies (Mangal Deva).Depends on: Aibak's death in 1210 and the weakness of the successors.
2. 12 December 1232Iltutmish recaptures Gwalior from Mangal Deva (Wikipedia).

Where the sources disagree

• Board: "1196 and 1200, one is wrong". Both are in Wikipedia pages. A second reading (two events) is mine and is unproved.
• The Iltutmish chain (Minhaj) puts the Gwalior amirship after the purchase, which Wikipedia places about 1197: that supports 1200 for his tenure but not for the first conquest.

Evidence: The sources conflict and we did not read the chronicles themselves.

On the map: Small seeds.

Primary sources for Ghurids

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 Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
• The Life of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi (about 1241, at Aleppo). A Khwarazmian secretary's life of the last Khwarazmshah. Read online
• The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
• 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
• The Tree of Genealogies, and the Manners of War and Bravery, Fakhr-i Mudabbir (Fakhr al-Din Muhammad ibn Mansur Mubarakshah) (the Shajara about 1206, dedicated to Qutb al-Din Aibak; the Adab al-harb in the 1220s for Iltutmish). The prose introduction to the Shajara, written within six years of 1200, praises Aibak and tells of his rise under Mu'izz al-Din of Ghur, his consecration at Lahore in 1206 and the Ghurid campaigns in Hindustan, with some notice of the Turkish peoples.

3 more in the sources library for Persia and the Eastern Islamic World.