When Malikshah died in 1197 his sons were plotting a rising in Khurasan, so Tekish sent them, Hindu Shah the eldest, to Khwarazm, and gave Khurasan to his own second son Muhammad.
On 1 January 1200 Hindu Khan is therefore, as far as the sources go, a prince without a province at his grandfather's court; no later appointment before Tekish's death is recorded in the sources checked. After Tekish dies he refuses to attend Muhammad's enthronement, raises men at Merv and, when driven out, flees to the Ghurids, whose invasion of Khurasan is made partly in his name.
Who he is
- Name
- Hindu Khan (Juvaini: Hindu-Shah), son of Nasir al-Din Malikshah ibn Tekish
- Title
- prince of the Khwarazmian house
- Since
- not applicable
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- eldest son of Malikshah (died 1 March 1197), Tekish's eldest son, who governed Nishapur and Merv; he has brothers, names not given in the sources checked
- Confidence
- medium
Juvaini (Boyle) vol. I, p. 354 of the reader; Wikipedia (Muhammad II) after Buniyatov and Ibn al-Athir.
Overlord
His grandfather Tekish.
What it holds
- No governorship pinned for 1 January 1200
How it was acquired
not applicable
Allies and rivals
Rival of his uncle Qutb al-Din Muhammad; later the Ghurid sultan Ghiyath al-Din's protege.
How things stand that morning
Held at the court in Khwarazm since 1197 (Juvaini); whether he has since been given Merv, as some modern accounts imply, is not pinned.
Military
His father's former followers in Khurasan, whom he can raise at Merv in 1200.
Threats
- His uncle Muhammad
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.
- August to autumn 1200Stays away from Muhammad's enthronement, gathers forces at Merv, is driven out by the amir Jaqir and flees to Firuzkuh; his wives and children are taken.Depends on: Tekish's death and the succession going to Muhammad Stopped by: Muhammad granting him an appanage, or Tekish naming him heir
Where the sources disagree
- GM dossier makes him governor of Nishapur; Juvaini says he was removed from Khurasan to Khwarazm in 1197 and Nishapur given to Muhammad. Wikipedia (Muhammad II) calls him 'wali of Merv' at Tekish's death; not confirmed for 1 January 1200.
Evidence: One dated statement in Juvaini for 1197 and the account of 1200; nothing between.
On the map: No land drawn: none pinned for 1 January 1200.
Primary sources for Khwarazm
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
- Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
- History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. 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
- Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online
3 more in the sources library for Persia and the Eastern Islamic World.
Sources and studies
- Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror, tr. J. A. Boyle, vol. I (1958), Part II, the chapters on Tekish and Muhammad (scan pp. 342-362, read through archive.org search-inside in the copies dli.ernet.507519 and dli.ernet.528458)
- Wikipedia: Muhammad II of Khwarazm (after Buniyatov, Ibn al-Athir, Juvaini)
- Wikipedia: Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.