Slaves And Sultans: The Sultanate of Delhi

A year after his defeat at Tarain, Moizuddin returns the next year with a new army and on the very same battlefield, emerges victorius. This episode covers the second battle of Tarain (1192 CE) and its aftermath. It ends with the death of the first Sultan of Delhi, Qutb ud Din Aibak.

In this episode, we follow the happenings in Central Asia, from the last days of Mahmud in 1030CE to 1163CE and the establishment of the Ghurid, Khwarezmian and Qara Kitai empires over the ruins of the Ghaznavids and Seljuks. We then look at the rise of Ghiyath al Din Mohammad bin Sam and his brother Moizuddin, whose ambitions of acquiring an empire for himself would bring him to India. Moizuddin's first campaign in 1173 C.E. to Gujarat ended in defeat at Mt. Abu. His second expedition in 1191 C.E. would see him annex the remaining Ghaznavids in Punjab and march on the Chahamana territories ruled by Prithviraja III from Ajmer. Their first encounter at Tarain ended in a military disaster for the Ghurids when the entire Chahamana army charged into their ranks. We end this episode with Moizuddin's retreat to Ghazni.

In this episode, we'll take a look at the narratives surrounding the raid of Somnath and how they have impacted our understanding of the event.

Hello. And welcome to the podcast. In little under 2 minutes, I'd like to take you over what this podcast is going to be about.