Sultan Aibak Ep16 | Raja Harchand Rai of Meerut was Captured Alive by Sardar Kamal

After the victory at Chandawar, Aibak turned his attention towards consolidating his position in Koil.[22] Muhammad Ghori returned to Ghazni but came back to India in 1195-96 when he defeated Kumarapala, the Bhati ruler of Bayana. He then marched towards Gwalior, where the local Parihara ruler Sallakhanapala acknowledged his suzerainty. Meanwhile, the Mher tribals, who lived near Ajmer, rebelled against the Ghurid rule. Supported by the Chaulukyas, who ruled Gujarat in the south, the Mhers posed a serious threat to Aibak's control of the region. Aibak marched against them but was forced to retreat to Ajmer. The Mhers were forced to retreat after reinforcements from the Ghurid capital of Ghazni arrived in Ajmer.[13] In 1197, Aibak defeated the Chaulukya army at Mount Abu, thus avenging Muhammad Ghori's defeat at the Battle of Kasahrada nearly two decades earlier.[30] Aibak's army then marched to the Chaulukya capital Anhilwara: the defending king Bhima II fled the city, which was plundered by the invaders.[29] Minhaj characterizes Aibak's raid of Anhilwara as the "conquest of Gujarat", but it did not result in the annexation of Gujarat to the Ghurid Empire.[30] The 16th-century historian Firishta states that Aibak appointed a Muslim officer to consolidate Ghurid power in the region, while Ibn-i Asir states that Aibak placed the newly-captured territory under Hindu vassals. Whatever the case, Ghurid control of the region did not last long, and the Chaulukyas regained control of their capital soon after.[29] In 1197–98, Aibak conquered Badaun in present-day Uttar Pradesh, and also re-took control of the former Gahadavala capital Varanasi, which had slipped out of Ghurid control. In 1198–99, he captured Chantarwal (unidentified, possibly the same as Chandawar) and Kannauj. Later, he captured Siroh (possibly modern Sirohi in Rajasthan). According to the Persian chronicler Fakhr-i Mudabbir (c. 1157–1236), Aibak also conquered Malwa in present-day Madhya Pradesh, in 1199–1200. However, no other historian refers to such a conquest; therefore, it is likely that Aibak merely raided Malwa.[29] Meanwhile, Baha' al-Din Toghril[31] (also transliterated as Bahauddin Tughril) - another prominent Ghurid slave-general - besieged the Gwalior Fort.[32] After being reduced to a dire situation, the defenders approached Aibak and surrendered the fort to him in 1200. As a result, tension developed between Toghril and Aibak, although Toghril's death prevented a military conflict between the two men.[33] In 1202, Aibak besieged Kalinjar, an important fort in the Chandela kingdom of central India. The Chandela ruler Paramardi initiated negotiations with Aibak but died before a treaty could be finalized. The Chandela chief minister Ajayadeva resumed hostilities but was forced to seek negotiations when the Ghurids cut off the water supply to the fort. As part of the truce, the Chandelas were forced to move to Ajaigarh. Their former strongholds of Kalinjar, Mahoba, and Khajuraho came under Ghurid control, governed by Hasan Arnal.[34] Meanwhile, the Ghurid commander Bakhtiyar Khalji subjugated the petty Gahadavala chiefs in eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Bihar region.[35] After his Bihar campaign, which involved the destruction of Buddhist monasteries, Khalji arrived in Badaun to greet Aibak, who had just concluded his successful campaign at Kalinjar. On 23 March 1203, Khalji presented Aibak with war booty, including 20 captured elephants, jewels, and cash.[36] Aibak honoured Khalji, who went on to conquer a part of the Bengal region in the east.[37] Bakhtiyar acted independently,[30] and at the time of his death in 1206, was not a subordinate of Aibak In 1204, Muhammad Ghori suffered a defeat against the Khwarazmians and their allies at the Battle of Andkhud, followed by several challenges to his authority. Aibak helped him suppress a rebellion by the Khokhar chiefs of the Lahore region, and then returned to Delhi.[39] On 15 March 1206, Muhammad Ghori was assassinated: different sources variously attribute the act to Khokhars or Ismailis During Sultan Muhammad Ghori's reign, parts of the Bihar and Bengal area in eastern India had been conquered by the Khalji clan, led by the Ghurid general Bakhtiyar Khalji. Bakhtiyar was killed by his subordinate Ali Mardan Khalji at Devkot in 1206, around the same time Sultan Muhammad Ghori was assassinated. Subsequently, Muhammad Shiran Khalji, another subordinate of Bakhtiyar, detained Ali Mardan and became the leader of the Khaljis in eastern India. Ali Mardan escaped to Delhi, where he persuaded Aibak to intervene in Khalji affairs. The Khaljis were not slaves of Muhammad Ghori, so Aibak had no legal authority in the matter. Nevertheless, he instructed his subordinate Qaimaz Rumi - the governor of Awadh - to march to Lakhnauti in Bengal, and assign suitable iqta's to the Khalji amirs. #SultanAibak #Qutbuddinaibak #sultanghori