Bahauddin Tughril

The contemporaneous evidences regarding Bahauddin early life are scarce, probably indicating that he rose from obscurity in the Ghurid services. Bahauddin was sold into slavery and was purchased by the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori during his early reign.[1] He eventually played a key role in the Ghurid conquest of northern India accompanying Muhammad of Ghor and earned his admiration, eventually becoming one of his high-ranked slave generals.[2]

After sweeping aside the major political centres of northern India, Muhammad Ghori with Qutb al-Din Aybeg and Bahauddin in his ranks move towards the lucrative Bayana region in present-day state of Rajasthan, to guard the southern flank of Delhi. The region was under the control of Jadaun clan of Rajputs whose ruler Kunwarpaal instead of resisting the Ghurid armies outside of his capital, move to Thankar (Tahangarh). Muhammad and his troops besieged him in Thankar and forced him to surrender after a brief siege. According to the chronicler Hasan Nizami - the life of the Rai (Kunwarpal) was spared by Muhammad and the "centre of idolatry became the abode of Allah's glory, following the taking of the impregnable fortress".[3]

The region of Bayana and it's administration was conferred upon Bahauddin Tughril by Muhammad who returned to Khurasan. The contemporaneous accounts credits Tughril reign for the booming period (ma'mur) of the conquered region.[4] According to Juzjani - Bayana under Bahauddin emerged as a cosmopolitan centre from the status of a secondary city under previous Hindu ruling clans, encouraging a large amount of Muslim settlements from all over Khurasan and parts of Hindustan.[5]

Aftee finding the region of Thankar inappropriate for his troops, Bahauddin constructed a city on the western foot of Bayana and named it as Sultankot which was subsequently used by him as a launchpad for future military operations in the Ganges-Valley.[6] The town also became the nucleus of the township of his stronghold at Bayana. It was eventually used by him to harrass the garrison at Gwalior when the Ghurid besieged it around 1200.[7]

Muhammad of Ghor besieged the castle of Gwalior which was under the control of Parihar clan, although due to the ailing health of his brother Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, Muhammad was compelled to leave to Firuzkuh. Due to the increasing domain and influence of Tughril who might have gained significant booty on the capitulation of Gwalior, as a result Aybeg himself seized Gwalior. The fort held out for long time, however, hard pressed by the Ghurids, they eventually surrendered it to Qutb al-Din Aybeg. Chronicler Juzjani states that Aybeg seizing of Gwalior despite the fact that Tughril was instructed by Muhammad for it, [8] eventually led to enmity between Aybeg and Toughril.[9] Thus, the Gwalior ruler Sallakhanapala used the surrender to Aybeg as a bargaining chip to further fuel the polito-military rivalry between the two lieutenants.[10]

The date of these accounts are sketchy, according to some scholars like the art-historian Natalie H. Shokoohy, these events probably took place after the assassination of the Muhammad of Ghor in 1206 as there are no evidences of Muhammad's intereferences amidst the turmoil.[11] Conversely, historian K. A. Nizami theorizes that both Aybeg and Bahauddin were operating as independent sovereign of Muhammad and the conflict between the two was not unlikely.[12]

After the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor at Dumyak on 15 March 1206, Bahauddin just like the other slaves of Muhammad Ghor who were operating in the zone between Ghazna and the Indus valley were manumitted. Thus, Tourghill decalred indepdence and styled himself as the "Sultan" at Bayana. The exact date of his death is uncertain, although based on the annals of near-contemporary chronicler Juzjani - he died sometime before Qutb al-Din Aybeg in 1210.[13][14]

The Ghurid slaves just like their master Muhammad of Ghor, themselves established a core of slave entourages of their own. Juzjani mentions the name of two eminent slaves of Tughril which includes - Nasitr Al-Din Ali Tamar and Izz al-Din Tughril Baha.[15] Bayana was conquered soon after Tughril's death by the Delhi Sultan - Iltutmish. Juzjani further alluded that Baha al-Din's successors sold their father's slaves owning to their declining fortunes to Illtutmish during his early reign, possibly after his conquest of the region.[16]

Despite the annexation of Bayana by Illtutmish, the milieu of political ascendancy of the region continued to be influenced by kinsman of Bahauddin Tughril, years after his death.[17] Iltutmish arranged a matrimonial alliance between the daughter of Bahauddin Tughril and Taj al-Din Arasalan Khan - who was amongst his most trusted and manumitted slave, as a result he was placed in the charge of Bayana region during the reign of Nasir al-Din Mahmud .[18]

Bahauddin Tughril like Qutb al-Din Aybeg and other Ghurid slaves who were active east of the Indus - minted his coins in the name of his master Muhammad of Ghor, continuing it on the prexisting model of his defeated adversaries - the Jadauns.[19] The gold coins circulated in Bayana by Tughril included iconography of the Hindu female deity Laxmi juxtaposed with the name of his master Muhammad of Ghor in Sanskrit.[20]

Entrance of the mosque at Kama

According to Juzjani - the chief chronicler of the Ghurid dynasty and the evolving Delhi Sultanate - several beneficial monuments were constructed by Tughril in the region of Bayana during his reign.[11] The monuments built by Tughril were chiefly the congregational mosque of Ukha Mandir which was constructed possibly in the 1200s, the Chaurasai Kambha Mosque at Kaman (present-day Bharatpur) and an idgah in Bayana. The composition of idgah bear a resemblance in size and grandiosity to the Quwwat-ul-Islam, mosque, constructed by Qutb al-Din Aybeg in Delhi.[21]

The paradigm of construction of these mosques includes the reused constituents of the demolished Hindu temples by the Ghurid armies.[22][23] The construction of these mosques on the ruins of demolished temples, earned Tughril the distinction of being the orthodox warrior of Islam - Ghazi.[24] Accordingly, the epigraphs of the mosques in Bayana, eulogized him as the conqueror of heathens and also introduced him as the Padishah or Sultan.[25] The Construction of these mosques possibly dates to 1206 CE or thereabouts after the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor, as it referred to Tughril as a "Sultan".[26]