King Shahabuddin Ghauri who was in Khurasan, dreamt an old Saint, saying :

" O Shahabuddin ! Almighty has granted you kingdom of India Get up and proceed towards India."

After it, the Saint disappeared. When the king awake, he was under a peculiar state of mind. The voice was still echoing in his ears, saying proceed towards India. Success will be yours? The King informed his learned men. They congratulated the King and predicted his victory.

Ghauri on Expedition to India

King Shahabuddin Mohammed Ghauri was badly defeated by king Prithvi Raj in the Battle of Tarain and with great difficulties, he could save himself and reached Ghazni. Since he wanted to defeat Prithvi Raj, he was preparing for a war secretly. But he did not expected to go for a battle against India after such a short span of time.

The Dream created great enthusiasm in his heart and after prediction by the learned scholars he inspected the preparation and ordered his army to proceed on the expedition. On the eight day, he himself proceeded on the crusade. The army officers were very much surprised over the rush for the expedition. But nobody dared to enquire about it. When the army camped in Peshawar, an old man of royal family asked " O king though the preparations are on large scale, but the intention is still secret?"

The King took a deep breath and said. "You don’t know, what happened to me. Can you recall last year defeat that is a blot on my face, be sure that neither I have changed my clothes nor I have taken rest on the bed. "

Hearing the king, the old man encouraged Shahabuddin Ghauri, prayed for his victory and said, If your lordship has the intention then act according to the need of the hour. Kindly call the Amirs and Chiefs to your court, grant them pardon and honor them, so that they could fight for you and may sacrifice their lives for you and wash the earlier defeat. The king liked the idea. So after reaching Multan, he called the court and granted a general pardon to all the Amirs and Chiefs. Then he addressed them" TO FIGHT FOR HIM". Every chief swore to fight till last breath for the cause after putting their hand on swords.

A Decisive War

Shahabuddin took the advantage of the opportunity and he ordered for war in the evening, left the army camp as it is and after taking a long round of many miles crossed the river in the darkness of the night, and caught the enemy unaware. The emperor did not loose his senses and face the attack with a part of his army. Later the rest of his army also joined him. Rai Pithora’s army was comprised of three thousand elephants, three lakhs cavalry and a large number of swordsmen, while king Shahabuddin Ghauri had an army of one lakh twenty thousand soldiers.

Since Rai Pithora was very sure about his victory, so he did not bother for an organized fight and ordered the entire army to charge against the enemy, On the contrary, King Shahabuddin, adopting war tactics, divided army into four parts under the command of four able generals and sent them to fight one after another. Rajput fought with great courage and bravery that disappointed the Sultan’s army. But he adopted another tactic. He lagged behind in an organized manner showing that he is defeated. Rajputs followed them in a disorganized manner. When the king saw the Rajputs disorganized, he attacked with his fresh army.

There was a fierce fight till noon. Raja Prithvi Raj came out of the war field and stayed under the shadow of tree with his participating 150 chiefs. A final attack was decided. Everyone took an oath and came into war field. Raja’s army was tired as it was fighting since morning. The Sultan sensed the opportunity. He launched a very strong attack with his fresh 12,000 swordsmen who all of a sudden reached in the heart of enemy’s army. When the other chiefs of king’s army saw the scene. They also pressed the enemy from left and right. In a moment, thousands of soldiers were killed. The enemy’s army was overturned. Meanwhile the elephants, backbone of Raja’s army took a U-turn and crushed their own men. Soldiers tried their best to face the position but in vain. Gharib Nawaz (R.A) words were to be proved true, and they were.

It was dusk when the sultan’s army dominated the enemies. A number of Raja’s including Khande Rao were killed while some others escaped. Rai Pithora also wanted to escape but was captured and slashed on the banks of Saraswati river.

In the end Shahabuddin Ghauri immerged victorious and the hold of him on northern India became stronger. Later the Rajput’s kingdoms like Saraswati, Samana, Kohram and Hansi were captured without any difficulty. Then Sultan proceeded to Ajmer. Nobody challenged him but the sons of defeated and slain Rajas welcomed him and accepted him. After reaching Ajmer, he handed over the kingdom to Prithvi Raj’s son.

King Shahabuddin at the Feet of Khwaja Sahib

The evening was falling when Shahabuddin entered Ajmer. He heard Azan which made him surprised. On inquiring, people told him that some Fakir’s who had arrived a short time ago, used to call like this five times daily. The king took the direction. The Jamaat for prayers was ready. He joined it. Gharib Nawaz (R.A) was leading the Namaz.

As and when the prayers were over, and the king saw Khwaja Shaib (R.A), he was very much surprised, since he recognized the man who predicted his victory in the dream. He wanted to fall flat on the feet of Gharib Nawaz (R.A) but the Khwaja embraced the king instead.

The King sobbed and wept for quite a long time. Khwaja Gharib Nawaz (R.A) blessed him and asked him to sit. When he regained, he made a request for Bayt. Khwaja Gharib Nawaz (R.A) accepted the request and made him his disciple.

After staying in Ajmer for few days, Sultan Shahabuddin Muhammed Ghauri marched towards Delhi and captured it. He appointed his faithful Slave Qutubuddin Ebak, Viceroy of India and went back to Ghazni. Qutubuddin captured rest of India in a very short span of time and soon the Sultan got hold of the entire north India.

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