A FOUNDATION FOR HISTORY 51in 1210-n fractured the eastern frontier of Sam's realm even further
among his various lieutenants (ghulam meaning slave-lieutenant). One,
Shams al-din Iltutmish set himself up as a ruler in Delhi. Another, Taj
al-Din Yildiz in Ghazna. Another ghulam, 'Ali-yi Mardan, became
Sultan 'Alauddin in Bengal. A third, Nasiruddin Qabacha, who had been
in stationed in Uch since 1204, declared his own rule and occupied
Lahore.
The scramble ensued among Yildiz, Qabacha, and Iltutmish to
claim the major city-forts of Delhi, Multan, Lahore, and Uch. As their
armies, consisting of Indic, Turkic, or Iranian troops, roamed from the
hills of Peshawar to the plains of Lahore, these sultans rallied Indic,
Turkic, or Iranian luminaries, intellectuals, and mystics to their
courts in an effort to build political bulwark for their claim of su-
preme rule. Yildiz was forced out of Ghazna in 1215-1216, and he cap-
tured Lahore and marched on Delhi but was defeated and captured by
Iltutmish at Tara'in in p16. The battle for northern Indi;:i was now
between Iltutmish in Delhi and, Qabacha in Uch. All of this tran-
spired while the Mon-gal armies of Chinghiz Khan were assaulting Uch
and Multan.
Qabacha at Uch
During this intense tactical and military struggle to control key city
states in northern India, the western Asian Muslim polities were facing
the rising Mongol. After the Mongol conquests in Khurasan, the east-
ernmost frontier of the Muslim world-Sind and Punjab-bec~me fron-
tiers of last refuge. The Khawarzam Shahi polity, based ,n Samarkand,
was defeated by Chingiz Khan in 1215-1218, p1,1shing the ruler 'Ala'ddip
Muhammad into Sind. His son Jalaluddin sacked Uch in 1224 after
Qabacha refused to help him against Chingiz Khan, and Jalaluddin
prepared to begin his march up to Iltutmish's Delhi. However, ·the
pursuing Chingiz Khan reached him at Uch and defeated him. This
was the fi.rs,t of many Muslim polities ended by Chingiz Khan. On his
way back to Iran, Chingiz Khan besieged Multan in 1224, but Qa-
bacha was able to fend him off there. Qabacha, however, could not bear
the strikes of both Jalaluddin and the Mongols.
Tabaqat-i Nasiri, written by Minhaj Siraj Juzjani (ca. n90-1260 CE),
is a contemporaneous account of political rule in Delhi. His short