The Ghurids or Ghorids were a dynasty of Iranian origin from the Ghor region of present-day
central Afghanistan, but the exact ethnic origin is uncertain. The dynasty converted
to Sunni Islam from Buddhism, after the conquest of Ghor by the Ghaznavid sultan Mahmud of
Ghazni in 1011. The dynasty overthrew the Ghaznavid Empire in 1186 when Sultan Mu'izz
ad-Din Muhammad of Ghor conquered the last Ghaznavid capital of Lahore.
At their zenith, the Ghurid empire encompassed Khorasan in the west and reached northern
India as far as Bengal in the east. Their first capital was Firozkoh in Mandesh, Ghor,
which was later replaced by Herat, and finally Ghazna. The Ghurids were patrons of Persian
culture and heritage.
Abu Ali ibn Muhammad was the first Muslim king of the Ghurid dynasty to construct mosques
and Islamic schools in Ghor.
The Ghurids were succeeded in Khorasan and Persia by the Khwarazmian dynasty, and in
northern India by the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
Origins In the 19th century some European scholars,
such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was related
to today's Pashtun people but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship and, as explained
by Morgenstierne in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, is for "various reasons very improbable".
Instead scholars assume that the dynasty might have been of Tajik origin. Bosworth further
points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, Āl-e Šansab , is the Arabic pronunciation
of the originally Middle Persian name Wišnasp.
When the Ghurids started to distinguish themselves during their conquests, courtiers and genealogists
forged a fictive genealogy which connected the Ghurids with the Iranian past. They traced
the Ghurid family back to the legendary Arab tyrant Zahhak, mentioned in the medieval Persian
epic Shahnameh , whose family had reportedly settled in Ghur after the Iranian hero Fereydun
had ended his thousand-year tyranny.
Ghur remained primarily populated by Buddhists till the 11th century. It was then Islamised
and gave rise to the Ghurids.
Language The Ghurids' native language was apparently
different from their court language, Persian. Abu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi, the famous historian of
the Ghaznavid era, wrote on page 117 in his book Tarikh-i Bayhaqi: "Sultan Mas'ud I of
Ghazni left for Ghoristan and sent his learned companion with two people from Ghor as interpreters
between this person and the people of that region." However, like the Samanids and Ghaznavids,
the Ghurids were great patrons of Persian literature, poetry, and culture, and promoted
these in their courts as their own. Contemporary book writers refer to them as the "Persianized
Ghurids".
There is nothing to confirm the recent surmise that the inhabitants of Ghor were originally
Pashto-speaking, and claims of the existence of Pashto poetry from the Ghurid period are
unsubstantiated.
History Early history
A certain Ghurid prince named Amir Banji was the ruler of Ghor and ancestor of the medieval
Ghurid rulers. His rule was legitimized by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. Before
the mid-12th century, the Ghurids had been bound to the Ghaznavids and Seljuks for about
150 years. Beginning in the mid-12th century, Ghor expressed its independence from the Ghaznavid
Empire. In 1149 the Ghaznavid ruler Bahram-Shah of Ghazna poisoned a local Ghurid leader,
Qutb al-Din Muhammad, who had taken refuge in the city of Ghazna after having a quarrel
with his brother Sayf al-Din Suri. In revenge, Sayf marched towards Ghazna and defeated Bahram-Shah.
However, one year later, Bahram returned and scored a decisive victory against Sayf, who
was shortly captured and crucified at Pul-i Yak Taq. Baha al-Din Sam I, another brother
of Sayf, set out to avenge the death of his two brothers, but died of natural causes before
he could reach Ghazna. Ala al-Din Husayn, one of the youngest of Sayf's brothers and
newly crowned Ghurid king, also set out to avenge the death of his two brothers. He managed
to defeat Bahram-Shah, and then had Ghazna sacked; the city burned for seven days and
seven nights. It earned him the title of Jahānsūz, meaning "the world burner". The Ghaznavids
retook the city with Seljuq help, but lost it to Oghuz Turks.
In 1152, Ala al-Din Husayn refused to pay tribute to the Seljuks and instead marched
an army from Firozkoh but was defeated and captured at Nab by Sultan Ahmed Sanjar. Ala
al-Din Husayn remained a prisoner for two years, until he was released in return for
a heavy ransom to the Seljuqs. Meanwhile, a rival of Ala al-Din named Husayn ibn Nasir
al-Din Muhammad al-Madini had seized Firozkoh, but was murdered at the right moment when
Ala al-Din returned to reclaim his ancestral domain. Ala al-Din spent the rest of his reign
expanding the domains of his kingdom; he managed to conquer Garchistan, Tukharistan, and Bamiyan,
and later gave Bamiyan and Tukharistan to Fakhr al-Din Masud, starting the Bamiyan branch
of the Ghurids. Ala al-Din died in 1161, and was succeeded by his son Sayf al-Din Muhammad,
who died two years later in a battle.
The Ghurids at their zenith Sayf al-Din Muhammad was succeeded by his
cousin Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, who was the son of Baha al-Din Sam I, and proved himself
to be a capable king. Right after Ghiyath's ascension, he, with the aid of his loyal brother
Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad, killed a rival Ghurid chief named Abu'l Abbas. Ghiyath then defeated
his uncle Fakhr al-Din Masud who claimed the Ghurid throne and had allied with the Seljuq
governor of Herat, and Balkh.
In 1173, Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad reconquered the city of Ghazna and assisted his brother
Ghiyath in his contest with Khwarezmid Empire for the lordship of Khorasan. In 1175, Mu'izz
al-Din Muhammad captured and annexed the Ghaznavid principality of Punjab in 1186. He was alleged
by contemporary historians to have exacted revenge for his great-grandfather Muhammad
ibn Suri. After the death of his brother Ghiyath in 1202, he became the successor of his empire
and ruled until his assassination in 1206 near Jhelum by Khokhar tribesmen .
Decline and fall A confused struggle then ensued among the
remaining Ghūrid leaders, and the Khwarezmids were able to take over the Ghūrids' empire
in about 1215. Though the Ghūrids' empire was short-lived, Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad's
conquests strengthened the foundations of Muslim rule in India. On his death, the importance
of Ghazna and Ghor dissipated, and they were replaced by Delhi as power centre in India
during the rule of his Mamluk successors.
Cultural influences The Ghurids were great patrons of Persian
culture and literature and lay the basis for a Persianized state in Indian subcontinent.
However, most of the literature produced during the Ghurid era has been lost. They also transferred
Iranian architecture to India.
Out of the Ghurid state grew the Delhi Sultanate which established the Persian language as
the official court language of the region – a status it retained until the late Mughal
era in the 19th century.