Ahmad Niyaltigin’s raid on Banaras

01Baihaqi’s account

The Ghaznavid secretary Abul Fazl Baihaqi, writing of the reign of Masud I, says that Ahmad Niyaltigin, governor in Lahore, marched with a force to a city called Banaras, which belonged to the territory of Ganga, meaning Gangeyadeva. No Muslim army had reached it before. The raiders entered in the morning and could stay only until the afternoon prayer for fear of the defenders. In that time they plundered the markets of the cloth merchants, perfumers and jewellers.

02Banaras under the Kalachuris

The raid tells us that Gangeyadeva of Tripuri, one of the great kings of the age, had by then extended his rule to Kashi; his son Lakshmikarna later issued grants there and built a temple called Karnameru. The raid left no lasting mark on Kalachuri power. It was a hit-and-run strike, but it showed how far a fast cavalry force from Lahore could now reach into the Ganga plain, a warning fulfilled a century and a half later.

Dynasty · c. 850–1212 CE (chiefs from the 7th century)Kalachuris of TripuriThe Kalachuris of Tripuri ruled the Chedi country from a city on the Narmada near Jabalpur. Under Gangeyadeva and Lakshmi-Karna they were for a time the strongest power in northern India.Read →