Battle of Peshawar

01The battle

Jayapala had fought Sabuktigin, Mahmud’s father, twice, and lost Kabul and the lands west of the Khyber. In 1001 Mahmud came down with fifteen thousand horse, by al-Utbi’s count, and met Jayapala before Peshawar. Al-Utbi, Mahmud’s court historian, dates the battle to 8 Muharram 392, Saturday 27 November 1001. The Shahi army, with its elephants, broke by midday. Jayapala was captured with fifteen of his sons and grandsons, and the rich necklaces taken from them are described with relish.

02Jayapala’s end

Jayapala was released for a ransom. Al-Utbi writes that, judging himself disgraced by defeat and capture, he handed the kingdom to his son Anandapala, had a pyre built and gave himself to the fire. The Shahi capital moved east from Waihind toward the Salt Range and the Punjab. The family fought on for another quarter century. Al-Biruni, who knew the Shahis’ history, wrote of them that in all their grandeur they never slackened in the desire of doing what is good and right.

Person · Reigned c. 964–1001 CEJayapalaJayapala ruled the Hindu Shahi kingdom from Kabul to the Punjab and for thirty years was the first wall against the new Turkish power at Ghazni. Beaten and captured by Mahmud near Peshawar in 1001, he gave up the throne to his son and ended his life on a funeral pyre.Read →