Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/109

CHAPTER III RISE OF THE HOUSE OF GHOR WHEN the power of the house of Ghazni declined, the ascendency passed to another Afghan line, the house of Ghor. Two brothers, Sultan Ghiyas-ad-din and Sultan Mu'izz-ad-din (the latter afterwards known as Mohammad Ghori), made the history of this short dynasty famous, as has been narrated in the third chapter of the third volume. The former of these able chieftains came to the throne in 558 A. H. (1163 A. D.), and with the aid of his brother Mu'izz-ad-din, who suc- ceeded him as Sultan Mohammad Ghori (599 - 603 A. H., or 1202-1206 A. D.), extended the domain of Afghan authority by a series of ravaging campaigns in . Hin- dustan rivalling those which Mahmud of Ghazni had previously carried on. We have an account of the main current of these events recorded by the pen of a native chronicler of Ghor, named Minhaj-as-Siraj, who wrote a general history from the earliest times down to the year 658 A. H. (1259 A. D.), and a brief selection from his annals is here given in a slightly abridged form. ' When Ghiyas-ad-din succeeded to the throne of 77