ABSTRACT
The history of the rise of the Ghur dynasty is mixed with legends. According to the first information received Sultan Mahmud had defeated Muhammad Suri of the Ghur royal family in ad 1010 and forced him to accept the suzerainty of Ghazni. In 1178–1179 Shihabuddin marched from Multan through the desert of Sind to enter Gujarat. In 1191 Shihabuddin started his expedition to Hindustan from Ghazni. He took away Bhatinda from the hands of the officials of the king of Ajmer. Shihabuddin was defeated in Central Asia and revolts started in the Indian border. Shihabuddin and his brother Giyasuddin had changed the cultural focus at Ghur. They arranged to extend religion teaching in the backward areas by giving grants to learned men and scholars. The Ghurids had spread their power in the Indian subcontinent in the same way they had spread their power in Persia and Central Asia.
