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THE LION OF KHUWARIZAM SULTAN JALALUDDIN IN PAKISTAN
Dr. Wasim Sajjad, A PhD Scholar In Pakistan,
Wasim.Sajjad89@mail.com
Introduction & Historical Background. In the second decade of the thirteenth century
AD, the Khuwarizam Empire came under Mongol invasion. In 1219, Genghis Khan invaded the
Khuwarizam Empire with millions of troops from three sides. Sultan Allauddin Muhammad
Khuwarizam Shah of Khuwarizam, contrary to the views of his son Jalaluddin Mangobardi and
other ministers, divided his large army into different parts and assigned them to defend important
cities. Jalaluddin's opinion was that the Mongol army should be decisively defeated in a single
battle to break their backs, but Sultan Allauddin did not accept this opinion. As a result, the
military power of Khuwarizam disintegrated and the defense was weakened. The Mongol forces
under Genghis Khan wreaked havoc across the Khuwarizam Empire. The great centers of
Islamic civilization, Samarkand and Bukhara, were plundered and millions of people were
slaughtered. Sultan Allauddin hid under these circumstances and died in hiding. Under these
circumstances, Sultan Jalaluddin Khuwarizam Shah launched a great struggle against the
Mongols and after the destruction of the capital Organj, he united his forces in southern
Afghanistan and lined up against the Mongols. This area was given by Sultan Allauddin under
Jalaluddin's administration. Sultan Jalaluddin hoped to get help from the Afghan tribes here. So
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Sultan decided to make southern Afghanistan a center of resistance against the Mongols and
after reaching southern Afghanistan he gathered the Afghan tribes there. Genghis Khan, who was
keeping a close eye on Sultan Jalaluddin, immediately sent a Mongol army under the leadership
of Tuli Khan to Afghanistan [Ibn Athir.1], [An-Nasawi.2], [ Lamb.8].
The Sultan defeated the Mongol army in the Parwan region and no Mongol survived [An-
Nasawi.2]. This was a crushing defeat Genghis Khan's realized thatSultan Jalaluddin gaining
strength. Genghis Khan gathered all his scattered armies and marched towards Ghazni but
unfortunately the two commanders of Sultan Jalaluddin in Ghazni, Amin ul Malik and Saif-ud-
Din Aghraq quarreled. There was such a quarrel between Amin ul Malik and Saif-ud-Din
Aghraq over the distribution of booty that Saif-ud-Din with his army of 30,000 separated from
the Sultan in the darkness of night. This was a great blow to the Sultan's power. When Genghis
Khan heard the news, he intended to reach Ghazni before the Sultan took over, but Sultan
Jalaluddin retreated. There was not enough military force with Sultan to fight Genghis Khan in
this field. The only solution the Sultan had was to retreat to Peshawar and somehow cross the
Indus River and take refuge in India temporarilyand be safe from this attack.With this intention,
the Sultan hurried to the Indus and ordered the army not to encamp. Genghis Khan, who had
sensed the Sultan's intentions, set out in pursuit of the Sultan with lightning speed. The Sultan
retreated quickly and crossed the Peshawar. Sultan withhis army reached at the Nizampur plain
near the Indus River they wanted to cross the river for temporarily escape from Mongol invasion.
The beach near which the Sultan had encamped is known as Sahil-e- Neelab, but unfortunately
no boats or other resources were available for the Sultan to cross the river at that time [Al-
Juvaini.3], [Aziz.4], [Rehan.10].
The Sultan encamped in the field of Nizampur and they were trying to cross the river
when every first contingent of Genghis Khan's army started arriving in this valley and the way to
enter this valley was closed. The mountain range was on one side of the Sultan and his army the
Indus River wason the other side also withthe large number of Mongol armies that appeared in
front. There was no way out, so the Sultan ordered his army to be in battle. Sultan Jalaluddin
lined up his army in such a way that the right wing of the army was protected from the bend of
the river and the left flank were hiding under the cover of a mountain while Sultan Jalaluddin
Kuwarzam Shah was present in the center. This war is remembered in history as the battle of the
Indus which was fought in 1221. Despite his weak defensive position, the Sultan did not allow
the Mongol army to succeed for three days. On the third day of the war, the Sultan attacked the
enemy's heart by adding some troops from the left flank to his center, in this attackGenghis
Khan'shorse was killed and he fled with his bodyguards. At the same time, the enemy army
became aware of the involvement of the Khwarizmi army in the heart from the left wing forces
and on the orders of Genghis Khan, a section of the Mongol army circled the mountain and
attacked the left wing of the Sultan's army. The order of the army was pushed back and the
Mongols prevailed. Amin-ul-Malik, the commander of the Sultan, who was stationed on the right
wing, retreated and marched towards Peshawar, but was killed by the Mongols on the way. The
Sultan, along with some of his comrades, reached the place where his tents and family members
were. Now the situation was that the Mongol army had surrounded the Sultan and his surviving
companions from three sides and the Indus River was flowing in front of him. Sultan Jalaluddin
made a last strong attack on the Mongols but the Mongol soldiers wanted to capture the Sultan
alive on the orders of Genghis Khan. The Sultan understood the intentions of the Mongols,he
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took a fresh horse, rode on it and jumped into the Indus River from a very dangerous height.
Genghis Khan and his ruler were watching the leap of Sultan in to the indus river [Ibn Athir.1],
[Aziz.4], [Ibn Khuldun.6], [Rehan.10]. Genghis Khan put his hand over his mouth in surprise.
Some of his soldiers tried to shoot Sultan in the river with arrows but Genghis Khan stopped
them and addressed his sons with these words ― Afather is very lucky who has son like
Jalaluddin‖[Al-Juvaini.3].
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