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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 12, p. 234.

234 GHOR It is divided from the Northern Taimani country by the watershed of the Farrah Rfid. The general elevation is about 7,000 feet. It is inhabited by Taimanis, Moghals, and '1'ajiks, of whom the Taimanis are the most numerous. The total population has been roughly com- puted at 8,ooo, but this number is at least doubled during the summer months by the influx of Durranis from the Pusht-i-Rud and Sabzawar. The climate of the Ghorat in winter is severe, but the summer and autumn are delightful. The inhabitants trade in wool, ghi, cheese, grain, hides, horses, sheep, cattle, woollen blankets, and barak or woollen cloth. There are no manufactures. Ghor is celebrated as the seat of the Afghan family who, after a long and bitter feud with the Sultans of Ghazni, eventually overthrew them (r 153), and later extended their conquests over the whole of Northern India as far as the delta of the Ganges. The origin of this dynasty has been much discussed. The prevalent, and apparently the correct, opinion is that both they and their subjects were Afghans. In the time of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Ghor was held by a prince whom Firishta calls Muhammad Suri Afghan. The territory of Ghor was treacherously seized by Mahmud and converted into a dependency. Later, Kutb-ud-din Sur, the chief of Ghor, who had married a daughter of Sultan Bahram of Ghazni, was put to death by the Sultan. His death was avenged by his brother Saif-ud-din, who captured Ghazni. Bahram fled, but soon returned at the head of an army, and, having taken Saif-ud-din prisoner, put him to death by torture. The quarrel was then espoused by a third brother, Ala-ud-din, who defeated Bahram and gave up Ghazni, at that time perhaps the noblest city in Asia, to flame, slaughter, and devastation. All the superb monu- ments of the Ghaznivid kings were demolished, except the tombs of Sultan Mahmud and two of his descendants. After Ala-ud-din had satiated his fury at Ghazni, he returned to Ghor, where he died in 1156, and was succeeded by his son Saif-ud-din, whose reign lasted for only one year. At his death the throne passed to the elder of his cousins, Ghiyas-ud-din, who associated his brother, Muhammad Shahab-ud-din, better known as Muhammad Ghori, in the government. Ghiyas-ud-din retained the sovereignty during his life, but he seems to have left the conduct of military operations almost entirely to Shahab-ud-din. Under these two princes Ghor reached the zenith of its greatness, and on their death rapidly sank into insignificance. The conquests of Muhammad Ghori far exceeded those of Mahmud of Ghazni, but he had neither the culture nor the general talents of that great prince. Accordingly, while the name of Mahmud is yet one of the most celebrated in Asia, that of Muhammad of Ghor is scarcely known beyond the countries over which he ruled. The whole of Northern India was brought under subjugation by