an army of 50,000 horsemen and defeated the forces of Gahadavala king Jayachandra in a battle near Jumna, where Jayachandra was killed in action. After a general massacre of the populace, the Ghurids desecrated the Hindu pilgrim centre of Benaras and captured the castle of Asni, where the royal treasure of the Gahadavalas was plundered. The Gahadavala capital Kanauj was annexed in 1198. During this campaign, the Buddhist city of Sarnath was also sacked. Conquest of Bayana Muhammad of Ghor returned to the Indian frontier again around 1196 to consolidate his hold around the present-day Rajasthan. The territory of Bayana at the time was under the control of a sect of Jadaun Rajputs. Muhammad along with Aibak advanced and besieged Thankar whose ruler Kumarpal was defeated. Muhammad placed the fort under his senior slave Baha-ur din Tughril, who later established Sultankot and used it as his stronghold. After the conquest of Thankar, Bahaurddin Turghil reduced the fort of Gwalior whose Parihar chief Sallakhanapala surrendered after a long siege and accepted the Ghurid suzerainty. After the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor, Tourghil styled himself as the Sultan in Bayana. In 1197, Qutb ud-Din Aibak invaded Gujarat and defeated Bhima II in Sirohi after a sudden attack and afterwards sacked his capital Anhilwara. Thus, Aibak avenged the rout of Muhammad of Ghor at the same place in 1178. Struggle in Central Asia Muhammad of Ghor continued to aid his brother for the expansion in west against the Khwarezmians in the interlude of his eastwards expansion. Meanwhile in the affairs of Chorasmia, Sultan Shah was defeated by his brother Ala al-Din Tekish in alliance with the Qara Khitai troops and the later succeeded the throne of Khwarezm in December 1172. Sultan Shah fled to the Ghurid brothers and asked for their assistance in order to expel his brother Tekish. While they received him well, they refused to give him military aid against Tekish, with whom the Ghurids were on good terms till then. Sultan Shah, carved out his independent principality in Khurasan and began plundering the regions of Ghor along with his governor Bahauddin Turghil. Thus, Ghhiyath al-Din asked for aid from Muhammad of Ghor, who was occupied with his Indian expeditions at the time, marched with his army from Ghazna. The Ghurid feudatories: Shamsuddin Muhammad of Bamiyan and Tajuddin of Herat joined them with their respective contingents against the Khwarezmians. The Ghurid