Ruler
Jayapala
ਜੈਪਾਲجے پال
Hindu Shahi king of Punjab defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni near Peshawar in 1001. Shamed, he is said to have burned himself on a pyre.
Jayapala was the king of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, which ruled from Waihind near Attock over the Punjab and eastern Afghanistan at the end of the tenth century.
He fought repeatedly against the Ghaznavids of Afghanistan, first Sabuktigin and then his son Mahmud. On 27 November 1001 Mahmud defeated him near Peshawar and took him prisoner with his family. He was released for a heavy ransom.
Disgraced by defeat, he handed the throne to his son Anandapala and burned himself on a funeral pyre. His dynasty fought on for a few more years, but by 1026 the Punjab was in Ghaznavid hands.
