The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

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PUNJAB WIKIਪੰਜਾਬپنجابKingdoms & Wars
Punjab WikiKingdoms & WarsWars & BattlesInvaders at the gates, 1400 BCE – 1221
Mongol sack of Lahore
Unknown · Wikimedia
Invaders at the gates, 1400 BCE – 1221

Mongol sack of Lahore

A Mongol army stormed Lahore after the Delhi Sultanate failed to relieve it, and left the city in ruins for decades.

SideMongol army
VS
OpponentGarrison and people of Lahore

Lahore's governor fled and the city was taken and plundered. For much of the thirteenth century the western Punjab was a frontier between the Mongols and the Delhi Sultans, and Lahore was only slowly rebuilt.

Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Same era

Invaders at the gates, 1400 BCE – 1221
Battle of the Ten Kings
Battle of the Ten Kingsc. 14th century BCE (traditional) · Victory of Sudas, as told in the Rigveda

A Rigvedic battle on the Parushni, the Ravi, in which the Bharata king Sudas defeated ten allied tribes when they tried to divert the river.

Battle of the Hydaspes
Battle of the Hydaspes326 BCE · Macedonian victory; Porus kept his kingdom as an ally

Alexander crossed the flooded Jhelum by night and defeated Porus and his war elephants. Impressed by Porus, he returned his kingdom to him.

Mallian campaign
Mallian campaign325 BCE · Macedonian victory; Alexander gravely wounded

Retreating down the Jhelum and Chenab, Alexander attacked the Malli. Scaling a town wall almost alone, he was shot through the chest and nearly died. The town is often placed at or near Multan.

Battle of Peshawar
Battle of Peshawar27 November 1001 · Ghaznavid victory

Mahmud's first great victory in India, which broke the Hindu Shahi kingdom and opened Punjab to two decades of raids.

Battle of Chach
Battle of Chach1008 · Ghaznavid victory; the Hindu Shahis broken

Mahmud's second great victory over the Hindu Shahis, on the plain of Chach near Attock, which left the Punjab open to him.

First Battle of Tarain
First Battle of Tarain1191 · Rajput victory; Muhammad of Ghor wounded

Prithviraj Chauhan routed the Ghurid army near Thanesar; Muhammad of Ghor was wounded and carried from the field.

Second Battle of Tarain
Second Battle of Tarain1192 · Ghurid victory; Delhi Sultanate follows

A year after losing on the same field, Muhammad of Ghor beat Prithviraj with mounted archers, opening north India to the Delhi Sultanate.

Battle of the Indus
Battle of the IndusNovember 1221 · Mongol victory; Jalal ad-Din escapes across the Indus

Genghis Khan caught the last Khwarazm prince on the Indus. Jalal ad-Din rode his horse off a cliff into the river and escaped into Punjab, drawing Mongol raids after him. The exact site, somewhere on the Indus, is uncertain.

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