View source for Bakhtiyar Khalji's Tibet campaign

{{Short description|1206 Ghurid campaign to invade Tibet}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Bakhtiyar Khalji's Tibet campaign
| image             = Gyantse.jpg
| caption           = Bakhtiyar Khalji led his army through harsh terrain into the cultivated valley of mainland Kamrup and [[Tibet]], where he met fierce resistance and a guerrilla uprising
| map_type          = 
| latitude          = 
| longitude         = 
| map_caption       = 
| map_size          = 
| map_label         = 
| date              = 1205<ref>{{cite book |author=VD Mahajan|title=History of Medieval India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC|date=2007|publisher=S. Chand Publishing|isbn=978-81-219-0364-6 |pages=73–74}}</ref>  or 1206
| place             = [[Chumbi Valley]], Tibet
| result            = Tibetan victory
| combatant1        = [[Khalji dynasty of Bengal|Khaljis of Bengal]]<br />'''Supported by'''<br />[[Deshi people|Deshi Muslims]]
| combatant2        = [[Tibetan people|Tibetan tribes]]
| commander1        = [[Bakhtiyar Khalji]]<br />[[Ali Mech]]
| commander2        = Tibetan tribal leaders
| commander3.       = 
| strength1         = {{circa}} 10,000<ref>{{cite book |author=Debajyoti Burman |title=Indo-Muslim Relations: A Study in Historical Background |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M6hOAAAAMAAJ |date=1947 |publisher=Jugabani Sahitya Chakra |page=67}}</ref><ref name=":39" />
| strength2         = Unknown
| casualties1       = Nearly all except around hundred cavalry.<ref name=":39" />
| casualties2       = Unknown but less than Bakhtiyar
}}

[[Bakhtiyar Khalji]], the general of Qutubuddin Aibak, launched a campaign to invade [[Tibet]] in 1205 or 1206.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2s9BAAAQBAJ&q=Tibetan+expedition+by+Islamic+Bengal&pg=PA19 |title=The Muslim Heritage of Bengal: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of Great Muslim Scholars, Writers and Reformers of Bangladesh and West Bengal |last=Khan |first=Muhammad Mojlum |date=21 October 2013 |publisher=Kube Publishing Ltd |isbn=9781847740625 |pages=19 |language=en |access-date=31 July 2021 |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322173324/https://books.google.com/books?id=-2s9BAAAQBAJ&q=Tibetan+expedition+by+Islamic+Bengal&pg=PA19#v=snippet&q=Tibetan%20expedition%20by%20Islamic%20Bengal&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed2011" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahajan |first=V.D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC |title=History of Medieval India |publisher=S. Chand Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-81-219-0364-6 |pages=73–74}}</ref>

Tibet was a source for horses, the most prized possession of any army, and Khalji was keen to control the lucrative trade between Tibet and India. Khajli's army commenced plundering the country around the [[Tibet]] region of the Chumbi Valley. The people of that area and the parts adjacent advanced to repel the invaders. From daybreak to the time of evening prayer, a fierce battle ensued, and a great number of Khalji's army were killed or wounded.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

== Background ==
[[Bakhtiyar Khalji]], the general of [[Qutubuddin Aibak]], conquered [[Bihar]] and [[Nadia district|Nadia]], the capital of the [[Sena dynasty|Sena]] Kings of Bengal.<ref name="Ahmed2011" /> He subsequently became obsessed with ambitions of conquering Tibet. Historically, Bengal had trade relations with Tibet along the '[[Tea Horse Road|Tea-Horse Route]]', through Assam, [[Kingdom of Sikkim|Sikkim]] and [[Bhutan]], to parts of China and Southeast Asia, which were home to gold and silver mines.<ref name="Ahmed2011">{{cite book |author=Farooqui Salma Ahmed |title=A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxhAtCflwOMC&pg=PA53 |year=2011 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-3202-1 |pages=53}}</ref> Tibet was also a source of horses.<ref name="Mishra1999">{{cite book |author=P. K. Mishra |title=Studies in Hindu and Buddhist Art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqSAQpCOifoC&pg=PA101 |year=1999 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-368-7 |pages=101}}</ref> The planned invasion also coincided with the [[Era of Fragmentation]] and the collapse of the [[Tibetan Empire]].

The expedition was aided by [[Ali Mech]], a tribal chief from the foothills of the [[Himalayas]] in the north of [[Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAUBCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Epigraphy and Islamic Culture: Inscriptions of the Early Muslim Rulers of Bengal (1205–1494) |last=Siddiq |first=Mohammad Yusuf |year=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317587460 |pages=36 |access-date=19 November 2016 |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322173325/https://books.google.com/books?id=nAUBCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> Mech was a recent convert to Islam, and he helped the expedition by acting as a guide.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAUBCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Epigraphy and Islamic Culture: Inscriptions of the Early Muslim Rulers of Bengal (1205–1494) |last=Siddiq |first=Mohammad Yusuf |year=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317587460 |pages=36 |access-date=19 November 2016 |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322173325/https://books.google.com/books?id=nAUBCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Nadwi |first=Abu Bakr Amir-uddin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18CTOgAACAAJ |title=Tibet and Tibetan Muslims |publisher=Library of Tibetan Works and Archives |year=2004 |isbn=9788186470350 |location=Dharamsala |pages=43–44 |translator-last=Sharma |translator-first=Parmananda |access-date=26 September 2020 |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322173326/https://books.google.com/books?id=18CTOgAACAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Campaign ==
On his way north, Khalji invited the king of 'Kamrud'<ref name="GillYule2010">{{cite book |author1=William John Gill |author2=Henry Yule |title=The River of Golden Sand: The Narrative of a Journey Through China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uuk2OQeMwsMC&pg=PA43 |date=9 September 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01953-8 |pages=43 |access-date=20 October 2016 |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322173446/https://books.google.com/books?id=Uuk2OQeMwsMC&pg=PA43#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> to join him, but the latter refused. After marching for 16 days through the [[Teesta River]] area in [[North Bengal]] and [[Sikkim]],<ref name="Sengupta2011">{{cite book |author=Nitish K. Sengupta |title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA63 |date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-341678-4 |pages=63–64}}</ref> Khalji's army reached the [[Chumbi Valley]] and started looting Tibetan villages.<ref name="Sengupta2011"/> The rugged Himalayan mountain passes of Tibet were an unfamiliar terrain to the invading army, who were more used to the sultry and humid plains of Bengal.  The [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]]s lured Khalji and his Turkic army into a trap, inflicted heavy casualties and prompted Khalji to retreat. All along the escape route, the Tibetans continued relentless guerrilla-style attacks on the retreating army. Khalji's badly defeated soldiers ate their own horses to stay alive.

On their retreat to Bengal, Khalji's army passed through the plains of [[North Bengal]].  Upon reaching the sub-alpine Himalayan region, the army tried to cross an ancient stone bridge on the foothills near the Teesta river.<ref name="Sengupta2011" /> Khalji's soldiers found the arches in the bridge had been destroyed by Kamrup forces, making it difficult to cross the deep river. In their desperate attempt to reach the other side of the river at Devkot, Khalji's forces lost a number of men and horses. It is said that of the 10,000-strong army that had marched into Tibet, only around 100 men returned.<ref name="Sengupta2011"/><ref name="GillYule2010"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhattacharya |first=Sabyasachi |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Comprehensive_History_of_Modern_Bengal.html?id=Z3GxzQEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description |title=A Comprehensive History of Modern Bengal, 1700-1950 |date=2020 |publisher=Asiatic Society |isbn=978-93-89901-95-5 |pages=39 |language=en |quote=In 1206, Bakhtiyar started from Devkot with 10,000 cavalry in the northward direction. After crossing the sub-montane tracts of the Himalayas, Bakhtiyar’s force suffered from logistical breakdown. The local tribes rebelled against him. There were no food and grass for his men and the horses. The Raja of Kamrup betrayed Bakhtiyar and cut his supply line. Bakhtiyar returned with only 100 cavalry.}}</ref> After crossing the river, Ali Mech guided Bakhtiyar Khilji back to Devkot (present-day [[Dakshin Dinajpur district]], West Bengal).<ref name="Sengupta2011"/>

== Aftermath ==
There are two accounts of what happened to Bakhtiyar Khalji following the [[Tibet]] and Kamrup debacle. One account speaks of him dying from ill health and injury during this retreat to [[Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite Banglapedia |author=Ahmed, ABM Shamsuddin |article=Bakhtiyar Khalji}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Another account notes that he was assassinated by [[Ali Mardan Khalji]] after returning to [[Devkot]] in Bengal.<ref name="Sengupta2011"/>

== See also ==
*[[British expedition to Tibet]]
*[[Raja Prithu]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Military campaigns involving India]]
[[Category:Invasions of Tibet]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1206]]
[[Category:Military expeditions]]
[[Category:Military history of Bengal]]
[[Category:Expeditions from India]]
[[Category:Medieval Bengal]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Delhi Sultanate]]
[[Category:History of Sikkim]]
[[Category:History of Islam in China]]
[[Category:13th-century Islam]]
[[Category:Military history of the Himalayas]]