Siege of Lahore (1241)

The Siege of Lahore (Punjabi: لہور دا محاصرہ) took place on 22 December 1241, during the winter season, as part of the Mongol incursions into India . The siege was fought in Lahore, a major city of the Punjab region in present-day Pakistan, between the armies commanded by Tair Bahadur of the Mongol Empire and Malik Ikhtyaruddin Qaraqash, the governor under the Delhi Sultanate.

The first Mongol incursion into the Punjab came in 1221, after Genghis Khan defeated Jalal al-Din at the Battle of the Indus. Two tumens (20,000 soldiers in total) were dispatched into the Punjab under the command of Dorbei and Bala to continue the pursuit. The Mongol commander Bala followed Jalal ad-Din through the Lahore region, carried out an attack on the outlying province of Multan, also carried out raids in the surrounding areas of Lahore.^[1]

Some time after 1235 another Mongol force invaded Kashmir, stationing a darughachi (administrative governor) there for several years, and Kashmir became a Mongolian dependency.^[2] In the winter of 1241, the Mongol forces invaded the Punjab region and besieged the city of Lahore, which was under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate at the time. The Mongol army, led by the commander Tair Bahadur, used siege engines to bombard the city walls. Malik Qaraqash, the governor of Lahore, withdrew from the city prior to the Mongol assault on 22 December 1241. The Mongols killed numerous residents, enslaved survivors, and demolished the city walls. At the time, the Delhi Sultanate was unable to dispatch effective reinforcements owing to political instability and internal factionalism. After sacking Lahore, the Mongols withdrew from the region.^[3][4]