Talk:Battle of Chach

Making a point etc.

A huge allied army, composed of the Hindu Shahis and allied Rajas [..] is meaningless phrasing.

Trilochanapala failed to prevent Mahmud's troops from crossing across the Indus, who then set out for the plains of [..]

Who refers to - Trilochanapala or Mahmud's troops? A reader has to pause for at-least a mini-second to assess whatever the line is trying to convey.

I can go on .... TrangaBellam (talk) 10:06, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

No, it's quite clear, and the second sentence clearly implies that this is about Mahmud. पाटलिपुत्र Pat (talk) 10:10, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

And what is this obsession with adjectives? "Relentless", "ultimately" etc.? TrangaBellam (talk) 10:11, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

Difference between Rehman(1976)'s account of the Battle and that given in the English translation of the Firishta by John Briggs

Rehman, in his paper, cites John Briggs' translation of Firishta as one of his primary sources regarding the battle, but differs in the fate of Mahmud's archer unit of 6,000. In his thesis, Rehman states, "In order to provoke the Hindus out of their entrenched positions, he [Mahmud] despatched a contingent of 6,000 archers to begin the fighting. The contingent was however furiously attacked by the Hindu troops, who cut it to pieces", implying that most, if not all, the men in the contingent were killed. This would logically change the total casualty count of the Ghaznavid army to 11,000, from the conventionally stated 5,000. I had made a correction on the page already regarding this.

However, now, after reading Firishta's account (translated by John Briggs), which states, "Mahmood, having thus secured himself, ordered six thousand archers to the front to endeavour to provoke the enemy to attack his entrenchments. The archers were opposed by the Gukkurs, who, inspite of the King’s efforts and presence, repulsed his light troops..." I am perplexed as to why Rehman would state that the archers were cut to pieces, seeing as his own primary source states that the archers were "opposed" and "repulsed".

Am I missing something here, or did Rehman simply invent the fact of the 6,000 archers "being cut to pieces"? In this case, which source should I trust, the likely propagandized and biased primary source of Firishta, or the secondary source of Rehman, who seemingly had no basis for stating that the 6,000 archers were killed; and indeed, which casualty count of the Ghazanavid army would be considered correct? ~2025-35448-12 (talk) 16:09, 21 November 2025 (UTC)