Muhammad of Ghor incursions into India started as early as 1175 and thenceforth continued to lead his armies in the Indian subcontinent until his assassination near the Indus on March 15, 1206.

During these invasions, Muhammad conquered the Indus Basin from the Ghaznavids and other Ismāʿīlīya rulers and penetrated into the Gangetic doab after defeating a Rajput Confederacy led by Prithviraj Chauhan near Tarain avenging his earlier rout at the same battlefield.

While the Ghurid empire was short lived and fell apart in 1215, Mu'izz al-Din's watershed victory in the Second Battle of Tarain established a permanent Muslim presence and influence in the Indian subcontinent.

During his campaigns in India, Mu'izz al-Din extirpated several local dynasties which included the Isma'ilis of Multan, Ghaznavids of Lahore, Chauhans of Ajmer, Tomaras of Delhi, Jadauns of Bayana and possibly the Gahadavalas of Kannauj as well.

During the later half of the twelfth century, the Šansabānī (Ghurids), a Persianate dynasty of presumably Tajik origin[3] which was centred in present-day Afghanistan began their political expansion amidst the collapse of the Ghaznavids who were considerably weakened in their struggle with the Seljuk Empire.

[7] Ghiyath al-Din with his centre in Firuzkuh confronted the Khwarazmian Empire for the Ghurid expansion in Central Asia while Muhammad, motivated by the exploits of Mahmud of Ghazni began raiding in the Indian Subcontinent from 1175.

[35] According to his account, when Muhammad besieged the fort, he made a proposal to the influential Rajput queen of Uch and promised to marry her, If she aids him in his conquest and put her husband to death.

[47][48] Muhammad marched from Ghazni and captured Bhatinda in 1190[49] which was under the control of the Chahamana (Chauhan) Rajput clan who emerged as the leading power of northern India in the later twelfth century.

[50] The Chahamana ruler of Ajmer, Prithviraj Chauhan (c. 1166–1192), aided by his Rajput allies gathered a vast army of 100,000 lancers and advanced to dislodge the Ghurid garrison in Bhatinda.

[55] After the disaster of Tarain, Muhammad began his preparations to advance once more in the Chahamana kingdom and took an oath that he will not "visit his wife" and "change his clothes" till he avenge his defeat.

[62] However, the Ghurids, as corroborated by the numismatic evidences, reinstated Prithviraja's minor son Govindaraja IV as their de facto ruler on the condition of tributary.

[65] The decisive battle of Tarain is regarded as a landmark event in the Medieval India, which led to the destruction of Rajput powers for a while and laid the foundation of the Muslim rule in the Indian Subcontinent.

[48] In 1194, Muhammad returned to India and crossed the Jamuna with an army of 50,000 troopers to confront the Gahadavala king Jayachandra who held his sway over extensive territories in the present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In a decisive battle fought near the modern day Chandawar, the Gahadavalas managed to kept the Ghurid forces at bay until a chance arrow killed Jayachandra and his armies were routed.

[72][73][74] Muhammad's slave commanders continued the expansion of the Ghurid empire and raided the Rajput strongholds in the Doab, Rajasthan, Malwa and uptil Kalinjar in the Ganga Valley.

In the decade of the 1200s, another lieutenant of Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji expanded the Ghurid influence in west of the Ganges Basin in states of Bihar and Bengal.

In 1204, he suffered a sharp reverse near the river Oxus against the combined forces of Qara Khitai (Western Lio) and the Kara-Khanid Khanate contingent led by Tayangu (as aid of Alauddin Shah) which lead to the loss of most of the Khurasan (except Herat and Balkh) and initiated a number of rebellions in his empire.