"Ibn-ul-Athir, writing two hundred years later, mentions the same reason for Mahmud’s retreat, and corroborates Al-Gardizi: “The Sultan raised his standard with the intention of returning, but as Param Deo, one of the most powerful of the Rajas of Hindustan, had to be met on the way, he did not consider it advisable to fight with him at that time, under all elrcumstances; he turned towards Multan by way of Sindh. Tis troops suffered great privations en route, in some places, on account of scarcity of water, and in others, for want of fodder, but at last, after suffering great distress and hardship, he reached Ghazni in the year 417 A.H. (1026)."