The death of Mas'ud III in 1115 had begun a heated contest for the Ghaznavid throne.
In 1116, Arslan ibn Mas'ud had overthrown his older brother Shahrzad bin Mas'ud, taken the throne, and blinded or imprisoned his remaining brothers, except Bahram who was in Zamin-Dawar.
After being initially defeated by Arslan at Tiginabad, Bahram flees to the Seljuq court in Khorasan.
he appeals to Sultan Ahmad Sanjar, whose sister, 'Iraq Jauhar Khatun, is greatly offended at the conduct of her eldest son, Arslan, towards his brothers.
Incited by her and perhaps by his own ambitious views, Sanjar calls on Arslan to release his brothers and on his refusal marches against him with an army of thirty thousand cavalry and fifty thousand infantry.
Arslan is defeated in a skirmish and flees to Ghazna.
Here, on the plain of Shahrabad outside Ghanza, Arslan is decisively defeated and flees to Bamian.
Ghazna is now subjected to forty days of pillage, which culminates in Bahram's installment as ruler and vassal of Sanjar.
However, as soon as Sanjar has withdrawn his army, Arslan returns, chases out Bahram ibn Mas'ud, who has been left in possession of throne as a vassal.
This obliges Sanjar to take the field again in a struggle that will prove to be Arslan’s last.
