Ghaznavids

Medieval Muslim Turkic dynasty and state

Ghaznavid Empire غزنویان Ġaznaviyān
977–1186
Turkic (military)[4]
Religion	Sunni Islam Hinduism (majority in India)
Government	Hereditary monarchy
Sultan
• 977–997	Sabuktigin (first)
• 1160–1186	Khusrau Malik (last)
Abu'l-Hasan Isfaraini (first mentioned)
• 12th century	Abu'l-Ma'ali Nasrallah (last mentioned)
Historical era	Medieval
• Established	977
• Disestablished	1186
Area
1029 estimate[5][6]	3,400,000 km2 (1,300,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Samanids Saffarid dynasty Ma'munids Farighunids Hindu Shahi Emirate of Multan Chaulukya dynasty Branches of Rashtrakuta dynasty Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty Habbari dynasty Seljuk Empire Ghurid dynasty

The Ghaznavid dynasty (

Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh

.

Sabuktigin's son,

Mas'ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began losing control over its western territories to the Seljuk Empire after the Battle of Dandanaqan

in 1040, resulting in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India.

In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to the

Ghuzz Turks who in turn lost it to Muhammad of Ghor. In response, the Ghaznavids fled to Lahore, their regional capital. In 1186, Lahore was conquered by the Ghurid sultan, Muhammad of Ghor, with its Ghaznavid ruler, Khusrau Malik

, imprisoned and later executed.

Jami al-Tawarikh, 1314 CE.^[9]

Rise to power

Two military families arose from the Turkic slave-guards of the

Abu al-Hasan Simjuri competed for the governorship of Khorasan and control of the Samanid Empire by placing on the throne emirs they could dominate after the death of Abd al-Malik I

in 961. His death created a succession crisis between his brothers.

A court party instigated by men of the scribal class – civilian ministers rather than Turkic generals – rejected the candidacy of Alp Tigin for the Samanid throne. Mansur I was installed instead, and Alp Tigin prudently retired to south of the Hindu Kush, where he captured Ghazna and became the ruler of the city as a Samanid authority.^[11] The Simjurids enjoyed control of Khorasan south of the Amu Darya but were hard-pressed by a third great Iranian dynasty, the Buyid dynasty, and were unable to survive the collapse of the Samanids and the subsequent rise of the Ghaznavids.

Abu 'Ali Simjuri of the Samanid Empire. Jami' al-tawarikh

, 1306-1314

The struggles of the Turkic slave generals for mastery of the throne with the help of shifting allegiance from the court's ministerial leaders both demonstrated and accelerated the Samanid decline. Samanid weakness attracted into Transoxiana the Karluks, a Turkic people who had recently converted to Islam. They occupied Bukhara in 992, establishing in Transoxania the Kara-Khanid Khanate.^{[citation needed]}

Alp Tigin's died in 963, and after two ghulam governors and three years, his slave Sabuktigin became the governor of Ghazna.

Domination

Sabuktigin

Main article: Sabuktigin

Sabuktigin lived as a

Alptigin,^[14] who fled to Ghazna following a failed coup attempt, and conquered the city from the local Lawik rulers in 962.^[15] After Alptigin death, his son Abu Ishaq Ibrahim governed Ghazna for three years.^[16] His death was followed by the reign of a former ghulam of Alptigin, Bilgetigin. Bilgetigin's rule was so harsh the populace invited Abu Bakr Lawik back.^[16] It was through Sabuktigin's military ability that Lawik was removed, Bilgetigin was exiled, and Sabuktigin gained the governorship.^[17]

Once established as governor of Ghazna, Sabuktigin was asked to intervene in Khurasan, at the insistence of the Samanid emir, and after a victorious campaign received the governorships of Balkh, Tukharistan, Bamiyan, Ghur and Gharchistan.[18] Sabuktigin inherited a governorship in turmoil.^[19] In Zabulistan, the typical military fief system(mustaghall) were being changed into permanent ownership(tamlik) which resulted in the Turkic soldiery unwilling to take up arms.^[19] Sabuktigin reformed the system making them all a mustaghall-type fief.^[19] In 976, he ended the conflict between two Turkic ghulams at Bust and restored the original ruler.^[20] Later that same year, Sabuktigin campaigned against Qusdar, catching the ruler(possibly Mu'tazz b. Ahmad) off guard and obtaining an annual tribute from him.^[20]

After the death of Sabuktigin, his son by Alptigin's daughter, Ismail, was given Ghazna.^[d][22] Another son, Abu'l-Muzaffar Nasr, was given the governorship of Bust, while in Khorasan, the eldest son Mahmud, was given command of the army.^[18] Sabuktigin's intent was to ensure governorships for his family, despite the decaying influence of the Samanid Empire, and did not consider his dynasty as independent.^[18] Ismail, upon gaining his inheritance, quickly traveled to Bust and did homage to Emir Abu'l-Harith Mansur b. Nuh.^[22] Mahmud, who had been left out of any significant inheritance, proposed a division of power, to which Ismail refused.^[23] Mahmud marched on Ghazna and subsequently Ismail was defeated and captured in 998 at the Battle of Ghazni.^[21]

Mahmud, son of Sabuktigin

Main article: Mahmud of Ghazni

Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Jami' al-tawarikh

, 1306-1314.

In 998,

Ismaili Kingdom of Multan, Sindh, as well as some Buwayhid

territory.

By all accounts, the rule of Mahmud was the golden age and height of the Ghaznavid Empire. Mahmud carried out seventeen expeditions through northern India to establish his control and set up tributary states, and his raids also resulted in the looting of a great deal of plunder. He established his authority from the borders of Ray to Samarkand, from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna.

During Mahmud's reign (997–1030), the Ghaznavids settled 4,000

Turkmen families near Farana in Khorasan. By 1027, due to the Turkmen raiding neighbouring settlements, the governor of Tus, Abu l'Alarith Arslan Jadhib, led military strikes against them. The Turkmen were defeated and scattered to neighbouring lands.^[25] Still, as late as 1033, Ghaznavid governor Tash Farrash executed fifty Turkmen chiefs for raids into Khorasan.^[26]

Indian conquests

Main article: Ghaznavid campaigns in India

Mahmud of Ghazni led incursions deep into

Hindu Shahi in the Battle of Peshawar. In 1004-5, he invaded the Principality of Bhatiya and in 1006 the neighbouring Emirate of Multan.^[29] In 1008-9, he again vanquished the Hindu Shahis at the Battle of Chach, and established Governors in the conquered areas.^[29] In India, the Ghaznavids were called Turushkas ("Turks") or Hammiras (from the Arabic Amir "Commander").^[30]

In 1018, he laid waste the city of

Gurjara-Pratiharas, and then confronted the Chandelas, from whom he obtained the payment of tribute.^[34] In 1026, he raided and plundered the Somnath temple, taking away a booty of 20 million dinars.^[35][36]

The wealth brought back from Mahmud's

Abolfazl Beyhaghi, Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital and of the conqueror's munificent support of literature.^[37] Mahmud died in April 1030 and had chosen his son, Mohammed, as his successor.^[38]

Decline

Twin sons of Mahmud

Mahmud left the empire to his son Mohammed, who was mild, affectionate and soft. His brother,

Persia and Central Asia to the Seljuks, plunging the realm into a "time of troubles".^[11][39][40]

His last act was to collect all his treasures from his forts in hope of assembling an army and ruling from India, but his own forces plundered the wealth and he proclaimed his blind brother as king again. The two brothers now exchanged positions: Mohammed was elevated from prison to the throne, while Mas'ud was consigned to a dungeon after a reign of ten years and was assassinated in 1040. Mas'ud's son, Madood, was governor of Balkh, and in 1040, after hearing of his father's death, he came to Ghazni to claim his kingdom. He fought with the sons of the blind Mohammed and was victorious. However, the empire soon disintegrated and most kings did not submit to Madood. In a span of nine years, four more kings claimed the throne of Ghazni.

Ibrahim

Ghaznavids in Lashkari Bazar

Figures in the wall paintings from the Ghaznavid palace of Lashkari Bazar in central Afghanistan, probably built by Masud I (1030-41); with black-and-white line drawing of the left figure, by the discoverer Daniel Schlumberger (1978).^[41] The figures wear the typical Turkic attire.^[42]

In 1058, Mas'ud's son

Gahadvala of Kannauj.^[11]

He ruled until 1098.

Mas'ud III

Arslan for the throne at the Battle of Ghazni

in 1117.

Sultan Bahram Shah

Ghorid King, conquered the city in 1151, in revenge for his brother Kutubbuddin's death, who was son-in-law of the king but was publicly punished and killed for a minor offence. Ala al-Din Husayn then razed the city, burning it for 7 days, after which he became known as "Jahānsuz" (World Burner). Ghazni was restored to the Ghaznavids by the intervention of the Seljuks, who came to the aid of Bahram.^[11] Ghaznavid struggles with the Ghurids continued in subsequent years as they nibbled away at Ghaznavid territory, and Ghazni and Zabulistan were lost to a group of Oghuz Turks before being captured by the Ghurids.^[11] Ghazni fell to the Ghurids around 1170.^[43][44]

Late Ghaznavids

Main article: Siege of Lahore (1186)

Ghurid invasion of the subcontinent.^[45][46]

After the fall of Ghazni in 1163, the Ghaznavids established themselves in Lahore, their regional capital for Indian territories since its conquest by Mahmud of Ghazni, which became the new capital of the Late Ghaznavids.^[43] Ghaznavid power in northwestern India continued until the Ghurid conquest of Lahore by Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik.^[11] Both Khusrau Malik and his son were imprisoned and summarily executed in Firuzkuh in 1191, extinguishing the Ghaznavid lineage.^[47]

Military and tactics

The core of the Ghaznavid army was primarily made up of Turks,

Like the other dynasties that rose out of the remains of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Ghaznavid administrative traditions and military practice came from the Abbasids. The Arabian horses, at least in the earliest campaign, were still substantial in Ghaznavid military incursions, especially in dashing raids deep into hostile territory. There is a record of '6000 Arab horse' being sent against king Anandapala in 1008, and evidence of this Arabian cavalry persists until 1118 under the Ghaznavid governor in Lahore.^[52]

Due to their access to the

Persian literary culture enjoyed a renaissance under the Ghaznavids during the 11th century.[61]^[62][63] The Ghaznavid court was so renowned for its support of Persian literature that the poet Farrukhi traveled from his home province to work for them.^[64] The poet Unsuri's short collection of poetry was dedicated to Sultan Mahmud and his brothers Nasr and Yaqub.^[65] Another poet of the Ghaznavid court, Manuchehri, wrote numerous poems about the merits of drinking wine.^[66]

Sultan Mahmud, modelling the Samanid Bukhara as a cultural center, made Ghazni into a center of learning, inviting Ferdowsi and al-Biruni. He even attempted to persuade Avicenna, but was refused.^[67] Mahmud preferred that his fame and glory be publicized in Persian and hundreds of poets assembled at his court.^[68] He brought whole libraries from Rayy and Isfahan to Ghazni and even demanded that the Khwarizmshah court send its men of learning to Ghazni.^[69] Due to his invasion of Rayy and Isfahan, Persian literary production was inaugurated in Azerbaijan and Iraq.^[70]

The Ghaznavids continued to develop historical writing in Persian that had been initiated by their predecessors, the

The 16th century Persian historian, Firishta, records Sabuktigin's genealogy as descended from the Sasanian kings: "Subooktu-geen, the son of Jookan, the son of Kuzil-Hukum, the son of Kuzil-Arslan, the son of Ferooz, the son of Yezdijird, king of Persia." However, modern historians believe this was an attempt to connect himself with the history of old Persia.^[76]

Historian Bosworth explains: "In fact with the adoption of Persian administrative and cultural ways the Ghaznavids threw off their original Turkish steppe background and became largely integrated with the Perso-Islamic tradition."^[77] As a result, Ghazni developed into a great centre of Arabic learning.^[4]

With Sultan Mahmud's invasions of North India, Persian culture was established at Lahore, which later produced the famous poet, Masud Sa'd Salman.^[56] Lahore, under Ghaznavid rule in the 11th century, attracted Persian scholars from Khorasan, India and Central Asia and became a major Persian cultural centre.^[78][67] It was also during Mahmud's reign that Ghaznavid coinage began to have bilingual legends consisting of Arabic and Devanagari script.^[18] The entire range of Persianate institutions and customs that would come to characterize the political economy of most of India would be implemented by the later Ghaznavids.^[79]

The Persian culture established by the Ghaznavids in Ghazna and Eastern Afghanistan survived the Ghurid invasion in the 12th century and endured until the invasion of the Mongols.^[80]

Legacy