Mahmud of Ghazni
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Image:Mahmud and Ayaz and Shah Abbas I.jpg
Mahmud of Ghazni (Persian: محمود غزنوی) (October 2 971–April 30 1030), also known as Yamin ad-Dawlah Mahmud (in full: Yamin ad-Dawlah Abd al-Qasim Mahmud Ibn Sebük Tigin) was the ruler of Ghazni from 997 until his death. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni (in present-day Afghanistan) into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which included today's Afghanistan, most of modern Iran, and parts of Pakistan and northern India.
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Lineage
Mahmud's grandfather was Alptigin, a Turkic general from Balkh in Turkestan who crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to seize Ghazni, located strategically on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. Alptigin was succeeded in 977 by his son Sabuktigin, who enlarged upon his Alptigin's conquests, extending his domain north to Balkh, west to Kandahar and Khorasan, and east to the Indus River. Sabuktigin was recognized by the Caliph in Baghdad as governor of his dominions. Sultan Alptigin died in 997, and was succeeded by his younger son Sultan Ismail of Ghazni. Mahmud rebelled against his younger brother, Sultan Ismail of Ghazni, and took over the Ghazni as the new Sultan.
Military campaigns
Sultan Mahmud's first campaign was against the Qarakhanid Empire in the North to his Empire. After his defeat he had to enlist the alliance of Seljuk Turks in southern Soghdia and Khwarazm and diplomatically secure his north by 998. His first campaign to the south against the Ismaili Fatimid Kingdom at Multan in a bid to curry political favour and recognition with the Abbassid Caliphate engaged with the Fatimids elsewhere. Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi Dynasty of Gandhara at this point attempted to gain retribution for an earlier military defeats at the hands of Ghazni under Mehmud's father in the late 980s that lost Gandhara, the Khyber Pass region as far east as the Indus.
Mahmud had already had relationships with the leadership in Balkh through marriage, and its local Emir, Abu Nasr Mohammad, offered his services to the Sultan and his daughter to Mahmud's son, Muhammad. After Nasr’s death Mahmud brought Balkh under his leadership. This alliance greatly helped him during his expeditions into Northern India.
[Help Requested to Record his Campaigns]
- 997 Qarakhanid Empire
Indian Campaigns
- 1001 Gandhara Sultan Mahmud defeats Jayapala at Peshawar and Jayapala commits suicide, but heirs ally with other Rajas to fight Mahmud.
- 1004 Mahmud Captures Bhatiya and Multan from the Fatimids in Punjab.
- 1008 Mahmud defeats the Rajput Confederacy (Ujjain, Gwalior, Kalinjar, Kannauj, Delhi, Ajmer etc.) in battle between Und and Peshawar, and captures the Shahi treasury at Kangra in the Punjab Hill States.
- Note: A historical narrative states in this battle, under the onslaught of the Khokar tribe Mahmud's army was about to retreat when King Anandpala's [Jayapala's son] elephant took flight and turned the tide of the battle.
- 1009 Nagarkot
- 1012 Thanesar
- 1013 Defeated the last Shahi King Trilocanpala
- 1015 Kashmire Valley
- 1018 Mathura, Kanauj
- 1021 Kalingar. Defeated the last Shahi King Trilochanpala, the grandson of Jayapala who is assassinated by his own troops and official annexation of Punjab by Ghazni. Also fails to take Kashmir from the First Lohara Dynasty.
- 1023 Western Uttar Pradesh Mahmud of Ghazni's army is defeated in western Uttar Pradesh by the armies of Rajendra Chola (A Tamil monarch whose Chola Empire stretched from Southern Maldives to the Himalayas, and East as far as Cambodia). This blocked Ghazni's expansion eastward for the remainder of his reign.
- 1025 Kathiawar. This raid was his last major campaign, and took him across the Thar Desert.The concentration of wealth at Somnath was renowned, and consequently it became an attractive target for Mahmud, and had previously deterred most invaders. The temple and citadel were sacked, and most of its defenders massacred; Mahmud personally hammered the temple's gilded lingam to pieces (whose mystical idol was apparently levitated by magnetic forces), and the stone fragments were carted back to Ghazni, where they were incorporated into the steps of the city's new Jamiah Masjid (Friday mosque). In 1026
- 1025 Jat Rebellion.
End of Indian Campaigns
Mahmud's campaigns seem to be motivated by both religious zeal against both the Fatimids Shiites and non-muslims; Buddhists, Jains and Hindus. His principle drive remained the Shiites, Buyid Iran and favor and recognition of independence from the Abbassid Caliphate and the wealth plundered from the Rajput Confederacy went a long way towards these ends. By 1027, Mahmud had accomplished this as well as capturing most of Pakistan and North Western India and obtained formal recognition of Ghazni's sovereignty from the Abbasid Khalifah, al-Qadir Billah, as well as the title of [Need the titles]. There is considerable evidence from writings of Al-Biruni, Soghidan, Uyghur and Manichean texts that the Buddhists, Hindus and Jains were accepted as People of the Book and references to Buddha as Burxan or a prophet can be found. After the initial destruction and pillage Buddhists, Jains and Hindus were granted protected subject status as dhimmis.
The history of Mahmud is marked by a large number of civilian deaths [Needs references and details] and a large baggage train of slaves as plunder. This has led to the accusation that he attempted to convert non-Muslims by force. He is also on record for having vowed to raid Hind every year [Needs reference].
The later invasions of Mahmud were specifically directed to temple towns as Indian temples were depositories of great wealth, in cash, golden idols, diamonds, and jewellery; Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, Kalinjar and Somnath. Mahmud's armies routinely stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them; Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, and Dwarka.
The Indian kingdoms of Nagarkot, Thanesar, Kannawj and Kalinjar were all conquered and left in the hands of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Kings as vassal states and he was pragmatic enough not to shirk making alliances and enlisting local peoples into his armies at all ranks. Some of his raids were to quell rebellions by his newly acquired vassals.
The last four years of Mahmud's life were spent contending with the influx of Oghuz Turkic horse tribes from Central Asia, the Buyid Dynasty and rebellions by Seljuk Turks.
Relationship with Ayaz
It is related that Mahmud fell in love with a young male slave by the name of Ayaz. The love he bore his favourite, and the latter's devotion, became a staple of Islamic lore, emblematic of ideal love affairs. The Sultan, because of the power of his love, becomes "a slave to his slave." Ayaz became the paragon of the ideal beloved, and a model of purity in Sufi literature.
In 1021 the Sultan raised Ayaz to kingship, awarding him the throne of Lahore. The poet Sa'adi was among those celebrating the two.[1] "Under the Turkish Ghaznavid, Seljuk, and Khawarazmshah rulers of Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, pederasty was quite common in courtly circles." [2]
Legacy
By the end of his reign, his empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to Samarkand in the northeast, and from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna. Although his raids carried his forces across Indian sub-continent, only the Punjab and Sindh, modern Pakistan, came under his permanent rule; Kashmir, the Doab, Rajasthan and Gujarat remained under the control of the local Rajput dynasties.
The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians (e.g. Abolfazl Beyhaghi, Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the conqueror's munificent support of literature. he transformed Ghazni into one of the leading cities of Central Asia, patronizing scholars, establishing colleges, laying out gardens, and building mosques, palaces, and caravansaries.
On April 30, 1030, Sultan Mahmud died in Ghazni, at the age of 59 years. Sultan Mahmud had contracted malaria during his last invasion. The medical complication from malaria had caused lethal tuberculosis. He had been a gifted military commander, and during his rule, universities were founded to study various subjects such as mathematics, religion, the humanities, and medicine&. Islam was the main religion of his kingdom and the Perso-Afghan dialect Dari was made the official language.
The Ghaznavid Empire was ruled by his successors for 157 years, but after Mahmud it never reached anything like the same splendour and power. The expanding Seljuk Turkish empire absorbed most of the Ghaznavid west. The Persian Ghorids captured Ghazni c. 1150, and Muhammad Ghori captured the last Ghaznavid stronghold at Lahore in 1187. The Ghaznavids went on to live as the Nasher-Khans in their home of Ghazni until the 20th century.
Pakistan today has named one of its medium-range missiles in honour of him.
See also
- Islamic conquest of South Asia
- History of Afghanistan
- History of Pakistan
- History of India
- History of Iran
External links
References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.fa:سلطان محمود غزنوی bg:Махмуд Газневи fr:Mahmûd de Ghaznî