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Mahmud of Ghazna

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Mahmud and Ayaz. The Sultan is to the right, shaking the hand of the sheykh, with Ayaz standing behind him. The figure to his right is Shah Abbas I who reigned about 600 years later.
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran

Mahmud of Ghazni (Persian: محمود غزنوی Maḥmūd-e Ghaznawī) (November 2, 971 - April 30, 1030), also known as Yāmīn al-Dawlah Maḥmūd (in full: Yāmīn al-Dawlah Abd al-Qāṣim Maḥmūd Ibn Sebük Tegīn), was the founder of the Ghaznavid Empire, which he ruled from 997 until his death. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni (now in Afghanistan) into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which extended from Afghanistan into most of Iran as well as Pakistan and regions of North-West India. He was also the first ruler to carry the title Sultan ("authority"), signifying the extent of his power, though preserving the ideological link to the suzerainty of the Caliph.

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[edit] Military campaigns

In 994, Mahmud joined his father Sebüktigin in the capture of Khorasan from the rebel Fa'iq in aid of the Samanid Emir, Nuh II. During this period the Samanid state became highly unstable, with shifting internal political tides as various factions vied for control, the chief among them being Abu'l-Qasim Simjuri, Fa'iq, Abu Ali[citation needed], the General Behtuzun as well as the neighbouring Buyids and Qarakhanids.

[edit] Consolidation of rule

Sultan Mahmud's first campaign, in which he was defeated, was against the Qarakhanid Empire who controlled the northern portion of his Empire. After his defeat he enlisted the alliance of the Seljuk Turks in southern Soghdia and Khwarazm who aided him in securing the north by diplomacy (998). In 999 'Abd al-Malik II of the Samanids engaged in hostilities with Mahmud over Khorasan after political alliances shifted under a new Samanid Emir. These forces were defeated when the Qarakhanids under Nasr Khan[citation needed] invaded them from the north. He then solicited an alliance which was cemented by his marriage to Nasr Khan's daughter.

Coins of Yamin ud-Daulah Mahmud, circa 998 AD - 1030 AD, AR Dirham,Issued from Gazani.
Obv: Arabic Legends : 'Muhammad Rasul/Allah Yamin al-Daw/la w Amin al-Milla/Mahmud'. Rev: Arabic Legends :'Al-Kadir billah ' .

[edit] The Multan and Hindu Shahi struggles

Mahmud's first campaign to the south was against the Ismaili Fatimid Kingdom at Multan in a bid to curry political favor and recognition with the Abbassid Caliphate engaged with the Fatimids elsewhere. Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi Dynasty in modern-day Pakistan (Lahore and Kashmir) at this point attempted to gain retribution, for an earlier military defeat at the hands of Mahmud's father, who controlled Ghazni in the late 980s, that had lost him extensive territory. His son Anandapala succeeded him and continued the struggle, assembling a powerful confederacy which was defeated once more at Lahore in 1008 bringing Mahmud control of the Hindu Shahi dominions of Updhanpura.[1]

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 as a prophet can be found. After the initial destruction and pillage, Buddhists, Jains and Hindus were granted protected subject status as Dhimmis. By that time, however, most of the centers of buddhist and Hindu learning were already destroyed.[2]

[edit] Ghaznavid campaigns in the Indian Subcontinent

Following the defeat of the Rajput Confederacy, after deciding to teach them all a lesson for combining against him, discovering that they were rich, and that their temples were great repositories of wealth, Mahmud then set out on regular expeditions against them, leaving the conquered kingdoms in the hands of Hindu vassals annexing only the Punjab region.[1] He also vowed to raid India every year.

Mahmud had already had relationships with the leadership in Balkh through marriage. 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.

The Indian kingdoms of Nagarkot, Thanesar, Kannauj, Gwalior, and Ujjain 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.

The later invasions of Mahmud were specifically directed to temple towns as Indian temples were depositories of great wealth and the Economic and Ideological Centers of Gravity for the Hindus, Destroying them would destroy the will power of the Hindus attacking the Empire since Mahmud never kept a permanent prescience in the Subcontinent; Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, Kalinjar and Somnath were all thus raided. Mahmud's armies stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them at Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, Narunkot and Dwarka. During the period of Mahmud invasion, the Sindhi Swarankar Community and other Hindus who escaped conversion fled from Sindh to escape sectarian violence, and settled in various villages in the district of Kutch, in modern-day Gujarat, India.

[edit] Relationship with Ayaz

Main article: Malik Ayaz

It is related that Mahmud fell in love with a young male slave by the name of Ayaz. The love he bore his favorite, and the latter's devotion, became a staple of Islamic lore, emblematic of ideal love affairs. The Sultan, in later love poetry was transformed into a symbol of "a slave to his slave."[3] 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.[3]

A poem by Allama Iqbal also mentions this in the context of egalitarianism in Islam in the verse below:

Aa gaya ain ladai mein agar Waqt-e-Namaz,
 Qiblaru hoke zameen-bos hui Qaum-e-Hejaz,
 Ek hi saf mein khade ho gaye Mahmud-o-Ayaz,
 Na koi Banda raha aur na koi Banda-Nawaz

(In the midst of raging battle if the time came to pray,
 Hejazis turned to Mecca, kissed the earth and ceased from the fray,
 Sultan and slave in single file stood side by side,
 Then no servant was nor master, nothing did them divide)

[edit] Political challenges and his death

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 Seljuqs.

Sultan Mahmud died on April 30, 1030. His mausoleum is located at Ghazni in modern Afghanistan.[4]

[edit] Campaign timeline

As a Prince

  • 994: Gained the title of Saif-ud-daula and became Governor of Khorasan under service to Nuh II of the Samanids in civil strife
  • 995: The Samanid rebels Fa'iq (leader of a court faction that had defeated Alptigin's nomination for Emir) and Abu Ali expel Mahmud from Nishapur. Mahmud and Sabuktigin defeat Samanid rebels at Tus.

As a Ruler

Note: A historical narrative states in this battle, under the onslaught of the Gakhar tribe, Mahmud's army was about to retreat when Jayapala's son King Anandapala's elephant took flight and turned the tide of the battle.
  • 1010: Ghur; against Mohammad ibn Sur
  • 1010: Multan revolts. Abul Fatah Dawood imprisoned for life at Ghazni.
  • 1011: Thanesar
  • 1012: Joor-jistan: Captures Sar(Czar??)-Abu-Nasr
  • 1012: Demands and receives remainder of the province of Khorasan from the Abassid Caliph. Then demands Samarkand as well but is rebuffed.
  • 1013: Bulnat: Defeats Trilochanpala.
  • 1015: Ghaznis expedition to Kashmir fails. Fails to take the Lohara[citation needed] fort at Lokote in the hills leading up to the valley from the west.
  • 1015: Khwarezm: Marries his sister to Abul Abbas Mamun of Khwarezm who dies in the same year in a rebellion. Moves to quell the rebellion and installs a new ruler and annexes a portion.
  • 1017: Kannauj, Meerut, and Muhavun on the Yamuna, Mathura and various other regions along the route. While moving through Kashmir, he levies troops from the vassal prince for his onward march. Kannauj and Meerut submit without a fight.
  • 1021: Kalinjar attacks Kannauj: he marches to their aid and finds the last Shahi King Trilochanpala encamped as well. No battle, the opponents leave their baggage trains and withdraw from the field. Also fails to take the fort of Lokote again. Takes Lahore on his return. Trilochanpala flees to Ajmer. First Muslim governors appointed east of the Indus River.
  • 1023: Lahore, Kalinjar, Gwalior: No battles, exacts tribute. Trilochanpala, the grandson of Jayapala is assassinated by his own troops. Official annexation of Punjab by Ghazni. Also fails to take the Lohara fort on the western border of Kashmir for the second time.
  • 1024: Ajmer, Nehrwala, Kathiawar: This raid was his last major campaign. The concentration of wealth at Somnath was renowned, and consequently it became an attractive target for Mahmud, as it had previously deterred most invaders. The temple and citadel were sacked, and most of its defenders massacred.
  • 1024: Somnath: Mahmud sacked the temple and is reported to have personally hammered the temple's gilded Lingam to pieces and the stone fragments were carted back to Ghazni, where they were incorporated into the steps of the city's new Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque) in 1026. He placed a new king on the throne in Gujarat as a tributary and took the old one to Ghazni as a prisoner. His return detoured across the Thar Desert to avoid the armies of Ajmer and other allies on his return.
  • 1025: Marched against the Jats of the Jood mountains who harried his army on its return from the sack of Somnath.
  • 1027: Rayy, Isfahan, Hamadan from the Buyid (Daylami) Dynasty.
  • 1028, 1029: Merv, Nishapur lost to Seljuk Turks

Mahmud's campaigns seem to have been motivated by both religious zeal against both the Fatimids Shiites and non-Muslims; Buddhists, Jains and Hindus. His principal drive remained the Ismaili Shiites, Buyid Iran as well as favor and recognition of independence from the Abbassid Caliphate. The wealth plundered from the Rajput Confederacy and his Indian campaigns went a long way towards meeting those ends. By 1027, Mahmud had accomplished this as well as capturing most of modern-day Pakistan and North- Western India as well as obtaining formal recognition of Ghazni's sovereignty from the Abbasid Khalifah, al-Qadir Billah, as well as the title of Yameen-ud Daula.

[edit] Regional attitudes towards Mahmud's memory

Wikisource
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

In Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, Mahmud is celebrated as a hero and a great patron of the arts, architecture, literature, and Persian revivalism as well as a vanguard of Islam and a paragon of virtue and piety who established the standard of Islam upon heathen land. His Lion and Sun is a national symbol in Iran today.[citation needed]

In India Mahmud is depicted as a Muslim villain and barbarian, bent upon the loot and plunder of the Hindu population. Over the past century in India, a great deal of material has emerged on Mahmud's barbaric campaigns, casualties, temple destruction, and slavery[citation needed].

[edit] Legacy

Under his reign the region broke away cleanly from the Samanid sphere of influence and hastened their end. While he nominally acknowledged the Abbassids as Caliph as a matter of form, he was also granted the title Sultan as recognition of his independence.

By the end of his reign, the Ghaznavid Empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to Samarkand in the north-east, and from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna. Although his raids carried his forces across the Indian Subcontinent, only the Punjab and Sindh in modern-day Pakistan, came under his permanent rule; Kashmir, the Doab, Rajasthan and Gujarat remained under the control of the local Rajput dynasties.

The booty 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, the first centre of Persian literature[3], into one of the leading cities of Central Asia, patronizing scholars, establishing colleges, laying out gardens, and building mosques, palaces, and caravansaries. He patronized Ferdowsi to write the Shahnameh; and, after his expedition across the Gangetic plains in 1017, of Al-Biruni to compose his Tarikh Al-Hind in order to understand the Indians and their beliefs.

On April 30, 1030, Sultan Mahmud died in Ghazni, at the age of 59. 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 Hanafi school of thought was favoured. The dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan, Dari, was made the official language.

The Ghaznavid Empire was ruled by his successors for 157 years, but after Mahmud it never attained the same splendour and power. The expanding Seljuk Turkish empire absorbed most of the Ghaznavid west. The Ghorids captured Ghazni in 1150 A.D., 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.

Modern Pakistan has named one of its short-range ballistic missiles Ghaznavi, in honour of him.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b P. M. ( Peter Malcolm) Holt, Bernard Lewis, The Cambridge History of Islam, Cambridge University Press, Apr 21, 1977, ISBN 0-521-29137-2 pg 3-4.
  2. ^ Alexander Berzin, Berzin Archives, The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire, Part III: The Spread of Islam among and by the Turkic Peoples (840 - 1206 CE) [1]
  3. ^ a b "arts, Islamic." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Oct. 2006 [2].
  4. ^ Sultan Mahmud's Mausoleum in Ghazni, Afghanistan

[edit] References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Ferishta, History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power[4]
  • Alexander Berzin, Berzin Archives: The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire, 2001 [5]
  • McLeod, John (2002). The History of India. London: Greenwood Press. ISBN-0-313-31459-4.

[edit] External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni
Preceded by:
Ismail of Ghazni		 Ghaznavid Ruler
997–1030		 Followed by:
Mohammad
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmud_of_Ghazna"
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