TheGhaznavid dynasty (Persian:غزنویانĠaznaviyān) was aPersianateMuslim dynasty ofTurkicmamluk origin.[b] It ruled theGhaznavid Empire or theEmpire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its greatest extent, extended from theOxus to theIndus Valley. The dynasty was founded bySabuktigin upon his succession to the rule ofGhazna after the death of his father-in-law,Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of theSamanid Empire fromBalkh.
Sabuktigin's son,Mahmud of Ghazni, expanded the Ghaznavid Empire to theAmu Darya, theIndus River and theIndian Ocean in the east and toRey andHamadan in the west. Under the reign ofMas'ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began losing control over its western territories to theSeljuk Empire after theBattle 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 theGhurid sultanAla al-Din Husayn. The Ghaznavids retook Ghazni, but lost the city to theGhuzz Turks who in turn lost it toMuhammad 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.
Ghaznavid portrait, Palace ofLashkari Bazar.Schlumberger noted that theturban, the small mouth and the strongly slanted eyes were characteristically Turkic.[12] 11th century
Two military families arose from the Turkic slave-guards of theSamanid Empire, theSimjurids and Ghaznavids, who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The Simjurids received anappanage in theKohistan region of easternKhorasan. The Samanid generals Alp Tigin andAbu al-Hasan Simjuri competed for the governorship of Khorasan and control of the Samanid Empire by placing on the throneemirs they could dominate after the death ofAbd 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 theHindu Kush, where he captured Ghazna and became the ruler of the city as a Samanid authority.[13] The Simjurids enjoyed control of Khorasan south of theAmu Darya but were hard-pressed by a third great Iranian dynasty, theBuyid dynasty, and were unable to survive the collapse of the Samanids and the subsequent rise of the Ghaznavids.
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 theKarluks, a Turkic people who had recently converted to Islam. They occupiedBukhara in 992, establishing in Transoxania theKara-Khanid Khanate.[14]
Alp Tigin's died in 963, and after two ghulam governors and three years, his slaveSabuktigin became the governor of Ghazna.
Sabuktigin lived as amamluk, Turkic slave-soldier,[15][c][16] during his youth and later married the daughter of his masterAlptigin,[17] who fled toGhazna following a failed coup attempt, and conquered the city from the localLawik rulers in 962.[18] After Alptigin death, his son Abu Ishaq Ibrahim governed Ghazna for three years.[19] His death was followed by the reign of a former ghulam of Alptigin, Bilgetigin. Bilgetigin's rule was so harsh the populace invitedAbu Bakr Lawik back.[19] It was through Sabuktigin's military ability that Lawik was removed, Bilgetigin was exiled, and Sabuktigin gained the governorship.[20]
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.[21] Sabuktigin inherited a governorship in turmoil.[22] 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.[22] Sabuktigin reformed the system making them all amustaghall-type fief.[22] In 976, he ended the conflict between two Turkic ghulams at Bust and restored the original ruler.[23] 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.[23]
After the death of Sabuktigin, his son by Alptigin's daughter,Ismail, was given Ghazna.[d][25] 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.[21] 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.[21] Ismail, upon gaining his inheritance, quickly traveled to Bust and did homage to Emir Abu'l-Harith Mansur b. Nuh.[25] Mahmud, who had been left out of any significant inheritance, proposed a division of power, to which Ismail refused.[26] Mahmud marched on Ghazna and subsequently Ismail was defeated and captured in 998 at theBattle of Ghazni.[24]
In 998,Mahmud, son of Sebuktigin, succeeded to the governorship, and Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty became perpetually associated with him. He emphasized his loyalty in a letter to the caliph, saying that the Samanids had only been replaced because of their treason.[27] Mahmud received the governorship of Khurasan and titles of Yamin al-Dawla and Amin al-Milla.[27] As a representative of caliphal authority, he championed Sunni Islam by campaigning against the Ismaili and Shi'ite Buyids.[27] He completed the conquest of the Samanid andShahi territories, including theIsmailiKingdom of Multan,Sindh, as well as someBuwayhid 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 ofRay toSamarkand, from theCaspian Sea to theYamuna.
During Mahmud's reign (997–1030), the Ghaznavids settled 4,000Turkmen 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.[28] Still, as late as 1033, Ghaznavid governorTash Farrash executed fifty Turkmen chiefs for raids into Khorasan.[29]
In 1018, he laid waste the city ofMathura, which was "ruthlessly sacked, ravaged, desecrated and destroyed".[34][35] According toMuhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, writing an "History of Hindustan" in the 16th-17th century, the city of Mathura was the richest in India. When it was attacked by Mahmud of Ghazni,"all the idols" were burnt and destroyed during a period of twenty days, gold and silver was smelted for booty, and the city was burnt down.[36] In 1018 Mahmud also capturedKanauj, the capital of thePratiharas, and then confronted theChandelas, from whom he obtained the payment of tribute.[37] In 1026, he raided and plundered theSomnath temple, taking away a booty of 20 million dinars.[38][39]
The wealth brought back from Mahmud'sIndian expeditions to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians (e.g.,Abolfazl Beyhaghi,Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital and of the conqueror's munificent support of literature.[40] Mahmud died in April 1030 and had chosen his son, Mohammed, as his successor.[41]
Decline
Twin sons of Mahmud
Coin of Mahmud minted in Ghazni. Most coins were minted inParwan, they were made of gold, silver, and copper. Mahmud was the first Muslim ruler to commission coinage featuring bilingual inscriptions and dates in both Arabic and Sanskrit/Devanagari.[4]
Mahmud left the empire to his son Mohammed, who was mild, affectionate and soft. His brother,Mas'ud, asked for three provinces that he had won by his sword, but his brother did not consent. Mas'ud had to fight his brother, and he became king, blinding and imprisoning Mohammed as punishment. Mas'ud was unable to preserve the empire and following a disastrous defeat at theBattle of Dandanaqan in 1040, he lost all the Ghaznavid lands inPersia and Central Asia to the Seljuks, plunging the realm into a "time of troubles".[13][42][43] 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 ofLashkari Bazar in central Afghanistan, probably built by Masud I (1030-41); with black-and-whiteline drawing of the left figure, by the discovererDaniel Schlumberger (1978).[44] The figures wear the typical Turkic attire.[45]
In 1058, Mas'ud's sonIbrahim, a great calligrapher who wrote the Koran with his own pen, became king. Ibrahim re-established a truncated empire on a firmer basis by arriving at a peace agreement with the Seljuks and a restoration of cultural and political linkages.[13] Under Ibrahim and his successors the empire enjoyed a period of sustained tranquility. Shorn of its western land, it was increasingly sustained by riches accrued from raids across Northern India, where it faced stiff resistance from Indian rulers such as theParamara ofMalwa and theGahadvala ofKannauj.[13] He ruled until 1098.
Map of the late Ghaznavids in 1100 A.D. during the succession ofMas'ud III
Mas'ud III
Mas'ud III became king for sixteen years, with no major event in his lifetime. Mas'ud built thePalace of Sultan Mas'ud III and one of theGhazni Minarets. Signs of weakness in the state became apparent when he died in 1115, with internal strife between his sons ending with the ascension of SultanBahram Shah as a Seljuk vassal.[13] Bahram Shah defeated his brotherArslan for the throne at theBattle of Ghazni in 1117.
Sultan Bahram Shah
Sultan Bahram Shah was the last Ghaznavid King, rulingGhazni, the first and main Ghaznavid capital, for thirty-five years. In 1148 he wasdefeated in Ghazni bySayf al-Din Suri, but he recaptured the capital the next year.Ala al-Din Husayn, aGhorid 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.[13] Ghaznavid struggles with the Ghurids continued in subsequent years as they nibbled away at Ghaznavid territory, and Ghazni andZabulistan were lost to a group ofOghuz Turks before being captured by the Ghurids.[13]Ghazni fell to the Ghurids around 1170.[46][47]
After the fall of Ghazni in 1163, the Ghaznavids established themselves inLahore, their regional capital for Indian territories since its conquest by Mahmud of Ghazni, which became the new capital of the Late Ghaznavids.[46] Ghaznavid power in northwestern India continued until the Ghurid conquest ofLahore byMuhammad of Ghor in 1186,deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik.[13] BothKhusrau Malik and his son were imprisoned and summarily executed inFirozkoh in 1191, extinguishing the Ghaznavid lineage.[50]
Military and tactics
The core of the Ghaznavid army was primarily made up of Turks,[51] as well as thousands of nativeAfghans who were trained and assembled from the area south of theHindu Kush in what is now Afghanistan.[52] During the rule of Sultan Mahmud, a new, larger military training center was established in Bost (nowLashkar Gah). This area was known forblacksmiths where war weapons were made. After capturing and conquering thePunjab region, the Ghaznavids began to employHindus in their army.[53]
TheKara-Khanid ruler "Ilig Khan" on horse, submitting to Mahmud of Ghazni, who is riding an elephant, in 1017. They agreed to partition formerSamanid territory along theOxus river.[54]Jami' al-tawarikh, circa 1306-14.
The Indian soldiers, whomRomila Thapar presumed to beHindus, were one of the components of the army with their commander calledsipahsalar-i-Hinduwan and lived in their own quarter of Ghazna practicing their own religion. Indian soldiers under their commander Suvendhray remained loyal to Mahmud. They were also used against a Turkic rebel, with the command given to a Hindu named Tilak according toBaihaki.[55]
Like the other dynasties that rose out of the remains of theAbbasid Caliphate, the Ghaznavid administrative traditions and military practice came from the Abbasids. TheArabian 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 inLahore.[56]
Due to their access to theIndus-Ganges plains, the Ghaznavids, during the 11th and 12th centuries, developed the first Muslim army to usewar elephants in battle.[57] The elephants were protected byarmour plating on their fronts. The use of these elephants was a foreign weapon in other regions that the Ghaznavids fought in, particularly in Central Asia.[58]
Although the dynasty was ofCentral Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughlyPersianised in terms of language, culture, literature and habits[e][60][f][61] and has been regarded as a "Persian dynasty".[g]
The Ghaznavid sultans were ethnicallyTurkish, but the sources, all inArabic orPersian, do not allow us to estimate the persistence of Turkish practices and ways of thought amongst them. Yet given the fact that the essential basis of the Ghaznavids' military support always remained their Turkish soldiery, there must always have been a need to stay attuned to their troops' needs and aspirations; also, there are indications of the persistence of some Turkish literary culture under the early Ghaznavids (Köprülüzade, pp. 56–57). The sources do make it clear, however, that the sultans' exercise of political power and the administrative apparatus which gave it shape came very speedily to be within the Perso-Islamic tradition of statecraft and monarchical rule, with the ruler as a distant figure, buttressed by divine favor, ruling over a mass of traders, artisans, peasants, etc., whose prime duty was obedience in all respects but above all in the payment of taxes. The fact that the personnel of thebureaucracy which directed the day-to-day running of the state, and which raised the revenue to support the sultans' life-style and to finance the professional army, werePersians who carried on the administrative traditions of the Samanids, only strengthened this conception of secular power.
Vessel with bull's head spout, Ghaznavid dynasty, late 11th to early 12th century, bronze. Linden-Museum – Stuttgart, Germany
Persianisation of the state apparatus was accompanied by the Persianisation of high culture at the Ghaznavid court... The level of literary creativity was just as high under Ebrāhīm and his successors up to Bahrāmšāh, with such poets as Abu’l-Faraj Rūnī, Sanāʾī, ʿOṯmān Moḵtārī, Masʿūd-e Saʿd-e Salmān, and Sayyed Ḥasan Ḡaznavī.[63] We know from the biographical dictionaries of poets (taḏkera-ye šoʿarā) that the court in Lahore of Ḵosrow Malek had an array of fine poets, none of whose dīvāns has unfortunately survived, and the translator into elegant Persian prose of Ebn Moqaffaʿ’s Kalīla wa Demna, namely Abu’l-Maʿālī Naṣr-Allāh b. Moḥammad, served the sultan for a while as his chief secretary.[64] The Ghaznavids thus present the phenomenon of a dynasty of Turkish slave origin which became culturally Persianised to a perceptibly higher degree than other contemporary dynasties of Turkish origin such asSaljuqs andQarakhanids.[13]
Persian literary culture enjoyed a renaissance under the Ghaznavids during the 11th century.[65][66][67] The Ghaznavid court was so renowned for its support of Persian literature that the poetFarrukhi traveled from his home province to work for them.[68] The poet Unsuri's short collection of poetry was dedicated toSultan Mahmud and his brothers Nasr and Yaqub.[69] Another poet of the Ghaznavid court,Manuchehri, wrote numerous poems about the merits of drinking wine.[70]
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 persuadeAvicenna, but was refused.[71] Mahmud preferred that his fame and glory be publicized in Persian and hundreds of poets assembled at his court.[72] He brought whole libraries from Rayy and Isfahan to Ghazni and even demanded that the Khwarizmshah court send its men of learning to Ghazni.[73] Due to his invasion of Rayy and Isfahan, Persian literary production was inaugurated inAzerbaijan andIraq.[74]
The Ghaznavids continued to develop historical writing in Persian that had been initiated by their predecessors, theSamanid Empire.[75] The historianAbu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi'sTarikh-e Beyhaqi, written in the latter half of the 11th century, is an example.[76]
Although the Ghaznavids were Turkic and their military leaders were generally of the same stock,[77] as a result of the original involvement ofSebuktigin andMahmud of Ghazni in Samanid affairs and in the Samanid cultural environment, the dynasty became thoroughly Persianized, so that in practice one cannot consider their rule over Iran one of foreign domination. They also copied their administrative system from the Samanids.[78] In terms of cultural championship and the support of Persian poets, they were more Persian than their ethnically-Iranian rivals, theBuyid dynasty, whose support of Arabic letters in preference to Persian is well known.[79]
The 16th century Persian historian,Firishta, records Sabuktigin'sgenealogy as descended from theSasanian kings: "Subooktu-geen, the son of Jookan, the son of Kuzil-Hukum, the son of Kuzil-Arslan, the son of Ferooz, the son ofYezdijird, king of Persia." However, modern historians believe this was an attempt to connect himself with the history of old Persia.[80]
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."[81] As a result,Ghazni developed into a great centre of Arabic learning.[5]
With Sultan Mahmud's invasions ofNorth India, Persian culture was established at Lahore, which later produced the famous poet,Masud Sa'd Salman.[60] Lahore, under Ghaznavid rule in the 11th century, attracted Persian scholars from Khorasan, India and Central Asia and became a major Persian cultural centre.[82][71] One of the most significant early works on Sufism, the Kashf al-mahjub, was written in Lahore by Abu al-Hasan Hujwiri al-Ghaznawi.[83] It was also during Mahmud's reign that Ghaznavid coinage began to have bilingual legends consisting of Arabic and Devanagari script.[21] 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.[84]
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.[85]
The Ghaznavids and other polities in continental Asiac. 1100
At its height, the Ghaznavid empire grew from the Oxus to the Indus Valley and was ruled from 977 to 1186. The history of the empire was written by Abu Nasr al-Utbi, who documented the Ghaznavid's achievements, including regaining lost territory from their rivals, theKara-Khanids, in present-day Iran and Afghanistan.[86]
Coinage ofMas'ud I of Ghazni (1030–1041), derived fromHindu Shahi designs, with the name of Mas'ud (Persian:مسعود) around the head of the horserider.
In addition to the wealth accumulated through raiding Indian cities, and exacting tribute from Indianrajas, the Ghaznavids also benefited from their position as an intermediary along the trade routes between China and theMediterranean. The Ghaznavid rulers are generally credited with spreading Islam into theIndian subcontinent.
They were, however, unable to hold power for long and by 1040 theSeljuk Empire had taken over theirPersian domains and a century later theGhurids took over their remaining sub-continental lands.
The Ghaznavid conquests facilitated the beginning of the Turko-Afghan period into India, which would be further conducted by theGhurids until the Turko-Afghans successfully established themselves in theDelhi Sultanate.[87][88]
Took the throne from his older brother Shirzad, but faced a rebellion from his other brother Bahram Shah, who was supported by the sultan of the Great Seljuq Empire,Ahmad Sanjar.[92]
16
Yamin ad-Dawlah یمین الدولہ Right-hand man of the state
Under Bahram-Shah, the Ghaznavid empire became atributary of theGreat Seljuq Empire. Bahram was assisted byAhmad Sanjar, sultan of the Great Seljuq empire, in securing his throne.[81]
^"Indeed, since the formation of the Ghaznavids state in the tenth century until the fall of Qajars at the beginning of the twentieth century, most parts of the Iranian cultural regions were ruled by Turkic-speaking dynasties most of the time. At the same time, the official language was Persian, the court literature was in Persian, and most of the chancellors, ministers, and mandarins were Persian speakers of the highest learning and ability."[3]
^The Ghaznavids also claimed ancestry from the lastSasanian Shah,Yazdgerd III,[9] but this was "a fictitious genealogy" they themselves had promulgated.[10]
^The Ghaznavids were a dynasty of Turkic slave-soldiers...[15]
^Kaushik Roy states Turkic nobles at Balkh chose Ismail as Emir.[24]
^"The Ghaznavids inherited Samanid administrative, political, and cultural traditions and laid the foundations for a Persianate state in northern India. ..."[60]
^Nizam al-Mulk also attempted to organise the Saljuq administration according to the Persianate Ghaznavid model.[61]
^Firdawsi was writing his Shah-nama. One of the effects of the renaissance of the Persian spiritevoked by this work was that the Ghaznavids were also persianized and thereby became a Persian dynasty"[62]
^Daniel Schlumberger, Lashkari Bazar: une Résidence Royale Ghaznévide et Ghoride, Mémoires de la Délégation Archéologique Française, XVIII (Paris: Boccard, 1978) vol. 1, plate 123
^Bosworth, C. E. (1 January 1998).History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. p. 106.ISBN978-92-3-103467-1.An agreement was reached at this point with the Karakhanid Ilig Nasrb. Ali making the Oxus the boundary between the two empires [the Karakhanids and the Ghaznavids], for the shrunken Samanid amirate came to an inglorious end when the Ilig occupied Bukhara definitively in 999
^Bosworth 1963, p. 4, "In this book I have discussed the Ghaznavids as a Turkish dynasty, of slave origin, who established themselves on the eastern margins of the Iranian world [...] these Turkish condotierri became rulers of what was, at Mahmud's death in 1030, the most extensive empire known in the eastern Islamic world, since the dismemberment of the Abassid Caliphate".
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Further reading
Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1963)The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran 994–1040 Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh,OCLC3601436
M. Ismail Marcinkowski (2003)Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey Pustaka Nasional, Singapore,ISBN9971-77-488-7
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ghazni".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 917–918.
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