Everything about Ghaznavids totally explained
The
Ghaznavid Empire was a
Khorāṣānian Sunni Muslim state, founded by a dynasty of
Turkic mamluk.
The dynasty was founded by
Sebuktigin upon his succession to rule of territories centered aound the city of
Ghazni from his father-in-law
Alp Tigin; a break-away ex-general of the Ṣāmānī sultans. Sebuktigin's son,
Shah Mahmoud, expanded the empire in the region that stretched from the
Oxus river to the
Indus Valley and the
Indian Ocean; and in the west it reached
Rayy and
Hamadan. Under the reign of
Mas'ud I it experienced major territorial losses. It lost its western territories to the
Seljuqs in the
Battle of Dandanaqan resulting in a restriction of its holdings to
Afghanistan,
Balochistan and the
Punjab. In
1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to Ala'uddin Hussain of
Ghor and the capital was moved to
Lahore until its subsequent capture by the
Ghurids in 1186.
Rise to power
Two military families arose from the
Turkic Slave-Guards of the
Samanids — the Simjurids and Ghaznavids — who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The
Simjurids received an appanage in the
Khohistan region of eastern
Khorasan.
Alp Tigin founded the Ghaznavid fortunes when he established himself at Ghazna (modern
Ghazni,
Afghanistan) in 962. He and
Abu al-Hasan Simjuri, as
Samanid generals, competed with each other for the governorship of
Khorasan and control of the Samanid empire by placing on the throne
emirs they could dominate when
Abdul Malik I of Samanid died in 961. But when the
Samanid Emir
Abdul Malik I died in 961 CE it created a succession crisis between Abdul Malik's brothers. A court party instigated by men of the scribal class—civilian ministers as contrasted with Turkic generals—rejected Alp Tigin's candidate for the Samanid throne.
Mansur I was installed, and Alp Tigin prudently retired to his fief of Ghazna. The Simjurids enjoyed control of Khorasan south of the
Oxus but were hard-pressed by a third great Iranian dynasty, the
Buwayhids, and were unable to survive the collapse of the Samanids and the 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
Transoxania the
Qarluq Turks, who had recently converted to Islam. They occupied Bukhara in 992 to establish in Transoxania the
Qarakhanid, or Ilek Khanid, dynasty. Alp Tigin had been succeeded at Ghazna by Sebüktigin (died 997).
Sebüktigin's son
Mahmud made an agreement with the Qarakhanids whereby the Oxus was recognized as their mutual boundary.
Domination
Saboktekin made himself lord of nearly all the present territory of
Afghanistan and of the
Punjab by conquest of
Samanid and
Shahi lands. In
997,
Mahmud, the son of Sebük Tigin, succeeded his father upon his death, and with him Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty have become perpetually associated. He completed the conquest of
Samanid,
Shahi lands, the
Ismaili Kingdom of
Multan,
Sindh as well as some Buwayhid territory. Under him all accounts was the golden age and the height of the Ghaznevid Empire. Mahmud carried out seventeen expeditions through northern
India establishing his control and setting up tributary states. His raids also resulted in the looting of a great deal of plunder. From the borders of
Kurdistan to
Samarkand, from the
Caspian Sea to the
Yamuna, he established his authority.
The wealth brought back from the Indian expeditions to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians (for example
Abolfazl Beyhaghi,
Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the conquerors munificent support of literature. Mahmud died in (
1030). Even though there was some revival of importance under Ibrahim (1059-1099), the empire never reached anything like the same splendor and power. It was soon overshadowed by the
Seljuqs of
Iran.
Decline
Mahmud's son
Mas'ud was unable to preserve the empire and following a disastrous defeat at the
Battle of Dandanaqan in (
1040) lost all the Ghaznavid lands in
Iran and
Central Asia to the Seljuks and plunged the realm into a "Time of troubles". Mas'ud's son Ibrahim who 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.
Under Ibrahim and his successors saw a period of sustained tranquility for the empire. Shorn of it's western land it was increasingly sustained by riches accrued from raids across Northern India where it faced stiff resistance from
Rajput rulers such as the
Paramara of
Malwa and the
Gahadvala of
Kannauj.
Signs of weakness in the state became apparent when Masud III died in
1115 with internal strife between his sons ending with the ascension of Sultan Bahram Shah as a Seljuk Vassal.
Sultan Bahram Shah, was the last Ghaznavid King ruling
Ghazni, the first and main Ghaznavid capital. Ala'uddin Hussain, a
Ghorid King, conquered the city of Ghazni in 1151, for the revenge of his brother's death. He razed all the city, and burned it for 7 days, after which he got famous as
"Jahānsoz" (
World Burner). Ghazni was restored to the Ghaznavids by the intervention of the Seljuks who came to Behrams aid.
Ghaznavid struggles with the Ghurids continued in the subsequent years as they nibbled away at Ghaznavid territory and Ghazni and
Zabulistan was lost a group of
Oghuz Turks before captured by the Gurids.
Ghaznavid power in northern
India continued until the conquest of
Lahore from Khusrau Malik in 1186.
Legacy
The Ghaznevid Empire was the first significant Islamic empire in Central Asia and marked a break of political control from the
Abassids and
Baghdad. The Ghaznavid empire grew to cover much of present-day
Iran,
Afghanistan, and northwest
India and
Pakistan, and the Ghaznavids are generally credited with launching Islam into
Hindu-dominated India. In addition to the wealth accumulated through raiding Indian cities, and exacting tribute from Indian
Rajas the Ghaznavids also benefited from their position as an intermediary along the trade routes between
China and the
Mediterranean. They were however unable to hold power for long and by 1040 the
Seljuks had taken over their
Persian domains and a century later the
Ghurids took over their remaining sub-continental lands.
The Ghaznavid Dynasty
- Alptigin (963-977)
- Sebük Tigin, (Abu Mansur) (977-997)
- Ismail (997-998)
- Mahmud (Yamin ud-Dawlah ) (998-1030)
- Mohammed (Jalal ud-Dawlah) (1030-1031)
- Mas'ud I (Shihab ud-Dawlah) (1031–1041)
- Mohammed (Jalal ud-Dawlah (second time) (1041)
- Maw'dud (Shihab ud-Dawlah) (1041-1050)
- Mas'ud II (1050)
- Ali (Baha ud-Dawlah) (1050)
- Abd ul-Rashid (Izz ud-Dawlah) (1053)
- Toğrül (Tughril) (Qiwam ud-Dawlah) (1053)
- Farrukhzad (Jamal ud-Dawlah) (1053-1059)
- Ibrahim (Zahir ud-Dalah) (1059-1099)
- Mas'ud III (Ala ud-Dawlah) (1099-1115)
- Shirzad (Kemal ud-Dawlah) (1115)
- Arslan Shah (Sultan ud-Dawlah) (1115-1118)
- Bahram Shah (Yamin ud-Dawlah ) (1118-1152)
- Khusrau Shah (Mu'izz ud-Dawlah) (1152-1160)
- Khusrau Malik (Taj ud-Dawlah) (1160-1187)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ghaznavids'.
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