Ghaznavid Empire
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The Ghaznavid Empire (Persian: سلسله غزنویان ) was a Khorāṣānian Sunni Muslim state[1] that existed from 962 to 1187, centered in what is now Afghanistan, and ruled much of Persia, Transoxania, and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. It was created and ruled by a Persianized mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin.
The dynasty was founded by Alp Tigin, a military general of the Ṣāmānī sultans, with the city Ghazna as its capital. After the Battle of Dandanaqan in 1039, it lost its western territories to the Seljuqs and moved its capital to Lahore, thus shifting its rule from Khorāṣān to the Panjāb.
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[edit] 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 Kuhestan (Quhestan) region of southern 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. Abu al-Hasan 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. .
[edit] 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 (e.g. 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), and his son Mas'ud was unable to control the conquered lands and lost the Battle of Dandanaqan in (1040). Even though there was some revival of importance under Ibrahim (1059-1099), the empire never reached anything like the same splendour and power. It was soon overshadowed by the Seljuqs of Iran.
Sultan Bahram Shah was the last Ghaznavid King ruling Ghazna, the first and main Ghaznavid capital. Ala'uddin Ghori, 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. Ghaznavid power in northern India continued until the conquest of Lahore in 1187.
After their loss of power, the remaining Ghaznavids stayed in Ghazni, where – over the centuries – a new tribe evolved, namely the Ghilzai tribe, first documented in the 16th century. The historical sources are quite unclear but it is assumed that it was the Nasher, the former Ghaznavid Khans, who ruled the Ghilzai Kharoti tribe for ten centuries. They became prominent again between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Khans founded several dynasties, among them the Hotaki Dynasty, ruling Persia and the (Lodi) Moghul Dynasty in Delhi.
[edit] Legacy
The Ghaznevid Empire was the first significant Islamic empire in 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.
[edit] The Ghaznavid Dynasty
- Alptigin (963-977)
- Abu Mansur Sebük Tigin Khan (977-997)
- Ismail (997-998)
- Yamin ud-Dawlah Mahmud (998-1030)
- Jalal ud-Dawlah Mohammed (1030-1031)
- Shihab ud-Dawlah Mas'ud I (1031–1041)
- Jalal ud-Dawlah Mohammed (second time) (1041)
- Shihab ud-Dawlah Maw'dud (1041-1050)
- Mas'ud II (1050)
- Baha ud-Dawlah Ali (1050)
- Izz ud-Dawlah Abd ul-Rashid (1053)
- Qiwam ud-Dawlah Toğrül (Tughril) (1053)
- Jamal ud-Dawlah Farrukhzad (1053-1059)
- Zahir ud-Dalah Ibrahim (1059-1099)
- Ala ud-Dawlah Mas'ud III (1099-1115)
- Kemal ud-Dawlah Shirzad (1115)
- Sultan ud-Dawlah Arslan Shah (1115-11180
- Yamin ud-Dawlah Bahram Shah (1118-1152)
- Mu'izz ud-Dawlah Khusrau Shah (1152-1160)
- Taj ud-Dawlah Khusrau Malik (1160-1187)
- Nasher Khans, later Ghilzai Khans (from the 16th century)
[edit] See also
- Mahmud of Ghazni
- History of Afghanistan
- History of Iran
- History of India
- History of Pakistan
- Islamic Empires in India
[edit] Literature
- C.E. Bosworth: The Ghaznavids. Edinburgh, 1963
[edit] References
- ^ C.E. Bosworth, "Ghaznavids", in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition 2006, (LINK)
- islamicarchitecture.org about the Ghaznavid Dynasty
- M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey, with a foreword by Professor Clifford Edmund Bosworth, member of the British Academy, Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, ISBN 9971-77-488-7.
[edit] External links
- Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition) - Mahmud of Ghazna
- Encylopaedia Britannica (Online Edition) - Mahmud
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (Online Edition) - Ghaznavid Dynasty
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (Online Edition) - Ghaznavids and Ghurids
- Mahmud Ghaznavi's 17 invasions of India
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
