Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin (Mahmud of Ghazna) (Mahmud of Ghazni) (Yamin al-Dawlah Mahmud) (Yamin al-Dawlah 'Abd al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sebuk Tegin) (November 2, 971 - April 30, 1030). Ghaznavid ruler (r.998-1030). During his long reign, he almost ceaselessly campaigned over a vast expanse of southern Asia, particularly in India. He assembled an empire greater than any known in eastern Islam since the decline of the ‘Abbasids. His centralized, despotic machinery of state typifies the Perso-Islamic “power-state.” His court was a congenial center for the scientist al-Biruni and for leading poets such as Farrukhi, ‘Unsuri and, for a short time, Firdawsi.
Mahmud's grandfather was Alptigin, a Turkic slave-guard of the Samanids in Balkh who crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to seize Ghazni from the declining Samanid kingdom, located strategically on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. Alptigin was succeeded in 977 by his Turkic slave and son-in-law, Sebuktigin, father of Mahmud, who enlarged upon Alptigin's conquests, extending his domain north to Balkh, west to Kandahar including most of Khorasan, and east to the Indus River. According to Ferishta, Mahmoud's mother was a Persian noble from Zabulistan.
In 994, Mahmud was engaged with his father Sebuktigin 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, chief being Abu'l-Qasim Simjuri, Fa'iq, Abu 'Ali, the General Behtuzun as well as the neighboring Buyid and Qarakhanids.
Sebuktigin was recognized by the Caliph in Baghdad as governor of his dominions. He died in 997, and was succeeded by his younger son Sultan Isma'il of Ghazni. Mahmud rebelled against his younger brother, Sultan Isma'il of Ghazni, and took over the Ghazni as the new 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. In 999, under the reign of 'Abd al-Malik II, 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 invaded them from the North even as Fa'iq died. He then solicited an alliance and cemented it by marrying Nasr Khan's daughter.
Mahmud's first campaign to the south was against the Isma'ili Fatimid Kingdom at Multan in a bid to curry political favor and recognition with the 'Abbasid Caliphate engaged with the Fatimids elsewhere. Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi Dynasty of Gandhara attempted to gain of Ghazni under Mahmud's father in the late 980s that had cost him extensive territory, but was again defeated. 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.
According to the writings of al-Biruni, Soghidan, Uyghur and Manichean texts 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.
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 set out on regular expeditions against them, leaving the conquered kingdoms in the hands of Hindu vassals annexing the Punjab region.
Mahmud had relationships with the leadership in Balkh through marriage. Balkh's 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, Kanauj, Gwalior, and Ujjain were all conquered and left in the hands of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist kings as vassal states. Mahmud 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 (Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, Kalinjar and Somnath) as Indian temples were depositories of great wealth, in golden idols, diamonds, and jewelry. Mahmud's armies stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them at Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, and Dwarka.
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 in Ghazni at the age of 59. Mahmud had contracted malaria during his last invasion. The medical complication from malaria 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 thought favored. The Perso-Afghan dialect Dari was made the official language. Mahmud's mausoleum is located at Ghazni (in modern Afghanistan).
Mahmud of Ghazna was the most important ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty and, according to the contemporary political scientist Nizam al-Mulk, the first Islamic “sultan.” He succeeded in 998 to the command of all the territories his father Sebuktigin had administered from Ghazna in central Afghanistan on the Samanids’ behalf. After he took Khurasan from the Buyids in 999, his authority was recognized by the caliph al-Qadir. Thus, his line was established as an independent line.
Of greater historical significance, however, were Mahmud’s continuous campaigns to the Punjab and parts of Sind, campaigns that opened a new era of Muslim expansion into the the Indian subcontinent. These conquests, along with his taxation policies in Khurasan, have made Mahmud a controversial figure. Mahmud is frequently criticized for his desecration of temples and for his enslavement of many people as plunder. Mahmud is also accused of attempting to convert non-Muslims by force. However, what is undisputed is Mahmud's success at building the largest empire of its day, extending from central Iran through Afghanistan and into northern India.
Mahmud supported Sunni causes, patronized poetry and learning, and built magnificent palaces, apparently motivated, however, more by convention than conviction. Nonetheless, he achieved nearly legendary status in literary and folk traditions.
Today, in Afghanistan, Mahmud is celebrated as a national hero and a great patron of the arts, architecture and literature as well as a vanguard of Islam and a paragon of virtue and piety.
In modern Pakistan, he is hailed as a conquering hero who established the standard of Islam upon heathen land, while in India he may be depicted as raiding iconoclastic invader, bent upon the loot and plunder of a peaceful Hindu population. Conversion to Islam of the native population also became a controversial topic with the versions of sword enforced mass conversions versus inspirational missionary activity. With the rise of Hindutva and the partition of India, a lot more attention has been focused on casualties, temple destructions, slavery and forced conversions to Islam than before. This controversy has been further stoked by the depictions of teh historical Mahmud as either a hero or a villain by the polarization of nationalist or ideological orientations.
Iranians remember Mahmud as an Orthodox Sunni who was responsible for the revival of the Persian culture by commissioning and appointing Persians to high offices in his administration as ministers, viziers and generals. In addition, Iranians remember Mahmud for the promotion and preference of Persian language.instead of Turkish and patronage of great nationalist poets and scholars such as Firdawsi, al-Biruni, and Ferishta as well as his "Lion and Sun" flag which is still a national symbol in the modern state of Iran.
Under the reign of Mahmud, Ghazni broke away clearly from the Samanid sphere of influence and hastened their end. While he nominally acknowledged the Abbasids as Caliph as a matter of form, he was also granted the title of 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 northeast, and from the Caspian Sea to the Yamama. Although his raids carried his forces across Indian sub-continent, only the Punjab and Sindh, modern Pakistan, came under his permanent rule.
The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians, such as Abolfazl, Beyhaghi, and Firdawsi, 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 center of Persian literature, into one of the leading cities of Central Asia, patronizing scholars, establishing colleges, laying out gardens and building mosques, palaces, and caravansaries. He patronized Firdawsi to write the Shahnama, 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.
The Ghaznavid Empire was ruled by his successors for 157 years, but after Mahmud it never reached anything like the same splendor and power. The expanding Seljuk Turkish empire absorbed most of the Ghaznavid west. The Ghorids captured Ghazni around 1150, and Muhammad Ghori captured the last Ghaznavid stronghold at Lahore in 1187.
Mahmud of Ghazna see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Mahmud of Ghazni see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Yamin al-Dawlah Mahmud see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Yamin al-Dawlah 'Abd al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sebuk Tegin see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin (Mahmud of Ghazna) (Mahmud of Ghazni) (Yamin al-Dawlah Mahmud) (Yamin al-Dawlah 'Abd al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sebuk Tegin) (November 2, 971 - April 30, 1030). Ghaznavid ruler (r.998-1030). During his long reign, he almost ceaselessly campaigned over a vast expanse of southern Asia, particularly in India. He assembled an empire greater than any known in eastern Islam since the decline of the ‘Abbasids. His centralized, despotic machinery of state typifies the Perso-Islamic “power-state.” His court was a congenial center for the scientist al-Biruni and for leading poets such as Farrukhi, ‘Unsuri and, for a short time, Firdawsi.
Mahmud's grandfather was Alptigin, a Turkic slave-guard of the Samanids in Balkh who crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to seize Ghazni from the declining Samanid kingdom, located strategically on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. Alptigin was succeeded in 977 by his Turkic slave and son-in-law, Sebuktigin, father of Mahmud, who enlarged upon Alptigin's conquests, extending his domain north to Balkh, west to Kandahar including most of Khorasan, and east to the Indus River. According to Ferishta, Mahmoud's mother was a Persian noble from Zabulistan.
In 994, Mahmud was engaged with his father Sebuktigin 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, chief being Abu'l-Qasim Simjuri, Fa'iq, Abu 'Ali, the General Behtuzun as well as the neighboring Buyid and Qarakhanids.
Sebuktigin was recognized by the Caliph in Baghdad as governor of his dominions. He died in 997, and was succeeded by his younger son Sultan Isma'il of Ghazni. Mahmud rebelled against his younger brother, Sultan Isma'il of Ghazni, and took over the Ghazni as the new 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. In 999, under the reign of 'Abd al-Malik II, 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 invaded them from the North even as Fa'iq died. He then solicited an alliance and cemented it by marrying Nasr Khan's daughter.
Mahmud's first campaign to the south was against the Isma'ili Fatimid Kingdom at Multan in a bid to curry political favor and recognition with the 'Abbasid Caliphate engaged with the Fatimids elsewhere. Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi Dynasty of Gandhara attempted to gain of Ghazni under Mahmud's father in the late 980s that had cost him extensive territory, but was again defeated. 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.
According to the writings of al-Biruni, Soghidan, Uyghur and Manichean texts 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.
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 set out on regular expeditions against them, leaving the conquered kingdoms in the hands of Hindu vassals annexing the Punjab region.
Mahmud had relationships with the leadership in Balkh through marriage. Balkh's 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, Kanauj, Gwalior, and Ujjain were all conquered and left in the hands of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist kings as vassal states. Mahmud 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 (Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, Kalinjar and Somnath) as Indian temples were depositories of great wealth, in golden idols, diamonds, and jewelry. Mahmud's armies stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them at Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, and Dwarka.
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 in Ghazni at the age of 59. Mahmud had contracted malaria during his last invasion. The medical complication from malaria 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 thought favored. The Perso-Afghan dialect Dari was made the official language. Mahmud's mausoleum is located at Ghazni (in modern Afghanistan).
Mahmud of Ghazna was the most important ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty and, according to the contemporary political scientist Nizam al-Mulk, the first Islamic “sultan.” He succeeded in 998 to the command of all the territories his father Sebuktigin had administered from Ghazna in central Afghanistan on the Samanids’ behalf. After he took Khurasan from the Buyids in 999, his authority was recognized by the caliph al-Qadir. Thus, his line was established as an independent line.
Of greater historical significance, however, were Mahmud’s continuous campaigns to the Punjab and parts of Sind, campaigns that opened a new era of Muslim expansion into the the Indian subcontinent. These conquests, along with his taxation policies in Khurasan, have made Mahmud a controversial figure. Mahmud is frequently criticized for his desecration of temples and for his enslavement of many people as plunder. Mahmud is also accused of attempting to convert non-Muslims by force. However, what is undisputed is Mahmud's success at building the largest empire of its day, extending from central Iran through Afghanistan and into northern India.
Mahmud supported Sunni causes, patronized poetry and learning, and built magnificent palaces, apparently motivated, however, more by convention than conviction. Nonetheless, he achieved nearly legendary status in literary and folk traditions.
Today, in Afghanistan, Mahmud is celebrated as a national hero and a great patron of the arts, architecture and literature as well as a vanguard of Islam and a paragon of virtue and piety.
In modern Pakistan, he is hailed as a conquering hero who established the standard of Islam upon heathen land, while in India he may be depicted as raiding iconoclastic invader, bent upon the loot and plunder of a peaceful Hindu population. Conversion to Islam of the native population also became a controversial topic with the versions of sword enforced mass conversions versus inspirational missionary activity. With the rise of Hindutva and the partition of India, a lot more attention has been focused on casualties, temple destructions, slavery and forced conversions to Islam than before. This controversy has been further stoked by the depictions of teh historical Mahmud as either a hero or a villain by the polarization of nationalist or ideological orientations.
Iranians remember Mahmud as an Orthodox Sunni who was responsible for the revival of the Persian culture by commissioning and appointing Persians to high offices in his administration as ministers, viziers and generals. In addition, Iranians remember Mahmud for the promotion and preference of Persian language.instead of Turkish and patronage of great nationalist poets and scholars such as Firdawsi, al-Biruni, and Ferishta as well as his "Lion and Sun" flag which is still a national symbol in the modern state of Iran.
Under the reign of Mahmud, Ghazni broke away clearly from the Samanid sphere of influence and hastened their end. While he nominally acknowledged the Abbasids as Caliph as a matter of form, he was also granted the title of 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 northeast, and from the Caspian Sea to the Yamama. Although his raids carried his forces across Indian sub-continent, only the Punjab and Sindh, modern Pakistan, came under his permanent rule.
The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians, such as Abolfazl, Beyhaghi, and Firdawsi, 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 center of Persian literature, into one of the leading cities of Central Asia, patronizing scholars, establishing colleges, laying out gardens and building mosques, palaces, and caravansaries. He patronized Firdawsi to write the Shahnama, 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.
The Ghaznavid Empire was ruled by his successors for 157 years, but after Mahmud it never reached anything like the same splendor and power. The expanding Seljuk Turkish empire absorbed most of the Ghaznavid west. The Ghorids captured Ghazni around 1150, and Muhammad Ghori captured the last Ghaznavid stronghold at Lahore in 1187.
Mahmud of Ghazna see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Mahmud of Ghazni see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Yamin al-Dawlah Mahmud see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
Yamin al-Dawlah 'Abd al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sebuk Tegin see Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
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