Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 03:46, 3 July 2018

غزنویان Ghaznavids
977–1186
Ghaznavid Empire at its greatest extent in 1030 CE
Capital	Ghazna (977–1163) Lahore (1163–1186)
Common languages	Persian (official and court language; lingua franca) Arabic (theology) Turkic (military)
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Empire
Sultan
• 977–997	Sabuktigin (first)
• 1160–1186	Khusrau Malik (last)
Vizier
• 998–1013	Abu'l-Hasan Isfaraini (first mentioned)
• 12th century	Abu'l-Ma'ali Nasrallah (last mentioned)
Historical era	Medieval
• Established	977
• Disestablished	1186
Area
1029 estimate	3,400,000 km (1,300,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Saffarid dynasty Samanids Ma'munids Farighunids Ghurid dynasty Seljuk Empire

Part of a series on the
History of Afghanistan
The palace of the emir in 1839
Timeline
Ancient Indus Valley civilisation 2200–1800 BC Oxus civilization 2100–1800 BC Gandhara kingdom 1500–535 BC Median Empire 728–550 BC Achaemenid Empire 550–330 BC Macedonian Empire 330–312 BC Seleucid Empire 312–150 BC Maurya Empire 305–180 BC Greco-Bactrian kingdom 256–125 BC Parthian Empire 247 BC–224 AD Indo-Greek kingdom 180–90 BC Indo-Scythian kingdom 155–80? BC Kushan Empire 135 BC – 248 AD Indo-Parthian kingdom 20 BC – 50? AD Sasanian Empire 230–651 Kidarite kingdom 320–465 Rob Alchon Huns 380–560 Hephthalite Empire 410–557 Nezak Huns 484–711
Medieval Kabul Shahi 565–879 Principality of Chaghaniyan 7th–8th centuries Rashidun Caliphate 652–661 Tang China 660–669 Tibetan Empire 660–842 Umayyads 661–750 Zunbils 680–870 Lawik 750-977 Abbasids 750–821 Tahirids 821–873 Saffarids 863–900 Samanids 875–999 Ghaznavids 963–1187 Ghurids before 879–1215 Seljuks 1037–1194 Khwarezmids 1215–1231 Mongol Invasion 1219–1226 Chagatai Khanate 1226–1245 Qarlughids 1224–1266 Ilkhanate 1256–1335 Kartids 1245–1381 Timurids 1370–1507 Arghuns 1520–1591
Modern Mughals 1501–1738 Safavids 1510–1709 Kunduz Khanate  ?–1859 Hotak dynasty 1709–1738 Sadozai Sultanate 1716–1732 Afsharid Iran 1738–1747 Durrani Empire 1747–1823 Maimana Khanate 1747–1892 Herat 1793–1863 Principality of Qandahar 1818–1855 Emirate 1823–1926 Saqqawist Emirate 1929 Kingdom 1926–1973 Daoud coup 1973 Republic 1973–1978 Saur Revolution 1978 Democratic Republic 1978–1992 Tanai coup attempt 1990 Islamic State 1992–1996 Islamic Emirate 1996–2001 US invasion 2001 Islamic State (reinstated) 2001 Interim/Transitional Administration 2001–2004 Islamic Republic (politics) 2004–2021 Islamic Emirate (reinstated) since 2021
Related historical regions Arachosia Aria Ariana Bactria Gandhara Iran Kabulistan Kafiristan Khorasan Kushanshahr Paropamisadae Sistan Zabulistan
Related topics Political history Political violence Culture Economic history Name Afghan (ethnonym) List of years List of heads of state Wars List of wars Hinduism history Hindu and Buddhist heritage Jewish history Muslim conquests
Category Afghanistan portal
v t e

History of Greater Iran
Pre-IslamicBCE / BC Prehistory Kura–Araxes culture c. 3400 – c. 2000 Helmand culture/Jiroft culture 3300-2200 Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Lullubi/Zamua 3100-675 Marhaši 2550-2020 Bactria–Margiana Complex 2400–1700 Gutian Dynasty 2141-2050 Avestan period c. 1500 BCE – 500 BCE Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th century Neo-Assyrian Empire 911–609 Urartu 860–590 Median Empire 728–550 Scythian Kingdom 652–625 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Ancient kingdom of Armenia 331 BCE – 428 CE Seleucid Empire 330–150 Caucasian Iberia c. 302 BCE – 580 CE Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250–125 Parthian Empire 248 BCE–224 CE Caucasian Albania 2nd century BCE – 8th century CE Roman Empire 27 BCE – 330 CE CE / AD Kushan Empire 30–275 Sasanian Empire 224–651 Afrighid dynasty 305–995 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879 Dabuyid dynasty 642–760 Bagratid Armenia 880s – 1045 Alania 8th/9th century – 1238 / 9 Kingdom of Georgia 1008–1490
Islamic Rashidun Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Shirvanshah 799–1607 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Dulafid dynasty 840–897 Zaydis of Tabaristan 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid Empire 819–999 Sajid dynasty 889/90–929 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1055 Sallarid dynasty 941–1062 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghurid dynasty pre-879 – 1215 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231 Sultanate of Rum 1077–1307 Salghurids 1148–1282 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Kart dynasty 1231–1389 Ottoman Empire 1299–1923 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Jalairid Sultanate 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1507 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722 Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotak dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid Iran 1736–1750 Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Durrani Empire 1794–1826 Qajar Iran 1794–1925
v t e

Part of a series on the
History of Pakistan
Timeline
Ancient Palaeolithic Soanian culture, c. 500,000 – 250,000 BCE Neolithic Mehrgarh, c. 7000 – c. 3000 BCE Indus Valley Civilisation, c. 3300 – c. 1700 BCE Vedic Civilization, c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE Achaemenid Empire, c. 550 – c. 330 BCE Gedrosia, c. 542 – c. 330 BCE Gandhara, c. 518 – c. 330 BCE Arachosia, c. 518 – c. 330 BCE Hindush, c. 517 – c. 330 BCE Sattagydia, c. 516 – c. 330 BCE Ror dynasty, c. 489 – c. 450 BCE Macedonian Empire, c. 329 – c. 323 BCE Arachosia, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Gedrosia, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Paropamisadae, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Porus, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Taxiles, c. 323 – c. 312 BCE Mauryan Empire, c. 322 – c. 200 BCE Seleucid Empire, c. 312 – c. 63 BCE Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, c. 190 – c. 140 BCE Indo-Greek Kingdom, c. 170 – c. 50 BCE Indo-Scythian Kingdom, c. 110 BCE – c. 95 CE Apracharajas, c. 25 BCE – c. 50 CE Paratarajas, c. 120 – c. 300 CE
Classical Parthian Empire, c. 90 BCE – c. 25 CE Indo-Parthian Kingdom, c. 25 – c. 80 CE Kushan Empire, c. 60 – 345 CE Sasanian Empire, c. 250 – 655 CE Indo-Sasanians, c. 240 – 410 CE Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom, c. 240 – 410 CE Gupta Empire, c. 345 – c. 455 CE Rai dynasty, c. 415 – 644 CE Hephthalite Empire, c. 450 – 560 CE Brahman dynasty, c. 641 – 725 CE
Medieval Caliphate, c. 643 – 860 CE Rashidun Caliphate, c. 643 – 661 CE Umayyad Caliphate, c. 670 – 860 CE Pala Empire, c. 770 – 850 CE Habbari dynasty, c. 841 – 1024 CE Hindu Shahi, c. 870 – 1010 CE Samanid Empire, c. 905 – 999 CE Ghaznavids, c. 999 – 1186 CE Soomra dynasty, c. 1024 – 1351 CE Ghurid dynasty, c. 1170 – 1215 CE Delhi Sultanate, c. 1206 – c. 1526 CE Mamluk dynasty, c. 1206 – c. 1290 CE Khalji dynasty, c. 1290 – c. 1320 CE Tugluq dynasty, c. 1320 – c. 1413 CE Sayyid dynasty, c. 1414 – c. 1451 CE Lodhi dynasty, c. 1451 – c. 1526 CE Mongol Empire, c. 1221 – c. 1327 CE Chagatai Khanate, c. 1225 – c. 1485 CE Ilkhanate, c. 1256 – c. 1353 CE Raees dynasty, c. 1320 – 1620 CE Katoor dynasty, c. 1570 – c. 1947 CE Samma dynasty, c. 1351 – c. 1524 CE Arghun dynasty, c. 1520 – c. 1554 CE Mughal Empire, c. 1526 – c. 1707 CE Bombay Presidency, c. 1618 – c. 1947 CE Suri dynasty, c. 1540 – c. 1556 CE Tarkhan dynasty, c. 1554 – 1591 CE
Early modern Durrani Empire, c. 1747 – c. 1826 CE Las Bela, c. 1802 – c. 1947 CE Misl, c. 1716 – c. 1799 CE Maratha Empire, c. 1758 – c. 1760 CE Sikh Empire, c. 1799 – c. 1849 CE British Raj, c. 1858 – c. 1947 CE Independence Movement
Modern Pakistan, c. 1947 CE – present Dominion of Pakistan, c. 1947 – 1956 CE Republican Pakistan, c. 1956 CE – present
History of provinces Azad Kashmir Balochistan East Pakistan Gilgit-Baltistan Islamabad Capital Territory Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Punjab Sindh
Category Portal
v t e

History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century
Turkic peoples Onogurs Oghuz Turks Saragurs Utigurs Bulgars Sabir Kutrigurs Karluks Kimek Kipchaks Cherniye Klobuki Uyghurs Tatars Kumyks Yakuts Dolgans Krymchaks Crimean Karaites
Turkic Languages Turkish Azerbaijani Uzbek Kazakh Uyghur Turkmen Tatar Kyrgyz Bashkir Chuvash Qasgqai Karakalpak Sakha Kumyk Karachay-Balkar Tuvan Gagauz Karaim Krymchak
Turkic Mythology Belief system: Tengrism and Shamanism Chief gods and goddesses: Kayra and Ülgen Epics and heroes: Ergenekon and Asena Major concepts: Sheka and Grey wolf
Pre-14th century Yenisei Kyrgyz People 202 BCE–13th CE Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate Dingling 71 BC–?? AD Tiele (Gaoche) Göktürks First Turkic Khaganate 552–581 Western Turkic Khaganate 581–657 (Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis) Eastern Turkic Khaganate 581–650 Second Turkic Khaganate 682–744 Sabiri People Khazar Khaganate 618–1048 Xueyantuo 628–646 Kangar Union 659–750 Turk Shahi 665-850 Türgesh Khaganate 699–766 Kimek–Kipchak Confederation 743–1035 Uyghur Khaganate 744–840 Oghuz Yabgu State 750–1055 Karluk Yabgu State 756–940 Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212 Western Kara-Khanid Eastern Kara-Khanid Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036 Qocho 856–1335 Pecheneg Khanates 860–1091 Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Sultanate of Rum Cuman–Kipchak Confederation 1067–1239 Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231 Kerait Khanate 11th century–13th century Atabegs of Azerbaijan 1136–1225 Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526 Mamluk dynasty Khalji dynasty Tughlaq dynasty Qarlughid Kingdom 1224–1266 Golden Horde 1242–1502 Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517 Bahri dynasty Ottoman State 1299–1922
v t e

The Ghaznavid dynasty (Template:Lang-fa ġaznaviyān) was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin, at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Iran, Afghanistan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to rule of the region of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was a breakaway ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.

Although the dynasty was of Central Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughly Persianised in terms of language, culture, literature and habits and hence is regarded by some as a "Persian dynasty".

Sabuktigin's son, Mahmud of Ghazni, declared independence from the Samanid Empire and expanded the Ghaznavid Empire to the Amu Darya, the Indus River and the Indian Ocean in the East and to Rey and Hamadan in the west. Under the reign of Mas'ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began losing control over its western territories to the Seljuq dynasty after the Battle of Dandanaqan, resulting in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan (Punjab and Balochistan). In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to the Ghurid king Ala al-Din Husayn.

Rise to power

Two military families arose from the Turkic slave-guards of the Samanid Empire, the Simjurids and Ghaznavids, who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The Simjurids received an appanage in the Kohistan region of eastern Khorasan. The Samanid generals Alp Tigin and Abu al-Hasan Simjuri competed for the governorship of Khorasan and control of the Samanid Empire by placing on the throne emirs they could dominate after the death of Abd 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 the Hindu Kush, where he captured Ghazna and became the ruler of the city as a Samanid authority. The Simjurids enjoyed control of Khorasan south of the Amu Darya but were hard-pressed by a third great Iranian dynasty, the Buyid 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 the Karluks, a Turkic people who had recently converted to Islam. They occupied Bukhara in 992, establishing in Transoxania the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

After Alp Tigin's death in 963, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim, followed by his slave Sabuktigin, took the throne. Sabuktigin's son Mahmud of Ghazni made an agreement with the Kara-Khanid Khanate whereby the Amu Darya was recognised as their mutual boundary.

Domination

Sabuktigin

Sabuktigin, son-in-law of Alp Tigin and founder of the Ghaznavid Empire, began expanding it by capturing Samanid and Kabul Shahi territories, including most of what is now Afghanistan and part of Pakistan. The 16th century Persian historian, Firishta, records Sabuktigin's genealogy as descended from the Sasanian emperors: "Subooktu-geen, the son of Jookan, the son of Kuzil-Hukum, the son of Kuzil-Arslan, the son of Ferooz, the son of Yezdijird, king of Persia." However, modern historians believe this was an attempt to connect himself with the history of old Persia.

After the death of Sabuktigin, his son Ismail claimed the throne for a temporary period, but he was defeated and captured by Mahmud in 998 at the Battle of Ghazni.

Mahmud son of Sabuktigin

In 997, Mahmud, another son of Sebuktigin, succeeded the throne, and Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty have become perpetually associated with him. He completed the conquest of the Samanid and Shahi territories, including the Ismaili Kingdom of Multan, Sindh, as well as some Buwayhid 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 of Ray to Samarkand, from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna.

During Mahmud's reign (997–1030), the Ghaznavids settled 4,000 Turkmen 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. Although, as late as 1033, Ghaznavid governor Tash Farrash executed fifty Turkmen chiefs for raids into Khorasan.

The wealth brought back from the Mahmud's Indian 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. Mahmud died in 1030.

Decline

Twin sons of Mahmud

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 the Battle of Dandanaqan in 1040, he lost all the Ghaznavid lands in Iran and Central Asia to the Seljuks, plunging the realm into a "time of troubles". 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

In 1058, Mas'ud's son Ibrahim, 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. 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 the Paramara of Malwa and the Gahadvala of Kannauj. He ruled until 1098.

Masud

Masud III became king for sixteen years, with no major event in his lifetime. Signs of weakness in the state became apparent when he died in 1115, with internal strife between his sons ending with the ascension of Sultan Bahram Shah as a Seljuk vassal. Bahram shah defeated his brother Arslan for the throne at the Battle of Ghazni in 1117.

Sultan Bahram Shah

Sultan Bahram Shah was the last Ghaznavid King, ruling Ghazni, the first and main Ghaznavid capital, for thirty five years. In 1148 he was defeated in Ghazni by Sayf al-Din Suri, but he recaptured the capital the next year. Ala al-Din Husayn, a Ghorid King, conquered the city in 1151, for the revenge of 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 and burned 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. Ghaznavid struggles with the Ghurids continued in subsequent years as they nibbled away at Ghaznavid territory, and Ghazni and Zabulistan was lost to a group of Oghuz Turks before captured by the Ghurids. Ghaznavid power in northwestern India continued until the Ghurid conquest of Lahore from Khusrau Malik in 1186.

Military and tactics

The core of the Ghaznavid army was primarily made up of Turks, as well as thousands of native Afghans who were trained and assembled from the area south of the Hindu Kush in what is now Afghanistan. During the rule of Sultan Mahmud, a new, larger military training center was established in Bost (now Lashkar Gah). This area was known for blacksmiths where war weapons were made. After capturing and conquering the Punjab region, the Ghaznavids began to employ Hindus in their army.

Like the other dynasties that rose out of the remains of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Ghaznavid administrative traditions and military practice came from the Abbasids. The Arabian horses, at least in the earliest campaign were still substansial in Ghaznavid military incursions especially in dashing raids deep into hostile territory. As evidenced there is a record about '6000 Arab horse' were sent against king Anandapala in 1008 AD and the existence of this Arabian cavalry persist until 1118 under Ghaznavid governor in Lahore.

There were, however, unique changes adopted that met the demands of the geographic situation of the Ghaznavid dynasty. Due to their access to the Indus-Ganges plains, the Ghaznavids, during the 11th and 12th centuries, developed the first Muslim army to use war elephants in battle. The elephants were protected by armour plating on their fronts. The use of these elephants in other regions that the Ghaznavids fought in, particularly in Central Asia, to which the elephant was a foreign weapon.

State and culture

According to Clifford Edmund Bosworth:

The Ghaznavid sultans were ethnically Turkish, but the sources, all in Arabic or Persian, 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 the bureaucracy 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, were Persians who carried on the administrative traditions of the Samanids, only strengthened this conception of secular power.

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 (Rypka, Hist. Iran. Lit., pp. 196–97; Bosworth, Later Ghaznavids, pp. 75–77, 107–10). 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 (Bosworth, Later Ghaznavids, pp. 127–28). 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 as Saljuqs and Qarakhanids.

Persian literary culture enjoyed a renaissance under the Ghaznavids during the 11th century. The Ghaznavid court was so renowned for its support of Persian literature that the poet Farrukhi traveled from his home province to work for them. The poet Unsuri's short collection of poetry was dedicated to Sultan Mahmud and his brothers Nasr and Yaqub. Another poet of the Ghaznavid court, Manuchehri, wrote numerous poems to the merits and advantages of drinking wine.

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 persuade Avicenna, but was refused. Mahmud preferred that his fame and glory be publicized in Persian and hundreds of poets assembled at his court. He brought whole libraries from Rayy and Isfahan to Ghazni and even demanded that the Khwarizmshah court send its men of learning to Ghazni. Due to his invasion of Rayy and Isfahan, Persian literary production was inaugurated in Azerbaijan and Iraq.

The Ghaznavids continued to develop historical writing in Persian that had been initiated by their predecessors, the Samanid Empire. The historian Abu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi's Tarikh-e Beyhaqi, written in the latter half of the 11th century, is an example.

Although the Ghaznavids were of Turkic origin and their military leaders were generally of the same stock, as a result of the original involvement of Sebuktigin and Mahmud 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. In terms of cultural championship and the support of Persian poets, they were more Persian than their ethnically-Iranian rivals, the Buyid dynasty, whose support of Arabic letters in preference to Persian is well known.

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." As a result, Ghazni developed into a great centre of Arabic learning.

With Sultan Mahmud's invasions of North India, Persian culture was established at Lahore, which later produced the famous poet, Masud Sa'd Salman. Lahore, under the Ghaznavid rule in the 11th century, attracted Persian scholars from Khorasan, India and Central Asia and became a major Persian cultural centre. It was also during Mahmud's reign that Ghaznavid coinage began to have bilingual legends consisting of Arabic and Devanagari script.

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.

Legacy

At its height, the Ghaznavid empire grew to cover large parts of present-day Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all of Afghanistan, Pakistan and large parts of northwest India. The Ghaznavid rulers are generally credited with spreading Islam into the Indian subcontinent. 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 Nasher Khans, are said to be the descendants of the Ghaznavid dynasty.

List of rulers

Family tree of the Ghaznavid sultans

See also

• List of battles involving the Ghaznavid Empire
• History of Afghanistan
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

Footnotes

1. "Lahore" Encyclopædia Britannica
2. Homa Katouzian, "Iranian history and politics", Published by Routledge, 2003. pg 128: "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. "Persian Prose Literature." World Eras. 2002. HighBeam Research. (3 September 2012);"Princes, although they were often tutored in Arabic and religious subjects, frequently did not feel as comfortable with the Arabic language and preferred literature in Persian, which was either their mother tongue—as in the case of dynasties such as the Saffarids (861–1003), Samanids (873–1005), and Buyids (945–1055)—or was a preferred lingua franca for them—as with the later Turkish dynasties such as the Ghaznawids (977–1187) and Saljuks (1037–1194)".
4. C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids:994–1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 134.
5. Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of world-systems research. 12 (2): 223. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
6. Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 496. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
7. Böwering, Gerhard; Crone, Patricia; Mirza, Mahan (1 January 2012). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Princeton University Press. pp. 410–411.
8. Islamic Central Asia: an anthology of historical sources, Ed. Scott Cameron Levi and Ron Sela, (Indiana University Press, 2010), 83;The Ghaznavids were a dynasty of Turkic slave-soldiers..., "Ghaznavid Dynasty" Encyclopædia BritannicaJonathan M. Bloom, Sheila Blair, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, Oxford University Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.163, Online Edition, "Turkish dominated mamluk regiments...dynasty of mamluk origin (the GHAZNAVID line) carved out an empire..."
9. C.E. Bosworth: The Ghaznavids. Edinburgh, 1963
10. C.E. Bosworth, "Ghaznavids" in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition 2006
11. C.E. Bosworth, "Ghaznavids", in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition; Brill, Leiden; 2006/2007
12. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, "Ghaznavid Dynasty", Online Edition 2007
13. David Christian: A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia; Blackwell Publishing, 1998; pg. 370: "Though Turkic in origin Alp Tegin, Sebuk Tegin and Mahmud were all thoroughly Persianized".
14. J. Meri (Hg.), Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, "Ghaznavids", London u.a. 2006, p. 294: "The Ghaznavids inherited Samanid administrative, political, and cultural traditions and laid the foundations for a Persianate state in northern India. ..."
15. Sydney Nettleton Fisher and William Ochsenwald, The Middle East: a history: Volume 1, (McGraw-Hill, 1997); "Forced to flee from the Samanid domain, he captured Ghaznah and in 961 established the famed Persianate Sunnite Ghaznavid empire of Afghanistan and the Punjab in India".
16. Meisami, Julie Scott, Persian historiography to the end of the twelfth century, (Edinburgh University Press, 1999), 143. Nizam al-Mulk also attempted to organise the Saljuq administration according to the Persianate Ghaznavid model..
17. B. Spuler, "The Disintegration of the Caliphate in the East", in the Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. IA: The Central islamic Lands from Pre-Islamic Times to the First World War, ed. by P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970). pg 147: One of the effects of the renaissance of the Persian spirit evoked by this work was that the Ghaznavids were also Persianized and thereby became a Persian dynasty.
18. The early Ghaznavids, C.E. Bosworth, The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, ed. C. E. Bosworth, (Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 170
19. Truths and Lies: Irony and Intrigue in the Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī, Soheila Amirsoleimani, Iranian Studies, Vol. 32, No. 2, The Uses of Guile: Literary and Historical Moments (Spring, 1999), 243.
20. Ghaznawids, B. Spuler, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol II, Ed. B. Lewis, C. Pellat and J. Schacht, (Brill, 1991), 1051.
21. Encyclopædia Iranica, "Ghaznavids", by C. Edmund Bosworth. December 15, 2001. Accessed July 3, 2012.
22. The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids, C. E. Bosworth, Iran, Vol. 6, (1968), 40.
23. John Clark Marshman. The history of India ... to the accession of the Mogul dynasty, page 94
24. C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids:994–1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 224.
25. C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids:994–1040, 225.
26. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica, "Ghaznavids", Edmund Bosworth, Online Edition 2007
27. Andre Wink, Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol.2, (Brill, 2002), 114.  – via Questia (subscription required)
28. Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1987). E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936. Vol. 2. BRILL. p. 151. ISBN 90-04-08265-4. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
29. "Afghan and Afghanistan". Abdul Hai Habibi. alamahabibi.com. 1969. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
30. Military Transition in Early Modern Asia
31. Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia
32. Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind: The Slavic Kings and the Islamic conquest, 11th-13th centuries (illustrated, reprint ed.). BRILL. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-391-04174-5. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
33. Lewis, Bernard. The World of Islam. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 205. ISBN 0-500-27624-2.
34. C.E. Bosworth, "Ghaznavids" in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition 2012.
35. The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids, C.E. Bosworth, Iran, Vol. 6, (1968), 44.
36. Jocelyn Sharlet, Patronage and Poetry in the Islamic World: Social Mobility and Status in the Medieval Middle East and Central Asia, (Tauris Academic Studies, 2011), 46.
37. Ghaznavids, E.K. Rowson, Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Vol.1, Ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey, (Routledge, 1998), 251.
38. Jocelyn Sharlet, Patronage and Poetry in the Islamic World: Social Mobility and Status in the Medieval Middle East and Central Asia, 27.
39. Jocelyn Sharlet, Patronage and Poetry in the Islamic World: Social Mobility and Status in the Medieval Middle East and Central Asia, 52.
40. The Theme of Wine-Drinking and the Concept of the Beloved in Early Persian Poetry, E. Yarshater, Studia Islamica, No. 13 (1960), 44.
41. Brian Spooner and William L. Hanaway, Literacy in the Persianate World: Writing and the Social Order, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 284.
42. Hail to Heydarbaba: A Comparative View of Popular Turkish & Classical Persian Poetical Languages, Hamid Notghi and Gholam-Reza Sabri-Tabrizi, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1994), 244.
43. C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids:994–1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 132.
44. The Institution of Persian Literature and the Genealogy of Bahar's "Stylistics", Wali Ahmadi, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Nov. 2004), 146.
45. The Past in Service of the Present: Two Views of History in Medieval Persia, J. S. Meisami, Poetics Today, Vol. 14, No. 2, Cultural Processes in Muslim and Arab Societies: Medieval and Early Modern Periods (Summer, 1993), 247.
46. The Development of a Literary Canon in Medieval Persian Chronicles: The Triumph of Etiquette, E. A. Poliakova, Iranian Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2/3 (Spring – Summer, 1984), 241.
47. The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids, C.E. Bosworth, Iran, Vol. 6, (1968), 36.
48. Encyclopedia Iranica, Iran, EHSAN YARSHATER, Online Edition 2008, ()
49. Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The new Islamic dynasties: a chronological and genealogical manual, Edition: 2, Published by Edinburgh University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7486-2137-7, p. 297
50. C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids 994–1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 134.
51. Ghaznavids, Homyra Ziad, Medieval Islamic Civilization, Ed. Josef W. Meri, (Routledge, 2006), 294.
52. Muzaffar Alam, Françoise Delvoye Nalini and Marc Gaborieau, The making of Indo-Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies, (Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2000), 24.
53. Brian Spooner and William L. Hanaway, Literacy in the Persianate World: Writing and the Social Order, 284.
54. C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids 994-1040, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 44.
55. The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids, C.E. Bosworth, Iran, Vol. 6, (1968), 39.
56. C.E. Bosworth, The Later Ghaznavids, 22–24.
57. C.E. Bosworth, The Later Ghaznavids, (Columbia University Press, 1977), 45.
58. C.E. Bosworth, The Later Ghaznavids, 90.
59. C.E. Bosworth, The Later Ghaznavids, 93–95.
60. C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, (Columbia University Press, 1996), 297.

Further reading

• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1963) The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran 994–1040 Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, OCLC 3601436
• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1977) The Later Ghaznavids: Splendour and Decay, The Dynasty in Afghanistan and Northern India 1040–1186 Columbia University Press, New York, ISBN 0-231-04428-3
• Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1998), "THE GHAZNAVIDS", in Asimov, M.S.; Bosworth, C.E. (eds.), History of Civilisations of Central Asia (PDF), UNESCO Publishing, ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1
• 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, ISBN 9971-77-488-7

External links

• Coins of Ghaznavid Rulers
• Mahmud of Ghazna Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition)
• Mahmud Encyclopædia Britannica (Online Edition)
• Ghaznavid Dynasty Encyclopædia Britannica (Online Edition)
• Ghaznavids and Ghurids Encyclopædia Britannica (Online Edition)
• Mahmud Ghaznavi's 17 invasions of India
• The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Periodby Sir H. M. Elliot; Edited by John Dowson; London Trubner Company 1867–1877 Elliot, Sir H. M., Edited by Dowson, John. The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Periodpublished by London Trubner Company 1867–1877. (Online Copy: – Online version posted by: The Packard Humanities Institute; Persian Texts in translation)
• Afghan secrets revealed on Google Earth
• Ethé, Karl Hermann (1911). "Persia" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 187–252.

• Use dmy dates from March 2013
• Turkic dynasties
• Ghaznavid Empire
• 1187 disestablishments
• Dynasties of Afghanistan
• History of Pakistan
• Empires and kingdoms of India
• History of Ghazni Province
• Ghilman
• Sunni Muslim dynasties