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Mahmud of Ghazni


 Mahmud of Ghazni  (2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. In the name of Islam, he conquered the eastern Iranian lands and the northwestern Indian subcontinent from 997 to his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazna into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Afghanistan, eastern Iran, Pakistan and northwestern India.
He was the first ruler to carry the title Sultan ("authority"), signifying the extent of his power, though preserving the ideological link to the suzerainty of the Caliph. During his rule, he invaded and plundered parts of Hindustan (east of the Indus River) 17 times In 994, Mahmud joined 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, the chief among them being Abu'l-Qasim Simjuri, Fa'iq, Abu Ali[citation needed], the General Bekhtuzin as well as the neighbouring Buyids and Qarakhanids. Mahmud took over his father's kingdom in 998 after defeating and capturing Ismail at the Battle of Ghazni.[4] He then set out west from Ghazni to take the Kandahar region followed by Bost (Lashkar Gah), where he turned it into a militarized city.
In 1001, Mahmud initiated the first of numerous invasion of northern India. On 28 November, his army fought and defeated Jayapala's army at Peshawar. In 1002, Mahmud invaded Sistan, dethroned Khalaf I, last of the Saffarid amirs, and ended the Saffarid dynasty.[5] From there he decided to focus on Hindustan to the southeast, particularly the highly fertile lands of the Punjab region since south eastern Khorasan (his native province) was mostly mountains, dry deserts and the fertile lands there had been poorly harvested and let to waste during the reign of the previous rulers.[citation needed] It should be noted that Punjab was well known for its mangoes, oranges, bananas and other tropical fruits that Khorasan lacked and instead was famous for pomegranates and watermelons.[citation needed] It suggests that this has been the main reason for the Ghaznavids invading India because the fruit as well as rice, sugar, wheat, and other products exported to the Middle East and Central Asia generated more income than anything else for the rulers.[citation needed]
Mahmud's first campaign to the south was against the Ismaili Fatimid Kingdom at Multan in a bid to curry political favor and recognition with the Abbassid Caliphate; he also engaged with the Fatimids elsewhere. At this point, Raja Jayapala of the Kabul Shahi dynasty attempted to gain revenge for an earlier military defeat at the hands of Mahmud's father, who had controlled Ghazni in the late 980s and had cost Jayapala extensive territory. His son Anandapala succeeded him and continued the struggle to avenge his father's suicide. He assembled a powerful confederacy which faced defeat as his elephant turned back from the battle in a crucial moment, turning the tide into Mahmud's favor once more at Lahore in 1008 bringing Mahmud into control of the Hindu Shahi dominions of Udbandpura.[6]

Ghaznavid campaigns in South Asia

Following the defeat of the Rajput Confederacy, after deciding to retaliate for their combined resistance, Mahmud then set out on regular expeditions against them, leaving the conquered kingdoms in the hands of Hindu vassals annexing only the Punjab region.[6] He also vowed to raid India every year. The Indian kingdoms of Nagarkot, Thanesar, Kannauj, Gwalior, and Ujjain were all conquered and left in the hands of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Kings as vassal states and he was pragmatic enough not to shirk making alliances and enlisting local peoples into his armies at all ranks.
Destroying them would destroy the will power of the Hindus attacking the Empire since Mahmud never kept a permanent presence in the subcontinent; Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kannauj, Kalinjar and Somnath were all thus raided. Mahmud's armies stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them at, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, Narunkot and Dwarka. During the period of Mahmud invasion, the Sindhi Swarankar Community and other Hindus who escaped conversion fled from Sindh to escape sectarian violence.[7]

Patron of the arts and poetry

Mahmud brought whole libraries from Rayy and Isfahan to Ghazni. He even demanded that the Khwarizmshah court send its men of learning to Ghazni.[8]The notable poet Ferdowsi, after laboring 27 years, went to Ghazni and presented the Shahnameh to Mahmud. There are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by Mahmud in Ferdowsi and his life's work. According to historians, Mahmud had promised Ferdowsi a dinar for every distich written in the Shahnameh (60,000 dinars), but later retracted and presented him with dirhams (20,000 dirhams), the equivalent at that time of only 200 dinars.. 

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