GHAZNAVID DYNASTY (962AD-1186AD)

• The Ghaznavid dynasty 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".
Formation :
• Alptigin, was a Turkic slave commander of the Samanid Empire, who would later
become the semi-independent governor of Ghazna from 962 until his death in 963.
• Before becoming governor of Ghazni, Alp-Tegin was the commander-in-chief of the
Samanid army in Khorasan.
• In a political fallout over succession of the Samanids, after the death of Abdul Malik I
Alp-Tegin and Bal'ami sought to use his death as an opportunity to make the deceased
ruler's young son Nasr the new ruler, in order to rule on his behalf. However, several
powerful figures of the Samanid state, such as Faiq Khassa, favored Abd al-Malik's
brother Mansur I, and managed to make him the new ruler. Balami then quickly
went over to Faiq's side, leaving Alp-Tegin isolated. Mansur I upon his accession had
Alp-Tegin dismissed from the governorship of Khorasan.
• He crossed the Hindu Kush mountains southward and captured Ghazna, located
strategically between Kabul and Kandahar in present-day Afghanistan, and thereby
establishing his own principality, which, however, was still under Samanid authority.
• Alp-Tegin then took his personal guard of Turkic slave-soldiers and group of
Iranian ghazis to Balkh, where he in April 962 defeated an army sent by Mansur I.
• He then left for Ghazna, a small town in Zabulistan ruled by the local Lawik
dynasty, defeating the forces of the local rulers of Bamiyan and Kabul along the way.
He seized Ghazna from Abu Bakr Lawik, a kinsman of the Kabulshah, and secured his
position by receiving an investiture from the Samanids as the governor of Ghazna.
• Alp-Tegin died a few months later (September 963) and was succeeded by his son Abu
Ishaq Ibrahim who ruled for only 3 years. Abu Ishaq Ibrahim briefly lost control of
Ghazna after an invasion by its former ruler, Abu Bakr Lawik. However, he managed
to regain it with Samanid aid. Some time later, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim died and was
succeeded by a Turkic slave commander named Balaktigin who ruled from 966-975.
• Pirai, a slave of Alptigin, succeeded to throne of Ghazni in 972 A.D. His misrule led to
resentment among the people who invited Abu Ali Lawik, son of Abu Bakr Lawik, to
invade Ghazni. The Kabul Shahis allied with him and the king, most likely Jayapala,
 sent his son to assist Lawik in the invasion. When the allied forces reached
near Charkh on Logar River, they were attacked by Sabuktigin who killed and
captured many of them, whilst also capturing ten of their elephants. Piri was expelled
from the governorship due to his acts, and
• Sabuktigin, a slave who was bought by Alp-Tegin and had accompanied him to
Ghazna, also was the son in law of the ruler Alptigin, was appointed as the ruler of
Ghazna by the Turks of the town in 977, marking the start of the Ghaznavid dynasty,
which would go on to conquer all of Transoxiana and Khorasan. Sebuktigin enlarged
upon Alptigin's conquests, extending his domain from Ghazna to Balkh in the
north, Helmand in the west, and the Indus River in what is today Pakistan.
• Sebuktigin was recognized by the Caliph in Baghdad as governor of his dominions. He
died in 997, during a campaign in the samanid civil war. Ismail was designated his
successor by Sabuktigin on his death-bed, while Mahmud, the older brother who was
involved in the Samanid civil war, was stationed in Nishapur. The reason behind
Sabuktigin's choice to appoint Ismail as heir over the more experienced and older
Mahmud is uncertain. It may due to Ismail's mother being the daughter of
Sabuktigin's old master, Alptigin.
• Upon receiving these news Mahmud of Ghazni contested Ismail's right to the throne
and divested his charge of Nishapur to his uncle Borghuz and younger brother Nur-
ud-Din Yusuf and marched upon Ghazna. Mahmud won the Battle of Ghazni and
took the crown from Ismail.
• Mahmud (999-1030), was the first independent ruler of the Ghaznavid Dynasty.
Mahmud’s 32 year reign enable him to build up, a vast military empire. , the fiscal
resources of the province of Khurasan, with its rich agricultural oases and its urban
centres for commerce and industry, provided a steady income from taxation for the
maintenance of the highly expensive Ghaznavid standing army. The protection of
Khurasan and the Oxus frontier was thus a prime concern of Mahmud’s.
• Since Mahmud needed powerful army in order to create empire, he established an
equipped and powerful army with different racial diversity through using support of
Turk slaves and through relying on economic source, resulted from invasions to India.
Results of such policies were extremely bad for economic and social condition of
society by that time, since in time of invasions or even in normal conditions, double
taxes were imposed on people.

State and Culture:

• Persian literary culture enjoyed a renaissance under the Ghaznavids during the 11 th
century. The ghaznavid court was so renowed for its support of Persian literature that
the poet farukhi travelled from his home province to work for them. The poet unsuri’s
short collection of poetry was dedicated to Sultan Mahmud and his brother Nasr and
Yaqub. Another poet Manuchehri, wrote numerous poems to the merits and
advantages of drinking wine. there were 400 poets in attendance on Mahmud. The
 courts of Mahmud and Masud certainly nurtured a fine school of lyric poetry in New
Persian, with such notable figures as Unsurı, Farrukhı and Manuchihr.
• Sultan Mahmud, modelling the Samanid Bukhara as a cultural center, made Ghazni
into a centre of learning, inviting Firdawsi and al Biruni. He even attempted to
persuade Avicenna, but he refused, because 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 North Africa to Ghazni and even demanded
that the Khwarizmshah court send its men of learning to Ghazni. Due to his Invasion
of ray and North Africa, Persian literary production was inaugurated in Azerbaijan
and Iraq.
• Although the Ghaznavids were of Turkic origin and their military leaders were
generally of the same stock, as a result original involvement of Sebuktigin and
Mahmud in Samanids affairs and in the samanid cultural environment, the dynasty
became thoroughly persianlized.
• While Mahmud’s invasions of North India, Persian Culture was established at Lahore,
which later produced the famous poet, Masud Sad Salman.
• Lahore under Ghaznavid rule in the 11th century, attracted Persian scholars from
Khurasan, India and central Asia and become a major Persian Culture Centre.
Ghaznavid history are all products of an elite, court culture, we can only piece
together odd fragments of information on the life and social habits of the mass of the
population, the peasants, traders and artisans Agriculture was concentrated on the
oases and was essentially small scale and designed for subsistence within the rural area
concerned or for supplying towns like Herat, Merv and Nishapur which could not
grow enough food for themselves. Only certain highly specialized foodstuffs like
truffles and the edible earth of Khurasan are mentioned as being exported as far as
Egypt and the Turkish lands.61 Within the Ghaznavid realm, comprising the plateaux
and mountain regions of Afghanistan and Khurasan, the only significant permanent
sources of running water were rivers like the Oxus, Mergheb and Helmand, on which
the geographers mention the existence of water mill
• The Ghaznavids display originally Turkish slaves into monarchs w Industrial
production was the small-scale activity of artisans and craftsmen, and was mainly for
local consumption. Only within Khurasan, where virtually all the towns produced
textiles or carpets, were certain celebrated local fabrics, such as the cattab¯ ¯ı and
saqlatun¯ ¯ı silk brocades of Nishapur, the white cottons of Herat and the gold-
threaded mulham cloth of Merv, exported outside the province.6ithin the Irano-
Islamic tradition who presided as authoritarian rulers over a multi-ethnic realm
comprising Iranians or Tajiks, Turks, Afghans, Indians and others.

For two centuries, the Ghaznavid Empire, the first significant Muslim power in Central
Asia, deliberately propagated Islam among the peoples of the Indian sub-continent.
Eventually, Muslims became the second-largest religious community.
• The nation-states of Pakistan and Bangladesh have their origins in the Ghaznavid
legacy. For the people who lived under Ghaznavid rule, life was stable and secure.