MAHMUD GHAZNI

 

SR.NO	YEAR
1	1000 AD	Frontier Forts
2	1000-01 AD	Against Hindushahi ruler Jayapala
3	1004-05 AD	Against rulers of Bhatiya
4	1005-06 AD	In Multan against Fateh ruler of Daud
5	1007 – 08 AD	Against Nawab Shah
6	1008-09 AD	Against Anandpala
7	1009-10 AD	Narayanpur
8	1010- 11 AD	Multan
9	1012-13 AD	Thaneshwar
10	1013-14 AD	Nandana – capital of Anandpala – succeeded by son Trilochanpala
11	1015-16 AD	Kashmir
12	1018-19 AD	Gangetic Valley – Mathura – Kanauj
13	1019-20 AD	Chandella
14	1020-21 AD	Gwalior and Kalinjar
15	1021-22 AD	Lahore and Punjab annexed
16	1025-26 AD	Somnath
17	1026 -27 AD	Against Jats

 

Lifespan 997-1030 AD

In 998 AD Mahmud Ghazni ascended the throne of Ghazni. He was a slave of Subuktagin and had accompanied him during his Indian campaigns. He had received military training in early childhood. Mahmud was recognized as the rightful ruler of Ghazni and Khorasan by the Caliph of Baghdad. He conducted as many as 17 expeditions into Hindusthan. He had a clear knowledge about Indian topography from Muslim traders and travellers who carried information about India. Mahmud did not stay on in Hindusthan. The aim of his invasion was not conquest, but the acquisition of loot and fresh recruits for the army.

Mahmuds first invasion was against the Hindushahi ruler of Peshawar and Punjab. The Muslim rulers of Multan and Jayapala joined hands against Mahmud. In 1001 AD. Jayapala was defeated and he committed suicide. His son Anandpala continued the struggle against Mahmud. In 1008-09 near Peshawar, in a decisive battle, Anandpala was defeated and Mahmud brought Multan and Punjab under his contol.

In 1004 Mahmud invaded Vhira and amassed a large fortune from the temples there.

In 1006 he invaded the Shia kingdom Multan ruled by Fateh Daud and defeated the combined forces of Fateh Daud and Anandpala.

The death of Amandpala in 1012 weakened the resistance of the Hindushahi kingdom. With the death of Bhimpala in 1026, the Hindushahi kingdom came to an end.

In 1009 Manmud attacked Narayan II (Alwar). In 1014 Thaneshwar. In 1018 he plundered Mathura and desecrated the temple there. This was followed by the plunder of Kanauj and the accumulation of more wealth.

In 1022, Mahmud returned to Ghazni. Lahore, Gwalior and Kalinga became part of his Indian empire. The last campaign of Mahmud was in 1025-26, when he invaded Gujarat and destroyed the Somnath Temple. This campaign had been planned in detail when he reached Anhilwara. Raja Bhim Deo fled in terror. Mahmud then reached Somnath were 1000 priests had gathered to pray for the safety of the holy shrine. Mahmud destroyed the idol and carried it along with several precious things to Ghazni. Prayers could not save the idol from the iconoclast. The sack of Somnath made Mahmud a hero in the eyes of his people. He became a champion of the faith.

In 1027, he punished the Jats in his last raid.

In 1030, Mahmud died at Ghazni and left behind him a large empire and immense wealth.

Reasons for success:

a.    Weakness of the Hindu rulers

b.    Superior cavalry

c.     Better weapons

d.    Efficient spy system

e.    The concept of holy war or Jihad

According to Lane Poole – ‘Mahmud left his dominion so ill knitted that they began to fall asunder as soon as he was no longer alive to guard them by his vigilant activity”.

Estimate:

Mahmud was one of the greatest Muslim kings of Asia. He ruled over a dominion which extended from Iraq and Caspian Sea to the Ganges. His empire was more extensive than even the Caliphs of Baghdad. It was his courage as a soldier and success as a commander which made this possible. He ranks as one of the most successful generals of the world.

He was an uneducated but cultured person and a patron of scholarship and art. He invited scholars and artists to his empire even from foreign countries. He engaged them in beautifying Ghazni. In this time, Ghazni became not only a beautiful city of the East, but also the center of Islamic scholarship. Among the topmost literary persons who thronged the royal court of Ghazni was Firdausi Alberuni. He founded a University in Ghazni.

Administration – He was a fanatic Sunni Muslim. He was intolerant of not only Hindu but also of the Shias. He was given the title of ‘quizi’ which means ‘slayer of infidels’. He was a champion of Islam and the destroyer of images. According to professor Mohammad Habib, ‘Mahmud’s expeditions to India were however not promoted because of his religious fanaticism, but because of his religious fanaticism, but because of his love of plunder’.

As far as India was concerned, Mahmud was never a ruler of India. He never wanted to administer the provinces he conquered. In all his invasions, he looted, destroyed and took along with him the wealth of Hindu temples and forced lakhs of people to accept Islam.

Mahmud broke up the economic and military strength of Indians and also their morale to resist Muslim invaders. Therefore as professor S. R. Sharma said, ‘he was an angel to his people’. If he did anything, it was not for all the people but a select class (Sunnis) and for personal glorification.

The greatest achievement of Mahmud as far as India was concerned was the destruction of the Hindu Shahi kingdom of Afghanistan. He paved the way for the conquest of Afghanistan and India by future Muslims.

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