The Ghaznavid dynasty (Persian: غزنویان Ġaznaviyān) was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin.[b] It ruled the Ghaznavid Empire or the Empire of Ghazni from 977 to 1186, which at its at its greatest extent, extended from the Oxus to the Indus Valley. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to the rule of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh.
Sabuktigin's son, Mahmud of Ghazni, 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 Seljuk Empire after the Battle of Dandanaqan in 1040, resulting in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India.
In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to the Ghurid sultan Ala al-Din Husayn. The Ghaznavids retook Ghazni, but lost the city to the Ghuzz Turks who in turn lost it to Muhammad of Ghor. In response, the Ghaznavids fled to Lahore, their regional capital. In 1186, Lahore was conquered by the Ghurid sultan, Muhammad of Ghor, with its Ghaznavid ruler, Khusrau Malik, imprisoned and later executed.
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.[12] 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.[citation needed]
Alp Tigin's died in 963, and after two ghulam governors and three years, his slave Sabuktigin became the governor of Ghazna.
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Sabuktigin lived as a mamluk, Turkic slave-soldier,[13][c][14] during his youth and later married the daughter of his master Alptigin,[15] who fled to Ghazna following a failed coup attempt, and conquered the city from the local Lawik rulers in 962.[16] After Alptigin death, his son Abu Ishaq Ibrahim governed Ghazna for three years.[17] His death was followed by the reign of a former ghulam of Alptigin, Bilgetigin. Bilgetigin's rule was so harsh the populace invited Abu Bakr Lawik back.[17] It was through Sabuktigin's military ability that Lawik was removed, Bilgetigin was exiled, and Sabuktigin gained the governorship.[18]
Once established as governor of Ghazna, Sabuktigin was asked to intervene in Khurasan, at the insistence of the Samanid emir, and after a victorious campaign received the governorships of Balkh, Tukharistan, Bamiyan, Ghur and Gharchistan.[19] Sabuktigin inherited a governorship in turmoil.[20] In Zabulistan, the typical military fief system(mustaghall) were being changed into permanent ownership(tamlik) which resulted in the Turkic soldiery unwilling to take up arms.[20] Sabuktigin reformed the system making them all a mustaghall-type fief.[20] In 976, he ended the conflict between two Turkic ghulams at Bust and restored the original ruler.[21] Later that same year, Sabuktigin campaigned against Qusdar, catching the ruler(possibly Mu'tazz b. Ahmad) off guard and obtaining an annual tribute from him.[21]
After the death of Sabuktigin, his son by Alptigin's daughter, Ismail, was given Ghazna.[d][23] Another son, Abu'l-Muzaffar Nasr, was given the governorship of Bust, while in Khorasan, the eldest son Mahmud, was given command of the army.[19] Sabuktigin's intent was to ensure governorships for his family, despite the decaying influence of the Samanid Empire, and did not consider his dynasty as independent.[19] Ismail, upon gaining his inheritance, quickly traveled to Bust and did homage to Emir Abu'l-Harith Mansur b. Nuh.[23] Mahmud, who had been left out of any significant inheritance, proposed a division of power, to which Ismail refused.[24] Mahmud marched on Ghazna and subsequently Ismail was defeated and captured in 998 at the Battle of Ghazni.[22]
In 998, Mahmud, son of Sebuktigin, succeeded to the governorship, and Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty became perpetually associated with him. He emphasized his loyalty in a letter to the caliph, saying that the Samanids had only been replaced because of their treason.[25] Mahmud received the governorship of Khurasan and titles of Yamin al-Dawla and Amin al-Milla.[25] As a representative of caliphal authory, he championed Sunni Islam by campaigning against the Ismaili and Shi'ite Buyids.[25] 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.[26] Still, as late as 1033, Ghaznavid governor Tash Farrash executed fifty Turkmen chiefs for raids into Khorasan.[27]
