Maḥmūd

Maḥmūd (born 971—died April 30?, 1030, Ghazna [Afghanistan]) was the sultan of the kingdom of Ghazna (998–1030), originally comprising what are now Afghanistan and northeastern Iran but, through his conquests, eventually including northwestern India and most of Iran. He transformed his capital, Ghazna (modern Ghazni, Afghanistan), into a cultural centre rivaling Baghdad (now in Iraq).

Rise to power and expansion of his empire

Maḥmūd was the son of Sebüktigin, a Turkish slave, who in 977 became ruler of Ghazna and established the Ghaznavid dynasty. When Maḥmūd ascended the throne in 998 at the age of 27, he already showed remarkable administrative ability and statesmanship. At the time of his accession, Ghazna was a small kingdom. The young and ambitious Maḥmūd aspired to be a great monarch, and in more than 20 successful expeditions he amassed the wealth with which to lay the foundation of a vast empire that eventually included the Kashmir and Punjab regions and a large part of Iran.

During the first two years of his reign, Maḥmūd consolidated his position in Ghazna. Although he was an independent ruler, for political reasons Maḥmūd gave nominal allegiance to the ʿAbbāsid caliph in Baghdad. The caliph, in return, recognized Maḥmūd as the legitimate ruler of the lands he occupied and encouraged him in his conquests.

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Islamic arts: Influence of Maḥmūd of Ghazna

Maḥmūd is said to have vowed to invade India once a year and, in fact, led about 17 such expeditions. The first large-scale campaign began in 1001 and the last ended in 1026. The first expeditions were aimed against the Punjab and northeastern India, whereas in his last campaign Maḥmūd reached Somnath on the southern coast of what is now Gujarat state.

His chief antagonist in northern India was Jaipal, the ruler of the Punjab. When, in 1001, Maḥmūd marched on India at the head of 15,000 horse troops, Jaipal met him with 12,000 horse troops, 30,000 foot soldiers, and 300 elephants. In a battle near Peshawar (now in Pakistan) the Indians, though superior in numbers and equipment, fell back under the onslaught of the Muslim horsemen, leaving behind 15,000 dead. After falling into the hands of the victors, Jaipal, with 15 of his relatives and officers, was finally released. But the raja could not bear his defeat, and, after abdicating in favour of his son, Anandpal, he mounted his own funeral pyre and perished in the flames.

Anandpal appealed to the other Indian rajas for help. Some replied in person, others sent armies. The Indian women sold their jewels to finance a huge army. When at last, in 1008, Maḥmūd met the formidable force thus raised, the two armies lay facing each other between Und and Peshawar for 40 days. The sultan finally succeeded in enticing the Indians to attack him. A force of 30,000 fierce Khokar tribesmen charged both flanks of the sultan’s army with such ferocity that Maḥmūd was about to call a retreat. But at that critical moment Anandpal’s elephant became panic-stricken and took flight. The Indians, believing that their leader was turning tail, fled from the battlefield strewn with their dead and dying.

The momentous victory in 1008 facilitated Maḥmūd’s advance into the heart of India in subsequent years. Of note was the conquest of the wealthy city of Kannauj in 1018. He did not always succeed in his objectives, as in his expedition into Kashmir in 1015. Other times—such as in his campaigns against Gwalior in 1022 and Kalinjar in 1023—Maḥmūd could not subdue those fortresses but did exact tribute from their rulers. He thus returned to Ghazna with immense quantities of booty.

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Later years and significance

After annexing the Punjab, the sultan set about to transform Ghazna into a great centre of art and culture. He patronized scholars, established colleges, laid out gardens, and built mosques, palaces, and caravansaries. Maḥmūd’s example was followed by his nobles and courtiers, and Ghazna soon was transformed into the most brilliant cultural centre in Central Asia.

In 1024 the sultan set out on his last famous expedition to the southern coast of the Kathiawar Peninsula along the Arabian Sea. There he sacked the city of Somnath and its renowned Hindu temple. Maḥmūd returned home in 1026. The last years of his life he spent in fighting the Central Asian tribes threatening his empire.

Maḥmūd was the first to carry the banner of Islam into the heart of India. To some Muslim writers he was a great champion of his faith, an inspired leader endowed with supernatural powers. Most Indian historians, on the other hand, emphasize his military exploits and depict him as “an insatiable invader and an intrepid marauder.” Neither view is correct. In his Indian expeditions, he kept his sights set mainly on the fabulous wealth of India stored in its temples. He never treated his Indian subjects harshly, nor did he ever impose the Islamic religion on them, though he was a zealous champion of Islam. He maintained a large contingent of Hindu troops, commanded by their own countrymen, whom he employed with great success against his coreligionists in Central Asia. Conversion to Islam was never a condition of service in the sultan’s army.

Great as a warrior, the sultan was no less eminent as a patron of art and literature. Attracted by his munificence and encouragement, many outstanding scholars settled in Ghazna, among them al-Bīrūnī, the mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and Sanskrit scholar, and Ferdowsī, the Persian author of the great epic poem Shāh-nāmeh (“Book of Kings”). Maḥmūd’s conquest of northern India furthered the exchange of trade and ideas between the Indian subcontinent and the Muslim world. It helped to disseminate Indian culture in foreign lands. Similarly, Muslim culture, which by then had assimilated and developed the cultures of such ancient peoples as the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Syrians, found its way into India, and many Muslim scholars, writers, historians, and poets began to settle there.