Mahmud of Ghazni (971–April 30, 1030), also known as Yamin ul-Dawlah Mahmud (in full: Yamin ul-Dawlah Abd ul-Qasim Mahmud Ibn Sebük Tigin) was the ruler of Ghazni from 997 until his death. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni (in present-day Afghanistan) into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which included today's Afghanistan, most of modern Iran, and parts of Pakistan and northern India. Events Births Deaths Culen of Scotland Categories: 971 ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining, as the last day in April. ... Events Battle of Stiklestad ensures the Christianization of Norway. ... Minaret, July 2001 Ghazni is a city in central Afghanistan, situated on a plateau at 7280 feet above sea level. ... Events City of Gdansk is founded Saint Adalbert of Prague is sent to Prussia by Boleslaus I of Poland Samuil of Bulgaria crowned Tsar by Pope Gregory V The town of Trondheim is founded. ...

Mahmud's grandfather was Alptigin, a Turkic general from Balkh in Turkestan who crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to seize Ghazni, located strategically on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. Alptigin was succeeded in 977 by his son Sabuktigin, who enlarged upon his Alptigin's conquests, extending his domain north to Balkh, west to Kandahar and Khorasan, and east to the Indus River. Sabuktigin was recognized by the Caliph in Baghdad as governor of his dominions. He died in 997, and was succeeded by his son Mahmud. This is the disambiguation page for the terms Turk, Turkey, Turkic, and Turkish. ... Balkh is now a small town in the Province of Balkh, Afghanistan, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 46 miles (74 km) south of the Amu Darya, the Oxus River of antiquity, of which a tributary formerly flowed past Balkh. ... Map of Turkestan (dark grey) with borders of modern states in white Turkestan (also spelled Turkistan or Türkistan) is a region in Central Asia, which today is largely inhabited by Turkic people. ... The Hindu Kush or Hindukush (هندوکش in Persian) is a mountain range in Afghanistan as well as in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. ... Kabul (34°32′ N 69°10′ E, Kâbl, in Persian کابل) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan with a population variously estimated at 2 to 4 million. ... Kandahār (or Qandahār) is a city in southern Afghanistan, the capital of Kandahar province. ... Events Births Deaths Hunain ibn Ishaq, Egyptian physician Categories: 977 ... Abu Mansur Sebük Tigin (ca 942 - August 997) was the founder of the Ghaznavid Empire and dynasty in todays Afghanistan. ... Balkh is now a small town in the Province of Balkh, Afghanistan, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 46 miles (74 km) south of the Amu Darya, the Oxus River of antiquity, of which a tributary formerly flowed past Balkh. ... Kandahār (or Qandahār) is a city in southern Afghanistan, the capital of Kandahar province. ... Khorasan (also spelled Khurasan and Khorassan; خراسان in Persian) is an area, located in eastern and northeastern Iran. ... The Indus (Daria-e-Sindh) (known as Sindhu to Indians and in Sanskrit, as Sinthos in Greek, and Sindus in Latin) is the principal river of Pakistan. ... Caliph is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. ... Wikinews has news related to this article: Several hundred killed after stampede in Baghdad A street map of Baghdad Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad For other meanings see Baghdad (disambiguation) Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and the Baghdad Province. ... Events City of Gdansk is founded Saint Adalbert of Prague is sent to Prussia by Boleslaus I of Poland Samuil of Bulgaria crowned Tsar by Pope Gregory V The town of Trondheim is founded. ...

Issuing forth year after year from his capital of Ghazni, Mahmud carried sixteen or seventeen campaigns into northern India and Gujarat, as well as others to the north and west. His first campaigns were against the Hindu Shahi kingdom, which occupied the Punjab from the Indus east to the Ganges. He had participated in his father's campaigns against the Shahi king Jayapala in the late 980's that captured the Khyber Pass region as far east as the Indus. Mahmud campaigned against the Shahis in 1001, and in 1004 raided deep into the Punjab, defeating a Shahi army and capturing Bhatia and Multan. In 1008, he conquered most of the Punjab and capturing their treasury at Kangra in Himachal Pradesh and reducing the Shahi kingdom to a sliver of the eastern Punjab. Gujarat (ગુજરાત in Gujarati) is the most industrialized state in India after Maharashtra and is located in western India, bordered by Pakistan to the northwest and Rajasthan to the north. ... A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of India (Bharat). ... Coin of the Shahi king Spalapati Deva, circa 750-900. ... Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 The Punjab (Meaning: Land of five Rivers) (also Panjab, Gurmukhi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, Shahmukhi: پنجاب) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. ... Early morning on the Ganges The River Ganges (Ganga in Indian languages) (Devanagiri गंगा) is a major river in northern India. ... Jayapala Shahi He was the son of Asatapala and succeeded the last Brahmin Hindu Shahi Bhima and thus beginning the start of the Janjua Shahi phase. ... The Khyber Pass (also called the Khaiber Pass in old documents) is the most important pass connecting Pakistan with Afghanistan. ... Events Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Silvester II. Canonisation of Edward the Martyr, king of England. ... Events December: End of the Samanid dynasty in Bokhara. ... Bhatia is a surname mostly existing in North India. ... Multan is a city in Pakistan and capital of Multan District in the Punjab Province. ... Events Olof, king of Sweden, is baptized. ... Kangra Kangra is the most populous district of the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. ... Himachal Pradesh, formally the Punjab Hill States, is a state in northwest India. ...

Mahmud's campaigns seem to be motivated by both religious zeal and an interest in wealth and gold. Mahmud followed the injunction to convert non-Muslims, whom he had vowed to chastise every year of his life. Hindu temples were depositories of vast quantities of wealth, in cash, golden images, and jewellery - and these made them targets for a non-Hindu searching for wealth in northern India. The later invasions of Mahmud were directed to temple towns, including Thanesar (1012), Mathura and Kanauj (1018), and finally Somnath (1026). Mahmud's armies routinely stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them; after Mahmud's raids on the cities of Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, and Dwarka, not one temple survived intact. A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an adherent of Islam. ... Thanesar is an old and historic town on the banks of the Ghaggar river in North India, located approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi. ... Events Mael Morda starts a rebellion against Brian Boru in Ireland, which would eventually end in 1014 at the Battle of Clontarf. ... Mathura (मथुरा) is a city in India, located approximately 50 km north of Agra, and south of Delhi. ... Kanauj, or Kannauj, is an ancient city of Uttar Pradesh state of India (1991 pop. ... Events Bulgaria becomes part of the Byzantine Empire. ... The Somnath Temple in the Prabhas Kshetra in Saurashtra, on the western coast of Gujarat, India is one of the twelve Jyotirlings (golden lingas) symbols of the god Shiva. ... Events Archbishop Ariberto crowns Conrad II King of Italy in Milan. ... Varanasi Varanasi (वाराणसी) (also known as Benares, Banaras, Benaras, Kashi, and Kasi) is a Hindu holy city on the banks of the river Ganga (Ganges) in the modern north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Ujjain (also known as Ujain, Ujjayini, Avanti) is an ancient city of central India, in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, on the right bank of the Kshipra River. ... Maheshwar is a town in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh state, in central India. ... Dwarka is a city in Gujarat, India. ...

The concentration of wealth at Somnath was renowned, and consequently it became an attractive target for Mahmud. The raid in 1026 was his last major campaign, and took him across the Thar Desert, which had previously deterred most invaders. The temple and citadel were sacked, and most of its Brahmin defenders massacred; Mahmud personally hammered the temple's gilded lingam into pieces, and the stone fragments were carted back to Ghazni, where they were incorporated into the steps of the city's new Jami Masjid (Friday mosque). The Thar Desert (also known as the Great Indian Desert) is a desert mainly Goo goo gaa gaa. ... A Brahmin (less often Brahman) is a member of the Hindu caste. ... Linga worship (Estate of Cynthia and Harlen Welsh) Lingam or Linga (Sanskrit: Gender as in purusha-linga : Phallus) by some etymologists, is used as a symbol for the worship of the Hindu God Shiva. ... Tulip Mosque in Ufa, Russia. ...

By the end of his reign, his empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to Samarkand in the northeast, and from the Caspian Sea to the Yamuna. Although his raids carried his forces across northern and western India, only the Punjab came under his permanent rule; Kashmir, the Doab, Rajasthan and Gujarat remained under the control of the local Hindu Rajput dynasties. The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, and contemporary historians (e.g. Abolfazl Beyhaghi, Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the conqueror's munificent support of literature. // History Before World War I, most Kurds lived within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, in the province of Kurdistan. ... Samarkand (Samarqand or Самарқанд in Uzbek, in Persian سمرقند) (population 400,000) is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan, capital of Samarqand Province. ... Caspian Sea viewed from orbit The Caspian Sea or Mazandaran Sea is a landlocked sea between Asia and Europe (European Russia). ... Yamuna is a major river of northern India, with a total length of around 1370 km. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A Doab, meaning two waters is a term used in India and Pakistan for a tract of land between two confluent rivers. ... Rajasthan (राजस्थान) is the geographically largest state in northwestern India. ... A Rajput (from Sanskrit rāja-putra, son of a king) is a member of a prominent caste who live throughout northern and central India, primarily in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. ... Abolfazl Beyhaghi (995-1077; Abd ul-Fazl Mohammad Ibn Hossein Beyhaği) was an Iranian historian and author. ... Statue of Ferdowsi in Tehran Ferdowsi Mausoleum in Tus Ferdowsi Tousi (فردوسی طوسی in Persian) (more commonly transliterated Firdausi) (935–1020) is considered to be one of the greatest Persian poets to have ever lived. ...

The Ghaznavid Empire was ruled by his successors for 157 years, but after Mahmud it never reached anything like the same splendour and power. Their ancestors went back to Ghazni where they lived as Nasher Khans until the 20th century. The expanding Seljuk Turkish empire absorbed most of the Ghaznavid west. The Persian Ghorids captured Ghazni c. 1150, and Muhammad Ghori captured the last Ghaznavid stronghold at Lahore in 1187. The Ghaznavid Empire was a state in the region of todays Afghanistan that existed from 963 to 1187. ... (Sometimes: Nashir) Old Oriental family, descendants of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. ... For the dynasty and empire founded by Seljuk, see Seljuk Turks. ... Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori (originally named Muizz-ad-din) (1162 - 1206) was a Persian conqueror and sultan between 1171 and 1206. ... Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori (originally named Muizz-ad-din) (1162 - 1206) was a Persian conqueror and sultan between 1171 and 1206. ... Lahore (لاةور) is a major city in Pakistan and is the capital of the province of Punjab. ... Events May 1 - Battle of Cresson - Saladin defeats the crusaders July 4 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin. ...

See Also

• Islamic Invasion of India
• History of Afghanistan

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... // History of Afghanistan Afghanistans history, internal political development, foreign relations, and very existence as an independent state have largely been determined by its geographic location at the crossroads of Central, West, and South Asia. ...

External Links

• Ghazni's best-kept secret
• Rewriting history and Mahmud of Ghazni
• Mahmud Ghaznavi's 17 invasions of India
• Mahmud Ghazni

References

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) represents, in many ways, the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...