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Biography of Mahmud of Ghazni
Name: Mahmud of Ghazni
Birth Date: November 2, 971
Death Date: April 30, 1030
Place of Birth: N/A
Nationality: Afghani
Gender: Male
Occupations: sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni
Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1030) was the first sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty in Afghanistan. A zealous Sunni Moslem, he plundered wealthy India and used the booty to patronize culture in Ghazni, making it the center of Perso-Islamic civilization.Born on Nov. 2, 971, eldest son of Emir Subuktigin, Mahmud helped his father gain a kingdom from the Samanids through successful campaigns against Turkish nobles of Samarkand and Bukhara. In 997 he overthrew his younger brother, Ismail, who had been nominated by Subuktigin as his successor, and two years later Mahmud was confirmed as sultan of Ghazni by Caliph al-Kadir. Challenged several times by the Qarakhanid rulers, Mahmud repulsed all attempts against his territories. Elsewhere, he annexed parts of Murghab (1012) and Khwarizm (1017). In the south and the west he asserted his suzerainty over Seistan, Ghor, Qudsar, and Baluchistan.Mahmud is chiefly remembered as the plunderer of India. Between 1000 and 1026 he mounted at least 17 raids against …showed first 150 words…
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…showed last 150 words…spent it lavishly. A library, a museum, and a university were endowed at Ghazni. To his court came scholars like al-Biruni; Utbi, the historian; Farabi, the philosopher; and Baihaki, the diarist. Mahmud became the hero of many legends, many of them centering on his relationship with his favorite slave, Ayaz.The administrative system that Mahmud established--using a predominantly Turkish elite, often of slave origin, promoted to army commands, and a Persian elite responsible for civil and revenue administration--was used in Moslem India for several centuries. He died on April 30, 1030, and his tomb at Ghazni has survived. Further Reading The outstanding work on Mahmud and his times is Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, 994-1040 (1963). A superior biography is Muhammad Nazim, The Life and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna (1931). Edward G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia (4 vols., 1906-1924), gives information on Mahmud's scholars.
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