The Later Ghaznavids: Splendour and Decay

207 Pages·1992·12.108 MB·English

by  Clifford Edmund Bosworth

~<'~;"'"SSPLE:NDOUR.AND DECAr
·~·~
-'Nartfiem ...... 1040-1186
This book is a sequel to Prof. Bosworth's
classic study of the origins and early history of
the Ghaznavid empire, The Ghaznavids, their
empire in Afghanistan and eastern Iran 994-
1040. It carries on the story of this originally
Turkish dynasty, based on Ghazna in eastern
Afghanistan, after its sultans had lost the·
western Iranian provinces of their empire to the
incoming Turkish steppe nomads of the Oghuz
-tribe, whose leaders then formed the Great
Seljuq state in the Middle East. The
Ghaznavids survived, however, as a still
powerful empire, comprising eastern
Afghanistan, the Pan jab, Baluchistan and Sind,
for almost a century and a half. Their court in
Ghazna and then, at a later date, in Lahore, was
a great centre for the beginnings and the
development of what was to be the Indo
Muslim culture and literature, for it was from
the Pan jab at this time that the gradual process
of the Islamisation of much of northwestern
India began.
Prof. C.E. Bosworth F.B.A. is Emeritus
Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of
Manchester and a former President of the
British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. His
many books cover the fields of the history of
the Iranian world and Central Asia and the
history, literature and culture of the Arab
world.
The Later Ghaznavids: Splendour and Decay
This book is a sequel to Prof. Bosworth's classic study of the origins and early
history of the Ghaznavid empire, The Ghaznavids, Their Empire in Afghanistan
and Eastern Iran 994-1040. It carries on the story of this originally Turkish
dynasty, based on Ghazna in eastern Afghanistan, after its sultans had lost
the western Iranian provinces of their empire to the incoming Turkish steppe
nomads of the Oghuz tribe, whose leaders then formed the Great Seljuq state
in the Middle East. The Ghaznavids survived, however, as a still-powerful
empire, comprising eastern Afghanistan, the Panjab, Baluchistan and Sind,
for almost a century and a half. Their court in Ghazna and then, at a later
date, in Lahore, was a great centre for the beginnings and the development
of what was to be the Indo-Muslim culture and literature, for it was from the
Panjab at this time that the gradual process of the Islamisation of much of
northwestern India began.
Prof. C.E. Bosworth F.B.A. is Emeritus Professor of Arabic Studies at the
University of Manchester and a former President of the British Society for
Middle Eastern Studies. His many books cover the fields of the history of the
Iranian world and Central Asia and the history, literature and culture of the
Arab world.
The Later Ghaznavids:
Splendour and Decay
The Dynasty in Afghanistan and
Northern hlClia 1040-1186
Clifford Edmund Bosworth
Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
ISBN 978-81-215-0577-2
Reprinted 1992,2015
First published 1977
© Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into other languages.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
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www.mrmlbooks.com
Contents
·--------- --·--------- ----
Map and Genealogical Table
bztroductio.! p.I
CHAPTER ONE p.6
Defeat in the \Vest and its Aftermath: The 'Time of Troubles'
1. The shrunken Gha:azavid emjJire p.G
2. The last months of Afas'zid's reign and
his retiral to India p.~
3· The deposition of Afas'iid and
Mul;zammad's second sultanate p.1 i
4· Maudzid's vengeance p.:w
5· A1audiid re-establishes the position
in the west p.25
6. The campaigns in India P<:iO
7. The intemalfimctioning of the emj1ire p. 33
8. Succession difficulties and the
accession of'Abd ar-Rashid P·3i
g. The usurpation of Toghri'l p:41
10. Farrukh-Ziid'ssullarmte P·47
CHAPTER TWO p.50
The Reign oflbrahim: Retrenchment and Continuity
1. Ihriihim and tlze Seljuqs p.50
2. The Glzaznavid army in tlze later period p.58
3· Ibriihim' s campaigns in India and in Ghiir p.61
4· The internal administration of the empire p.6g
5· Court life and culture p. 74
6. Relations with the Abbasid caliplzate p. 78
7. Ibriihim as ruler p. So
CHAPTER THREE p.82
Mas' iid m and his Sons: Equilibrium and Incipient Decline
1. Mas'iid'sreign p.82
vi CONTENTS
2. The struggles for power amongst Mas'ud's sons p.8g
3· Balmim Shiih' s reign: the Indian summer before the
Ghilrid i11vasion p.g8
CHAPTER FOUR p.III
The Struggle with the Ghiirids, and the last Ghaznavid Sultans
1. The Ghii.rid onslaught and Bahriim Shiili' s last years p. 111
2. Khusrau Shiih and the retreat to India p.120
3· Khusrau Malik's reign and the end of the dynasty p.123
APPENDIX A p.132
lbn Baba al~Qashani on the History of the Ghaznavids
1. Introduction p.132
2. Translation p.l34
3. Commentary p.144
APPENDIX B p.156
The Ghaznavid Rulers in Ghazna and India, 366-582/977-1186
Abbreviations p. 158
Notes and References p. 159
Bibliography of the principal works ctJnsulted p.187
Inde.~ p.192
Acknowledgements
It is obviously fitting that Edinburgh University Press,
who published my first book on the Ghaznavids, should
publish its successor volume, and I am accordingly grate
ful to the Press for undertaking the task in these difficult
times. I must also acknowledge valuable help in elucidat
ing difficult Persian poetry from Mr Hasan Etessami,
Imperial Iranian Vice-Consul in Manchester.·
C.E.B •
•
•J.tht
Tla~ trlen~
9 HA '£NA 'VIb 6.M PI R £
er uoo
•r~ teA 'j• . ,.. . u.,
Ajrnere
RAJASTHAN
eMarwar
Ab1u
Anhilwllra fjjain
• MALWA
I, Sebi.iktigin, 366-,87/977-97
I
6,Maudiid 8. 'Ali 10. Farrukh-Zii.d 11. Ibrii.him
432-?440/1041-?1o4B ?440/ ?1048-g 443-51/1052-9 451-92/1059-99
I I
7· Mas'iid n u. Mas'iid 111
?440/ ?1048-g 492-5o8j1ogg-1II5
I
13. Shir-Ziid 14. Malik Arslan IS. Bahrii.m Shii.h
508-g/1115-16 sog-11j1116-I7 511-?552/1 I 17-?1157
I
16. Khusrau Shah
?552-5/ ?1157--6o
GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE GHAZNAVID SULTANS I
I7. Khusrau Malik
555-82/ I 16o-86