1 ( 77 -)
2 CHAPTER II.
3 GHAZNIVIDE DYNASTY:
4 ALAPTAGIN,
5 puns the successive dynasties of the Imperial families of Modvidé and
6 the sovereigns of the house of Abbasi, who succeeded to the Khalifat, the
7 Arabian empire retained its full vigour, but after the death of the great
8 Harun-ul-Rashid, its temporal power began to show'signs of gradual decay.
9 The satraps of different provinces threw off their allegiance and assumed the
10 title of royalty, while the government of the Khalifaét became confined to
11 the province of Bagddd and its dependencies, and the authority of the
12 Caliph was considered supreme only in matters of religion. The Tahirites, or
13 successors of Tahir, who was the first to assume independence, established
14 themselves in the great provinces of Khordsdén and Transoxiana. They
15 were, in 872 a.p., succeeded by the Sofarides, a dynasty of kings founded
16 by Yakub, a brazier of Sistan, who had obtained great celebrity by his
17 military adventures. These were, in their turn, subverted, in 908 A. D., by
18 the Samanis, the founder of which dynasty was one Ismail, who assumed
19 the royal title in the 263rd year of the Hijra. He had a great reputation
20 for justice and humanity, and reigned in Bokhara, Ma4warul Nahr, Khordsdn,
21 and a great part of the Persian empire. The family of Samania reigned
22 in tranquillity for 120 years. The fifth prince, Abdul Malik, died at Bok-
23 hadrd, leaving a minor son, Manstr, Alaptagin, a Turki slave of the late
24 king, who governed the vast province of Khordsdn, declared for the uncle
25 of the young prince ; but Mausir was raised to the throne by the opposite
26 faction. Offended with Alaptagin, the young monarch ordered him to
27 Bokhdard ; but the governor marched with a considerable army from Nishd-
28 pur, the capital of Khordsdn, to Ghizni, and after gaining several victories
29 over the royal troops, assumed the insignia of sovereignty.
30 Alaptagin frequently employed his armies, under his general, Sabukta-
31 gin, for the reductiun of the provinces of Multd4n and Lamghdan, and thou-
32 sands of the inhabitants of those provinces were carried away as slaves to
33 Ghizni. Jdipal, the réj& ot Léhore, finding his troops unable to withstand
34 the armies of the northern invaders, formed an alliance with the rdj& of Lin
35 Bhatia,* but the confederate armies failed to prevent the assailants from
36 carrying away great spoils from India each time they attacked the country.
37 Alaptagin reigned in peace for fifteen years, and on his death, in 976, was
38 succeeded by his son Abu Ishdc; but, the latter dying in less than two years,
39 Sabuktagin, the general of Alaptagin and originally his slave, who had
40 married his daughter, was, by the unanimous voice of the army, installed on
41 the throne of Ghizni.
42 AMIR NASIR-UD-DIN SABUKTAGIN.
43 According to Minhdjis Siraj, Sabuktagin was a slavet of Turkish
44 extraction. Nusar Haji a merchant, having purchased him while a boy,
45 brought him from Turkistan to Bokhdrd, where he sold him to Alaptagin.
46 * Bhatia has been identified with modern Bhatner. The State was, in the Hindt period,
47 a tributary of the réjé of Léhore. ‘ :
48 + Though a Turki slave, Sabuktagin claimed illustrious descent from the royal family of
49 Yezdijerd, the last of the Persian kings, who, his army having been routed during the reign of
50 Caliph Usman, was murdered at a water-mill, near the town of Merv. His family, who
51 foot AE their abode in Turkistan, formed connections with the people, and became Turki,—
52 artshta.
53 The power of the
54 Khalifat on the wano.
55 The family of Simé-
56 nia,
57 Alaptagin, a Turki
58 slave.
59 He assumes the in-
60 Bignia of royalty,
61 His general, Sabuk-
62 tagin.
63 Jaipal, réja of
64 ore,
65 Death of Alaptagin,
66 796 A. D.
67 The descent of
68 Sabuktagin.
69 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLirary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com