Biography of Mahmud Ghazni

Before making a study of the various invasions of Mahmud Ghazni, it shall be desirable to know about his early career.

Mahmud was the son of Subuktgin and ascended to the throne of his father after defeating his younger brother Ismail, who was named by Subuktgin as his successor. He was born in 971 A.D. His mother was the daughter of a noble of Zabulistan, a district round Ghazni. It is for this reason that Mahmud is sometimes called Mahmud Zabuli.

Very little is known about the early career of Mahmud but all contemporaries tell us that Subuktgin took a lot of interest in giving all kinds of training to Mahmud. He was not only given training in the arts of warfare and administration, but was also made an expert in the science of statecraft. He was given a responsible position in the battle of Lamghan. The whole of Khorasan was put under his charge. Thus, he was eminently fitted to be a successor to his father.

The relations between Subuktgin and Mahmud were not cordial at the time of the death of Subuktgin and consequently the latter nominated his younger son Ismail as his successor. The result was that Ismail was put on the throne by the nobles. Mahmud was not prepared to tolerate this. He asked his brother, Ismail, to divide the kingdom and keep Balkh for himself and give Ghazni to him.

The suggestion was not accepted by Ismail and consequently Mahmud, jparched against him, defeated and imprisoned him. After that, he asked the Samanid ruler of Bokhara to confirm him in the dominion of Balkh and Ghazni. Khalifa Al-Qadir-Billah gave Mahmud a robe of honour and also conferred on him the title of Yamin-ud-Daulah (the right hand of the Empire) and Amin-ul-Millat (Custodian of the Faith). Mahmud was an extremely ambitions man and wanted to carve out a vast empire. He had heard stories about India’s fabulous and thirst for Military glory also prompted him to undertake invasions against India.

It is stated that when the Khalifa appointed Mahmud as his Lieutenant, he asked him to lead every year an expedition against Indian and no wonder Mahmud led a very large number of expeditions against India.

Objects or Motives of Mahmud’s Invasions

Before making a study of the various invasions of Mahmud Ghazni it shall be desirable to know about him objects or motives of invasions and India. Different opinions have been expressed by scholars regarding the motives which prompted Mahmud of Ghazni to undertake repeated invasions against India. Some of the motives are as under:

(i) Acquistion of Wealth:

Most historians are of the opinion that main aim of Mahmud’s Indian invasions was acquisitions of wealth with which to establish an empire in central Asia. That was the reason for him making the temples and idols the targets of him attack. The Indian temples were the repositories of gold, silver, diamonds and cash money.

Famous historians Habib and Zafar are the main supporters of thin view. According to Prof. Habib the Hindu temples attracted powerful and cruel invaders to do some unholy deed. To call Mahmud’s invasions “Jihad” would be a big mistake. It would be more right to say that he carried out terrible attack on the temples in order to seek their huge wealth.

This fact can be corroborated by the fact that during peacetime no attack on temples was carried out. It was only at the time of war that the temples were deserted in order to win the sympathy and support of the Muslims and Mahmud took away huge wealth.

Similarly, Historian Zafar writes that Mahmud was more of a conqueror than a religious propogator. To say that he carried out repeated attacks on India in order to spread Islamic religion would be wrong historically and psychologically.

Lane-poole also expressed same views and wrote that if Mahmud could hope to acquire wealth by looting Beghdad, he would have attacked and plundered that famous seat of Caliphate in the some cruel manner as he attacked and looted Hindu temple of somnath. Now the most important object of Mahmud’s attacks is considered to be his ambition to acquire wealth. Some other motives are said to be following.

(ii) Religious Motive:

According to contemporary Muslim Historians the object of Mahmud’s Indian invasions was the spread of Islam. According to them, Mahmud had vowed at the beginning of his reign that he would carry out an annual invasion on India to propogate him religion e.g., the court historian of Mahmud Utbi has written that Mahmud of first wanted to attack seistan but later on he thought it proper to carry on Jihad against India.

Many Historians agree with thin and hold that because of this motive Mahmud carried out seventeen invasions on India, attacked the temples and broke up the idols. He forces many non-muslim people to embrace Islam. It is said that the contemporary Muslim world praised these efforts of Mahmud of the caliph held a special Durbar to felicitate him. But Modern Historians Muhammad Habib, Khaiik Ahmad Nizami and Zafar have disproved thin thought by citing many examples.

Prof. Habib writes that the barbaric act of Mahmud did not help in the propagation of Islam but downgraded it in the eyes of the world. Habib and Nizami at other place said that there is no principle is Islamic law which supports the acts of temple destruction. Muslim attacked India thinking that it would prove his faith towards Islam and he would acquire prestige in the Muslim world still the basic motives behind him invasions were acquisition of wealth and political motives.

(iii) To Gain Elephant:

Some Historians consider acquisition of elephants from India was additional cause of him Indian invasions. They say that in all him invasions on India after 1000 A.D. Mahmud made use of elephant. It can be surprised therefore that Mahmud attacked India to acquire elephants for him army. From India he got both the elephant and the ‘Mahavats’.

(iv) Ambition for Prestige:

Another point of view is that Mahmud carried out repeated attacks on India inspired by his desire to acquire prestige. He had come to know of the weakness of Indian Rulers even during the life time of his father. He had full hope of success in India. Many Muslim Travelers had been to India before the Indian invasions of Mahmud.

From then he had acquired the neccessary geographical information which was helpful to him in carrying on him Indian invasions. Like many other conquerors Mahmud also was desirous of extending his empire and acquiring prestige. He had annexed many parth of western Punjab to his empire with this explicit purpose only.

(v) Acquisition of Artisans:

Some scholars held that one object of Mahmud’s invasion were acquisitions of skilled artisans. He was very fond of constructing beautiful buildings. With this aim he had carried with him many skilled artisans.

(vi) Political Motives: Many Historians hold that the basic and real motive of Mahmud’s invasion was political. Their contention is that him Indian invasions were a more instruments for acquisition of wealth whose ultimate objective was the establishment of a Turk-Persian Empire in Central Asia. Thin has been proved undoubtedly that Mahmud’s aim was definitly not the establishment of a permanent empire in India.

He used to return to Gazni after every successful invasion. In fact Mahmud considered it impossible to rule over two empires-one that of Gazni and the other that of India. Even a bertile land like the Punjab was annexed by him to him Gaznavid Empire as late as 1021-22 A.D.

In conclusion, it can be said that the nature of Mahmud Gaznavi’s Indian invasion was not religious. His purpose was to amass wealth from India to help him establish a vast and permanent Gaznavid Empire in Gazni. He did not try to establish an empire in India. He made no permanent administrative arrangement for his conquered territory. In his reign of 27 years he carried out 17 invasions on his India. Thus he could not literally fulfill his ambition of an annual invasion of India because many a times he got entangled into wars of Central Asia.

From every Indian invasion he got huge wealth. His invaded areas from Kashmir in the North to Kalinjar and the south and Kanauj in the East to Somnath in the West. He was most vigorously opposed by the Shahi Ruler Jai Pal. His invasions on Nagarkot, Mathura, Kanauj and Somnath yielded him enormous wealth.