The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c12.s2: Their early raids : Sabuktigin
The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c12.s2
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Their early raids : Sabuktigin
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The Turks who first came into contact with India belonged to an upstart ruling family of Ghazni. A Turkish adventurer named Alaptagin, who was originally a slave and vassal of the Samanid king of Khurasan and Bukhara, established himself as an independent ruler at Ghazni in 962 A.D. One of his successors, named Pirai, signalized his rule by undertaking an invasion of the Indian territory in the possession of the raja of the Panjab. This raja, who belonged to the Hindushahi dynasty, ruled over an extensive territory extending from the river Chenab to the Hindukush mountain, including Kabul. The Hindushahi kingdom had once embraced the whole of modern Afghanistan which was geographically and culturally a part of India. Politically, too, though not continuously, it had been a province of our country since the days of Chandragupta Maurya in the third century B.C. The royal house of this 'Kingdom of Kabul and Zabul' had manfully resisted the Arab aggression. In 664 A.D., however, the latter succeeded in encroaching upon a part of its territory and converting 12,000 of its inhabitants to Islam. For more than three hundred years the Shahi kings fought bravely, and with considerable success, though single-handed, in self-defence, against This page appears to be completely blank.
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INDIA IN 1030 A.D. Mahmud of Ghazni.
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their aggressive Muslim neighbours, first the Arabs and then the Turks. The nascent kingdom of Ghazni wanted to blot this Shahi kingdom out of existence, for it had barred its path of progress to India. Accordingly, Pirai's foreign policy was followed by his successor, Sabuktigin who was a slave and son-in-law of Alaptagin and became king of Ghazni in April 977 A.D. Sabuktigin was a powerful and ambitious chief. Inspite of his constant occupation in Central Asian politics, he found time to raid the frontier of India. Jaipala, the raja of the Panjab, being conscious of the danger of the existence of a rising kingdom in his immediate neighbourhood, pursued the policy of trying to nip the evil in the bud. So he invaded Ghazni with a large force in 986-87 A.D. The parties were wellmatched and neither side seemed to give in. Unfortunately, however, owing to a great storm, which disorganised Jaipala's army, the raja had to agree to a peace by which he promised a large indemnity and fifty elephants and some territory to Sabuktigin. But, on his return to Lahore, he repudiated these humiliating terms. Sabuktigin now retaliated by an invasion of the raja's territory and plundering Lamghan. Jaipala called to his aid a number of rulers of the Indian principalities, and marched on Ghazni at the head of a powerful force. In the contest that followed Sabuktigin was again victorious, and he captured Lamghan and Peshawar.