The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c12.s8: The Panjab under the Ghaznavides
The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c12.s8
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The Panjab under the Ghaznavides
c12.s8.1
Mahmud annexed the Panjab whose administration he entrusted to the care of a governor. This was, thus, our third province, Sindh and Multan being the first two, to have passed into the hands of Muslim invaders from the north-west. Mahmud may be said to have been the first Turk who ruled over a province of our country and became the founder of a dynasty. His successors, after they had lost their hereditary kingdom of Ghazni, sought protection at Lahore and ruled there till the extinction of his dynasty in 1186 A.D.
c12.s8.2
The administration of the Panjab suffered from progressive deterioration owing to the disloyalty and incompetence of the Turkish officers during the reigns of Mahmud’s successors. The governor, Ariyaruq, was found guilty of misappropriation of the royal revenue. He was summoned to Ghazni by Masud and put to death. He was succeeded by the notorious Ahmad Nialtigin who was innocent of a sense of honesty as well as of experience of civil and military affairs. This man quarrelled with the *qazi*, Abul Hasan, and led, in 1033 A.D., a plundering expedition to Banaras from where he brought enormous wealth. Masud was alarmed at the reports of Nialtigin’s pretensions and mismanagement and sent his Hindu general, Tilak, a handsome and accomplished soldier and a man of letters who had risen to a high rank in Mahmud’s service, to chastise the delinquent. In the contest that followed Ahmad Nialtigin was killed and his head was sent by Tilak to Masud, who appointed, in 1036 A.D., his own son, Majdud, governor in the vacant office. In 1037 A.D. Masud in person came to India and besieged Hansi and stormed it on January 1, 1039 A.D. indulging in the massacre of the innocent population and enslaving many women and children. In 1040 A.D., Masud, having been badly defeated by the Seljuqs, abandoned Ghazni and retreated towards Lahore. He was, however, waylaid and imprisoned by his own followers who placed his brother, Muhammad, on the throne. Maudud was the next ruler (1041-42), who defeated and killed Nami, governor of Lahore, and occupied the province.
c12.s8.3
The Panjab remained a part of the Ghazni empire under Maudud; but the people of the province had little regard for his rule. In 1044 A.D. Mahipala, the raja of Delhi, wrested Hansi, Thaneshwar and Kangara from the Ghaznavide governor and re-established Hindu worship in those places. He even besieged Lahore, but had to return without success. In 1048 A.D. Maudud appointed his sons, Mahmud and Mansur, governors of Lahore and Peshawar respectively; but corruption and inefficiency continued as before. Maudud's death in December, 1049 A.D. led to a protracted intrigue and palace disturbance. One after another, there came to the throne of Ghazni a number of weaklings who were rulers in name only. One of them, Ibrahim, enjoyed a long and comparatively peaceful reign of forty-two years and died in August, 1099 A.D. His son, Masud III, reigned for seventeen years. Sometime after his death which occurred in 1115 A.D., the Seljuqs intervened in a succession quarrel and supported Bahram against Arsalam who was defeated and put to death in 1118 A.D. His son and successor, Khusrav Shah, was defeated and driven from Ghazni by the Ghuzz Turkomans about 1160 A.D. He fled to the Panjab, for that province alone remained in the hands of Ghaznavides. On his death, in 1160 A.D., the throne of the Panjab passed to his son, Malik Khusrav, who was a mild and voluptuous ruler and allowed the district officers of his dwindling kingdom to exercise semi-independent authority. A new danger for the Ghaznavides now made its appearance. Slice after slice the territory of the Panjab was conquered by Muhammad of Ghur, who was assigned the Jagir of Ghazni by his brother, Ghiyas-ud-din, until in 1186 A.D., he imprisoned Malik Khusrav and occupied the entire Panjab. Since 1186 A.D. Khusrav was kept a prisoner by Muhammad Ghur and was put to death in 1192 A.D.