History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.36

v3.c33.36

In order that one may understand correctly the power and the civilization of the Turkish kingdom of Ghazni, one must go back to the Samanide empire at Bokhara under which the kings of Ghazni rose and grew. Combining the history given by Utbi and others, a writer has given a short account of this empire in J. R. A. S. Bengal XV Part I from which we take the leading facts in the following summary. The founder was a converted Persian Zoroastrian king of Bokhara whose name was Asad (825 A. D.). His son Ahmad acquired the sovereignty of Samarcand, Bokhara and Ferghana. His son was Nasr whose son Ismail was the first great king of the Samanides and came to the throne in 903 A. D. He encouraged science and literature and raised Bokhara to eminence. The kings were called Amirs a title which was taken up by aspiring noblemen later on like Sabuktagin and from them it came to India in the form of Hammir. Historians have given each Amir from Ismail a distinctive epithet and this first illustrious king is called Amir Māzi. His son was Ahmad who is called Amir Shahid as he was killed in a religious war and his son was Nasr II who is styled Amir Sa'id (August). It was in the time of this king that a brave and ambitious brazier by name Yakub-i-lais collected turbulent spirits and made raids on India, first taking Herat in 301 H. (912 A. D.). India, it must be remembered, then included almost the whole of modern Afghanistan which was then divided into Zabulistan and Kabulistan or Zabul and Kabul. Kabul in the north was governed by the Brahmin dynasty founded by Lalliya or Kallar (Vol. I p. 201) and Zabul in the south was governed by Rajput or Kshatriya kings probably Bhattis. Yakub-i-lais not only took Zabul but also Kabul and it appears that the citadel of Kabul from that day remained in the possession of Mahomedans.