History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s2.18

v3.c33.s2.18

After coming to the throne, Mahmud’s attention was for a time directed towards the west. From the Samani emperor Nuh, he requested investiture with his father’s dignities and Nuh confirmed him in the government of Balkh, Herat, Bost and Sarmadh. As to the governorship of Nishapur (Khorasan) and the generalship of the army the new emperor Mansur, Nuh’s son, thought they might remain with Bektuzun a loyal and capable servant of the state who had meanwhile been entrusted with them. But Mahmud would not tolerate this and moved with his army against Bektuzun; but when Mansur himself advanced against him, he was loyal enough not to attack his master and retired to a safe distance. But the Samani kingdom was now nearing its end and certain unscrupulous officers seized the young emperor Mansur and put out the eyes of that young and handsome prince. Mahmud in rage moved against these rebellious officers who fled with the new king whom they had raised to the throne in place of Mansur. Mahmud refused allegiance to this puppet and declared himself independent king of Khorasan and Ghazni. The Khalif Kadir Billa of Baghdad acknowledged him as sovereign ruler and sent him a robe of investiture and conferred upon him the title Yaminud-daulat-va-Aminulmillat (right hand of the empire and guardian of religion). Mahmud received the messenger with great honour and the title assumed by him as independent king was not Amir which he and his father used already but Sultan a title never used before him by any Mahomedan king. This title after him became general and Amir came down to signify a subordinate Sardar. Utbi records that Mahmud ruled justly and wisely in Khorasan and secured happiness to the people. As to the Samani capital Bokhara, as already stated, it was subsequently seized by Ilekkhan the Turkish king of Kashgar who imprisoned and eventually probably put to death all the representatives of the Samani dynasty which thus came to an end in the beginning of the reign of Mahmud. This was just like what happened at Bijapur. Shivaji proclaimed himself king by his Rājyābhisheka or religious ceremony of coronation at the hands of Gāgābhatta who gave him the new title of Chhatrapati, as the Mahomedan religious head at Baghdad gave the necessary religious sanction to the assumption of independence by Mahmud and gave the new title of Sultan. And Shivaji's overlord, the Bijapur Sultan, was soon overthrown after this by Aurangjeb, the Ilekkhan of India, who removed the last claimant of Bijapur to Delhi and annexed the remaining territory of Bijapur to the Mogul empire. The actions of destiny working through human nature which is the same every where must necessarily be usually similar.