A History of Agriculture in India v2.c55.s2: Mahmud Ghaznavi (A.D. 998-1030)
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c55.s2
- Language
- English
Mahmud Ghaznavi (A.D. 998-1030)
v2.c55.s2.1
In A.D. 997 Mahmud succeeded his father, Sabaktigin. Mahmud was a religious fanatic, and he vowed to invade India every year. He raided India seventeen times according to Sir Henry Elliot. His custom was to leave Ghazni early in October, and utilize the cold weather for his marauding operations. At the beginning of summer he used to return from Hindustan to enjoy the cool climate of his native country Afghanistan. He used to bring large number of prisoners as slaves, and these included skilled masons whom he employed for the construction of mosques and palaces at Ghazni.
v2.c55.s2.2
In A.D. 1001 he defeated Jaipal, Raja of the Punjab, whose dominion extended on the West to Kabul. In the course of four campaigns Jaipal lost all his territory west of the Indus, and Peshawar was occupied by the Moslems. In A.D. 1022, Mahmud annexed the Punjab and became an Indian ruler. In the succeeding years, Mahmud plundered the temples of Kangra (A.D. 1009), Mathura (A.D. 1018), and Somnath (A.D. 1024), and on each occasion he returned to Ghazni with fabulous quantities of gold, silver and diamonds.
v2.c55.s2.3
Here we may refer to Kazwini's *Asaru-l Bilad* (Monuments of Countries). Kazwini, an encyclopaedist, was born in the town of Kazwin (in Iran). He compiled his works from the writings of other travellers in A.D. 1263. About Somnath he writes, ‘A celebrated city of India, situated on the shore of the sea, and washed by its waves. Among the wonders of that place was the temple in which was placed the idol called Somnat. This idol was in the middle of the temple without anything to support it from below, or to suspend it from above. When the king asked his companions what they had to say about the marvel of the idol, and of its staying in the air without prop or support, several maintained that it was upheld by some hidden support. The king directed a person to go and feel all around and above and below it with a spear, which he did, but met with no obstacle. One of the attendants then stated his opinion that the canopy was made of loadstone, and the idol of iron, and that the ingenious builder had skilfully contrived that the magnet should not exercise a greater force on any one side—hence the idol was suspended in the middle. Some coincided, others differed. Permission was obtained from the Sultan to remove some stones from the top of the canopy to settle the point. When two stones were removed from the summit the idol swerved on one side, when more were taken away it inclined still further, until at last it rested on the ground.’¹ It was application of science for achieving a practical objective, which was paraded as a miracle. Nevertheless it indicates that knowledge of science was advanced in India.
v2.c55.s2.4
¹ Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India*..., Vol. I, pp. 98, 99
v2.c55.s2.5
Mahmud was a patron of scholars. Among them was the famous Persian poet Firdausi, who wrote the *Shah-nama*. Khondamir in the *Habibu-s Siyar* thus mentions how Firdausi came to Ghazni and what treatment he received from the Sultan. ‘Firdausi was another one of the poets contemporary with Sultan Mahmud; his history is well known. It is written in the books of learned authors that during his first years Firdausi took great pleasure in versification. It happened that at one time he received ill-treatment from somebody, upon which he set out for Ghazni, which was the royal residence of the Sultan Mahmud, with the intention of lodging his complaint. When he arrived near that city, he saw in a certain garden three persons who were sitting together, and seemed to be very intimate. He conjectured that they were the servants of the Sultan, and said within himself, "I will go to them, and tell them some of my business; perhaps I shall gain some advantage by it." When he came near the resting-place where 'Unsuri, 'Asjudi and Farrukhi were sitting, those individuals were astonished at him and said, "He will spoil our quiet converse." They communed with one another, and agreed to tell this person that they were the poets of the Sultan, and that they held no intercourse with any one who was not a poet; that they would recite three verses, to which it would be difficult to add a fourth, and that they would say that whoever would make a fourth verse would be admitted into their society, and unless he could do so he would be excluded.
v2.c55.s2.6
'When Firdausi arrived where they were sitting, they played off upon him that which they had determined among themselves. Firdausi said, "Recite your verses". 'Unsuri said, "The moon has no brightness like your cheek." Farrukhi said, "There is not a rose in the rose-garden like your face." 'Asjudi said, "Your eye-lashes pierce through a coat of mail." Firdausi, upon hearing those verses, instantly replied, "Like the spear of Geo in the fight with Pushan." The poets were astonished at his readiness, and inquired about the story of Geo and Pushan. Firdausi told them the story at full length, and accordingly, when he arrived at Court, he experienced kind treatment, and Mahmud told him that he had made a paradise of his Court, and it was owing to this that he assumed his titular name of Firdausi.
v2.c55.s2.7
'Having afterwards been appointed to compose the *Shah-nama*, he wrote a thousand verses, and took them to the king, who highly applauded them, and made him a present of a thousand dinars. When Firdausi had finished writing the *Shah-nama*, he took the book, which contained 60,000 verses, to the Sultan, expecting that he would get a *dinar* for each verse, as he had done before; but some envious persons of mean disposition, indulging their malignity, wondered what must be the value of that poet who was worth being exalted by such a large gift, and they made the Sultan give him 60,000 *dirhams* instead. When Firdausi came out of the bath, and they brought those *dirhams* before him, he was exceedingly vexed at the circumstance, and gave 20,000 *dirhams* to the bath-keeper, 20,000 to a sherbet-seller who had brought some beverage for him, and the remaining 20,000 *dirhams* he gave to the person who brought the money. Having composed about forty verses, as a satire upon the Sultan, he introduced them into the beginning or conclusion of the *Shah-nama*, and fled to Tus.
v2.c55.s2.8
'One day, some little time after this circumstance, Ahmad bin Hasan Maimandi was out hunting with the Sultan, and having come close to him, he repeated several verses out of the *Shah-nama*, which were exceedingly applauded by the Sultan, who asked whose poetry it was. He answered that the verses were the produce of the genius of Firdausi. The Sultan repented of his neglect of that incomparable poet, and ordered them to take 60,000 dinars with rich robes of honour to Tus, and to ask Firdausi's pardon. In the *Baharistan* it is written that when those presents came in at one gate of Tus, the coffin of Firdausi was carried out at the other. An only daughter was his heiress, to whom the emissaries of the Sultan offered those honourable presents; but she, from the pride inherent in her disposition, refused them and said, 'I have enough wealth to last me to the end of my days; I have no need of this money.'²
v2.c55.s2.9
² Khondamir, *Habibu-s Siyar*, in Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India*..., Vol. IV, pp. 190, 191, 192 and 166
v2.c55.s2.10
Summing up the character of Mahmud, Khondamir observed, 'From generosity he derived no honour. As the shell guards the pearl, so he guarded his wealth. He had treasuries full of jewels, but not a single poor man derived benefit therefrom.'
v2.c55.s2.11
Mahmud died in A.D. 1030. 'It is said that two days before his death he ordered all the bags of gold and silver coins which were in his treasury, and all the jewels, and all the valuables which he had collected during the days of his sovereignty, to be brought into his presence. They were accordingly all laid out in the court-yard of his palace, which, in the eyes of the spectators, appeared like a garden full of flowers of red, yellow, violet, and other colours. He looked at them with sorrow, and wept very bitterly. After shedding many tears, he ordered them to be taken back to the treasury, and he did not give a farthing to any deserving man, notwithstanding he knew that in a day or two he must depart from this world. When the king had seen the valuable contents of his treasury, he sat in a litter and went out to the field. There he reviewed all his personal slaves, his cattle, Arab horses, camels, etc., and after casting his eye upon them, and crying with great sorrow and regret, he returned to his palace.'
v2.c55.s2.12
Mahmud built an empire which extended from the Punjab to the Caspian. Vincent Smith observed. 'So far as India was concerned Mahmud was simply a bandit operating on a large scale.' He killed thousands of people, and destroyed priceless monuments. Alberuni correctly observed, 'Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of India.'