The Ghaznavids Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030)

  • He was also known as “But-Shikan” (destroyer of the image) because of seventeen plundering expeditions between 1000 AD & 1027 AD in India.
  • Annexing Punjab as his eastern province, he claimed to have come here with twin objectives of spreading Islam in India, & enriching himself by taking away wealth from India.
  • In 1025, he attacked & raided the most celebrated Hindu temple of Somnath, Gujarat.
  • Beruni who wrote Kitab-ul Hind, & Firdausi, who wrote Shah Namah, were the court Historians of Mahmud Ghazni & give a good account of the polity & society on the eve of Mahmood’s invasion. From 1010 to 1026, the invasions were thus directed toward the temple towns of Thaneswar, Mathura, Kannauj & finally Somnath.

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