Ghaznavids

The Ghaznavids were a Turkic-origin, Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled a state centered on Ghazna (Ghazni) in present-day Afghanistan from the late 10th to the 12th century. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin, a former slave-soldier who seized Ghazna and established independence from the Samanids around 977. His son Mahmud of Ghazni expanded the realm significantly, launching a series of campaigns into the Indian subcontinent and extending Ghaznavid influence into eastern Iran, Afghanistan, and northern India.

Administratively, the Ghaznavids used Persian as the language of state and culture and relied on a large military cadre of slave soldiers (ghulams). The capital remained Ghazni, and the economy combined taxation, tribute, and plunder from Indian campaigns. Mahmud is noted for patronizing scholarship; scholars such as Al-Biruni accompanied his court and wrote on India and other subjects, helping to transmit Persian literary and scientific traditions into the wider Islamic world.

After Mahmud’s death, the empire gradually contracted under pressure from the Seljuks and other rivals, with the dynasty ultimately displaced in the late 12th century by the Ghurids and related powers. The Ghaznavid era left a lasting impact on the region through the spread of Islam and Persianate culture in South Asia, and by contributing to the development of Indo-Persian political and cultural traditions.