he Ghaznavid dynasty (Persian: ‫ غزنویان‬Ġaznaviyān) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim

dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of
Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent from
977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to the rule
of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of
the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.

Sabuktigin's son, Mahmud of Ghazni, expanded the Ghaznavid Empire to the Amu Darya,
the Indus River and the Indian Ocean in the east and to Rey and Hamadan in the
west. Under the reign of Mas'ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began losing control over
its western territories to the Seljuk dynasty after the Battle of Dandanaqan,
resulting in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan
(Punjab and Balochistan).

In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to the Ghurid sultan Ala al-Din Husayn. The
Ghaznavids retook Ghazni, but lost the city to the expanding Ghurid Empire in 1163.
In response, the Ghaznavids fled to Lahore their regional capital. In 1186, Lahore
was conquered by the Ghurid sultan, Muhammad of Ghor, and its Ghaznavid ruler,
Khusrau Malik, imprisoned.

Contents
1 Rise to power
2 Domination
2.1 Sabuktigin
2.2 Mahmud son of Sabuktigin
2.2.1 Indian conquests
3 Decline
3.1 Twin sons of Mahmud
3.2 Ibrahim
3.3 Mas'ud III
3.4 Sultan Bahram Shah
3.5 Late Ghaznavids
4 Military and tactics
5 State and culture
6 Legacy
7 List of rulers
8 Family tree of the Ghaznavid sultans
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Sources
13 Further reading
14 External links
Rise to power

Ghaznavid portrait, Palace of Lashkari Bazar. Schlumberger noted that the turban,
the small mouth and the strongly slanted eyes were characteristically Turkic.[6]
Two military families arose from the Turkic slave-guards of the Samanid Empire, the
Simjurids and Ghaznavids, who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The
Simjurids received an appanage in the Kohistan region of eastern Khorasan. The
Samanid generals Alp Tigin and Abu al-Hasan Simjuri competed for the governorship
of Khorasan