THE INTREPID AND INDEPENDENT KING OF GHAZNI!!

You all must be thinking as to why I am writing about an Afghan king, as my topic is about Indian history…. Well, this blog basically pertains to one of the most fearless and important king of Afghan whose kingdom prospered because of his continuous incursions in India. He is none other than Mahmud of Ghazni.

So let me tell you the role India played in the transformation of Ghazni and the personality and nature of rule by their king.

Mahmud of Ghazni was the son of Sabukatagin, a very well-known and powerful king of Ghazni. His son Mahmud proved to be a legendary king who transformed Ghazni into a splendid and glorious city and ensured all necessary securities, education and economic stability of his kingdom.                                                      He gained a lot of prominence in his kingdom and was also known for his passion for Art and Literature. He was a patron of learning; hence he always loved to attend gatherings of learnt scholars and poets. Two very famous gems of his kingdom are Firdausi- a historian who wrote the great epic Shahanama and Al Beruni- a well-known historian and mathematician.

Mahmud ruled Ghazni for over a period of 25-30 years. In this span of time, he raided India 17 times because he heard of our land to be very rich and thriving. He had come with the sole intention to loot India of all its wealth and make Ghazni a popular and prosperous city with all that he could round up. Evidently, all his raids proved to be successful. He plundered 20 million gold coins and approximately 1300 kilograms of gold. He raided cities like Punjab and Kalinga, and also temples towns like Somnath and Mathura and accounted loads of jewellery, terracotta figurines and wealth.

Secondly, he had a very good strategy which proved to be fruitful because of absence of harmony and unison in north India. The partition of North India paved way for Mahmud to raid India 17 times in a very short span of time. This proves how being parted and divided can impact many lives. Around 500-1000 soldiers were killed by the strong army headed by Mahmud, to ransack Somnath which was his very prolific and profitable raid. Only if there was unison between the provinces of India, would Mahmud have failed in his plan.

A very thoughtful message has been conveyed by this invasion which I would like to put forth by an example. Just like how our five fingers, though being different, work together unitedly; North India could have acted in the same way rather than work like individual fingers, which will never be able to work separately.

He was able to invade India numerous times because; the Northern part of our country did not wish to be united. Instead, they wished for the bad of their neighbouring kingdoms. They did not believe in keeping peace with their neighbouring states, but cause a havoc to be created there. Often wars were waged in North India because there was an lack of accord between the states which made it very easy to attack any one of them.

One more reason contributed in the triumph and victory of Ghazni that was, the presence of very sturdy and strong clothing, well-trained and fast horses for the combatants. Most of all, there was a huge supply of arms and armaments for the soldiers of Ghazni. All of these necessities were not fulfilled by the North Indian states. This proves that the kings of North were only engrossed in their mutual rivalries and only wanted to show their superiority to the other kingdoms. As for to show the real mirror; these kings did not care about the needful equipment’s required to fight a battle. No one really knew where the wealth of their kingdom was used in. This was a very disappointing and disapproving step taken by the North Indian kings.

We must remember in life, fulfilling our duties is must. We must never back off from our responsibilities, but perform them whole-heartedly. Also, I can relate a very famous quote with this blog topic: ‘’United we stand, Divided we fall’’. Hence, always maintain harmony with your loved ones and understand the gravity of being united and the drawbacks of being divided and to think of being self-sufficient.