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GHAZNI

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 918 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GHAZNI , a famous See also:

city in See also:Afghanistan, the seat of an extensive See also:empire under two See also:medieval dynasties, and again of prominent See also:interest in the See also:modern See also:history of See also:British See also:India. Ghazni stands on the high tableland of central Afghanistan, in 68° 18' E. See also:long., 33° 44 N. See also:lat., at a height of 7280 ft. above the See also:sea, and on the See also:direct road between See also:Kandahar and See also:Kabul, 221 M. by road N.E. from the former, and 92 M. S.W. from the latter. A very considerable See also:trade in See also:fruit, See also:wool, skins, &c., is carried on between Ghazni and India by the See also:Povindah kafilas, which yearly enter India in the See also:late autumn and pass back again to the Afghan See also:highlands in the See also:early See also:spring. The Povindah merchants in-variably make use of the See also:Gomal pass which leads to the British frontier at Dera See also:Ismail See also:Khan. The opening up of this pass and the British occupation of See also:Wana, by offering See also:protection to the merchants from Waziri blackmailing, largely increased the See also:traffic. Ghazni, as it now exists, is a See also:place in decay, and probably does not contain more than 4000 inhabitants. It stands at the See also:base of the terminal See also:spur of a See also:ridge of hills, an offshoot from the Gul-Koh, which forms the See also:watershed between the See also:Arghandab, and Tarnak See also:rivers. The See also:castle stands at the See also:northern See also:angle of the See also:town next the hills, and is about 150 ft. above the See also:plain. The town walls stand on an See also:elevation, partly artificial, and See also:form an irregular square, See also:close on a mile in See also:circuit (including the castle), the walls being partly of See also:stone or See also:brick laid in mud, and partly of See also:clay built in courses. They are flanked by numerous towers. There are three See also:gates.

The town consists of dirty and very irregular streets of houses several stories high, but with two straighter streets of more pretension, See also:

crossing near the See also:middle of the town. Of the strategical importance of Ghazni there can hardly be a question. The view to the See also:south is extensive, and the plain in the direction of Kandahar stretches to the See also:horizon. It is See also:bare except in the vicinity of the See also:river, where villages and gardens are tolerably numerous. Abundant crops of See also:wheat and See also:barley are grown, as well as of See also:madder, besides See also:minor products. The See also:climate is notoriously See also:cold,—snow lying 2 or 3 ft. deep for about three months, and tradition speaks of the city as having been more than once overwhelmed by snowdrift. See also:Fuel is scarce, consisting chiefly of prickly shrubs. In summer the See also:heat is not like that of Kandahar or Kabul, but the See also:radiation from the bare heights renders the nights oppressive, and See also:constant dust-storms occur. It is evident that the See also:present restricted walls cannot have contained the vaunted city of Mahmud. Probably the existing site formed the citadel only of his city. The remarks of See also:Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) already suggest the present See also:state of things, viz. a small town occupied, a large space of ruin; for a considerable See also:area to the N.E. is covered with ruins, or rather with a vast extent of shapeless mounds, which are pointed out as Old Ghazni.

The only remains retaining architectural See also:

character are two remarkable towers rising to the height of about 140 ft., and some 400 yds. apart from each other. They are similar, but whether identical, in See also:design, is not clearly recorded. They belong, on a smaller and far less elaborate See also:scale, to the same class as the Kutb Minar at See also:Delhi (q.v.). Arabic See also:inscriptions in Cufic characters show the most northerly to have been the See also:work of Mahmud himself, theother that of his son Masa'ud. On the Kabul road, a mile beyond the See also:Minaret of Mahmud, is a See also:village called Rauzah (" the See also:Garden," a See also:term often applied to garden-mausoleums). Here, in a poor garden, stands the See also:tomb of the famous conqueror. It is a See also:prism of See also:white See also:marble See also:standing on a See also:plinth of the same, and bearing a Cufic inscription praying the See also:mercy of See also:God on the most See also:noble See also:Amir, the See also:great See also:king, the See also:lord of See also:church and state, Abul Kasim Mahmud, son of Sabuktagin. The tomb stands in a See also:rude chamber, covered with a See also:dome of clay, and hung with old shawls, See also:ostrich eggs, See also:tiger-skins and so forth. The village stands among luxuriant gardens and orchards, watered by a copious See also:aqueduct. See also:Sultan See also:Baber celebrates the excellence of the grapes of Rauzah. There are many See also:holy shrines about Ghazni surrounded by orchards and vineyards. Baber speaks of them, and tells how he detected and put a stop to the imposture of a pretended See also:miracle at one of them.

These sanctuaries make Ghazni a place of Moslem See also:

pilgrimage, and it is said that at See also:Constantinople much respect is paid to those who have worshipped at the tomb of the great See also:Ghazi. To test the genuineness of the boast, professed pilgrims are called on to describe the See also:chief notabilia of the place, and are expected to name all those detailed in certain current See also:Persian verses. History.—The city is not mentioned by any narrator of See also:Alexander's expedition, nor by any See also:ancient author so as to admit of See also:positive recognition. But it is very possibly the Gazaca which See also:Ptolemy places among the Paropamisadae, and this may not be inconsistent with See also:Sir H. See also:Rawlinson's See also:identification of it with Gazos, an See also:Indian city spoken of by two obscure See also:Greek poets as an impregnable place of See also:war. The name is probably connected with the Persian and See also:Sanskrit ganj and ganja, a See also:treasury (whence the Greek and Latin See also:Gaza). We seem to have positive See also:evidence of the existence of the city before the See also:Mahommedan times (644) in the travels of the See also:Chinese See also:pilgrim, Hsuan Tsang, who speaks of Ho-si-na (i.e. probably Ghazni) as one of the capitals of Tsaukuta or Arachosia, a place of great strength. In early Mahommedan times the See also:country adjoining Ghazni was called Zabul. When the Mahommedans first invaded that region Ghazni was a wealthy See also:entrepot of the Indian trade. Of the extent of this trade some See also:idea is given by Ibn Haukal, who states that at Kabul, then a mart of the same trade, there was sold yearly See also:indigo to the value of two million dinars ( 1,000,000). The enterprise of See also:Islam underwent several ebbs and flows over this region. The provinces on the See also:Helmund and about Ghazni were invaded as early as the See also:caliphate of Moaiya (662-680).

The arms of Yaqub b. Laith swept over Kabul and Arachosia (Al-Rukhaj) about 871, and the See also:

people of the latter country were forcibly converted. Though the See also:Hindu See also:dynasty of Kabul held a See also:part of the valley of Kabul river till the See also:time of Mahmud, it is probably to the See also:period just mentioned that we must refer the permanent Mahommedan occupation of Ghazni. Indeed, the See also:building of the fort and city is ascribed by a Mahommedan historian to Amr b. Laith, the See also:brother and successor of Ya'kub (d. 901), though the facts already stated discredit this. In the latter part of the 9th See also:century the See also:family of the Samanid, sprung from See also:Samarkand, reigned in splendour at See also:Bokhara. Alptagin, originally a See also:Turkish slave, and high in the service of the dynasty, about the middle of the loth century, losing the favour of the See also:court, wrested Ghazni from its chief (who is styled See also:Abu Bakr Lawik, wali of Ghazni), and established himself there. His See also:government was recognized from Bokhara, and held till his See also:death. In 977 another Turk slave, Sabuktagin, who had married the daughter of his See also:master Alptagin, obtained See also:rule in Ghazni. He made himself lord of nearly all the present territory of Afghanistan and of the See also:Punjab. In 997 Mahmud, son of Sabuktagin, succeeded to the government, and with his name Ghazni and the Ghaznevid dynasty have beome perpetually associated.

Issuing forth See also:

year after year from that See also:capital, Mahmud (q.v.) carried fully seventeen expeditions of devastation through northern India and See also:Gujarat, as well as others to the See also:north and See also:west. From the See also:borders of See also:Kurdistan to Samarkand, from the See also:Caspian to the See also:Ganges, his authority was acknowledged. Ibn Batuta (c. 1332) says the greater part of the city was in ruins, and only a small part continued to be a town. Timur seems never to have visited Ghazni, but we find him in 1401 bestowing the government of Kabul, Kandahar, and Ghazni on Pir Mahommed, the son of his son See also:Jahangir. In the end of the century it was still in the hands of a descendant of Timur, Ulugh Beg Mirza, who was king of Kabul and Ghazni. The illustrious See also:nephew of this See also:prince, Baber, got peaceful See also:possession of both cities in 1504, and has See also:left notes on both in his own inimitable See also:Memoirs. His See also:account of Ghazni indicates how far it had now fallen. " It is," he says, " but a poor mean place, and I have always wondered how its princes, who possessed also Hindustan and See also:Khorasan, could have chosen such a wretched country for the seat of their government, in preference to Khorasan." He commends the fruit of its gardens, which still contribute largely to the markets of Kabul. Ghazni remained in the hands of Baber's descendants, reigning at Delhi and See also:Agra, till the invasion of See also:Nadir Shah (1738), and became after Nadir's death a part of the new See also:kingdom of the Afghans under Ahmad Shah See also:Durani. We know of but two modern travellers who have recorded visits to the place previous to the war of 1839. See also:George See also:Forster passed as a disguised traveller with a qafila in 1783.

" Its slender existence," he says, " is now maintained by some Hindu families, who support a small traffic, and See also:

supply the wants of the few Mahommedan residents." See also:Vigne visited it in 1836, having reached it from See also:Multan with a See also:caravan of Lohani merchants,-travelling by the Gomal pass. The See also:historical name of Ghazni was brought back from the dead, as it were, by the See also:news of its See also:capture by the British See also:army under Sir See also:John See also:Keane, 23rd See also:July 1839. The See also:siege See also:artillery had been left behind at Kandahar; escalade was judged impracticable; but the project of the commanding engineer, See also:Captain George See also:Thomson, for blowing in the Kabul See also:gate with See also:powder in bags, was adopted, and carried out successfully, at the cost of 182 killed and wounded. Two years and a See also:half later the Afghan outbreak against the British occupation found Ghazni garrisoned by a See also:Bengal See also:regiment of sepoys, but neither repaired nor provisioned. They held out under great hardships from the 16th of See also:December 1841 to the 6th of See also:March 1842, when they surrendered. In the autumn of the same year See also:General See also:Nott, advancing from Kandahar upon Kabul, reoccupied Ghazni, destroyed the defences of the castle and part of the town, and carried away the famous gates of See also:Somnath (q.v.).

End of Article: GHAZNI

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