Mahmud Ghaznavi was a brilliant general and a fine cavalry leader.
Year after year he raided India and sacked and killed and took away with him vast treasure and
large numbers of captives. Altogether he made seventeen raids and only one of these —into
Kashmir—was a failure. The others were successful, and he became a terror all over the north.
He went as far south as Pataliputra, Mathura and Somnath. From Thanesh wara he took away, it
is said, 200,000 captives and vast wealth. But it was in Somnath that he got the most treasure.
For this was one of the great temples, and the offerings of centuries had accumulated there. It is
said that thousands of people took refuge in the temple when Mahmud approached, in the hope
that a miracle would happen and the god they worshipped would protect them. But miracles
seldom occur, except in the imaginations of the faithful, and the temple was broken and looted
by Mahmud and 50,000 people perished, waiting for the miracle which did not happen.
Mahmud died in 1030 A.C. The whole of the Punjab and Sindh was under his sway at the time.
He is looked upon as a great leader of Islam who came to spread Islam in India. Most Muslims
adore him; most Hindus hate him. As a matter of fact, he was hardly a religious man. He was a
Mohammedan, of course, but that was by the way. Above everything he was soldier, and a
brilliant soldier. He came to India to conquer and loot, as soldiers unfortunately do, and he would
have done so to whatever religion he might have belonged. It is interesting to find that he
threatened the Muslim rulers of Sindh, and only on their submission and payment of tribute did
he spare them. He even threatened the Caliph at Baghdad with death and demanded Samarqand
from him. We must therefore not fall into the common error of considering Mahmud as anything
more than a successful soldier.
Mahmud took large numbers of Indian architects and builders with him to Ghazni and built a fine
mosque there which he called the ” Celestial Bride “. He was very fond of gardens.
