CHAPTER LVII

The Turks of the House of Seljuk―Their Revolt against Mahmud, Conqueror of Hindostan-Togrul subdues Persia, and protects the Caliphs-Defeat and Captivity of the Emperor Romanus Diogenes by Alp Arslan-Power and Magnificence of Malek Shah-Conquest of Asia Minor and Syria-State and Oppression of Jerusalem-Pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre

F

ROM the isle of Sicily the reader must transport himself The Turks beyond the Caspian Sea, to the original seat of the Turks

or Turkmans, against whom the first crusade was principally directed. Their Scythian empire of the sixth century was long since dissolved; but the name was still famous among the Greeks and Orientals; and the fragments of the nation, each a powerful and independent people, were scattered over the desert from China to the Oxus and the Danube: the colony of Hungarians was admitted into the republic of Europe, and the thrones of Asia were occupied by slaves and soldiers of Turkish extraction. While Apulia and Sicily were subdued by the Norman lance, a swarm of these northern shepherds overspread the kingdoms of Persia: their princes of the race of Seljuk erected a splendid and solid empire from Samarcand to the confines of Greece and Egypt; and the Turks have maintained their dominion in Asia Minor till the victorious crescent has been planted on the dome of St. Sophia.

the Gazne

One of the greatest of the Turkish princes was Mamood or Mahmud, Mahmud,' the Gaznevide, who reigned in the eastern provinces vide. A.D.

1 I am indebted for his character and history to d'Herbelot (Bibliothèque Orientale, Mahmud, p. 533-537), M. de Guignes (Histoire des Huns, tom. iii. p. 155-173), and our countryman, Colonel Alexander Dow (vol. i. p. 23-83). In the two first volumes of his History of Hindostan, he styles himself the translator of the Persian Ferishts; but in his florid text it is not easy to distinguish the version and the original. [This work of Dow has been superseded by the translation of Colonel

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of Persia one thousand years after the birth of Christ. His [Subukti- father Sebectagi was the slave of the slave of the slave of the commander of the faithful. But in this descent of servitude, the first degree was merely titular, since it was filled by the sovereign of Transoxiana and Chorasan, who still paid a nominal allegiance to the caliph of Bagdad. The second rank was that of a minister of state, a lieutenant of the Samanides, who broke, by his revolt, the bonds of political slavery. But the third step was a state of real and domestic servitude in the family of that rebel; from which Sebectagi, by his courage and dexterity, ascended to the supreme command of the city and province of Gazna, as the son-in-law and successor of his grateful master. The falling dynasty of the Samanides was at first protected, and at last overthrown, by their servants; and, in the public disorders, the fortune of Mahmud continually increased. For him, the title of sultan was first invented; and his kingdom was enlarged from Transoxiana to the neighbourhood of Ispahan, from the shores of the Caspian to the mouth of the Indus. But the principal source of his fame and riches was the holy war which he waged against the Gentoos of Hindostan. In this Briggs: "History of the Mahomedan Power in India till the year 1612, translated from the original Persian of Mohamed Kasim Ferishta," in 4 vols., 1829. Cp. his remarks on Dow's work in the Preface, vol. i. p. vi. vii.]

2 The dynasty of the Samanides continued 125 years, A.D. 874-999, under ten princes. See their succession and ruin, in the Tables of M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 404-406). They were followed (south of the Oxus] by the Gaznevides, A.D. 999-1183. (See tom. i. p. 239, 240.) His division of nations often disturbs the series of time and place.

3 Gaznah hortos non habet; est emporium et domicilium mercaturæ Indicæ. Abulfedæ Geograph. Reiske, tab. xxiii. p. 349; d'Herbelot, p. 364. It has not been visited by any modern traveller. [Subuktigin conquered Bust and Kusdär in A.D. 978. For the story of his rise, op. Nizām al-Mulk, Siasset Nameh, tr. Schefer, p. 140 sqq.]

By the ambassador of the caliph of Bagdad, who employed an Arabian or Chaldaic word that signifies lord and master (d'Herbelot, p. 825). It is interpreted Αὐτοκράτωρ, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, by the Byzantine writers of the eleventh century ; and the name (Zovλravós, Soldanus) is familiarly employed in the Greek and Latin languages, after it had passed from the Gaznevides to the Seljukides, and other emirs of Asia and Egypt. Ducange (Dissertation xvi. sur Joinville, p. 238-240, Gloss. Græc. et Latin.) labours to find the title of sultan in the ancient kingdom of Persia; but his proofs are mere shadows; a proper name in the Themes of Constantine (ii. 11), an anticipation of Zonaras, &c. and a medal of Kai Khosrou, not (as he believes) the Sassanide of the vith, but the Seljukide of Iconium of the xiiith, century (de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 246). [The title sultan, for the captain of the bodyguard, was introduced at least as early as the reign of Mutawakkil, in the middle of the 9th century. It has been conjectured (by Vámbéry) that the name of one of the sons of the Hungarian chief Arpad, Zdλras, is really sultan. The old Vienna chronicle gives his name as Zoltan, and the scribe of King Béla, as Zulta.]

expedi

Hindostan

foreign narrative I may not consume a page; and a volume would scarcely suffice to recapitulate the battles and sieges of His twelve his twelve expeditions. Never was the Musulman hero dis- tions into mayed by the inclemency of the seasons, the height of the mountains, the breadth of the rivers, the barrenness of the desert, the multitudes of the enemy, or the formidable array of their elephants of war. The sultan of Gazna surpassed the limits of the conquests of Alexander; after a march of three months, over the hills of Cashmir and Thibet, he reached the famous city of Kinnoge, on the Upper Ganges; and, in a naval [Kanauj] combat on one of the branches of the Indus, he fought and vanquished four thousand boats of the natives. Delhi, Lahor, and Multan were compelled to open their gates; the fertile kingdom of Guzarat attracted his ambition and tempted his stay; and his avarice indulged the fruitless project of discovering the golden and aromatic isles of the Southern Ocean. On the payment of a tribute, the rajahs preserved their dominions; the people, their lives and fortunes; but to the religion of Hindostan the zealous Musulman was cruel and inexorable; many hundred temples, or pagodas, were levelled with the ground; many thousand idols were demolished; and the servants of the prophet were stimulated and rewarded by the precious materials of which they were composed. The pagoda of Sumnat was situated [Somnath. on the promontory of Guzarat, in the neighbourhood of Diu, one of the last remaining possessions of the Portuguese." It was endowed with the revenue of two thousand villages; two thousand Brahmins were consecrated to the service of the Deity, whom they washed each morning and evening in water from

Ferishta (apud Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 49) mentions the report of a gun in the Indian army. But, as I am slow in believing this premature (A.D. 1008) use of artillery, I must desire to scrutinise first the text and then the authority of Ferishta, who lived in the Mogul court in the last century. [Briggs (op. cit., vol. i. p. 47) translates, in the passage to which Gibbon refers, "naphtha- balls" and "arrows"; the original words being nupth and khudung. But in other Mss. the variants are formed: tope (a gun) and toofung (a musket). These readings must be due to interpolators. Probably Babar first introduced guns into Upper India in 1526. Cp. the note of Briggs.]

Kinnoge or Canouge (the old Palimbothra) is marked in latitude 27° 3', longitude 80° 13'. See d'Anville (Antiquité de l'Inde, p. 60-62), corrected by the local knowledge of Major Rennell (in his excellent Memoir on his map of Hindostan, p. 37-43), 300 jewellers, 30,000 shops for the areca nut, 60,000 bands of musicians, &c. (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274; Dow, vol. i. p. 16) will allow an ample deduction. [Palimbothra is supposed to be Patna.]

The idolaters of Europe, says Ferishta (Dow, vol. i. p. 66). Consult Abulfeda (p. 272) and Rennell's map of Hindostan.

A.D. 1024]

His character

the distant Ganges: the subordinate ministers consisted of three hundred musicians, three hundred barbers, and five hundred dancing girls, conspicuous for their birth and beauty. Three sides of the temple were protected by the ocean, the narrow isthmus was fortified by a natural or artificial precipice; and the city and adjacent country were peopled by a nation of fanatics. They confessed the sins and the punishment of Kinnoge and Delhi; but, if the impious stranger should presume to approach their holy precincts, he would surely be overwhelmed by a blast of the divine vengeance. By this challenge the faith of Mahmud was animated to a personal trial of the strength of this Indian deity. Fifty thousand of his worshippers were pierced by the spear of the Moslems: the walls were scaled; the sanctuary was profaned; and the conqueror aimed a blow of his iron mace at the head of the idol. The trembling Brahmins are said to have offered ten millions sterling for his ransom; and it was urged by the wisest counsellors that the destruction of a stone image would not change the hearts of the Gentoos, and that such a sum might be dedicated to the relief of the true believers. "Your reasons," replied the Sultan, "are specious and strong; but never in the eyes of posterity shall Mahmud appear as a merchant of idols." He repeated his blows, and a treasure of pearls and rubies, concealed in the belly of the statue, explained in some degree the devout prodigality of the Brahmins. The fragments of the idol were distributed to Gazna, Mecca, and Medina. Bagdad listened to the edifying tale; and Mahmud was saluted by the caliph with the title of guardian of the fortune and faith of Mahomet.

From the paths of blood, and such is the history of nations, I cannot refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers of science or virtue. The name of Mahmud the Gaznevide is still venerable in the East: his subjects enjoyed the blessings of prosperity and peace; his vices were concealed by the veil of religion; and two familiar examples will testify his justice and magnanimity. I. As he sat in the Divan, an unhappy subject bowed before the throne to accuse the insolence of a Turkish soldier who had driven him from his house and bed. "Suspend your clamours," said Mahmud, "inform me of his next visit and ourself in person

8 [Not ten millions sterling, but "crores of gold". Briggs, p. 72, translates "*. quantity of gold ".]