GHAZNI.
CONTENTS.
Tomb of Mahmúd--Gates of Somnath--Minars on the Plain.
CHRONOLOGY.
Sabuktagin, founder A.D. 975
Mahmúd 977
Masúd 1030
Abdul-rashid 1048
Ibrahim 1054
Shahab ud-dîn (first of Ghori dynasty) 1139
Towards the latter part of the 9th century the power of the Khalifs of
Bagdad was sinking into that state of rapid decline which is the fate of
all Eastern dynasties. During the reign of Al Motamed, A.D. 870-891,
Egypt became independent, and the northern province of Bokhara threw off
the yoke under the governor appointed by the Khalif, Nasr ben Ahmed, a
descendant of Saman, a robber chief, who declared and maintained his
independence, and so formed the Samanian dynasty. After the dynasty had
existed about a century, Sabuktagin, a Tûrkish slave belonging to a
general of one of the last of the Samanian kings, rendered himself also
independent of his master, and established himself in Ghazni, of which
he was governor, founding the well-known dynasty of Ghaznavides. His
successor, Mahmúd, A.D. 977-1030, is one of the best-known kings in
Indian history owing to his brilliant campaigns in India, and more
especially that in which he destroyed the celebrated temple of Somnath.
On his return from an earlier campaign, in which he had sacked the town
of Muttra, we learn from Ferishta that the king ordered a magnificent
mosque to be built of marble and granite, afterwards known by the name
of the Celestial Bride. Near it he founded a university. When the
nobility of Ghazni perceived the taste of their king in architecture,
they also endeavoured to vie with one another in the magnificence of
their palaces, as well as in the public buildings which were raised for
the embellishment of the city. “Thus,” continues the historian, “the
capital was in a short time ornamented with mosques, porches, fountains,
aqueducts, reservoirs, and cisterns, beyond any city in the East.”[484]
[Illustration: 275. Minar at Ghazni. (From a Drawing by G. T. Vigne,
Esq.)]
The plain of Ghazni still shows the remains of this splendour; and, in
the dearth of information regarding Persian art of that age, an account
of it would be one of the most interesting and valuable pieces of
information we could receive. These ruins, however, have not been as yet
either examined or described;[485] and even the tomb of the Great
Mahmúd is unknown to us except by name,[486] notwithstanding the
celebrity it acquired from the removal of its gates to India at the
termination of our disastrous campaigns in that country.
The gates are of Deodar pine,[487] and the carved ornaments on them are
so similar to those found at Cairo, on the mosque of Ebn Touloun and
other buildings of that age, as not only to prove that they are of the
same date, but also to show how similar were the modes of decoration at
these two extremities of the Moslem empire at the time of their
execution.
[Illustration: 276. Ornaments from the Tomb of Mahmúd at Ghazni.]
At the same time there is nothing in their style of ornamentation that
at all resembles anything found in any Hindu temple, either of their age
or at any other time. There is, in fact, no reason for doubting that
these gates were made for the place where they were found.[488] If any
other parts of the tomb are ornamented in the same style, it would be of
great interest to have them drawn. It probably is, however, from the
Jumma Musjid that we shall obtain the best picture of the arts of that
day, when any one will take the trouble of examining it.
Two minars still adorn the plain outside the city, and form, if not the
most striking, at least the most prominent of the ruins of that city.
Neither of them was ever attached to a mosque; they are, indeed, pillars
of victory, or _Jaya Stambhas_, like those at Chittore and elsewhere in
India, and are such as we might expect to find in a country so long
Buddhist. One of them was erected by Mahmúd himself; the other was
built, or at least finished, by Masúd, one of his immediate
successors.[489]
The lower part of these towers is of a star-like form--the plan being
apparently formed by placing two squares diagonally the one over the
other. The upper part, rising to the height of about 140 ft. from the
ground, is circular; both are of brickwork, covered with ornaments of
terra-cotta of extreme elaboration and beauty, and retaining their
sharpness to the present day.
Several other minars of the same class are found further west, even as
far as the roots of the Caucasus,[490] which, like these, were pillars
of victory, erected by the conquerors on their battle-fields. None of
them have the same architectural merit as those of Ghazni, at least in
their present state, though it may be that their ornaments, having been
in stucco or some perishable material, have disappeared, leaving us now
only the skeleton of what they were.
The weakness of Mahmúd’s successors left the Indians in repose for more
than a century and a half; and, like all Eastern dynasties, the
Ghaznavides were gradually sinking to inevitable decay, when their fall
was precipitated by the crimes of one of them, which were fearfully
avenged by the destruction of their empire and capital by Ala ud-dîn,
and their race was at length superseded by that of the Ghori, in the
person of Shahab ud-dîn, in the year 1183.
Though centuries of misrule have weighed on this country since the time
of the Ghaznavides, it is scarcely probable that all traces of their
magnificence have passed away; but till their cities are examined by
some one competent to discriminate between what is good or bad, or old
or new, we must be content merely to indicate the position of the style,
leaving this chapter to be written hereafter when the requisite
information shall have been obtained. In the meanwhile it is
satisfactory to know that between Herat and the Indus there do exist a
sufficient number of monuments to enable us to connect the styles of the
West with those in the East. They have been casually described by
travellers, but not in such a manner as to render them available for our
purposes; and in the present unsettled state of the country it may be
some time yet before their elucidation can be accomplished.