CHAP. lion. made good his retreat, until he found himself in safety at Ghazni, in the heart of the mountains of Solimán. The plain country, including Balkh, His rebelHerát, and Sístán, received the new governor, and remained in obedience to the Sámánis; but the strong tract between that and the Indus bade defiance to all their attacks; and though not all subject to Alptegín, all contributed to secure his independence. One historian states that he was accompanied on his retreat by a body of 3000 disciplined slaves or Mamlúks, who would, of course, be Túrks of his own original condition*: he would doubtless also be accompanied and followed, from time to time, by soldiers who had served under him when governor; but it is probable that the main body of his army was drawn from the country where he was now established.t The inhabitants of the cultivated country were not unwarlike; and the Afgháns of the hills, even when their tribe did not acknowledge his authority, would be allured by his wages to enter his ranks. He seems to have made no attempt to extend his territory; and he died within fourteen years after he became independent. § A. D. 976, A. H. 365. Alptegín had a slave named Sebektegín, whom Sebektegín. he had purchased from a merchant who brought *Price, from the "Kholásat al Akhbár,” vol. ii. p. 243. + D'Herbelot, article "Alpteghin." D'Herbelot makes it A. D. 964, A. H. 353. § Price, vol. ii. p. 244.; Ferishta, vol. i. p. 13.; De Guignes, vol. ii. p. 156. BOOK V. him from Túrkestán, and whom, by degrees, he had raised to so much power and trust, that at his death he was the effective head of his government, and in the end became his successor. Most authorities assert that Alptegín gave Sebektegín his daughter in marriage, and himself appointed him his heir *; and others confirm the immediate succession, though not the previous marriage. t But Ferishta's account ‡ is, that Alptegín, dying in A.D. 975, A. H. 365, left a son named Isákh, whom Sebektegín accompanied to Bokhára. Isákh was then appointed by Mansúr Sámáni to be governor of Ghazni, and Sebektegín his deputy. Isákh died in A.D. 977, A.H. 367, when Sebektegín was acknowledged as his successor, and married Alptegín's daughter. § He had scarcely time to take possession of his * De Guignes (who quotes Abufeda), vol. ii. p. 156. ; D'Herbelot (who quotes Khondemir). Price, vol. ii. p. 277. Briggs's Ferishta, vol. i. p. 13. § A story is told of Sebektegín, while yet a private horseman, which proves the humanity of the historian, if not of the hero. One day, in hunting, he succeeded in riding down a fawn; but when he was carrying off his prize in triumph, he observed the dam following his horse, and showing such evident marks of distress, that he was touched with compassion, and at last released his captive, pleasing himself with the gratitude of the mother, which often turned back to gaze at him as she went off to the forest with her fawn. That night the Prophet appeared to him in a dream, told him that God had given him a kingdom as a reward for his humanity, and enjoined him not to forget his feelings of mercy when he came to the exercise of power. new kingdom before he was called on to exert himself in its defence.* CHAP. II. Jeipál, The establishment of a Mahometan government so near to their frontier as that of Ghazni must naturally have disquieted the Hindús on the Indus, and appears to have led to their being harassed by frequent incursions. At length Jeipál, rája of Invasion of Láhór, whose dominions were contiguous to those rája of of Ghazni, determined to become assailant in his Lábór. turn. He led a large army into Laghmán, at the mouth of the valley which extends from Pésháwer to Cábul, and was there met by Sebektegín. While the armies were watching a favourable opportunity for engaging, they were assailed by a furious tempest of wind, rain, and thunder, which was ascribed to supernatural causes, and so disheartened the Indians, naturally more sensible to cold and wet than their antagonists, that Jeipál was induced to make proposals of an accommodation. Sebektegín was not at first disposed to hearken to him; but, being made aware of the consequence of driving Hindús to despair, he at length consented to treat; and Jeipál surrendered fifty elephants, and engaged Repelled. to pay a large sum of money. From this time forward my principal dependence will be on Ferishta, a Persian historian, who long resided in India, and wrote, in the end of the sixteenth century, a history of all the Mahometan dynasties in that country down to his own time. I think myself fortunate in having the guidance of an author so much superior to most of his class in Asia. Where the nature of my narrative admitted of it, I have often used the very expressions of Ferishta, which, in Colonel Briggs's translation, it would be difficult to improve. BOOK Hindú confederacy. When he found himself again in safety, he refused to fulfil this part of his agreement, and even threw the messengers sent to demand the execution of it into prison. Sebektegin was not likely to submit to such an insult and breach of faith: he again assembled his troops, and recommenced his march towards the Indus, while Jeipál called in the assistance of the rájas of Delhi, Ajmír, Cálinjar, and Canouj, and advanced to Laghmán with an army of 100,000 horse, and a prodigious number of foot soldiers. Sebektegín ascended a height to view the enemy, and beheld the whole plain covered with their innumerable host; but he was nowise dismayed at the prospect; and, relying on the courage and discipline of his own troops, he commenced the attack with an assurance of victory. He first pressed one point of the Indian army with a constant succession of charges by fresh bodies of cavalry; and when he found them begin to waver, he ordered a general assault along the whole line: the Indians at once gave way, and were pursued, with a dreadful Defeated. slaughter, to the Indus. Sebektegín found a rich plunder in their camp, and levied heavy contributions on the surrounding districts. He also took possession of the country up to the Indus, and left an officer, with ten thousand horse, as his governor of Pésháwer. The Afgháns and Khiljis * of Laghmán im *The Khiljis, or Khaljis, are a Tartar tribe, part of which, in the tenth century, was still near the source of the Jaxartes mediately tendered their allegiance, and furnished CHAP. useful recruits to his army.* After these expeditions, he employed himself in settling his own dominions (which now extended on the west to beyond Candahár); when an opportunity presented itself of promoting his own aggrandisement by a timely interposition in favour of his nominal sovereign. II. Sebektegín assists the against the eastern Tartars. A. H. 383. Nóh or Noah (the seventh of the Sámáni kings) had been driven from Bokhára, and forced to fly across the Oxus, by an invasion of Bógra Khán, king of the Hoeiké Tartars, who at that time possessed almost all Tartary beyond the Imaus, as far east as China. † The fortunate sickness, retreat, A.D. 993, and death of Bógra Khán restored Nóh to his throne. An attempt he soon after made to punish the disaffection shown by his governor of Khorásán, during his misfortunes, drove that chief into an alliance with Fáik, another noble of Bokhára, whose turbulence makes a conspicuous figure for a long period in the latter days of the Sámánis; but of which a portion had even then been long settled between Sístán and India (i. e. in the Afghán country). In the tenth century they still spoke Túrki. They seem very early to have been closely connected with the Afgháns, with whom their name is almost invariably associated. (For their original stock and residence in Tartary, see De Guignes, vol. iii. p. 9. note; D'Herbelot, article "Khaladj;" Ebn Haukal, p. 209.; and for their abode in the Afghán country, Ibid. p. 207. This last author wrote between A. D. 902 and A.D. 968.) * Briggs's Ferishta, vol. i. pp. 15-19. + De Guignes, vol. ii. p. 157.; Price, vol. ii. p. 247. |