Page images
PDF
EPUB

V.

BOOK Arab, was supported by Persians in his rebellion. The Soffarides, the Buyides, and probably the Samanides*, were Persians; and, at the time we are writing of, Mahmud was the only sovereign not of Persian origin between the Jaxartes and the Euphrates.

Relation

of the different nations to the

government.

Their agreeable manners and refined way of living rendered the Persians models in those respects, even in countries at a distance from their own; and their language, which had been enriched by vast accessions from the Arabic, became, a little before this time, what it still continues, the main channel of polite literature, and, in some degree, of science, through all the Mahometan part of Asia.

These nations were in various degrees of obedience, and influenced the government in various

manners.

The inhabitants of towns and plains (including the Arabs, almost all the Persians, and such of the small bodies of Túrks as had long confined themselves to particular tracts) were entirely submissive

* The Samanides are generally reckoned Túrks; but their founder was presented to the calif Mámún at Merv in Khorásán, and was neither a Túrkí chief nor a slave. The family claimed a Persian ancestor at a time when a descent from Guebres would not have been an object of ambition to men of another race. De Guignes, who exhausts all Tartar tribes, and even adopts single Túrks like the Ghaznevites, lays no claim to the Sámánís. Whether they came from Bokhára or Balkh, the fixed inhabitants of either country are Persians; and their being the first encouragers of Persian literature is another argument for their descent.

III.

to the Sultan. The mountaineers were probably CHAP. in every stage from entire obedience to nearly perfect independence. The great Túrki hordes (as the Séljúks) were separate communities unconnected with the territory they occupied, which sometimes, in the same generation, was on the A'múr and on the Wolga. Their relation to the Sultan depended on the will of their chiefs, and was as fluctuating as might be expected in such circumstances; during the vigorous reign of Mahmúd they seem in general to have been submissive.

The small portion of India possessed by Mahmúd was so recent an acquisition, that the limits of his authority, both in degree and extent, must have been ill defined. I suppose he was powerful in the plains, and had little influence in the hills.

Their shares in the government may be conjectured from the circumstances of the different nations.

Religion and law were Arabian (though modified in the latter department by local customs); and the lawyers and divines would, in many cases, be from the same country.

The Sultan had a body of guards mounted on. his own horses, who, we may conclude, were Mamlúks (or Túrki slaves); and separate troops of Tartar horse, from beyond the Oxus, no doubt formed an important part of his army. A body of 5000 Arab horse is mentioned on one occasion, and very large bodies of Afgháns and Khiljis are often spoken

[blocks in formation]

BOOK of; but we may infer, from various circumstances

V.

and analogies, that the bulk of his army was recruited promiscuously from all parts of his dominions, either singly or in small bodies, and was placed under officers of his own selection; that the contingents of particular provinces were under their governors; and that, besides the mountaineers enlisted in the ranks, many tumultuary bodies of that class served under their hereditary chiefs. All general commands were certainly held by the king's own officers, who, by their names, seem generally to have been Túrks.

The number of his regular army is said, at a muster six years before his death, to have amounted to 54,000 good horse; a moderate number for so great a state, and probably increased on occasions by temporary levies.

Though there is no mention of Hindús in Mahmúď's army, a numerous body of Hindú cavalry, under Sewand Rai, is stated to have taken part in the troubles at Ghazni within two months after the Sultan's death; whence it is obvious that he must, during his lifetime, have availed himself of the services of this class of his subjects without considering their religion as an objection.

Though the Túrki nation were still pagans, most, if not all, those in Mahmúd's army were probably Mahometans. The slaves were of course made Mussulmans as soon as they were purchased, and the free men were likely from imitation to embrace the religion of the country they were in. Some

III.

even of the hordes had begun to be converted; CHAP. but as the Túrks did not, like the Hindús, lay aside their pagan names on conversion, it is not so easy, as in the other cases, to ascertain their religion.

*

The civil administration must have been entirely conducted by Persians. The two celebrated vizírs, Abúl Abbáss and Ahmed Meimendi, were of that nation, and appear to have lived in constant rivalry with the great Túrki generals. The former of the two, being more a man of business than learning, introduced the practice of writing all public papers in Persian. Ahmed restored Arabic in permanent documents; such, probably, as charters, and those of the class which in Europe would be written in Latin.

It is owing to this circumstance that, although India was never directly conquered by Persia, the language of business, and of writing in general, is all taken from the latter country. The Persian language is also spoken much more generally than French is in Europe. It likewise furnishes a large proportion of the vernacular language of Hin. dostan, the basis of which is an original Indian dialect.

Seljúk is said to have been converted; and the fact is proved by the scriptural names of his sons, the contemporaries of Sultán Mahmúd, which were Michael, Israel, Músá (Moses), and according to some Yúnas (Jonas); but his celebrated grandson, though a zealous Mahometan, bore the Tartar name of Tóghrul, and his equally famous successor that of A ́lp Arslán.

BOOK
V.

A. H. 421.

CHAP. IV.

OTHER KINGS OF THE HOUSES OF GHAZNI AND Ghór.

Sultán Mohammed.

SULTAN MAHMUD left two sons, one of whom, Mohammed, had, by his gentleness and docility, A.D. 1030, so ingratiated himself with his father, that he fixed on him for his successor in preference to his more untractable brother, Masáúd. Mohammed was accordingly put in possession, and crowned as soon as Mahmud was dead; but the commanding temper and headlong courage of Masáúd, together with his personal strength and soldier-like habits, made him more popular, and, in fact, more fit to govern, in the times which were approaching. Accordingly a large body of guards deserted from Mohammed immediately after his accession; and by the time Masáúd arrived from his government of Isfahan, the whole army was ready to throw off its allegiance. Mohammed was seized, blinded, and sent into confinement; and Masáúd ascended the throne within five months after his father's death.

A. D. 1030,

A. H. 421.

Sultán Masáúd.

The situation of the new monarch required all the energy by which he was distinguished; for

« PreviousContinue »