IV. creased period; he distributed large sums in CHAP. charity; he also attended lectures on religion; and bore patiently with the rebukes he sometimes received on those occasions. He was, moreover, an eminent proficient in the beautiful art of penmanship, so much prized in the East. Yet he did not, it is said, neglect the duties of his government or the administration of justice. He even, on one occasion, took the field in person, and captured Adjudín and two other places on the Satlaj from the Hindús. This is the only achievement recorded of him, except that he sent two Koráns, written with his own hand, to the calif; and we can scarcely blame the indifference of his historians, who have left it uncertain whether his inglorious reign lasted for thirty-one years or fortytwo. He left thirty-six sons and forty daughters, the latter of whom he gave in marriage to learned and religious men. Sultán Masáúd II. A. D. 1089, A. H. 481. or A. H. 492. His successor, Masáúd, was endowed with equal gentleness and more energy. His generals carried his arms beyond the Ganges, and he himself re- A. D. 1100, vised the laws and formed them into a consistent code. In his time the residence of the sovereigns began to be transferred to Láhór. BOOK A. H. 508. Sultán Arslán. The friendship which had so long continued with the Seljuks had been drawn closer by matri A. D. 1114, monial alliances, and this intimate connection was in time the occasion of a rupture. A. D. 1118, A. H. 512. Arslán, on the death of his father, Masáúd II., seized and imprisoned his brothers. Behrám, one of the number, had the good fortune to escape, and appealed to Sultán Sanjar Seljúk, whose sister, the mother of all the princes, was greatly offended at the conduct of her eldest son towards the rest. Incited by her, and perhaps by his own ambitious views, Sanjar called on Arslán to release his brothers, and on his refusal, marched against him with an army rated by Ferishta at 30,000 horse and 50,000 foot. Arslán was defeated, after an obstinate engagement, and fled to India; but as soon as Sanjar had withdrawn his army he returned, chaced out Behrám, who had been left in possession, and obliged Sanjar to take the field again. This struggle was his last; he was constrained to seek refuge among the Afgháns, but was overtaken and put to death, leaving Behrám in undisturbed possession of the throne, which he himself had occupied for only three years. Sultán Behrám. The beginning of Behrám's reign was disturbed by two insurrections of his governor in India, who was pardoned on the first occasion, and lost his CHAP. life on the second. Behrám had then leisure to indulge his natural disposition to literature, of which, like all his family, he was a distinguished patron. He encouraged original authors both in poetry and philosophy, and was particularly zealous in promoting translations from other languages into Persian. The famous poet Nizámí resided at his court, and one of the five great poems of that author is dedicated to him. It would have been happy if he had never been withdrawn from those pursuits. Towards the close of a long and prosperous reign he was led into a course of greater activity, which ended in the merited ruin of himself and all his race. IV. with Ghór. After the murder of the prince of Ghór by Quarrel Módúd, that territory seems to have remained dependent on Ghazni, and the reigning prince, Kutbudín Súr*, was married to the daughter of Sultán Behrám. Some difference, however, arose between those princes; and Behrám, having got his son-in-law into his power, either poisoned him or put him openly to death. The latter is most probable; for Seif u dín†, the brother of the deceased, immediately took up arms to revenge him, and advanced towards Ghazni, whence Behrám was * Called Kootb ooddeen Mahomed Ghorry Afghan, in Briggs's "Ferishta," vol. i. p. 151. † Seif ooddeen Soory, Ibid. vol. i. p. 152. Q Q VOL. I. BOOK compelled to fly to Kirmán in the mountains towards the east. V. Ghazni taken by the Ghorians. Seif u dín was so secure in his new possession, that he sent back most of his army to Fírúz Cóh, his usual residence, under his brother Alá u dín. But in spite of all endeavours to render himself popular in Ghazni, he failed to shake the attachment of the inhabitants to the old dynasty: a plot was entered into to invite Behrám to return; and as soon as the snow had cut off the communication with Ghór, that prince advanced against his former capital with an army collected from the unsubdued part of his dominions. Seif u dín, conscious of his present weakness, was about to withdraw, but was persuaded, by the perfidious promises and entreaties of the people of Ghazni, to try the fate of a battle; and being deserted on the field by the citizens, the small body of his own troops that were with him were overpowered, and he himself Recovered was wounded and taken prisoner. Behrám's conduct on this occasion was as inconsistent with his Cruel exe- own character as it was repugnant to humanity. He made his prisoner be led round the city with every circumstance of ignominy; and, after exposing him to the shouts and insults of the rabble, put him to death by torture. He also ordered his vizír, a Seiad or descendant of the Prophet, to be impaled. by Behrám. cution of the king of Ghór. When the news reached Alá u dín, he was raised to the highest pitch of rage and indignation, and vowed a bitter revenge on all concerned. He seems, in his impatience, to have set out with what was thought an inadequate force, and he was met with an offer of peace from Behrám, accompanied by a warning of the certain destruction on which he was rushing. He replied, "that Behrám's threats were as impotent as his arms; that it was no new thing for kings to make war on each other; but that barbarity such as his was unexampled among princes." In the battle which ensued, he appeared at one time to be overpowered by the superior numbers of the Ghaznevites; but his own thirst for vengeance, joined to the bravery and indignation of his countrymen, bore down all opposition, and compelled Behrám to fly, almost alone, from the scene of action. The injuries, insults, and cruelties heaped on his brother, by the people no less than the prince, would have justified a severe retaliation on Ghazni but the indiscriminate destruction of so great a capital turns all our sympathy against the author of it, and has fixed a stigma on Alá u dín from which he will never be free as long as his name is remembered.* This noble city, perhaps at the time the greatest in Asia, was given up for three, * He is always called Jehánsóz, Burner of the world, and, though otherwise praised, is mentioned by no historian on this occasion, without the strongest terms of censure. Even the unprovoked massacres of Chengíz and Tamerlane are spoken of with much less disapprobation: a proof, perhaps, of the more civilised character of the earlier period, in which such proceedings excited so much surprise. CHAP. IV. Ghazni by the ; destroyed Ghorians. |