Far East Kingdoms

Afghan (Turkic) Samanid Subject Kings (Southern Khorasan)
AD 962 - 977

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With the fracturing of the Islamic conquest-era emirate of Khorasan in southern Central Asia and northern South Asia, a north-south divide had formed. Various factions had long been agitating for dominance in what was generally referred to as 'Greater Khorasan'. The Samanid ruler faced internal uprisings in the tenth century and the Ghaznavid ruler, Sebuktigin, had to go to his assistance, defeating the rebels at Balkh and then Nishapur.

This Sebuktigin was granted the title 'Nasir ud-Din' ('Hero of the Faith') while his son, Mahmud, was made governor of a northern Khorasan which was removed from Samanid authority. This meant a permanent division of Khorasan into north and south, with the southern section being cut up into several regional power bases and becoming known as Southern Khorasan.

The Yamanids claimed descent from the last of the Sassanid kings, Yazdagird III, whose family had fled the Islamic invasion following the king's death in AD 651. They resettled in early Turkestan, where they intermarried with the locals over the subsequent three centuries.

In the early tenth century one of their number, the aforementioned Sebuktigin who was still only twelve years old at the time, was captured by a neighbouring tribe and ended up being purchased by Alptigin, the Turkic-born ex-slave governor of Samanid Khorasan.

However, with regional politics remaining highly confrontational, Alptigin backed the losing side in a dynastic squabble amongst his masters. Fleeing the Samanid city, he crossed the Hindu Kush to seize Zabulistan and Ghazni in the south-east of modern Afghanistan, from the local governor, Abu Bakr Lawik.

He subsequently established an independent Khorasanian Sunni Muslim kingdom there as, in name at least, a 'Samanid Subject King'. Sebuktigin went with him to be created a general, and he continued in that role until his own accession as the first of the Yamanid Ghaznavids.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The Turks in World History, Carter Vaughn Findley (Oxford University Press 2005), from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, Peter B Golden (1992), and from External Links: Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Encyclopaedia Iranica.)

962 - 963

Seized this eastern Afghan region from Samanid governor.

962

Alptigin, a Turkic name (see feature link) which means 'brave prince', seizes Ghazni in Southern Khorasan and expels the Samanid governor of Zabulistan, Abu Bakr Lawik.

Although he establishes independent rule of Ghazni, coins from the era show that Alptigin nominally acknowledges Samanid overlordship for the last year of his life (he dies in 963), always a useful ruse for avoiding a retaliatory attack by former masters.

A monument to Alptigin, founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty in Afghanistan, located in the town of Söğüt in western Turkey

963 - c.963?

Son. Briefly lost Ghazni to the Samanid ex-governor.

c.963? - c.965?

The former the Samanid governor of Zabulistan, Abu Bakr Lawik, briefly manages to wrest back control of what had been his subject domain before he is expelled and the independent kings of Ghazni re-establish their rule.

c.963? - c.965?

Samanid governor of Zabulistan. Restored. Expelled.

c.965 - 966

Restored with Samanid aid. Died childless.

966

Abu Ishaq Alptegin dies childless, so the commanders of his army select one of their number, Bilgetigin, as his successor. Information on this period in Ghazni seems to be sparse, but Bilgetigin appears to be a somewhat capable general and then governor until he dies during a siege of a Lawik-held city by the name of Gardez.

966 - 975

Former Turkic army commander. Died during a siege.

975 - 977

A former Turkic slave of Alptigin. Succeeded by Ghaznavids.

977

During his reign, the cruel Piri is threatened by Abu Ali Lawik, the son of the expelled would-be governor, Abu Bakr Lawik. Piri is rescued by General Sebuktigin, who surprises the enemy army near Charkh, on the east bank of the River Lohgar. Many of the enemy number are killed and ten elephants are taken along with prisoners.

Kadang in the lower Swat Valley in Pakistan, long part of the shifting pattern of domination of South Asia's petty states, would for a time have been under Ghaznavid control

Probably thanks to this success, and following Piri's death in the same year, it is Sebuktigin himself who succeeds to rule Ghazni and its surrounding territories, creating a Yamanid dynasty of rulers in this Ghaznavid emirate.