(W. A. P.)
MAHMUD NEDIM PASHA (c. 1818-1883), Turkish statesman, was the son of Nejib Pasha, ex-governor-general of Bagdad. After occupying various subordinate posts at the Porte he became successively under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, governor-general of Syria and Smyrna, minister of commerce, and governor-general of Tripoli; minister successively of justice and of marine (1869); grand vizier from 1871 to 1872 and from 1875 to 1876. He was high in favour with Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz and fell much under the influence of General Ignatiev, the forceful Russian ambassador before the war of 1877-78, his subserviency to Russia earning for him the nickname of “Mahmudoff.” His administration was most unsuccessful from every point of view, and he was largely responsible for the issue of the decree suspending the interest on the Turkish funds. He was minister of the interior from 1879 to 1883.
MAHMUD[1] OF GHAZNI (971-1030), son of Sabuktagīn, Afghan conqueror, was born on the 2nd of October 971. His fame rests chiefly on his successful wars, in particular his numerous invasions of India. His military capacity, inherited from his father, Nasir-ud-din Sabuktagīn, was strengthened by youthful experience in the field. Sabuktagīn, a Turki slave of Alptagīn, governor of Khorasan under Abdalmalik I. b. Nuḥ of the Samanid dynasty of Bokhara, early brought himself to notice (see [Samanids]). He was raised to high office in the state by Alptagīn’s successor, Abū Ishāk, and in A.H. 366 (A.D. 977), by the choice of the nobles of Ghazni, he became their ruler. He soon began to make conquests in the neighbouring countries, and in these wars he was accompanied by his young son Mahmud. Before he had reached the age of fourteen he encountered in two expeditions under his father the Indian forces of Jaipal, raja of Lahore, whom Sabuktagīn defeated on the Punjab frontier.
In 994 Mahmud was made governor of Khorasan, with the title of Saif addaula (ud-daula) (“Sword of the State”) by the Sāmānīd Nūh II. Two years later, his father Sabuktagīn died in the neighbourhood of Balkh, having declared his second son, Ismail, who was then with him, to be his successor. As soon as Ismail had assumed the sovereignty at Balkh, Mahmud, who was at Nishapur, addressed him in friendly terms, proposing a division of the territories held by their father at his death. Ismail rejected the proposal, and was immediately attacked by Mahmud and defeated. Retreating to Ghazni, he there yielded, and was imprisoned, and Mahmud obtained undisputed power as sovereign of Khorasan and Ghazni (997).
The Ghaznevid dynasty is sometimes reckoned by native historians to commence with Sabuktagīn’s conquest of Bost and Kosdār (978). But Sabuktagīn, throughout his reign at Ghazni, continued to acknowledge the Sāmānid suzerainty, as did Mahmud also, until the time, soon after succeeding to his father’s dominions, when he received from Qādir, caliph of Bagdad (see [Caliphate], C. § 25), a khilat (robe of honour), with a letter recognizing his sovereignty, and conferring on him the titles Yamiīn-addaula (“Right hand of the State”), and Amīn-ul-Millat (“Guardian of the Faith”). From this time it is the name of the caliph that is inscribed on Mahmud’s coins, together with his own new titles. Previously the name of the Sāmānid sovereign, Mansūr II. b. Nūh is given along with his own former title, Saif addaula Mahmūd. The earliest of those of the new form gives his name Mahmūd bin Sabuktagīn. Thereafter his father’s name does not appear on his coins, but it is inscribed again on his tomb.
The new honours received from the caliph gave fresh impulse to Mahmud’s zeal on behalf of Islam, and he resolved on an annual expedition against the idolaters of India. He could not quite carry out this intention, but a great part of his reign was occupied with his Indian campaigns. In 1000 he started on the first of these expeditions, but it does not appear that he went farther than the hill country near Peshawar. The hostile attitude of Khalaf ibn Ahmad, governor of Seistan, called Mahmud to that province for a short time. He was appeased by Khalaf’s speedy submission, together with the gift of a large sum of money, and further, it is said, by his subdued opponent addressing him as sultān, a title new at that time, and by which Mahmud continued to be called, though he did not formally adopt it, or stamp it on his coins. Four years later Khalaf, incurring Mahmud’s displeasure again, was imprisoned, and his property confiscated.
Mahmud’s army first crossed the Indus in 1001, opposed by Jaipāl, raja of Lahore. Jaipāl was defeated, and Mahmud, after his return from this expedition, is said to have taken the distinctive appellation of Ghāzi (“Valiant for the Faith”), but he is rarely so-called. On the next occasion (1005) Mahmud advanced, as far as Bhera on the Jhelum, when his adversary Anang-pāl, son and successor of Jaipāl, fled to Kashmir. The following year saw Mahmud at Multan. When he was in the Punjab at this time, he heard of the invasion of Khorāsan by the Ilek Khan Nasr I. ruler of Transoxiana whose daughter Mahmud had married. After a rapid march back from India, Mahmud repelled the invaders. The Ilek Khan, having retreated across the Oxus, returned with reinforcements, and took up a position a few miles from Balkh, where he was signally defeated by Mahmud.
Mahmud again entered the Punjab in 1008, this time for the express purpose of chastising Sēwah Pāl, who, having become a Mussulman, and been left by Mahmud in charge of Multan, had relapsed to Hinduism. The Indian campaign of 1009 was notable. Near the Indus Mahmud was opposed again by Anang-pāl, supported by powerful rajas from other parts of India. After a severe fight, Anang-pāl’s elephants were so terror-struck by the fire-missiles flung amongst them by the invaders that they turned and fled, the whole army retreating in confusion and leaving Mahmud master of the field. Mahmud, after this victory, pushed on through the Punjab to Nagar-kōt (Kangra), and carried off much spoil from the Hindu temples to enrich his treasury at Ghazni. In 1011 Mahmud, after a short campaign against the Afghans under Mahommed ibn Sūr in the hill country of Ghur, marched again into the Punjab. The next time (1014) he advanced to Thanēsar, another noted stronghold of Hinduism, between the Sutlej and the Jumna. Having now found his way across all the Punjab rivers, he was induced on two subsequent occasions to go still farther. But first he designed an invasion of Kashmir (1015), which was not carried out, as his progress was checked at Lōh-kōt, a strong hill fort in the north-west of the Punjab. Then before undertaking his longer inroad into Hindustan he had to march north into Khwārizm (Khiva) against his brother-in-law Mamūn, who had refused to acknowledge Mahmud’s supremacy. The result was as usual, and Mahmud, having committed Khwārizm to a new ruler, one of Mamūn’s chief officers, returned to his capital. Then in 1018, with a very large force, he proceeded to India again, extending his inroad this time to the great Hindu cities of Mathra on the Jumna and Kanauj on the Ganges. He reduced the one, received the submission of the other, and carried back great stores of plunder. Three years later he went into India again, marching over nearly the same ground, to the support, this time, of the raja of Kanauj, who, having made friendship with the Mahommedan invader on his last visit, had been attacked by the raja of Kalinjar. But Mahmud found he had not yet sufficiently subdued the idolaters nearer his own border, between Kabul and the Indus, and the campaign of 1022 was directed against them, and reached no farther than Peshawar. Another march into India the following year was made direct to Gwalior.