- Alp Tigin
Alp Tigin (PerB|الپتگین "Alp Tegīn", Turkic for "brave prince") was a general of
Central Asian Turkic origin fromBalkh who had risen from slave to general and eventually to the "Governor ofKhorasan " based inGhazni .Later in a political fallout over succession of the
Samanid s he crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to captureGhazni , located strategically betweenKabul andKandahar in modernAfghanistan on the road between Iran and India, where he established his independence.Career
Two military families arose from the Turkic Slave-Guards of the
Samanids — the "Simjurids" and the "Ghaznavid s" — who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids. The Simjurids received an appanage in the Kūhestān region of southernKhorasan and Alp Tigin founded theGhaznavid fortunes when he established himself at Ghazna (now inAfghanistan ) in 962.When the
Samanid Emir Abdul Malik I, died in 961 CE it created a succession crisis between Abdul Malik's brothers. He and Abu al-Hasan Simjuri, asSamanid generals, competed with each other for the governorship ofKhorasan and control of the Samanid empire by placing on the throneemir s they could dominate. Abu al-Hasan died in 961, but a new rival Fa'iq rose and eventually Mansur I was elected by the court ministers, and having backed the wrong candidate Alptigin retired fromKhurasan toGhazna , where he ruled as a largely independent sovereign, thus starting the Ghaznavid list in 962 CE. Coins of the era however show that he still nominally acknowledged theSamanid authority.Legacy
Sultan Alptigin is the founder of the state of
Ghazna . He was succeeded in 975 briefly by his son and then, upon his death in, 977 by son-in-lawSebük Tigin ; who would become the founder of theGhaznavid Empire .References
Ferishta , History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India, Volume 1: Section 15 [http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=12]ee also
*
Ghaznavid Empire
*History of Afghanistan
*History of Pakistan
*History of India
*History of Iran External links
* [http://www.iranchamber.com/history/ghaznavids/ghaznavids.php History of Iran: Ghaznavid Dynasty]
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