Ghaznavid Empire

06
Int’l Handicraft Expo
June 21, 2012
The International Exhibition on Silk Road Handicrafts will be held in
Tabriz on June 21-25. Seven countries, apart from 31 provinces of Iran,
will attend the event.
Iranica
Ghaznavid Empire
Glide Over Land
By Molana
Hawk told the statue “over land I glide”
Statue said, “I’m fine, enjoy your ride.”
When I am glad, I can go to sleep
But go for a walk when I’m sad and weep
If in the bottom of a dark well dwell
For handsome Joseph, at least, must fare
well.
Where beloved is, is ideal place
Bottom of a well, or high up in space.
Caspian Sea
In deep dark ocean, the oyster will hurl
All caution with joy, searching for pearl.
When God sweeps away all your greed
Return to your soul, the sole guide you need.
In the divine light, a speck of dust
Joyously dances, without need or lust.
You too can choose to dance in light divine
Delight the stars and deep earthly mine.
Pride of Tabriz, king of the wise
Joy in company and solitude arise.
Iranian Recipe
Fruit Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
Pineapple, 200 grams
Mixed dried fruit, 1 cup (apples cherries peaches and apricots)
Water, 1 cup
Cinnamon stick, 8 centimeters
Garlic, 2 cloves
Honey, 1 tablespoon
Vanilla, 1/3 cup
Low-fat yogurt (optional)
Directions
Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Cut up any large pieces of
dried fruit. In a medium saucepan, stir together reserved pineapple juice, water, cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil and add dried
fruit; reduce heat.
Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until fruit is tender.
Remove cinnamon and whole cloves, if using. Stir in honey and
pineapple tidbits.
Serve warm or cover and chill 4 to 24 hours. To serve, spoon
into individual serving dishes.
Dollop each serving with some of the vanilla yogurt, if desired.
Health Benefits of Fruits
Fruits are nature’s wonderful medicines packed with vitamins,
minerals, antioxidants and many phytochemicals (plant-derived
micronutrients). They are an absolute feast to our sight, not just because of their color and flavor but help body keep fit and healthy.
Fruits are low in calories and fat, and are a source of simple
sugars, fiber and vitamins, which are essential for optimizing our
health.
Fruits provide plenty of soluble dietary fiber, which helps ward
of cholesterol and fats from the body, and to get relief from constipation as well.
Fruits contain many antioxidants like poly-phenolic flavonoids,
vitamin-C and anthocyanins. These compounds, firstly, help body
protect from oxidant stress, diseases and cancers. Secondly, they
help body develop capacity to fight against these ailments by
boosting our immunity level.
Many fruits, when compared to vegetables and cereals, have
very high antioxidant values that are measured by their “Oxygen
Radical Absorbent Capacity” or ORAC.
Anthocyanins are flavonoid category of polyphenolic compounds found in some “blue fruits” like blue-black grapes, mulberries, chokeberries, blueberries, blackberries and in many vegetables featuring blue or deep purple color.
Eating fruits rich in blue pigments offers many health benefits.
These compounds have potent antioxidant properties, remove free
radicals from the body, and thus offer protection against cancers,
aging, infections, etc. These pigments tend to concentrate just underneath the skin.
Fruit’s health-benefiting properties are because of their richness
in vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients and antioxidants that help
the body prevent or at least prolong the natural changes of aging
by protecting and rejuvenating cells, tissues and organs in the human body. The overall benefits are manifold.
To avail of maximum fruit nutrition, eat organic produce. Many
wild varieties of berries and “tropical tree” fruits are still not treated with any kind of fertilizers or chemicals, and can be readily
purchased from local farm owners.
Organic fruits tend to be smaller, however, and feature special
flavor and richness in vitamins, minerals and stuffed with numerous antioxidants.
In the store, however, choose fruits that feature freshness, bright
in color and flavor and feel heavy in your hands. Look carefully
for blemishes, spots, molds and signs of insecticide spray. Buy
whole fruits instead of section of them (for example, buy a small
watermelon instead of a section of big melon).
Persian Gulf
Oman Sea
T
he Ghaznavids were a Persian Muslim dynasty of
Turkic slave-soldiers, which existed from 975 to
1187 and ruled much of Persia, Transoxania and
the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
The dynasty was founded by Sebuktigin upon his succession to rule over territories centered around the city
of Ghazni from his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, a breakaway
ex-general of the Samanid rulers.
Sebuktigin’s son, Shah Mahmoud, expanded the empire in the region that stretched from Oxus River to the
Indus Valley and the Indian Ocean; and in the west it
reached Rey and Hamedan, Iranchamber.com wrote.
Under the reign of Mas’ud I, the dynasty experienced
major territorial losses, losing the western territories to
the Seljuks at the Battle of Dandanaqan resulting in a restriction of its holdings to Balouchistan, Western Punjab
and modern-day Afghanistan.
In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to Alauddin
Hussein of Ghor and the capital was moved to Lahore
until its subsequent capture by the Ghurids in 1186.
Rise to Power
Two military families arose from the Turkic slaveguards of the Samanids--the Simjurids and Ghaznavids-who ultimately proved disastrous to the Samanids.
The Simjurids received an appanage in the Qohestan region of eastern Khorasan. Alp Tigin founded
the Ghaznavid fortunes when he established himself at
Ghazna (modern Ghazni) in 962. He and Abolhassan
Simjuri, as Samanid generals competed for the governorship of Khorasan and control of the Samanid Empire by
placing on the throne emirs they could dominate when
Abdul Malek I died in 961. But when the emir did die
in 961 CE, it created a succession crisis between Abdul
Malek I’s brothers.
A court party instigated by men of the scribal class--ci-
vilian ministers as contrasted with Turkic generals--rejected Alp Tigin’s candidate for the Samanid throne. Mansur
I was installed and Alp Tigin prudently
retired to his fief of Ghazna.
The Simjurids enjoyed control of Khorasan south of
the Oxus but were hard-pressed by a third great Iranian
dynasty, the Bu’ayhids, and were unable to survive the
collapse of the Samanids and the rise of the Ghaznavids.
Domination of Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin
In 997, Mahmud, the son of Sebuktigin, succeeded his
father upon his death (before he ascended the throne, he
had to challenge his younger brother Ismail, who was
announced as the heir by his father Sebuktigin), and with
him Ghazni and the Ghaznavid Dynasty have become
perpetually associated. He completed the conquest of
Samanid, Shahi lands, the Ismaili kingdom of Multan,
Sindh, as well as some Bu’ayhid territory.
Under him all accounts was the golden age and the
height of the Ghaznavid Empire. Mahmud carried out 17
expeditions through northern India establishing his control and setting up tributary states. His raids also resulted
in the looting of a great deal of plunder.
From the borders of Kordestan to Samarkand, from the
Caspian Sea to the Yamuna, he established his authority.
During Mahmud’s reign (c.1025), the Ghaznavids settled 4,000 Turkmen families near Farana in Khorasan.
By 1027, due to the Turkmen raiding neighboring settlements, the governor of Tus, Abul Alarith Arslan Jadhib
led military strikes against them. The Turkmen were defeated and scattered to neighboring lands.
The wealth brought back from the Indian expeditions
to Ghazni was enormous and contemporary historians
(Abolfazl Beyhaqi, Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the
Gonbad-e Qabous on Global List
Iranica Desk
Gonbad-e Qabous (Tower of Qabous) in Gorgan, Golestan province, which is the world’s
tallest brick building, will be registered on
UNESCO’s World Heritage List in summer.
Announcing this, Qorban Abbasi, the head
of Golestan Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and
Tourism Department, said UNESCO’s general
meeting has been planned to be held in Moscow, Russia, in summer, in which a number of
the world’s significant
heritage sites will be registered.
He said Gonbad-e Qabous is considered one of
the most precious sites in
the world.
“Gonbad-e Qabous is
one of the rarest Islamic
architectural masterpieces in Iran,” he said, noting that a ceremony will
be held in the province to
celebrate the global registration of the site as well.
Abbasi said the dossier
of Gonbad-e Qabous was
submitted to UNESCO
about 12 years ago.
“UNESCO’s experts obliged Iran to take
some preservation measures in the site,” he said,
adding that last year experts from ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites)
visited Gonbad-e Qabous again.
Abbasi noted that all the measures have been
taken in the recent years to boost the condition
of the site.
“Construction works in the perimeters of the
site have been halted,” he said.
The official said the registration of the site
on the global list of UNESCO will help attract
more tourists to the province and boost econom-
ic growth.
The tower is located in the center of the city
named Qabous. It reaches 72 meters and is still
the tallest pure-brick tower in the world.
The baked-brick tower is an enormous decagonal building with a conic roof, which forms the
golden ratio that Phi equals 1.618.
Its interiors contain the earliest examples of
Muqarnas decorative styles. The decagon with
its 3-meter-thick wall, divided into 10 sides, has
a diameter of 17 meters. The tower was built on
such a scientific and architectural design that at
the front of the tower, at an external circle, one
can hear one’s echo.
The tower was built in 1006 AD on the orders
of the Ziyarid Amir Shams-ol-Ma’ali Qabous
ibn Wushmgir.
Robert Byron, the British travel writer and architectural critic, wrote that it was a photograph
of the tower that motivated him to visit Persia.
Seeing the tower, he maintained his high opinion of its qualities, writing in The Road to Oxiana, that “Gombad-e Qamboos ranks with the
great buildings of the world”.
conquerors munificent support of literature.
Mahmud died in (1030). Even though
there was some revival of importance
under Ibrahim (1059-99), the empire
never reached anything like the same splendor and power.
Military Tactics
Like the other dynasties that rose out of the remains
of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Ghaznavid administrative
traditions and military practice came from the Abbasids.
There were, however, unique changes adopted that met
the demands of the geographic situation of the Ghaznavid dynasty.
Due to their access to the Indus-Ganges plains, the
Ghaznavids, during the 11th and 12th centuries, developed the first Muslim army to use war elephants in battle.
The elephants were protected by armor plating on their
fronts. The use of these elephants in other regions that
the Ghaznavids fought in, particularly in Central Asia, to
which the elephant was a foreign weapon.
Legacy
The Ghaznavid Empire grew to cover much of presentday Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwest India, and
the Ghaznavids are generally credited with spreading Islam into the Indian subcontinent.
In addition to the wealth accumulated by raiding Indian cities and exacting tribute from Indian Rajas the
Ghaznavids also benefited from their position as an intermediary along the trade routes between China and
the Mediterranean. They were, however, unable to hold
power for long and by 1040, the Seljuks had taken over
their Persian domains and a century later the Ghurids
took over their remaining sub-continental lands.
Sudoku
No. 163
Sudoku was inspired by the table devised by Iranian mathematician
Al-Kharazmi. Fill 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row
and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid, contains all
of the digits from 1 to 9.