Exterior of the tomb of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, 1840 (c)

Exterior of the tomb of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, 1840 (c). Painting by James Atkinson. 

The tomb was desecrated by British invaders in 1842 with the view that it will upset the sentiments of Afghans and gratify the Hindus of India.

James Atkinson writes: 

The interior of the building, which contains the tomb of this far-famed conqueror, is about twenty-four feet in length by fourteen in breadth. The tomb itself is of polished white marble, and of the usual Mahomedan shape. The inscription on it gives the date of the Monarch’s death A.H. 421, or A.D. 1005. At each end is a wooden post adorned with peacock’s feathers, supporting a silken canopy of pale blue, variegated with gaudy colours, but now faded and in a tattered condition. Upon the white washed walls are written distichs in Arabic and Persian. Priests dare daily in attendance reading the Koran in honour of the illustrious dead. All sorts of votive offerings are hung up and spread out on the wall: among them is the preserved skin of a large tiger. The door, said to be made of sandal wood, and to be that brought by Mahmood from the Hindoo Temple of Somnath in Kattywar, when he sacked and desecrated that shrine, is in panels, carved and well joined. Each half is formed of two folds hinged together. In height it is about fourteen feet, and the entire width nine. This is the relic which the Sikh Chieftain Runjeet Sing so much coveted as to wish to make its restoration a condition to his affording aid to the cause of Shah Shoojau, but that Monarch replying that his compliance with the demand would disgrace in the eyes of his nation, the request was not insisted on. It has now, however, been brought to India under orders from the Governor General, Lord Ellenborough, by Major General Sir William Nott’s force, as a record of the triumph of the British arms, and the humiliation of the Afghans. It is to be restored to the Temple whence it was originally taken.

The so called "Sandalwood gates of the Somnath temple"

 

1842 (c): The painting by James Atkinson showing the door which was removed from the mausoleum of Sultan Mahmood of Ghazni by the British invaders. The latter believed it to be "sandalwood gates of Somnath temple".

British invaders desecrated the tomb and removed the door in 1842 to restore their injured pride and ego, to upset the sentiments of Pashtuns (British erroneously thought that Sultan Mahmud was a Pashtun) and to gratify the Hindus.

James Atkinson writes: 

" This is the relic which the Sikh Chieftain Runjeet Sing so much coveted as to wish to make its restoration a condition to his affording aid to the cause of Shah Shoojau, but that Monarch replying that his compliance with the demand would disgrace in the eyes of his nation, the request was not insisted on. It has now, however, been brought to India under orders from the Governor General, Lord Ellenborough, by Major General Sir William Nott’s force, as a record of the triumph of the British arms, and the humiliation of the Afghans. It is to be restored to the Temple whence it was originally taken."

"The Supposed Gates of Somnauth, in the arsenal of the fort at Agra," from the Illustrated London News, 1872.

 

The gates of the tomb of Sultan Mahmud are still placed in Agra fort. Source

Dilazak Tribe

History of the Dilazak Tribe of the Pashtuns

Dilazak, more correctly Dalazak, is a tribe belonging to the Karlanri division of the Pashtuns. They once occupied a vast territory extending from Nangarhar to Hazara and from Bajaur to Peshawar, representing the dominant Pashtun element in what is now northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, before the arrival of the Khashi and Ghoria Khel Pashtun tribes in the region.

The tribe is now much diminished; they are scattered in Peshawar, with their major settlements in Haripur and Chach, where they have forgotten Pashto and now speak Hindko. According to their own tradition, as reported in Hayat-i-Afghani, they occupied the Peshawar Valley in the 11th century, where they found the inhabitants to be red-complexioned Kafirs (possibly Dardic people). The same account also claims that a large contingent of Dilazaks joined Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in his expedition against Somnath, under their chieftain Yahya Khan. H. G. Raverty, however, believed that they most likely moved into the Peshawar Valley in the early 13th century due to the onslaught of the Mongols.

In the 15th century, the Yusufzais sought help from the Dilazaks after being devastated by Mirza Ulug Beg. Generously, the Dilazaks offered the Doaba region, and also suggested Danish Kol, Ambahar, and Ashnaghar (Hashtnagar) if needed. Eventually, Yusufzais and Mandanrs took Doaba and later expanded into Bajaur and Hashtnagar, leading to conflicts with the Dilazaks.

Conflict escalated between the Dilazaks and Yusufzais, Gigyanis, and Mohammedzais. The Dilazaks, excellent archers, were eventually routed at the Battle of Katlang. Khan Kaju intervened to save the Dilazak chief and his family.

In 1519, the Dilazak chiefs allied with Babur against the Yusufzais. The fort at Peshawar, destroyed by the Dilazaks, was later rebuilt by Humayun. By the early 17th century, the Ghoria Khel Afghans displaced the Dilazaks, who were eventually moved near Lahore by orders of Mughal Emperor Jehangir.

By the 18th century, the Jadoons occupied areas previously held by Dilazaks. Dilazak individuals served in Mughal military campaigns across India, demonstrating notable archery and cavalry skills.

Military Careers in India

Purdil Khan Dilazak, nicknamed Chibi-Tani, governed Sarain in the Deccan. Many Dilazaks served in Mughal armies; Mirza Nathan describes them as excellent archers. Khan Jahan Lodi's army had 3,000 Dilazak cavalry in the 1615 campaign against Bijapur. Rashid Khan Ansari employed 500 Dilazaks among 4,500 Karlanri soldiers. Jamal Khan Dilazak served in naval campaigns against the Ahoms under Mir Jumla.

References

• "Afghanistan and its inhabitants" by Muhammad Hayat Khan, translated by Henry B. Priestley, 1874.
• Hugh R. James, Report on the Settlement of the Peshawar District, 1865, p.23–30.
• Olaf Caroe, "The Pathans", p.176–177.
• H.G. Raverty, "Notes on Afghanistan and Baluchistan", p.220, 517.
• Mirza Nathan, Baharistan-i-ghaibi, vol-1, p.550.
• Tuzk-i-Jehangiri, Vol.1, p.299, 308.
• Haroon Rashid, "History of the Pathans", Vol.II, p.432.
• Jagdis Nariyan Sarkar, "Life of Mir Jumla", p.253.

A village in the Khyber Pass, 1920 (c). Photo by R.B. Holmes.

Residents of Chach-Hazara, 1850 (c). Toor Collection.

Mahmud of Ghazni and Pashtuns

Ghaznavid sultanate was the first Muslim Turkish dynasty. The founders of this power were Turkic slave commanders from Central Asia in the service of Samanid empire of Khorasan (Persian dynasty). One of the Turkic slave Alptagin dispossessed indigenous rulers of Ghazni (the Lawiks) and ruled Ghazni as nominal vassals of Samanid empire. Sebuktagin, the fifth Turkic slave commander ruling Ghazni, was born in Barskhan district of Kyrgyzstan. He declared independence from Samanid empire and extended his rule over much of what is now Afghanistan. Sabuktaghin was succeeded by his son Mahmud.

The Ghaznavid power reached its zenith during Sultan Maḥmud’s reign . He created an empire that stretched from the Oxus to the Indus valley and the Indian Ocean; in the west he captured the Iranian cities of Rayy and Hamadan. Like his father Sabuktagin, he also recruited large number of Afghan (Pashtun) and Khalji merceraries in some of the campaigns ( Tarikh-i-Yamini). When Sultan Mahmud invaded Hindustan, 12,000 Afghan horsemen and 12000 foot soldiers from Ghazna and Kandahar are said to have joined him (Khulasat-ul-Ansab). Akhund Darweza's Tazkirat al-Abrar wa al-Ashrar also has tales of Pashtuns in service to the armies of Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century. 

The fiercely independent Afghan tribes of Yaghistan (Pashtun highlands) maintained their independence. They used to carry out plundering raids on the frontier districts of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. In 1019 AD Afghans are recorded to have waylaid the troops of Sultan Mahmud as they were returning in detachments over the hill passes from Kanauj. The Sultan therefore marched against them about the end of same year, shortly after his return from Kanauj. In order to make them unawares, the Sultan gave out that he was going in other direction but he turned around , surrounded them in their mountain haunts and did terrible execution against them.

In Utbi's own words,

"When the pimples of the disgrace and infamy of the puritans of Tabaristan had passed away, the Sultan occupied himself in repelling the nation of the Afghans, who made their homes in the acclivities of cliffs and the summits of mountains, and for a long time had been accustomed, with violent success, to stretch out their hand (to attack) the extreme border of his territories. He departed from Ghazna, with the wish to turn upon them, and, by giving their nest to the winds, cut off the germ of that annoyance. He therefore made as though he were marching towards another place and had a design against some other people, and suddenly fell upon them and, fastening the sword upon them, gave many people to destruction

Baihaki's chronicle confirms the above mentioned event. Further attacks of Sultan Mahmud on the Afghans took place in 1020-21 AD and ;1023-24 AD. 11th century Ghaznavid poets like Unsari Balkhi and Saad Salman mentions the attacks of Sultan Mahmud and his officers' attacks on Afghans in their poetry, and refers to them as 'infidels'. Al-Utbi, Ibn-al-Atir and Fakhr-i-Mudabbir also refers to the turbulent Afghans as infidels in their accounts of Ghaznavids. The successors of Sultan Mahmud had struggle against the ever-rebellious Afghans residing in the mountains. According to "Zain-ul-Akhbar" of Abu Said Gardezi, Sultan Masud (son of Mahmud) posted Amir Ezid Yar in the territory south of Ghaznin , referred to as 'Koh Paya-i-Ghaznin' (i.e foothills) with specific orders to keep the rebel Afghans under control.

Ferdowsi reads the poem, the Shahnameh, to Mahmud of Ghazni - By Vardges Surenyants. (1913)

Mahmud of Ghazni receiving a richly decorated robe of honor from the caliph al-Qadir in 1000. Miniature from the Rashid al-Din’s Jami‘ al-Tawarikh.

References

1-Bernhard Dorn,;History of the Afghans

2- Utbi,;The Kitab-i-yamini

3- Andre Wink, the making of the Indo-Islamic world

4-Bernhard Dorn,History of the Afghans

5- Habibullah Tegay 'Pakhtana"

6- "Afghans and their emergence in India as ruling elite during the Delhi sultanate period " by Iqtidar Hussain Siddiqui