Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn (Persian: یمین‌الدوله ابوالقاسم محمود بن سبکتگین‎‎), more commonly known as Mahmud of Ghazni (محمود غزنوی; November 971 – 30 April 1030), also known as Mahmūd-i Zābulī (محمود زابلی), was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. He conquered the eastern Iranian lands, modern Afghanistan, and the northwestern Indian subcontinent (modern Pakistan) from 997 to his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazna into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire that covered most of today's Afghanistan, eastern Iran, and Pakistan, by looting the riches and wealth from the then Indian subcontinent.

He was the first ruler to hold the title Sultan ("authority"), signifying the extent of his power while at the same time preserving an ideological link to the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate. During his rule, he invaded and plundered parts of Hindustan (east of the Indus River) seventeen times.

Mahmud was born on Thursday, 10 Muharram, 361 AH/2 November 971 CE in the town of Ghazna in Medieval Khorasan (modern southeastern Afghanistan). His father, Sabuktigin, was a Turkic Mamluk who founded the Ghaznavid dynasty and was thus the first Ghaznavid Sultan Sebüktigin. His mother was the daughter of a Persian aristocrat from Zabulistan. Mahmud had a younger brother, Yusuf Sebüktigin.

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Wikipedia