Sabuktigin | |||||
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Emir of Ghazna | |||||
Reign | 20 April 977 – 5 August 997 | ||||
Predecessor | Böritigin | ||||
Successor | Ismail | ||||
Born | c. 942 Barskhan (present-day Kyrgyzstan) |
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Died | 5 August 997 (aged 55) Balkh, Greater Khorasan, now Balkh Province, Afghanistan |
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Spouse | Daughter of Alptigin | ||||
Issue |
Ismail Mahmud Abu'l-Muzaffar Nasr Yusuf Hurra-yi Kalji |
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House | House of Sabuktigin | ||||
Father | Qara Bajkam | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Full name | |
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Laqab: Nasir ad-Din wa ad-Dawlah Kunya: Abu Mansur Given name: Sabuktigin |
Abu Mansur Sabuktigin (Persian: ابو منصور سبکتگین) (ca 942 – August 997), also spelled as Sabuktagin, Sabuktakin, Sebüktegin and Sebük Tigin, was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 977 to 997. In Turkic the name means beloved prince.
Sabuktigin lived as a slave during his youth and later married the daughter of his master Alptigin, the man who seized the region of Ghazna (modern Ghazni Province in Afghanistan) in a political fallout for the throne of the Samanids of Bukhara. Although the latter and Sabuktigin still recognized Samanid authority, and it was not until the reign of Sabuktigin's son Mahmud that the rulers of Ghazni became independent.
When his father-in-law Alptigin died, Sebuktigin became the new ruler and expanded the kingdom after defeating Jayapala to cover the territory as far as the Neelum River in Kashmir and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan.
Sebuktigin was of Turkic origin born around 942 CE in what is today Barskon, in Kyrgyzstan. Around the age of twelve, Sebuktigin was taken prisoner by a neighbouring warring tribe and sold as a slave to a merchant named Nasr the Haji. He was eventually purchased by Alptigin, the chamberlain of the Samanids of Bukhara.
"A merchant of the name of Nusr-Hajy having purchased Sabuktigin while yet a boy, brought him from the Turkic steppes to Bukhara, where he was sold to Aluptugeen, who, perceiving in him the promise of future greatness, raised him by degrees to posts of confidence and distinction, till, at length, on his establishing his independence at Ghazni, he conferred on him the title of amir al-umara (chief of the nobles), and also that of Vakil-i-Mutluk, or Representative."