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50 A FOUNDATION FOR HISTORY
merit and are attested in accounts from the fifth and sixth centuries.^4
Multan was a known center for pilgrimage to the sun temple since the
third century.^5 Uch, Mansura, Diu, Broach, Cam bay were nodes which
connected to Aden and Muscat on the one end and to Lahore antl Kabul
on the other. A sketch of these political regimes will help illustrate the
political dynamics of the thirteenth century and make the argument
for why a text such as Chachnama was written.
Sebuktigin was a "Turk" general and governor of the Samanid polity
at Ghazna (presently Afghanistan). In 962, he established himself as a
nominal Sultan-retaining the claims of the Samanid and the 'Abbasid
as overlords-and began military expansion into northern Punjab. By
his death in 997, he had acquired a number of forts from the Hindu Sahi
polity and extended his dominion over Ghur and Makran. His son,
Mahmud (d. 1030), continued to consolidate his power into northern
Punjab and Sind, wresting control of Multan and Mansura from their
Isma'ili rulers. Mahmud led more than twenty campaigns to Sind be-
tween 1001 and 1027. These campaigns have achieved totemic signifi-
cance (popularly as "seventeen attacks") in contemporary historical
memory, and they are the reason why Mahmud is remembered as a
temple raider or destroyer. A significant motivation for his campaigns
was the desire to gain favor with the 'Abbasid court; destroying the
Isma'ili political rule in Multan would have easily achieved that goal.^6
Mahmud's empire, the Ghaznavid (r. 962-n86), was followed by the
reign of Mui'zzuddin Muhammad bin Sam Ghur (d. 1206), who
emerged from Herat and conquered Multan and Uch in n75, Daybul
in n82, and Lahore in n86. Sam continued expansion toward Delhi
from Lahore and directly engaged the surrounding polities of the
Chauhan, the Chandella (based in the Bundelkhand region), the Gaha-
davala (whose capital was at Varnasi), and the Chalukya. He suffered
some setbacks: in n88 he was defeated by Prithviraja of the Chauhan
at Tara'in and was forced to retreat to Ghazna. Yet by n92 he was
permanently established near Delhi, controlling a string of forts that
allowed him access over the northern Gangetic plain with a capital at
Laho!e. Alongside his lieutenant Qutbuddin Aybeg (d. r210-12n), he
laμnfhed i '\ t t ll I expeditions into Rajasthan, Gujarat, and the Deccan.
· After' Sam's assassination in 1205, Aybeg went from Delhi to La-
hore and deolared himself sovereign, setting up a new struggle among
Sam's warlords for the control of Lahore, Uch and Delhi. Aybeg's death- .. ' 4)
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