Sabuktigin
Abu Mansur Nasir al-Din Sabuktigin (Persian: ابو منصور سبکتگین) (c. 942 – August 997), also spelled as Sabuktagin, Sabuktakin, Sebüktegin and Sebük Tigin, was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 977 AD to 997 AD. In Turkic the name means beloved prince.
| Sabuktigin سبکتگین | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emir of Ghaznavid Empire | |||||
| Reign | 20 April 977 – August 997 | ||||
| Predecessor | Böritigin | ||||
| Successor | Ismail | ||||
| Born | c. 942 Barskhan (present-day Kyrgyzstan) | ||||
| Died | 5 August 997 (aged 55) Balkh, Greater Khorasan | ||||
| Spouse | Daughter of Alptigin | ||||
| Issue | Ismail Mahmud Abu'l-Muzaffar Nasr Yusuf Hurra-yi Kalji | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | House of Sabuktigin | ||||
| Father | Qara Bajkam | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Hanafi) | ||||
Sabuktigin lived as a slave during his youth and later married the daughter of his master Alptigin, the man who seized the region of Ghazni (modern Ghazni Province in Afghanistan). Alptigin 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, Sabuktigin became the new ruler and expanded the kingdom after defeating Jayapala of Udabhandapura to cover the territory as far as the Neelum River in Kashmir and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan.