Masʽud I of Ghazni

Masʽud I of Ghazni (Persian: مسعود غزنوی‎), known as Amīr-i Shahīd (امیر شهید; "the martyr king") (998 – 17 January 1040), was sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire from 1030 to 1040. He rose to power by seizing the Ghaznavid throne from his younger twin Mohammad, who had been nominated as the heir upon the death of their father Mahmud of Ghazni. His twin was shortly blinded and imprisoned. However, when much of Masud's western domains had been wrested from his control, his troops rebelled against him and reinstated Mohammad to the throne.

Quotes

• …He marched with his army to the fort of Sonipat, and the commandant of that fort, Daniãl Har by name, becoming aware of his approach, fled… the army of Islam, having captured that fort, pulled down all the temples and obtained an enormous quantity of booty.
  • Tabqãt-i-Akharî by Nizamuddin Ahmad. About Sultãn ‘Abû-Sa‘îd Mas‘ûd of Ghazni (AD 1030-1042) Sonipat (Haryana) The Tabqãt-i-Akbarî translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973, Vol. I, p. 22

• In the victorious army the slaves of the household behaved very gallantly, and such a virgin fort was worthy of their valoyr. At last, mines were sprung in five places, and the wall was brought down, and the fort was stormed by the sword on Monday, ten days before the close of Eabfu-1 awwal. The Brahmans and other higher men were slain, and their women and children were carried away captive, and all the treasure which was found was divided amongst the army. The fort was known in Hindustdn as " The Virgin," as no one yet had been able to take it.
  • Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, [1] also quoted in M.A. Khan , Islamic Jihad: A legacy of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery (2011)

• “In the year AH 427 (AD 1036)… he himself marched with an army to India, to reduce the fort of Hansy… Herein he found immense treasure, and having put the fort under the charge of a trusty officer, he marched towards the fort of Sonput. Depal Hurry, the governor of Sonput, abandoned the place, and fled into the woods; but having no time to carry off his treasure, it fell into the conqueror’s hands. Musaood having ordered all the temples to be razed to the ground, and the idols to be broken proceeded in pursuit of Depal Hurry…”
  • About Sultãn Mas‘ûd I of Ghazni (1030~1042) Sonipat (Haryana) Tãrîkh-i-Firishta, translated by John Briggs under the title History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, first published in 1829, New Delhi Reprint 1981, Vol. I, p. 63.