Research (1): Ghaznavids

I am currently in the midst of writing a term paper on the Ghaznavid ruler Sebüktegin (d. 387/997) and the epistle of counsel or pand-nāmah attributed to him. Compared to his son, Maḥmūd of Ghazna (d. 421/1030), Sebüktegin has never received much attention. As of now (2-Dec-11), he is yet to receive an entry in Encyclopaedia Iranica, as well as Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd ed. Such is often the case with more famous sons, something Humāyūn* could probably attest to. Here is a working bibliography of some useful works for the Ghaznavids:

Bartol’d, V. V. Turkestan down to the Mongol invasion. 3rd ed. Translated by T. Minorsky and edited by C. E. Bosworth. London: Luzac, 1968.

Bayhaqī, Abū al-Faz̤l. The History of Beyhaqi (The History of Sultan Mas‘ud of Ghazna, 1030-1041) by Abu’l-Fażl Beyhaqi [Mujalladāt]. Translated by C. E. Bosworth and revised by Mohsen Ashtiany. Ilex Foundation Series no. 6. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. 3 vols.

Bosworth C. E. “Early sources for the History of the first four Ghaznavid sultans (977-1041).” The Islamic Quarterly 7 no. 1-2 (1963): 3-22.

--------. “Mahmud of Ghazna in Contemporary Eyes and in Later Persian Literature.” Iran 4 (1966): 85-92.

--------. The Ghaznavids: Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, 994-1040. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1963. 

--------. The Later Ghaznavids: Splendour and Decay: The Dynasty in Afghanistan and Northern India, 1040-1186. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1977.

Gardīzī, Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd al-Ḥayy. The Ornament of Histories: A History of the Eastern Islamic Lands AD 650-1041 [Zayn al-akhbār]. BIPS Persian Studies Series no. 4. London: I. B. Taurus, 2011. 

Jūzjānī, Minhāj al-Dīn b. Sirāj al-Dīn. Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī. 2nd ed. Edited by ʿAbd al-Ḥayy Ḥabībī. 2 vols. Kabul: Kābul Puhani maṭbaʿah 1342/1963. English translation by H. G. Raverty. T̤abaḳāt-i Nāṣiri: A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia. 2 vols. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corp., 1970. 

Nāẓim, Muḥammad. The Life and Times of Sulṭān Maḥmūd of G̲h̲azna. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1931. 

--------. “The Pand-Nāmah of Subuktigīn.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1933): 605-628.

 

*The second Mughal dynast Naṣīr al-Dīn Humāyūn, son of Bābur, father of Akbar. 

Maḥmūd receiving Abbasid robes of investiture, Illustration from Jāmiʻ al-tawārīkh c. 1315,
Edinburgh University Library, Or. Ms. 20, fol. 121r.