| When
the power of Gurjaradesha and Karnataka had been broken around A. D. 940 and the extreme
south had begun to build a great empire, the north-west frontier was practically
undefended except for the Bahman Shahi kings of Kabul. In the ninth century, the empire of the Caliphs had been broken up and among the
soldiers of fortune who carved out kingdoms for themselves were the Samanaid princes.
Alp-tigin (A. D. 933-963), a slave of one of the Samanaid rulers, forced his master to
recognise him as an independent chieftain and established himself at Ghazni. From his
mountain fortress, he began to spread terror in India. |
