GHAZNI, a town and fortress of Afghanistan, in lat. 33° 34' N., and long. 68° 18' E., and 7726 feet above the sea, 85 mile! from Kabul, 2nn miles N.E. of Kandaluir, on the left bank of a river bearing the same nainc, at the termination of the well-known Turnak valley. It is composed of 3500 mud houses, which have flat roofs, with small windows in the upper storey. The circumference of the wall is only a little over one ntile. The citadel is almost in the centre of the town, standing upon the summit of tho natural mound which forms the city. The wall embraces the whole of this hill, and, regarded from a distance, Ghazni may be said to form a square. The streets aro dark, narrow, irregular, and dirty, and the houses several storeys high, with a population of Afghans estimated at 10,000 souls, some Ilazara labourers and Hindu shop keepers. The chief trade consists of grain, fruits, and madder. It was captured by the British Indian artny in 1839 (22d July) under Sir John Keane, and again in 1841 under Sir T. Wiltshire. It was covered by the British army under General Stewart in 1880. Its position gives a dominance over all Afghanistan. Frotn November to the middle of March, anow lies on the ground. In A.D. 976 it was madc the seat of government of Abustakin, a Bokhara adventurer, who was succeeded by Sabaktagin, father of Malrinud.
Mahmud's empire extended from the Tigris to the Ganges, and from the Oxus to the Indian Ocean. It fell to pieces on his death, and in 1151 Ghazni was stormed by Ala-wl-Din, prince of Ghor, who ma.ssacred the inhabitants on the spot, with the exception of those of rank, whom he conveyed to Mar, and there killed them, using their blood to moisten the mortar v ith which he constructed fortifications.
From Ghazni westward, all along the valleys of the Tarnak and Helmand down to the basin of Scistan, the whole country is covered with the ruins of cities, obliterated canals, aud deserted cultivation, all assigned to the devastation of the Tartars in the 13th and 15th centuries, when the Arab rule was overthrown. Ghazni has the repute of being a very ancient site. Wilford, fol lowing Sanskrit authorities, tells us that the kings of the Yavana and Deucalion resided at it. Ile
further tells us that its proper ancient name was Sabal, Zabal, or Saul, as written by Chryso coccas, whence he infers it to be the Ozola of Ptolemy. Ile also conjectures it to be the Oscani dati of the Pentiugerian tables, noted as twenty two farsangs from Asbana, which he considers Kabul, anti thirty-five farsan,gs frotn Rupha, which he would identify with Shahr Satan The annals of the Yadu of Jeysulinir state that long anterior to Vikrama they held dominion from Ghazni to Samareand ; they established themselves in those regions after the Mahabharat, but on the rise of Mahomedanism, or the pressure of other races, they were again impelled towards the Indus river. They assert that Ghazni is properly Gajni, founded by the race of Yadu ; and in a curious specimen of Hindu geography presented by Colonel Tod to the Royal Asiatic Society, all the tract about the glaciers of the Ganges is termed Gajlibun, or Gajlibu, the ' F.lephant Forest,' elephant wilds. There is a Gujingurh tnentioned by Abul Foal in the region of Bijore, inhabited by the Sultano, Jadun, and Yusufzai tribes.
Since the 10th centuryof the Christian era, the history of "this city is but another name for that of the rulers of Afghanistan alad Hindustan. It is the starting-point for four practicable routes into India, which are the Kuram, the Urgundeh, the Dawar, and, most important of all, the Gomul, and under a settled administration Ghazni would become a very flourishing town. The country round Ghazni is of remarkable fertility. It is celebrated for its orchards ; and the merchants carry on a very considerable trade with India in this and other products, such as tobacco, cotton, etc. On the north of the town, about half a mile from the gate, rises the first of Sultan Mahmud's minars, or towers ; the other is about 400 yards beyond it, in the same direction. They both rise alone, based upon rough stone-work. The most northerly is the handsomest structure, but botla are exquisite specimens of brickwork. They are about 140 feet in height, and much damaged.
The following emperors have reigned in Hin dustan since the Ghaznian conquest :—