In A.D. 1010 (A.11.401) Mahmud went in person against, and defeated, 3inhammad Sur of Ghor, in the mountains east of Herat; the chief swal lowed poison.
Ilis fifth expedition was in the same year ; he returned to India, took Multan, amid carried Abul Fattah Lodi prisoner to Ghazni.
His sixth expedition was to Tanesar, not far from the Jumna, where he plundered the temple, sacked the town, and returned with an incredible number of captives to Ghazni, before the Indian princes could assemble to oppose him.
His seventh and eighth expeditions were to Kashmir. In returning from the last, at an advanced period of the year, many lives were lost.
After the expedition against Kashmir, Samar cand, Bokhara, and Kharasm were occupied without opposition.
His ninth expedition against India, A.D. 1017, Aar. 408, was on a great scale. Ferishta says 100,000 horse and 20,000 foot were assembled from all parts of his dominions. He set out from Peshawar, and kept close to the mountains until he passed the Juinna, when he turned towards the south, and presented himself before Kanouj. The raja was so entirely unprepared, that he came out with his family and gave himself up to Mahmud, who left Kanouj uninjured. lie halted for twenty days at the holy city of Muttra, during which the city was plundered, the idols broken, the temples profaned, and the city fired. The raja' of Mahawan, near Muttra, submitted, and was received with favour ; but a quarrel broke out between the two armies, when the Hindus were massacred and driven into the river, and the raja, imagining himself betrayed, de stroyed his wife and children, and then made away with himself. At Munj, after a desperate resistance, part of the Rajput garrison rushed out through the breaches on the enemy, while the rest dashed themselves to pieces from the works, or burned themselves with their wives and children in their houses; not one survived. Various other towns were reduced, much country laid waste, and Mahmud returned to Ghazni with the spoil and prisoners.
His tenth and eleventh expeditions into India were made A.D. 1022, A.11. 413, and a.n. 102:1, A.11. 414. The first was to the relief of the raja of Kanouj ; but before 3falinitid arrived, the Kanouj raja had been cut off by the raja of Kalinjar in Bundelkhand, against whom MalimituK1 turned his arms, but made no permanent im pression in this or a subsequent campaign. During the first of these expeditions, Jaipal was on friendly terms, but on the second he opposed Mahmud's march on Kanouj, and Mah mud annexed Lahore and its territory to Ghazni. In A.D. 1024, A.M. 415, Mahmud marched to
Trausoxiana, in person, to crush a revolt, and then returned to Ghazni.
In his twelfth and last expedition to India, he directed his forces against Somnath. His army moved from Ghazni in September, A.D. 1024 (Air. 415), crossed the desert without any dis aster, and made good his hold near Ajmir. The raja fled, Ajmir town was given up to plunder, and the country ravaged. Advancing on Anhil wara, the capital of Gujerat, its raja also fled, and Mahmud reached Somnath.. Its temple was erected on a peninsula, and the isthmus con necting it with the mainland was fortified. The Ghazni troops on the first day occupied the ramparts, only to be driven from them. Next day brought a still more signal repulse. On the third day the rajas of the neighbourhood, with the Anhilwara raja, presented themselvds in order of battle, and Mahmud had to move against them. His troops wavered, but Mahmud charged, and 5000 Hindus fell. The garrison, 4000 strong, then abandoned the place, and fought their way to the boats. Mahmud entered the temple, and it is said refused all offers to abstain from de stroying the idol. Two pieces were sent to Mecca and Medina, and two to Ghazni, where one piece was to be seen at the palace, and one at the public mosque, as late as when Ferishta, wrote his history. The treasure taken on this occasion exceeded all former plunder. After a year's stay in Gujerat, he returned to Multan and Ghazni by the sands of Sind, in which many of his troops perished miserably. This expedition lasted from October—November 1024 to April—May 1026.
After his return he chastised a tribe of Jats iu the Jund mountains, who had molested his army on its march from Somnath. He afterwards moved in person against the Turki tribe of Seljuk, and defeated them, A.D. 1027, A.H. 418, in a great battle. His next success was against the Buya or Dehni. He invaded Irak, took possession of the whole territory, took Isfahan and Kaswin, putting to death thousands in each city. These were the last acts of his reign. Soon after his return to Ghazni he was taken ill, and died on the 29th April 1030. Muhammad, son and suc cessor of Mahmud, was put aside and blinded by his brother Maraud; but ten years after, Masaud, unsuccessful in war, was dethroned and put to death, and Muhammad reinstated. Modud, son of Masaud, was at Balkh when his father was murdered ; he hastened eastwards with his army, defeated and put to death his rivals (A.D. 1040, A.H. 433), and afterwards crushed a rebellion excited by one of his own brothers.—Elph. p. 202.