Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud was Sebüktegin's son and came to power in 998 after setting aside his brother Ismail. The Abbasid caliph gave him the title Yamin al-Dawla. He took the southern Samanid lands, Khorasan and later part of Iran, extending his state from the Caspian to the Ganges.

Between 1000 and 1027 he led seventeen campaigns into India and annexed the Punjab; the expedition to Somnath in 1025 is the best known. He built mosques, madrasas and libraries in Ghazni. Al-Biruni went with him to India and wrote his book on India, and Ferdowsi presented the Shahnameh to him.