Sabuktigin

Who was Sabuktigin?

Abu Mansur Sabuktigin, also spelled as Sabuktagin, Sabuktakin, Sebüktegin and Sebük Tigin, also known as Nasir-ud-din Sabuktigin, is regarded as the founder of the Ghaznavid Empire in what is now Afghanistan during the late 10th century. He lived as a slave during his teens and later married the daughter of his master Alptigin, the man who seized the region of Ghazna in a political fallout for the throne of the Samanids of Bukhara.

When his father-in-law Alptigin died, Sebuktigin became the new ruler and expanded the kingdom after defeating Jayapala to cover the territory as far as the Neelum River in Kashmir and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. He was of Turkic origin.