commander of the faithful. But in
this descent of servitude, the first degree was merely titular, since it
was filled by the sovereign of Transoxiana and Chorasan, who still paid
a nominal allegiance to the caliph of Bagdad. The second rank was that
of a minister of state, a lieutenant of the Samanides, [2] who broke,
by his revolt, the bonds of political slavery. But the third step was a
state of real and domestic servitude in the family of that rebel; from
which Sebectagi, by his courage and dexterity, ascended to the supreme
command of the city and provinces of Gazna, [3] as the son-in-law and
successor of his grateful master.

The falling dynasty of the Samanides was at first protected, and at last
overthrown, by their servants; and, in the public disorders, the fortune
of Mahmud continually increased. From him the title of Sultan [4] was
first invented; and his kingdom was enlarged from Transoxiana to the
neighborhood of Ispahan, from the shores of the Caspian to the mouth of
the Indus. But the principal source of his fame and riches was the holy
war which he waged against the Gentoos of Hindostan. In this foreign
narrative I may not consume a page; and a volume would scarcely suffice
to recapitulate the battles and sieges of his twelve expeditions. Never
was the Mussulman hero dismayed by the inclemency of the seasons, the
height of the mountains, the breadth of the rivers, the barrenness of
the desert, the multitudes of the enemy, or the formidable array of
their elephants of war. [5] The sultan of Gazna surpassed the limits
of the conquests of Alexander: after a march of three months, over the
hills of Cashmir and Thibet, he reached the famous city of Kinnoge, [6]
on the Upper Ganges; and, in a naval combat on one of the branches of
the Indus, he fought and vanquished four thousand boats of the natives.
Delhi, Lahor, and Multan, were compelled to open their gates: the
fertile kingdom of Guzarat attracted his ambition and tempted his stay;
and his avarice indulged the fruitless project of discovering the golden
and aromatic isles of the Southern Ocean. On the payment of a tribute,
the rajahs preserved their dominions; the people, their lives and
fortunes; but to the religion of Hindostan the zealous Mussulman was
cruel and inexorable: many hundred temples, or pagodas, were levelled
with the ground; many thousand idols were demolished; and the servants
of the prophet were stimulated and rewarded by the precious ma