Subcontinent · 1025

Raid on Somnath

The best known of Mahmud's seventeen campaigns into India. It brought great wealth to Ghazni and is remembered very differently in Pakistan and India.

The site of the battle on the 1000 map. Shaded: Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba, Fatimid Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate (under Buyid control), Ghaznavid Sultanate.

Key facts

When: 1025
Where: Gujarat, India
Sides: Ghaznavid Sultanate vs Chaulukya kingdom
Commanders: Mahmud of Ghazni vs Bhima I
Result: Temple taken and plundered
Type: Subcontinent
Chapter: 4. Al-Andalus and the Subcontinent

Who led it

Mahmud of Ghazni971 to 1030
From Ghazni he led seventeen campaigns into India and built an empire from Iran to Punjab.

The wider picture: Three caliphs at once

From 929 to 1031 three rulers called themselves caliph: the Abbasid in Baghdad, the Fatimid in Cairo and the Umayyad in Cordoba. In the east, Mahmud of Ghazni led seventeen campaigns into India between 1001 and 1027.

See the 1000 map Read chapter 4

More subcontinent battles

All 7 indian subcontinent battles · Battle explorer

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