1886.] Ghaznavis in Mdward-nn-Nahr and part of Khiirdsdn. 97 
Buwialis* extending their power to Shiraz, the Samanis being confined 
very much within their original frontiers of Trans-Oxania.f Niih died 
after a reign, in no other way especially remarkable, of 13 years, in 343 H. 
’Abd-ul Malik I 343—350 H. 
The son of Nuh, a boy of 16, was selected by the nobles to succeed 
him, the real business of State being carried on by the Wazir Abu Man¬ 
sur Muhammad bin A1 ’Aziz, and the Commander-in-chief, Abu Sa’id-i- 
Bakir. The Amir or his advisers seem to have heartily endeavoured to 
restore the power of the Samanis in the West, though the best the gener¬ 
als could succeed in obtaining were tolerable conditions of peace, but no 
submission. The final conclusion of the treaty with the Buwiahs seems 
to have brought the Commander-in-chief under suspicion, for both he and 
the Wazir were subsequently put to death by the Amir’s order, the com¬ 
mand of the troops being in 346 H. entrusted to Alptigin, the Hiijib or 
chamberlain. It may here be noticed it was in this reign that according 
to Baihaki a merchant named Nasr, a Haji, speculated in a slave named 
Sabuktigin, and brought him to Bukhara, where Alptigin purchased 
him, and took the slave along with him when he went as governor of 
Tukharistan, and subsequently when the government of Khurasan was 
entrusted to him, Sabuktigin accompanied his master, who after many 
vicissitudes of fortune finally took him to Ghaznin. 
Abdul Malik was passionately devoted to field sports and ‘‘ chival¬ 
rous amusements ” which gained for him the title of Abu-1 Fawaris, the 
“ Father of Knights,” he was also called Amir Rashid the “ orthodox 
Amir.” He died after a seven years’ reign on the 8th Shawwal 350 H. 
from the consequences of a fall while playing Chaugan or “ Polo.” 
Manser I 350—366 H. 
Abu Sal ill-i-Mansur, Amir-i-Sadid, “ the Steadfast Amir,” was elect¬ 
ed by the commanders of troops, the heads and elders of the religious 
bodies, and the law, to succeed his brother. The Amir-i Hajib Alptigin 
who then held the governorship of Nishapur, was during the election at 
Bukhara absent somewhere in Khurasan. He was written to and con¬ 
sulted, and is said to have declared in preference for the son instead of 
* See the genealogical table of the Buwiahs, in which the principal territories 
held by the family at different times are indicated. 
' t The only mints represented in the British Museum are Samarkand, Bu^ara, 
Shash and Nishapur. 
M 
