The Ghaznavid/Turkish Invasion of India Background Towards the end of 9 th century, Trans-Oxiana, Khurasan and parts of Iran were being ruled by the Samanids who were Iranians by descent. They had a battle continually with the non-Muslim Turkish tribesmen on their northern and eastern frontiers. During this battle a new type of soldier, called ghazi , was born. Whose prime aim was to protect Islam and the boundaries of the empire. It is the efforts of the Ghazi that many Turks became Muslims, who later became great defenders and crusaders of Islam. But the ghazi continued battling with the rest of non-Muslim Turkish tribesmen. Among the Samanid governors was a Turkish slave , Alp-tigin , who in course of time, established an independent kingdom with its capital at Ghazni . Samanid kingdom soon ended and Ghaznavids took over the task of defending the Islamic land. Condition of India on the eve of Mahmud Ghazni invasion On the eve of the invasion, North India was divided