for the Karramiyya, and he was a habitual drinker of nabidh (fermented date-wine). Yet his conduct conformed to noble character. He was harsh in the pressure he put upon the subjects, but they nevertheless lived in security and under orderly governance. An illness clung to him for roughly three years, during which he suffered bouts of dysentery, yet he never abandoned riding or travel. Death overtook him while he was seated in his audience hall upon his throne; he had not even lain down on his side. As the end approached he said to his vizier, “O Abū al-Ḥasan, your shaykh has gone.”
He died on Thursday, nine days before the close of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir. At first his death was concealed, but the news soon spread. His son, Sultan Muḥammad, came from Jūzjān and arrived in forty days.
Sultan Maḥmūd was of medium stature, somewhat stout, with Turkic eyes and a hint of auburn; his beard was rounded, his voice harsh and deep, and grey flecked his sideburns. His son Muḥammad was of the same height, while his son Masʿūd was tall.
One day Maḥmūd asked the emir Abū Ṭāhir al-Sāmānī, “How many pounds of jewels did your forefathers amass?” He replied, “I have heard that Emir al-Raḍī possessed seven ratls.” Maḥmūd prostrated in gratitude and said, “I have seventy ratls in my treasury.”
He had resolved to penetrate deep into Khāniyya territory, saying, “I have four hundred fighting elephants—no one can stand before them.” Then word reached him that the Khāniyya had said, “We shall take one thousand large Turkish bulls, harness one thousand wagons to them, and fill the wagons with firewood. When the elephants approach we shall set the wood ablaze; the cattle will bolt ahead of the flames, hurling the fire upon the elephants and those around them, and the rout will be complete.” At this Maḥmūd held back.
He venerated al-Maimandī, his secretary, because when they besieged the city of Bīdā (1),