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True Valor
Mahmud was offered a ransom for the lingam and refused it. Whatever else that campaign was, it was not only about the treasury.
On 8 January 1026, Mahmud of Ghazni took the fort at Somnath. What happened before that day is worth as much attention as what happened after it, and it usually gets none.
Mahmud had raided India repeatedly, for a quarter of a century.
And Somnath was the furthest and most difficult target he ever attempted. He crossed the Thar in winter, with a force built for speed. And he had prepared the logistics carefully.
This was not opportunism. It was a planned expedition, against a specific place.
The temple on the Saurashtra coast was among the wealthiest in India, endowed over centuries, and its wealth is the reason usually given. But Mahmud's own chroniclers record something the plunder explanation does not cover.
That he was offered a ransom for the lingam. And refused it. Choosing to break it instead. Whatever else the campaign was, it was not only about the treasury.
The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.