was
compelled to abdicate, and Bakhtiyar was driven out of Bagdad
Dhu'l-qa'da 363 (August 974).

24. _Reign of Tai._--Moti left the empty title of caliph to his son
_al-Ta'i li-amri'llah_ ("the obedient to the command of God"). The Turks
who had placed him on the throne could not maintain themselves, but so
insignificant was the person of the caliph that 'Adod addaula, who
succeeded his cousin Bakhtiyar in Bagdad, did not think of replacing him
by another. Under this prince, or king, as he was called, the power of
the Buyids reached its zenith. His empire stretched from the Caspian to
the Persian Sea, and in the west to the eastern frontier of Syria. He
did his best to remedy the misery caused by the intestine Wars, repaired
the ruined mosques and other public edifices, founded hospitals and
libraries--his library in Shiraz was one of the wonders of the
world--and improved irrigation. It was also he who built the mausoleum
of Hosain at Kerbela, and that of Ali at Kufa. But after his death in
the year 372 (A.D. 983), his sons, instead of following the example of
their predecessors, the three sons of Buya, fought one against the
other. In 380 (A.D. 990) the youngest of them, Baha addaula, had the
upper hand. This prince, who was as avaricious as he was ambitious,
wishing to deprive the caliph Ta'i of his possessions, compelled him to
abdicate A.H. 381 (A.D. 991).

25. _Reign of Qadir._--A grandson of Moqtadir was then made caliph under
the name of _al-Qadir billah_ ("the powerful through God"). The only
deed of power, however, that is recorded of him, is that he opposed
himself to the substitution of a Shi'ite head cadi for the Sunnite, so
that Baha addaula had to content himself with giving to the Shi'ites a
special judge, to whom he gave the title of _naqib_ (superintendent).
During this caliphate the Buyid princes were in continual war with one
another. Meanwhile events were preparing the fall of their dynasty. In
350 (A.D. 961) a Turkish general of the Samanids had founded for himself
a principality in Ghazni, arid at his death in 366 (A.D. 976) his
successor Sabuktagin had conquered Bost in Sijistan and Qosdar in
Baluchistan, beaten the Indian prince Diaya Pala, and been acknowledged
as master of the lands west of the Indus. At his death in 387 his son
Mahmud conquered the whole of Khorasan and Sijistan, with a great part
of India. He then attacked the Buyids, and would have destroyed their
dynasty but for his dea