Dandanakan, battle of - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Mallett, Alex
Leiden
Brill
(571 words)
The battle of Dandanakan (Ar. Dandānaqān or Dandānqān) was fought between the Ghaznavids and the Seljuks (Saljūqs) in 431/1040 on a plain outside the now-lost town of Dandanakan, about 40 miles southwest of Marw. The battle was the culmination of several years of conflict between the two sides, with the Seljuks, approaching from the Central Asian steppes, attempting to wrest control of Khurāsān from the Ghaznavids, based to the southeast at Ghazna, in modern-day Afghanistan. The immediate cause of the battle was the Seljuk takeover