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'''Turk Shahis''' or [[Kabul Shahis]] were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko-Hephthalite, or a group of Hephthalites origin,<ref>Wink, Andre (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE. Cambridge University. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-108-28475-2.</ref> that ruled from [[Kabul]] and [[Kapisha]] to [[Gandhara]] in the 7th to 9th centuries AD.<ref>"Contained within a clay urn were a gold bracteate with the portrait of a ruler, three early drachms of the Turk-Shahis (Type 236, one of which is countermarked), and a countermarked drachm of the Sasanian king Khusro II dating from year 37 of his reign (= 626/7). The two countermarks on Khusro 's drachm prove that the urn could only have been deposited after 689" Alram 2014, pp. 282–285</ref><ref>Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.</ref><ref>"The advance of Islamic forces both into Tokharistan in the north and into Zabulistan farther south was opposed by local rulers of probably Western Turkish identity" in Vondrovec, Klaus. "Coinage of the Nezak": 181.</ref> The [[Gandhara]] territory may have been bordering the [[Kashmir]] kingdom and the [[Kannauj]] kingdom to the east.<ref> Inaba, Minoru (2010). Khotan in the last quarter of the first millennium: is there artistic evidence of the interrelation between Khotan and Tibet? A preliminary survey, Coins, Art and Chronology II: From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 443–444.</ref>  
'''Turk Shahis''' or [[Kabul Shahis]] were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko-Hephthalite, or a group of Hephthalites origin,<ref>Wink, Andre (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE. Cambridge University. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-108-28475-2.</ref> that ruled from [[Kabul]] and [[Kapisha]] to [[Gandhara]] in the 7th to 9th centuries AD.<ref>"Contained within a clay urn were a gold bracteate with the portrait of a ruler, three early drachms of the Turk-Shahis (Type 236, one of which is countermarked), and a countermarked drachm of the Sasanian king Khusro II dating from year 37 of his reign (= 626/7). The two countermarks on Khusro 's drachm prove that the urn could only have been deposited after 689" Alram 2014, pp. 282–285</ref><ref>Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.</ref><ref>"The advance of Islamic forces both into Tokharistan in the north and into Zabulistan farther south was opposed by local rulers of probably Western Turkish identity" in Vondrovec, Klaus. "Coinage of the Nezak": 181.</ref> The [[Gandhara]] territory may have been bordering the [[Kashmir]] kingdom and the [[Kannauj]] kingdom to the east.<ref> Inaba, Minoru (2010). Khotan in the last quarter of the first millennium: is there artistic evidence of the interrelation between Khotan and Tibet? A preliminary survey, Coins, Art and Chronology II: From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 443–444.</ref>  
== Variants ==
*[[Turki Shahis]]
*[[Kabul Shahis]]
==Ethnicity ==
==Ethnicity ==
They may have been of [[Khalaj]] ethnicity.<ref>"The new rulers of Kabul, who according to me were Khalaj Turks, extended their rule over the former territory of the Kapisi kingdom [Kapisa to Gandhara], while a branch of them became independent in Zabulistan. A Korean monk Huichao (慧超) who visited these regions in the third decade of the 8th century, reported that both regions were ruled by the Turkish kings." Inaba, Minoru. "From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia": 443–444.</ref><ref>Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017-03-15). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5. A Bactrian Document (BD T) from this period brings interesting information about the area to our attention. In it, dated to BE 476 (701 AD), a princess identified as `Bag-aziyas, the Great Turkish Princess, the Queen of Qutlugh Tapaghligh Bilga Sävüg, the Princess of the Khalach, the Lady of Kadagestan offers alms to the local god of the region of Rob, known as Kamird, for the health of (her) child. Inaba, arguing for the Khalaj identity of the kings of Kabul, takes this document as a proof that the Khalaj princess is from Kabul and has been offered to the (Hephthalite) king of Kadagestan, thus becoming the lady of that region. The identification of Kadagestan as a Hephthalite stronghold is based on Grenet's suggestion of the survival of Hephthalite minor stares in this region...</ref><ref>[https://iranicaonline.org/articles/khalaj-i-tribe-turkistan "Ḵalaj i. Tribe – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org.]</ref>  
They may have been of [[Khalaj]] ethnicity.<ref>"The new rulers of Kabul, who according to me were Khalaj Turks, extended their rule over the former territory of the Kapisi kingdom [Kapisa to Gandhara], while a branch of them became independent in Zabulistan. A Korean monk Huichao (慧超) who visited these regions in the third decade of the 8th century, reported that both regions were ruled by the Turkish kings." Inaba, Minoru. "From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia": 443–444.</ref><ref>Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017-03-15). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5. A Bactrian Document (BD T) from this period brings interesting information about the area to our attention. In it, dated to BE 476 (701 AD), a princess identified as `Bag-aziyas, the Great Turkish Princess, the Queen of Qutlugh Tapaghligh Bilga Sävüg, the Princess of the Khalach, the Lady of Kadagestan offers alms to the local god of the region of Rob, known as Kamird, for the health of (her) child. Inaba, arguing for the Khalaj identity of the kings of Kabul, takes this document as a proof that the Khalaj princess is from Kabul and has been offered to the (Hephthalite) king of Kadagestan, thus becoming the lady of that region. The identification of Kadagestan as a Hephthalite stronghold is based on Grenet's suggestion of the survival of Hephthalite minor stares in this region...</ref><ref>[https://iranicaonline.org/articles/khalaj-i-tribe-turkistan "Ḵalaj i. Tribe – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org.]</ref>  

Revision as of 13:50, 25 January 2025

Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko-Hephthalite, or a group of Hephthalites origin,[1] that ruled from Kabul and Kapisha to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD.[2][3][4] The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kannauj kingdom to the east.[5]

Variants

Ethnicity

They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity.[6][7][8]

History

From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia, and occupied Bactria and the Hindu Kush region, forming largely independent polities.[9] The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan. In the Hindu Kush region, they replaced the Nezak Huns – the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the Xwn (Xionite) and/or Huna peoples (who are sometimes also referred to as "Huns" who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period).[10]

The Turk Shahis arose at a time when the Sasanian Empire had already been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate. The Turk Shahis then resisted for more than 250 years the eastward expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate, until they fell to the Persian Saffarids in the 9th century AD.[11] The Ghaznavids then finally broke through into India after overpowering the declining subsequent Hindu Shahis and Gurjaras.[12]

Kabulistan was the heartland of the Turk Shahi domain, which at times included Zabulistan and Gandhara.[13]

Territorial extents

The Turks under the Western Turk ruler Tong Yabghu Qaghan crossed the Hindu-Kush and occupied Gandhara as far as the Indus River from circa 625 AD.[14][15]

Overall, the territory of the Turk Shahi extended from Kapisi to Gandhara, with a Turkic branch becoming independent in Zabulistan at one point.[16] The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kanauj kingdom to the east.[17] The Turk Shahi capital of Gandhara, which possibly functioned as a winter capital alternating with the summer capital of Kabul, was Udabhandapura.[18] The Korean pilgrim Hui Chao, visiting the area in 723–729 AD, mentioned that these regions were ruled by Turk kings.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Wink, Andre (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE. Cambridge University. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-108-28475-2.
  2. ↑ "Contained within a clay urn were a gold bracteate with the portrait of a ruler, three early drachms of the Turk-Shahis (Type 236, one of which is countermarked), and a countermarked drachm of the Sasanian king Khusro II dating from year 37 of his reign (= 626/7). The two countermarks on Khusro 's drachm prove that the urn could only have been deposited after 689" Alram 2014, pp. 282–285
  3. ↑ Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.
  4. ↑ "The advance of Islamic forces both into Tokharistan in the north and into Zabulistan farther south was opposed by local rulers of probably Western Turkish identity" in Vondrovec, Klaus. "Coinage of the Nezak": 181.
  5. ↑ Inaba, Minoru (2010). Khotan in the last quarter of the first millennium: is there artistic evidence of the interrelation between Khotan and Tibet? A preliminary survey, Coins, Art and Chronology II: From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 443–444.
  6. ↑ "The new rulers of Kabul, who according to me were Khalaj Turks, extended their rule over the former territory of the Kapisi kingdom [Kapisa to Gandhara], while a branch of them became independent in Zabulistan. A Korean monk Huichao (慧超) who visited these regions in the third decade of the 8th century, reported that both regions were ruled by the Turkish kings." Inaba, Minoru. "From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia": 443–444.
  7. ↑ Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017-03-15). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5. A Bactrian Document (BD T) from this period brings interesting information about the area to our attention. In it, dated to BE 476 (701 AD), a princess identified as `Bag-aziyas, the Great Turkish Princess, the Queen of Qutlugh Tapaghligh Bilga Sävüg, the Princess of the Khalach, the Lady of Kadagestan offers alms to the local god of the region of Rob, known as Kamird, for the health of (her) child. Inaba, arguing for the Khalaj identity of the kings of Kabul, takes this document as a proof that the Khalaj princess is from Kabul and has been offered to the (Hephthalite) king of Kadagestan, thus becoming the lady of that region. The identification of Kadagestan as a Hephthalite stronghold is based on Grenet's suggestion of the survival of Hephthalite minor stares in this region...
  8. ↑ "Ḵalaj i. Tribe – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org.
  9. ↑ "The period from 560 CE onwards would be that of the Western Turks, although it is not clear how and foremost when they gained power over Bactria and the Hindukush-region. Minoru Inaba states that "gradually having extended their power, they came to be independent ..."" in Vondrovec, Klaus. "Coinage of the Nezak": 173.
  10. ↑ Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.
  11. ↑ Alram, Michael (1 February 2021). Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford. BRILL. p. 21. ISBN 978-90-04-46066-9.
  12. ↑ Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.
  13. ↑ "The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 15. The Rutbils of Zabulistan and the "Emperor of Rome"". Pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.
  14. ↑ Klaus Vondrovec (2014). Coinage of the Iranian Huns and Their Successors from Bactria to Gandhara (4th to 8th Century CE). Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. ISBN 978-3-7001-7695-4.
  15. ↑ Laet, Sigfried J. de; Herrmann, Joachim (January 1996). History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. UNESCO. p. 475. ISBN 978-92-3-102812-0.
  16. ↑ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (January 1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 375. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
  17. ↑ Inaba, Minoru (2010). Khotan in the last quarter of the first millennium: is there artistic evidence of the interrelation between Khotan and Tibet? A preliminary survey, Coins, Art and Chronology II: From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 443–444.
  18. ↑ "The capital of the state of Kapisa–Gandhara (possibly, its winter capital) was Udabhandapura, now the settlement of Hund, situated on the right bank of the Kabul river. Most of the city was surrounded by a defensive rampart." in Harmatta, J.; Litvinsky, B. A. (1992). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Tokharistan and Gandhara under Western Türk Rule (650–750). Unesco. p. 391. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
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