Turk Shahis

Turk Shahis
Turk Shahis
665–822 CE
	Tamga
	SIND 720 Kyrgyzs SECOND TURKIC; KHAGANATE UMAYYAD; CALIPHATE CHAM-; PA TÜRGESH KARLUKS YABGHUS IKHSHIDS TURK; SHAHIS VARMANS TANG; EMPIRE BYZANTINE; EMPIRE KHAZAR; KHANATE DVARA-; VATI AVARS Anxi Protectorate TIBETAN; EMPIRE CHENLA SRIVIJAYA ◁ ▷ Approximate location of the Turk Shahis circa 665–870 AD, with contemporary Asian polities.
	KHUDAHS Bukhara AFSHINS IKHSHIDS Kunduz Samarkand Herat Multan CALIPHAL; SIND GURJARA-; PRATIHARAS Balh TURK SHAHIS Kandahar Ghazni Kabul ZUNBILS Gilgit PATOLAS TANG; EMPIRE TOKHARA YABGHUS KARKOTAS Hund Bost Bamiyan Tang-i Safedak GOZGAN The summer capital Kabul, the winter capital Hund, and other important cities of the Turk Shahis and Zunbils.
Capital	Kabul (summer capital) ; Udabhanda (winter capital)
Common languages	Bactrian
Religion	Buddhism, Ancient Iranian religion,Hinduism
Historical era	Early Middle Ages
• Established	665
• Disestablished	822 CE
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Hephthalites
	Alchon Huns
	Nezak Huns
	Tokhara Yabghus
Zunbils
Hindu Shahi
Saffarid dynasty
Today part of	Afghanistan ; Pakistan

The Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko-Hephthalite, or a group of Hephthalites origin,^[3] that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD.^[1]^[4]^[5] They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity.^[6]^[7]^[8] The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kannauj kingdom to the east.^[9] From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia, and occupied Bactria and the Hindu-Kush region, forming largely independent polities.^[10] The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan.^[4] 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).^[4]

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 to 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 Hindu Shahis and Gurjaras.^[1]^[4]

Kabulistan was the heartland of the Turk Shahi domain, which at times included Zabulistan and Gandhara.^[12]

^ ^a ^b ^c Cite error: The named reference MA283 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Alram, Michael; Filigenzi, Anna; Kinberger, Michaela; Nell, Daniel; Pfisterer, Matthias; Vondrovec, Klaus. "The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 16. The Hindu Shahis in Kabulistan and Gandhara and the Arab Conquest". Pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
^ Wink, Andre (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE. Cambridge University. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-108-28475-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.
^ "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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ "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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ 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...
^ "Ḵalaj i. Tribe – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
^ 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.
^ "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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ 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.
^ "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. Retrieved July 22, 2017.

[MA283-1] Cite error: The named reference MA283 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[KHM16-2] Alram, Michael; Filigenzi, Anna; Kinberger, Michaela; Nell, Daniel; Pfisterer, Matthias; Vondrovec, Klaus. "The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 16. The Hindu Shahis in Kabulistan and Gandhara and the Arab Conquest". Pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Retrieved July 22, 2017.

[3] Wink, Andre (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE. Cambridge University. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-108-28475-2.

[HJK58-4] Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). The Huns. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.

[5] "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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[academia.edu-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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[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. Retrieved 2021-01-15.

[MI443-9] 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.

[10] "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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[MA21-11] 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.

[Turk_Shahi-12] "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. Retrieved July 22, 2017.

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