HINDU SHAHI

Hindu Shahi 850 – 1026 CE :

Approximate location of the Hindu Shahis

Kabul, first capital, and Udabhandapura, next capital of the Hindu Shahis

Hindu Shahi

850 - 1026 CE

Capital : Kabul (850-870), Udabhandapura (870-1026

Common languages : Bactrian

Religion : Hinduism

Government Shahi : Monarchy

Historical era : Early Middle Ages

• Established : 850

• Disestablished : 1026 CE

Preceded by

Turk shahi

Succeeded by

Saffarid Dynasty

Samanid Dynasty

Ghaznavids

Today part of : Afghanistan, Pakistan and India

The Hindu Shahis or Kabul Shahis (850–1026 CE) was a Hindu dynasty that held sway over the Kabul Valley (Eastern Afghanistan), Gandhar (modern-day Pakistan), and present-day Northwestern India, during the early medieval period in the Indian subcontinent. Details about these rulers have been assembled from chronicles, coins and stone inscriptions by researchers as no consolidated account of their history has become available.

History :

The Abbasids led by caliph Al-Ma'mun defeated the Turk Shahi Kingdom in 815 CE. After this defeat, the Turkic Shah had to convert to Islam and had to pay on annual basis 1.500.000 Dirhams and also slaves to the Abbasids.These Kabul Shahis went through a political disaster due to the defeats and annual payments. Eventually, in 850 CE the unpopular Kabul Shah Lagaturman was disposed of his position by his minister called Kallar. This gave way to another Kabul Shahi dynasty. This new dynasty was called "Hindu Shahi" by the Arabs, this novel Shahi kingdom possessed the Kabul Valley and Gandhar.

In 870, King Kallar lost the city of Kabul. He was displaced from there by the local Saffarid dynasty which was ruled by Emir Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar. Due to the ongoing conquests of the local Saffarids and Samanids, he moved his capital in 870 to Udabhandapura (Also called Waihund or Hund), located on the banks of the Indus. The loss of Kabul remained short as in 879 CE the Hindu Shahi captured the city back. This victory remained short too due to Samanid expansion in the region which eventually led to the final Shahi rule in Kabul around 900 CE. The Hindu Shahi remained strong in Gandhar and other parts of the Punjab.

The varna of Shahis of Kabul :

Efforts were made, earlier also, to apportion the Kshatriya varna to Kallar's Brahaman successors on the basis of their name-endings, marriage alliances and even their ‘terrible valour’ at the battlefield. In 1973, Historian Yogendra Mishra projected the view that according to Rajatarangini Hindu Shahis (meaning here post-Lagaturman kings) were also Kshatriyas.

The Amb Hindu Temple complex was built between the 7th and 9th centuries CE during the reign of the Hindu Shahi Empire

Coins of the Hindu Shahis, which later inspired Abbasid coins in the Middle East

Defence of Zabul by Kshatriya Shahis :

At some stage, the Hindu kingdom of Kapish had split up. Its western part formed a separate state called the kingdom of Zabul. It can be surmised that it was a family division because there were consanguineous and political relationships between the states of Kabul and Zabul.

In 700-701, Abdur-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Al-Ash’ath was dispatched with forty thousand men and was able to collect considerable booty but failed to have any territorial gains – thus incurring the displeasure of Hajjaj. Exasperated by the threats of supersession he determined to carry arms against his master and, in order to strengthen his power, conducted a treaty with the Rutbils that the latter would afford him asylum in the event of the failure of his campaign against the caliph.

After some initial successes, Abdur Rahman was at the end compelled to seek the protection of his Hindu ally. Sustained political intervention of the Rutbil brought the Islamic expansion to a halt and he had made Sistan an ‘ill-omened frontier’ for the Arabs. In folklore Rutbil became the hero of many Arab stories of holy wars on the frontier of Hind. Gradually, the Arabs - the ruling caliphs - ceased to be a powerful political force and Rutbils ruled in comparative peace for another one hundred and fifty years.

Islamic kingdoms in the Shahi neighbourhood :

Hindu Shahi coinage, "bull/horseman" types, circa 850 - 1000 CE

The Samanids and the Saffarids :

In theory, the caliph as the successor of the Prophet was the fountainhead of all political authority. Kings and all tribal chiefs were subordinate to him and his sanction alone could provide the legal basis for their authority. With the waning of political might of the caliphate, its governors in Khurasan set up their own strong kingdom – the Samanid dynasty (c. 819-1005 CE) – controlling regions west and north of Hindu Kush up to Balkh. Under the loosely centralized feudal government of the Samanids, Transoxiana and Khurasan prospered with a notable expansion of industry and commerce. Samanids were great art patrons and they turned Bukhara and Samarkand into famous cultural centres, rivaling Baghdad.

The Hindu Shahi Dynasty of Kabul :

According to The Mazare Sharif Inscription of the Time of the Shahi Ruler Veka, recently discovered from northern Afghanistan and reported by the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations, Islamabad, Veka (sic.) conquered northern region of Afghanistan ‘with eightfold forces’ and ruled there. He established a Shiv temple there which was inaugurated by Parimaha Maitya (the Great Minister). He also issued copper coins of the Elephant and Lion type with the legend Shri Vakkdev.

Nine principal issues of Bull and Horseman silver coins and only one issue of corresponding copper coins of Spalapatideva have become available. As many as five Elephant and Lion type of copper coins of Shri Vakkdev are available and curiously the copper issues of Vakk are contemporaneous with the silver issues of Spalapati.

Kabul Town not attacked :

On his way back from Balkh, Yaqub is stated to have attacked Kabul. "Whether the word Kabul stands here for the city in particular or Kabul valley in general, is not clearly stated. The sequence of events, however, suggests that latter was probably the case" (Abdur Rahman). As we know, Shahis had a governor in Northern Afghanistan. Invasion of this province was an attack on (the state of) Kabul and the idols, say from the Shiva temple established by Vakkadeva would verily be ‘idols from Kabul’. There is no indication of a direct battle between Yaqub and the king of Kabul, which event could not go unreported.

It was some time during this period that the Hindu Shahis shifted their capital from Kabul to Udabhandapura.

Kamalavarman attacks Ghazni :

Reliable evidence has now become available indicating that this oft-quoted narration by ‘Ufi was short of the ‘whole truth’. Kamlu did not stop in his tracks by Fardaghan's ingenious propaganda. Tarikh-i-Sistan illuminates the history of this period differently. Amr-i-Lais's pre-occupation with affairs in Khurasan and the provocative action of his newly appointed governor of Ghazni, prompted two Indian Kings (Rai of Hindustan), whose names reported in very corrupt form have been restored as Ashta and Tormana, to take firm retaliatory measures. They combined their forces and launched a united invasion of Ghazni. Fardaghan is said to have opposed the Hindu army. The Tarikh does not tell us whether the city of Ghazni was actually occupied by the victors at this stage or the name Ghazni stands for the province of Zabulistan, and not the city of Ghazni. The news of this invasion reached Amr when he was in Gurgan on his way to his last encounter with Ismail. In April 900 Amr was decisively defeated and sent as a prisoner to Baghdad where he breathed his last. He must have passed through Gurgan only a couple of months before his defeat. Thus Kamlu's invasion of Zabulistan can safely be placed in the beginning of 900 at the latest.

Having successfully dealt with the Saffarids, Ashta (the governor of Kabul) appears to have stayed back and maneuvered a ‘palace coup’. He seized the Shahi throne at Udabhandapura, dislodging his brother Kamalvarman but the state of Kashmir intervened. Rajatarangini records that Prabhakardev the Koshadhyaksh (Superintendent of Treasury) led a victorious expedition against the Shahi power at the town of Udabhandapura and bestowed the kingdom of the rebellious Shahi (Ajna Atikrami Shahi – a Shahi violator of order) upon Tormana, Lalliya's son and gave him the new name Kamaluk. This may have happened in 903 during the reign of child king Gopalavarman (r. 902-904) ruling under the guardianship of his mother Sugandha.[citation needed]

Kamaluk has been identified as Kamalvarman, son of Lalliya (Samantdev). He was succeeded by his son, Bhimdev.[citation needed]

Bhimdev :

Hindu rule at Ghazni :

During the reign of Kamalvarman, the Saffarid rule weakened precipitately and ultimately Sistan became a part of the Samanid Empire. The disorder generally prevailed and the control of Zabulistan changed hands frequently. Taking advantage of the situation, the Shahis stepped up activities on their western frontier. The result was the emergence of a small Hindu power at Ghazni, supported by the Shahis. "The authorities either themselves of early date or enshrining early information mention Lawik" who was a Hindu as the ruler at Ghazni, before this place was taken over by the Turkish slave governor of the Samanids.

By the middle of the tenth century, Turkish slaves began to acquire power in the Samanid realm, as they were holding principal offices in the court and kingdom. One of these, Alaptagin, a former Hajib or Door Keeper, defeated the superior royal army near Khulm Pass and decided to carve out an independent kingdom for himself. He first took over Bamian ‘the country of the infidel (Hindu) Shir Barak’. He next turned to Ghazni where Lawik, its ruler, submitted after a prolonged siege of four months. Alaptagin thus became the undisputed master of Ghazni but he died soon thereafter and his son Abu Ishaq succeeded him in 963.[citation needed]

Substitution of Hindu potentates of Bamian and Ghazni by an emerging Turkish power posed a serious threat to the Shahi kingdom which acted with ‘remarkable alacrity’ at this stage. The Lawik was sent back to Ghazni with a huge army which ousted the Turks and sent Abu Ishaq flying to Bukhara. The Shahis had secured their western frontier – for the time being. But the gathering storm had not blown away.[citation needed]

Bhimdev and Kashmir :

Bhimdev had only one daughter named Didda [citation needed] and no son. This daughter was married to Simhraj of the Lohara dynasty. [citation needed]

End of Bhimdev :

The Shahi state had successfully managed to ward off danger from the strong neighbouring kingdom of the Samanids for more than a century. That Muslim kingdom was gradually decaying but its ambitious Turk officers were acquiring power and setting up personal fiefdoms, menacing the Hindu states south of Koh Hindu Kush.

Though ruling with grandeur, unmolested by any neighbouring kingdom, Bhimdev was getting old and must have been weighing his options in the matter of succession, because he did not have a male heir. The Shahi kingdom was strong and prosperous but not easy to govern - and protect. He could not count either on the Lawiks or his granddaughter Didda of Kashmir for this onerous responsibility. He selected the allied kingdom of Punjab for this honour and probably installed a successor in his own life for the succession seems to have been without ‘contest or convulsion’.

Jaypaldev :

With Jaypal, a new dynasty started ruling over the former Shahi kingdom of southeastern Afghanistan and the change over was smooth and consensual. On his coronation, Jaypal used the additional name-suffix Dev from his predecessor's dynasty in addition to the pal name-ending of his own family. (With Kabul lost during the lifetime of Jaypaldev, his successors – Anandpal, Trilochanpal and Bhimpal - reverted to their own family pal-ending names.) Jaypal did not issue any coins in his own name. Bull and Horseman coins with the legend Samantdev, in billon, seem to have been struck during Jaypal's reign. As the successor of Bhim, Jaypal was a Shahi monarch of the state of Kabul, which now included Punjab. Minhaj-ud-din describes Jayapala as "the greatest of the Rais of Hindustan."

From the beginning, Jaypal followed an aggressive and pro-active policy towards the Turks. As stated earlier, Abu Ishaq had been evicted from Ghazni and the Lawiks were installed there with Shahi help. In 965, Abu Ishaq regained Ghazni with assistance from the Samanid ruler Abu Mansur and the Lawik fled to ‘Hind’ once again to seek help from the Shahis. Ultimately, Sabuktagin descended the throne of Ghazni in 977. He soon added Bust, Dawar, Qusdar, Tukhristan and Ghur to his dominions. Conflict with ‘Hind’ could not have been postponed for too long.[citation needed]

Jaypaldev attacks Sabuktagin :

Jaypaldev attacked the growing power Sabuktagin and was a fierce battle in which Jaypal was defeated. He lost more territory but continued to rule from Waihind and Peshawar.[citation needed]

Sabuktagin then became more involved in the affairs of the Samanid state and left the Shahis in peace. He became very powerful in the Samanid Kingdom by virtue of his strong and disciplined army. Sabuktagin died at Balkh in 997 at the age of fifty six. After a struggle for succession with brothers, his son Mahmud ascended the throne of Ghazni in 998. Mahmud first consolidated his position on his western front, even if he had to challenge the authority of his Samani over-lord. Soon he had control over Herat, Balkh, Bust and Khurasan. Recognising his power, the Caliph of Baghdad acknowledged him as a sovereign in his own right and conferred high sounding titles on him. The Ghaznavids had thus acquired a status equal to their former masters – the Samanids. The balance of power had been gradually tilting in favour of Ghazni.[citation needed]

Rulers :

According to available inscriptions following are the names of Hindu Shahi kings :

• Vakkdev

• Kamalvarman

• Bhimdev

• Jaypal

• Anandpal

• Trilochanpal

• Bhimpal

Source :

https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Hindu_Shahi