Anushtegin Gharchai (also spelled Anush-Tegin; fa, , Anūštigin Ḡaṛčaʾī; died 1097) was a Turkic slave commander () of the

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

and the governor of

Khwarazm Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...

from approximately 1077 until 1097. He was the first member of his family to play a role in the history of Khwarazm, and the namesake for the dynasty that would rule the province in the 12th and early 13th centuries.

Name

''Anushtegin'' is a combination of the

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

word ''nush/anush'' ("undying", "born of an undying parent") and the Turkic word ''

tegin Tegin ( otk, 𐱅𐰃𐰏𐰤, Tegin, also tigin, MC *''dək-gɨn'' > Pinyin: ''Tèqín''; , erroneously ''Tèlè'' ) is a Turkic title, commonly attachable to the names of the junior members of the Khagan's family. However, Ligeti cast doub ...

'' ("prince"), thus meaning "immortally-born prince".

Biography

Anushtegin was originally a Turkic slave from

Gharchistan Gharchistan or Gharjistan also known as Gharj Al-Shar was a medieval region on the north bank of the Murghab River, lying to the east of Herat and north of Hari River. It corresponds roughly to the modern Badghis Province of Afghanistan ...

(hence his surname "Gharchai"), but was later sold to the

Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...

officer Gumushtegin Bilge-Beg. Anushtegin first appears in records in 1073, when he and Gumushtegin Bilge-Beg were sent by the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah I () to reconquer territory in northern Khorasan seized by the

Ghaznavid The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

ruler Ibrahim (). They successfully defeated the latter and razed a Seljuk-Ghaznavid frontier place named Sakalkand. Anushtegin served as the ''tashtdar'' (keeper of the royal washing bowls) of the Seljuks, and, as the revenues from the

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

n province of

were used to pay for the expenses incurred by this position, he was made governor of the province, in . Anushtegin bore the title of ''

shihna Shiḥna () was a medieval Islamic term meaning, roughly, "military administrator." The term was used particularly for the Seljuk Turks' representative in Iraq, who exerted the Seljuks' power over the Abbasid caliph. The Seljuks themselves ruled ...

'' (military governor) of Khwarazm, as well as the traditional title of

Khwarazmshah Khwarazmshah was an ancient title used regularly by the rulers of the Central Asian region of Khwarazm starting from the Late Antiquity until the advent of the Mongols in the early 13th-century, after which it was used infrequently. There were a t ...

. Since the defeat of the Oghuz Yabghu leader

Shah Malik Shah Malik was the head of the Oghuz Yabghus of Jand and Yengi-kent (two towns near the mouth of the Syr Darya), and was also Khwarazm Shah (1041–1042). Life ''Shah Malik'' held the title of Yabgu (the traditional leader of the Oghuz) ...

in 1042, Khwarazm had been governed by representatives of the Seljuk Empire. The province would go on to play a minor role in eastern Islamic history for the next decades. The Seljuk sultans deliberately gave the governorship of Khwarazm to Turkic slave-soldiers () rather than Seljuk princes, with the exception of Arslan Arghun, who governed the province during the reign of his brother Alp Arslan () and early reign of MalikShah I. Geographically, Khwarazm was a peninsula that bordered the Turkic steppes, and as a result was subject to their neighbours' political and linguistic influence. During this period, the local Iranian population of Khwarazm was gradually being assimilated by the Turks. However, during the Seljuk period, the

Khwarazmian language Khwārezmian (Khwarezmian: , ''zβ'k 'y xw'rzm''; also transliterated Khwarazmian, Chorasmian, Khorezmian) is an extinct East Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Khwarezm (Chorasmia), centered i ...

(which resembled Sogdian and to a lesser extent Ossetian) was commonly spoken and written. The details of Anushtegin's tenure as governor are unclear, but he died by 1097 and the post was briefly given to Ekinchi before being transferred to his son, Muhammad I, whose accession is considered the start of the fourth and most prominent line of the

Khwarazmshahs Khwarazmshah was an ancient title used regularly by the rulers of the Central Asian region of Khwarazm starting from the Late Antiquity until the advent of the Mongols in the early 13th-century, after which it was used infrequently. There were a to ...

(which existed from 1097 to 1231). This new empire would go on to become the most powerful in the eastern Islamic world until the advent of the Mongols.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gharchai, Anushtigin Khwarezmid rulers 1090s deaths Year of birth unknown Turkic slaves Anushtegin dynasty