Khalaj people

The Khalaj ( Bactrian χαλασσ ''Xalass''; ps, خلجیان, Khalajyān; fa, خلج‌ها, Xalajhâ) are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in Iran. Medieval Muslim scholars considered the tribe to be one of the earliest to cross the Amu Darya from Central Asia into present-day Afghanistan. The Khalaj were described as sheep-grazing nomads in Ghazni, Qalati Ghilji, and the surrounding districts, who had a habit of wandering through seasonal pastures.

In Iran, they still speak Khalaj language although most of them are Persianized.ḴALAJ ii. Ḵalaji Language
- ''Encyclopaedia Iranica, September 15, 2010 (Michael Knüppel)'' In Afghanistan, the Ghilji tribe of Pashtuns very likely descends from the Khalaj people.The Khalaj West of the Oxus, by V. Minorsky: Khyber.ORG.
; excerpts from "The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol 10, No 2, pp 417-437 (retrieved 10 January 2007).

Etymology

According to linguist Gerhard Doerfer, Mahmud al-Kashgari was the first person mentioning the Khalaj people in his ''Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk'':
: " The twenty twos call them "Kal aç" in Turkic languages. This means "Stay hungry". Later, they were called "Xalaj"."
: " Oguzs and Kipchaks translate "x" to k". They are a group of "Xalaj". They say "xızım", whereas Turks say "kızım" (my daughter). And again other Turks say "kande erdinğ", whereas they say "xanda erdinğ", this means "where were you?"
Turkologist Yury Zuev stated that ''*Qalaç'' resulted from *''Halaç'', owing to the sound-change of prothetic *h- to *q-, typical in many medieval Turkic dialects, and traced ''Halaçs etymology back to ''ala'', ''alač'', ''alaça'' "motley, piebald".

However, according to historian V. Minorsky, the ancient Turkic form of the name was indeed ''Qalaj'' (or ''Qalaç''), but the Turkic / q/ changed to / x/ in Arabic sources (''Qalaj'' > ''Xalaj''). Minorsky added: "''Qalaj'' could have a parallel form ''*Ğalaj''." This word yielded ''Ğəljī'' in Pashto, which was used for the Pashtun Ghilji tribe centered around Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji.

Origin

Following al-Khwarizmi, Josef Markwart claimed the Khalaj to be remnants of the Hephthalite confederacy. The Hephthalites may have been Indo-Iranian,ḴALAJ i. TRIBE
- ''Encyclopaedia Iranica, December 15, 2010 (Pierre Oberling)'' although the view that they were of Turkic Gaoju origin "seems to be most prominent at present". The Khalaj may originally have been Turkic-speaking and only federated with Iranian Pashto-speaking tribes in Medieval times.

However, according to linguist Sims-Williams, archaeological documents do not support the suggestion that the Khalaj were the successors of the Hephthalites, while according to historian V. Minorsky, the Khalaj were "perhaps only politically associated with the Hephthalites."

The Khalaj might have later been incorporated into the Western Turkic khaganate, as Hèluóshī (賀羅施), mentioned besides Türgesh (Tūqíshī 突騎施), before regaining independence after the collapses of the Western Turkic and the Türgesh khaganates. Groups of the Khalaj people migrated into Persia beginning with the invasions of the Seljuq Turks, during the 11th century. From there, a branch of them migrated to the Azerbaijan region, where they supposedly picked up greater Oghuz influence in their language. However, the Khalaj are very few among Iranian Azerbaijanis today. Sometime shortly prior to the time of Timur (1336-1405), a branch of Khalaj migrated to the area southwest of Saveh in the Markazi Province, which is where a large branch of the Khalaj are located today.ḴALAJ i. TRIBE
- ''Encyclopaedia Iranica, December 15, 2010 (Pierre Oberling)'' However, today, the Khalaj people also identify as Persians despite still speaking their local Turkic language. This is due to undergoing processes of Persianization starting in the mid 20th century.

Discussing their relationship with Karluks, Minorsky and Golden noted that the Khalaj and Karluks were often confused by medieval Muslim authors, as their names were transcribed almost similarly in Arabic. Even so, Kitāb al-Masālik w’al- Mamālik's author Ibn Khordadbeh distinguished Khalajs from Karluks, though he mentioned that both groups lived beyond the Syr Darya of the Talas; Muhammad ibn Najib Bakran wrote in his ''Jihān-nāma'' (c. 1200-20) that "by mistake (in writing) the people called the Khallukh ''Khalaj''."

Ilhanate's statesman and historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani mentions the Khalaj tribe in his 14th century '' Jami' al-tawarikh'' as part of the Oghuz ( Turkmen) people:

History

Medieval Muslim scholars, including 9th-10th century geographers Ibn Khordadbeh and Istakhri, narrated that the Khalaj were one of the earliest tribes to have crossed the Amu Darya from Central Asia and settled in parts of present-day Afghanistan, especially in the Ghazni, Qalati Ghilji (also known as Qalati Khalji), and Zabulistan regions. According to Istakhri, "Khalaj is a kind of Turks who in ancient time came to the land between al-Hind and Sijistān, behind al-Ghūr". The mid-10th-century book '' Hudud al-'Alam'' described the Khalaj as sheep-grazing nomads in Ghazni and the surrounding districts, who had a habit of wandering through seasonal pastures.

11th-century book '' Tarikh Yamini'', written by al-Utbi, stated that when the Ghaznavid Emir Sabuktigin defeated the Hindu Shahi ruler Jayapala in 988, the Khalaj and Pashtuns (Afghans) between Laghman and Peshawar, the territory he conquered, surrendered and agreed to serve him. Al-Utbi further stated that Khalaj and Pashtun tribesmen were recruited in significant numbers by the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (999–1030) to take part in his military conquests, including his expedition to Tokharistan. The Khalaj later revolted against Mahmud's son Sultan Mas'ud I of Ghazni (1030–1040), who sent a punitive expedition to obtain their submission. In 1197, Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, a Khalaj general from Garmsir, Helmand in the army of the Ghurid Sultan Muhammad of Ghor, captured Bihar in India, and then became the ruler of Bengal, beginning the Khalji dynasty of Bengal (1204-1227). During the time of the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia, many Khalaj and Turkmens gathered in Peshawar and joined the army of Saif al-Din Ighraq, who was likely a Khalaj himself. This army defeated the petty king of Ghazni, Radhi al-Mulk. The last Khwarazmian ruler, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, was forced by the Mongols to flee towards the Hindu Kush. Ighraq's army, as well as many other Khalaj and other tribesmen, joined the Khwarazmian force of Jalal ad-Din and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mongols at the 1221 Battle of Parwan. However, after the victory, the Khalaj, Turkmens, and Ghoris in the army quarreled with the Khwarazmians over the booty, and finally left, soon after which Jalal ad-Din was defeated by Genghis Khan at the Battle of the Indus and forced to flee to India. Ighraq returned to Peshawar, but later Mongol detachments defeated the 20,000–30,000 strong Khalaj, Turkmen, and Ghori tribesmen who had abandoned Jalal ad-Din. Some of these tribesmen escaped to Multan and were recruited into the army of the Delhi Sultanate. Jalal-ud-din Khalji (1290-1296), who belonged to the Khalaj tribe from Qalati Khalji, founded the Khalji dynasty, which replaced the Mamluks and became the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate. 13th-century ''Tarikh-i Jahangushay'', written by historian Ata-Malik Juvayni, narrated that a levy comprising the "Khalaj of Ghazni" and Pashtuns were mobilized by the Mongols to take part in a punitive expedition sent to Merv in present-day Turkmenistan.

Transformation of the Afghan Khalaj

The Khalaj were sometimes mentioned alongside Pashtun tribes in the armies of several local dynasties, including the Ghaznavids (977–1186).The Pearl of Pearls: The Abdālī-Durrānī Confederacy and Its Transformation under Aḥmad Shāh, Durr-i Durrān by Sajjad Nejatie. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/80750. Many of the Khalaj of the Ghazni and Qalati Ghilji region became assimilated into the local Pashto-speaking population and they likely formed the core of the Pashtun Ghilji tribe. They intermarried with the local Pashtuns and adopted their manners, culture, customs, and practices, also bringing their customs and culture to India where they established the Khalji dynasty of Bengal (1204–1227) and the Khalji dynasty of Delhi (1290–1320). Minorsky noted: "In fact, there is absolutely nothing astonishing in a tribe of nomad habits changing its language. This happened with the Mongols settled among Turks and probably with some Turks living among Kurds." Because of their language shift and Pashtunization, the Khalaj were treated as Pashtuns (Afghans) by the Turkic nobles of the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526).

Just before the Mongol invasion, Najib Bakran's geography ''Jahān Nāma'' (c. 1200-1220) described the transformation that the Khalaj tribe was going through:

Notable people from the Khalaj tribe

* Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, founder of the Khalji dynasty of Bengal (d. 1206)
* Shiran Khalji, second Khalji governor of Bengal (d. 1208)
* Ali Mardan Khalji, rebel Khalji governor of Bengal (d. 1212)
* Iwaz Khalji, third Khalji governor of Bengal (d. 1227)
* Malik Balkha Khalji, final Khalji governor of Bengal (d. 1231)
* Jalal-ud-din Khalji, founder of the Khalji dynasty of Delhi (d. 1296)
* Alauddin Khalji, most powerful Sultan of the Khalji dynasty of Delhi (d. 1316)
* Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah, Sultan of Delhi (d. 1320)

See also

* Alat tribe
* Khalajastan District

References

Sources

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Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalaj
Ethnic groups in Iran
Ethnic groups in Azerbaijan
Turkic peoples of Asia
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan