Shahi Tegin, Tegin Shah or Sri Shahi (ruled 680–739 CE, known to the Chinese as 烏散特勤灑 ''Wusan Teqin Sa'' "Tegin Shah of Khorasan") was a king of the

Turk Shahis The Turk Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turco-Hephthalite origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity."The new rulers of Kabul, who according to ...

, a dynasty of

Western Turk The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate () was a Turkic peoples, Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after the split of the First Turkic Khaganate (founded in th ...

or mixed Western Turk-

Hephthalite The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE, ...

origin who ruled from

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

and Kapisa to

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

in the 7th to 9th centuries.

Context

Kabulistan Kabulistan ( Persian: کابلستان) is a historical regional name referring to the territory that is centered on present-day Kabul Province of Afghanistan. By the 10th century, Ibn Khordadbeh and the Hudud al-'Alam report the southern part ...

was the heartland of the Turk Shahi domain, which at times included

Zabulistan Zabulistan (, ''Zābolistān'', ''Zāwulistān'' or simply ), is an ancient and medieval name for a historical region that included mainly southeastern region ( Zabol) of Iran and some parts of what is now southern Afghanistan. By the tenth ce ...

and

. During their rule, the Turk Shahi were in constant conflict against the eastward expansion of the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

. About 650 CE, the Arabs captured

Sistan Sistān (), also known as Sakastān (, , current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of present-day south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly correspond ...

, and started to attack Shahi territory from the west. They captured

in 665 CE, but the Turk Shahis were able to mount a counter-offensive and repulsed the Arabs, taking back the areas of Kabul and

(around

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

), as well as the region of

Arachosia Arachosia (; ), or Harauvatis ( ), was a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. Mainly centred around the Arghandab River, a tributary of the Helmand River, it extended as far east as the Indus River. The satrapy's Persian-language name is the et ...

as far as

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

Rule

In 680 CE, Shahi Tegin succeeded

Barha Tegin Barha Tegin (665 - 680 CE) was the first ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Al-Biruni and reconstructions from Chinese sources, and the identification of his coinage remains conjectural. ...

. The Arabs again failed to capture Kabul and Zabulistan in 697–698 CE, and their general

Yazid ibn Ziyad Yazīd ibn Ziyād ibn Abīhi () (died 683/84) was a general of the Umayyad Caliphate responsible for the province of Sijistan during the reign of Caliph Yazid I between 680/81 and his death. He was appointed by one of his brothers Ubayd Allah or ...

was killed in the action. In 719/20 CE, the Tegin of Kabulistan (Tegin Shah) and the Iltäbär of

sent a combined embassy to the Chinese emperor of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

to obtain confirmation of their thrones. The Chinese emperor signed an investiture decree, which was returned to the Turk rulers: The word "''Geluodazhi''" in this extract (Chinese: 葛罗达支, pronounced in

Early Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The S ...

: kat-la-dat-tcǐe), is thought to be a transliteration of the ethnonym Khalaj. Hence Tegin Shah was "Tegin of the Khalaj". This title also appears on his coinage in

Gupta script The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script)Sharma, Ram. '' 'Brahmi Script' ''. Delhi: BR Publishing Corp, 2002 was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcon ...

, where he is named "''hitivira kharalāča''", probably meaning "

Iltäbär An elteber ( or ''(h)elitbär''; Chinese 頡利發 ''xié-lì-fā'' < EMCh: *''γεt-li^H-puat'') was a

of the Khalaj". In 720 CE, the ruler of

(謝䫻, ''xieyu'') also received the title ''Gedaluozhi Xielifa'' (Chinese: 葛達羅支頡利發), ''Xielifa'' being the known Chinese transcription of the Turkish "

Iltäbär An elteber ( or ''(h)elitbär''; Chinese 頡利發 ''xié-lì-fā'' < EMCh: *''γεt-li^H-puat'') was a

", hence "Iltäbär of the Khalaj". Overall, it seems that the Turk Shahi rulers were Khalaj Turks. Tegin Shah abdicated in 739 CE in favour of his son Fromo Kesaro and sent an embassy through Central Asia in 719 CE: File:Western Turks. Shahi Tegin (Sri Shahi). After 679 CE.jpg, Coin of Shahi Tegin (Sri Shahi).

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{Afghanistan topics Kabul Shahi