Vestiges of Kushan Rulers in Afghanistan

Abdul Hai Habibi

During the 7th century CE when Islamic conquest had reached Afghanistan several families ruled in different parts of the country. Among them Arab historians mention Sajistan Shah (shah means ruler or king, plural shahan), Merv Shah, Qafas Shah, Makran Shah, Kabulan Shah, Qaiqan Shah, Dawaran Shah, Qashmiran Shah, Turan Shah, Nakshban Shah, Kenar-e Neshabur, Mahu-e Merv, Raazoya-e Sarkhas, Bahman-e Abyurad, Ibraz Nesa, Barazbandah-e Gharjistan, Ferouz-e Zabulistan, Termez Shah, Sher-e Bamian, Feroz Saghd, Akshid-e Farghana, Rewshar, Guzgan Khuda, Khatlan Shah or Sher-e Khatlan, Bukhara Khuda, Terkhan-e Samarkand, Ratbel of Seistan, Rakhj and Dawar, Berazan of Herat, Poshang and Badghis, Kushan Shah of Trans-Oxiana, Shar of Gharjistan, Neizak, Badghis and Takhar, Yabghur-e Takhar, Jahan Pahlavan of Sur and Ghor, Loyak of Ghazni and Gardez and Mehrab-e Kabuli.[1] Some of these are names of individuals while most are family names and royal titles related to their sphere of influence.

During the 5th and 6th centuries vestiges of the Kushani Kidara and Hephthalites, i.e. white Aryans, ruled from Neshapur to Sind and relics of these royal families were in power as feudal lords in the region. Arab historians and geographers have mentioned them with the above mentioned names. We observe that Hsuan Tsang, the Chines monk, who travelled in the region from 631 to 645 CE, mentions different rulers in every part of the land and considers each area as a different country.

Even though we do not have any historical evidence to link these feudal lords of the 6th and 7th centuries to the Kushan or Hephthalite dynasties but due to the fact that ruling families form and disintegrate gradually, therefore we can say that most of these families were former rulers.

We know two families among the rulers of Afghanistan, the Kabul Shah and Loykan of Ghazni and Gardez. Here we will provide information regarding these two families with authenticated references.

1. The Kabul Shahan

This family ruled over Kabul during the time of Arab conquests. Even though the name, Kabul Shah, has not been seen on coins and inscriptions but in the oldest Arabic sources such as Al-Masalek wa al-Mamalek of Ibn Khardaba (written around 845 CE), Akhbar-e Makka of Mohammad bin Abdullah Azraqi (around 867 CE) and his Tarekh-e al-Yaqubi and Al-Baladan (written around 903 CE), Futuh-al-Baladan of Belazari (written around 884 CE), Tarekh-al-Uman wa al-Malook of Mohammad bin Jarir Tabari (written around 913 CE), Tarekh-e Yamyani of Mohammad bin Abdul Jabar Utbi (witten around 1010 CE), and the works of Mohammad bin Abdul Jabar al-Biruni (around 1010 CE), this name has been mentioned as Kabul Shah, Kabulan Shah or Shahiya and Kabul Shahiya. The Kashmiri historian, Kalhana, in Raja Tarangini[2] (around 1149 CE) names the remnants of this family which was in power from Sind to Kashmir, as Kashmir Shahi and Shahi Patra, and their country as Mamlakat-e Shahi.[3] After the conquests of Subuktageen and Sultan Mahmud, these people retreated to Bahaanda Pur (Swat and northern Mardan). During the time of Harsha, the king of Kashmir (1089-1101 CE) they had a good relationship with Kashmir.[4] One of the queen of Harsha, named Vasanta-Lekha, was known as Shahi Patra (prince).[5] A stone tablet, found in 1897 in Bariktut of Swat, written in Sanskrit and Sarada scripts (now housed in the Lahore Museum), states:

“In the reign of the supreme sovereign superior king of great kings and supreme Lord Sri Jayapala Deua.” [6]

This is the same Jaypal, the Kabul Shah, with whom, according to the record of al-Utbi, Amir Subuktageen signed a peace pact by giving him one million royal darhams.[7] The coins were inscribed with the name of the mentioned Kabul Shah, and al-Utbi calls them the Shahiya darhams. Utbi uses this nomenclature just in case of this family. In other instances he just refers to darhams.[8] From historical documents we know the following kings from the Kabul Shahan family:

1. Barhatgin: In Ketab-al-Hind (p. 350),[9] al-Biruni writes that 60 offsprings of this ruler governed as the Kabul Shahan and their genealogy was present in Nagarkot (Tahl Valley) on a brocade, which al-Biruni had seen.

2. Kanak: According to al-Biruni, the temple of Peshawar, named Kanak Jeet, is named after this king (Ketab-al-Hind, p. 349). Some consider him to be related to Kanishka, the great Kushan king. But most likely he is the same person whom Masudi considers to be the father of Feroz, the chief of the city of Zabulistan, and considers the fortress of Feroz bin Kanak to be the most fortified in the world.[10] This Feroz is probably the same king who was captured by Yaqub Lyce in 870 CE after his conquest of Kabul.[11]

3. Khuduwayaka: This name is close to Xoade and Xoadeog of the Surkh Kotal inscription written around 777 CE, meaning a chief king and someone with authority. Firdawsi also mentions Kabul Khudai and Zabul Khudai. In Pashto this word is khudakay, a progeny of Ahmad Shah Abdali, had the same name.[12] But Khuduya, is the name of a Kabul Shah whom we know from coins only.[13] We know that the word, khudacha, mentioned in Kharushti tablets of Mani Kiyala, dating to 145 and 168 CE, is the khwaja of present time, which has been derived from the ancient word khwadi. According to Belazari and Tabari its feminine form was akhezana. The Persian, khedyaw, and the French, khédive, are from the same root.

4. Spala-pati-deva: The name of this ruler has only been seen on a coin with Naagri script. The word is composed of Spala and in old Persian it was Spada, meaning a soldier, and Pati means a commander. The words path, pati, and badh, have ancient roots in Pashto and Dari literature. The sephand of Dari language has been derived from the combination of the two words, which was the military title of the Kabul Shahan. According to Tabari, around 710 CE, a commander in Balkh had the title of Espahbad-e Balkh.[14]

5. Padma: He is among the Kabul Shahan whom we know from his coins, which contain the shapes of elephants and lions, with the name Sri-Padama inscribed on it.[15]

6. The Calcutta museum contains coins with the name, Sri-Vaka-Deva, who may be among the Kabul Shahan kings.

7. The Greater and Lesser Kabul Shah: In 656 CE, the Greater Kabul Shah was defending his kingdom from the Arab forays of Abdul Rahman bin Samara. Historians have mentioned his bravery and battles.[16] He is said to have 28 thousand well-armed soldiers together with war elephants. Beside this the Lesser Kabul Shah was also alive during this time. Both these individuals have been mentioned by Belazeri and in Tarekh-e Seistan.

8. Khenchal Kabul Shah: The Abbasid caliph, Al-Mehdi bin Mansur, sent and emissary to this king in 781 CE and he was asked to, once again, pay allegiance to the Baghdad caliphate.[17] This is the same person who has been mentioned in the book, Keramat-e Sakhi Sarwar, as Kabulan Shah Khenchal, and he was a contemporary of Khaqan Padshah of Ghazni and Gardez.[18]

9. In Ketab-al-Hind, Laka Turmaan, is considered to be the last king of his family whose kingdom and religion was destroyed by Kalar, his Brahmin vizier (p. 350). He has been associated to be from Katur (present day Nuristan) according to the writing of Jama’e-al-Tawarekh of Rashiduddin. Referencing the former book, Tarekh Rawzat-al-Awali Al-albab of Fakhruddin Banakati, he has been named as Katurmaan. But I consider the hand written manuscript of Ketab-al-Hind, to be more authentic. It is estimated that he lived around 873 CE.

10. Kalar: This is the same vizier, Laka Turmaan, mentioned earlier who lived around 864 CE. He is said to have the title of Kalhana Lalya Shah, who was the father of Kama Loka.[19] He is the founder of the Lalya Shahi lineage and was a Brahmin by religion. He was not a direct descendent of the Kabul Shahan but was an administrator during that time and it is possible that he may have been a Kushan. From a Kharushti tablet, which was written in the 18th year of the empire (19 October 145 CE), during the reign of Kanishka, we know a general from the Kushan lineage (Kharushti inscriptions 2/150).

11. Al-Biruni talks about a Kabul Shah by the name of Saamand.[20] His coins have been found in abundance in Afghanistan and Punjab, with the names of Saamata and Saamanta-deva. He came to power after the death of Lalya Shah Kalar, but was defeated by Gupala Warman, the ruler of Kashmir in 903 CE. Tura Mana, son of Lalya, was named as king instead with the title of Kama-luka.[21] The story of this Kabul Shah was famous among people and two centuries later it was written in the form of poetry by Hasan bin Ahmad Ansuri (death 1040 CE) in the Dari language. Abu Raihan al-Biruni translated the ballad into Arabic.[22]

12. Kama-luka, son of Lalya Shah Kalar, whose names is Tura Mana, has been mentioned in Raja Tarangini of Kalhana and the book of Rajat. Al-Biruni and Aufi call him Rai Kamlu. In a rare coin, present in the British Museum, he has been named as Sri-Kamara.[23]

13. Sri-Bahim-deva was a descendent of Lalya and probably the son of Kama-luka. There is a coin with his name showing him riding a horse with an emblem of a cow.[24] In Raja Tarangini, a Bahmiya Shah has been mentioned, who was a ruler in Swat around 932 CE.[25]

14. In the inscription found in Barikot of Swat, written in Sri-danam script, the name of Sri-Jiya-pala has been mentioned who is probably the son of Bahyam-deva. He ascended the throne in 960 CE and according to Trekh-e Yamani of al-Utbi, his sphere of influence extended as far as Laghman to the west, and Lahore to the east. The center of his kingdom was in Waihind in Sind.[26] He fought with Subuktageen two times, but Subuktageen managed to take over lands as far as Laghman. Sri-Jiya-pala also engaged with Sultan Mahmud. The battles of these two men have been written by Dari poets of Sultan Mahmud’s court. Al-Utbi writes that in the beginning of the year 1003 CE, Jaipal set himself on fire.[27]

15. Anand Pal, son of Jaipal, went as far as the Beas river in India in 959 CE. Al-Biruni considers him the sovereign after the death of his father. Al-Utbi has named him as Andpal in his book. His coins are frequently found in northern India. He ascended the throne in 1003 CE and had a son by the name of Brahman Pal.

16. According to al-Biruni, after Anand Pal, his son Tiro Janpal and according to Kalhana, Trilochan-Pala, became the king. His battle with Sultan Mahmud, after the year 1048 CE, has been recorded in history books and Kalhana considers him to be from the Lalya Shahi family.[28] In his ballad, written in praise of Sultan Mahmud, Farukhi, names him as Tiro-Jaipal. According to Al-Biruni he was killed in 1021 CE.[29]

17. Al-Biruni considers, Bahiam Pal, as the last king of this family who was killed five years after the death of his father in 1026 CE. After his death no other ruler has been recorded from this family.

18. The book, Adaab al-Harb wa al-Shuja’ya, mentions another person by the name of Sind Pal, as the grand-child of king Jaipal or the grandson of the king of Kabul. He is said to have revolted in India, during the time of Sultan Mahmud and after the death of Sultan Masud, in Marigala. He returned from India to claim his kingship but was killed in battle by the army of Sultan Mawdud near Lahore in 1042 CE.[30]

The Kabul Shahan were Kushani

We know these 18 Kabul Shahan rulers from historical books. According to authentic Chinese and Arab sources these kings belonged to the Kushan tribes, but until now, we have not come across any documents which associates the Lalya Shahan, whose founder was the Brahmin Kalar, to be from the Kushan clan. The following is an account indicating that the Kabul Shahan were Kushani.

1. Abu al-Walid Mohammad bin Abdullah bin Ahmad Ghasani Maki, famous as Azraqi, was from Azraq and head of his family[31] who died in 864 CE, wrote a book on the history of Mecca under the name of Akhbar Mecca wa Maja’ Feha min al-Asaar, which was published for the first time in 1858 by Wustenfield in Lepzig and later published in 1933 CE by Rushdi Saleh by the Majdia press of Mecca.

Around 200 CE, Hasan bin Sahl Sarkhasi Khorasani, brother of Fazl bin Sahl, was the governor of Khorasan. His army captured of all of Khorasan including Kabul, Kandahar, Bamian as far as the Indus river and Kashmir. Arzaqi writes:

“With the capture of Kabul by the Moslems, under the orders of Mamun, the Amir of the Faithful, Fazl bin Sahl, sent the crown of Isphand Kabul Shah, to Mecca and managed to protect his kingdom in the eastern domain. Kabul Shah, together with his subjects, embraced Islam in Merv, under the patronage of Mamun. He agreed to pay twice as much tax for Kabul and Kandahar and all the people of Kabul and Takharistan, came under the banner of Islam and a postal system was established between Kandahar and Bamian.” [32]

Azraqi, who was a citizen of Mecca, had seen the crown of the Kabul Shah hung inside the Ka’aba. He states: A plaque accompanied this crown which contained the name of al-Asbahbad Kabul Shah.[33] The Arabized al-Asbahbad, is the Sepahbad of Dari, the Spala Pati, mentioned earlier whose title has been inscribed on a coin of the Kabul Shahan and we know that among the Kabul Shahan this military title was in use and was also mentioned in Dari literature.

The name of this Kabul Shah general, also called Bagh Mehrab, is in use until the present time in Afghanistan and Firdawsi talks about Mehrab Kabul Khudie and the title Bagh has been written in all Kushani inscriptions as bug and buga and used with the names of kings. Bagu Khan was a chief of the Greater Yusufzai tribe during the 16th century. Later on, in Arabic writings, we see the word bani duami, which has been incorrectly converted to pati darmi of Hindi and mehrab has been converted to the mehraj of Hindi.[34] The word bani stems from the Arabic ibn (son of) whose plural is banun and abna’, and has been converted to bani such as bani-Fatema and bani-Abas (meaning the progeny of Abas).

But the second is among the five Kushani tribes, mentioned in the history of the later Huns, as Hou-Han-shu, written by Fan-yah, who died in 446 CE. This Chinese historian also talks about General Pan-yung, who was presented to the Chinese emperor in 125 CE.[35]

Hou-Han-shu’s account consider the Du-mi to be the second Kushani tribe[36] and Stein Kunow writes: The firth state of the Second Kushan was in Kaw-fu, which according to Marquart, was present day Kabul.[37]

From this Chinese report we know that the bani-dumi of Azraqi is the second Kushani tribe.[38] Both the Chinese and Arab records corroborate each other. Al-Biruni writes that Asbahbaz of Kabul converted to Islam and extracted jewels from silver and golden idols, which contained a ruby, which Mamun sent to be hung in Ka’aba.[39]

Kushani Princes in Eastern Afghanistan

The inscriptions of Zabul, Jaghatu, Tuchi, and Waziristan written in Greek, Sanskrit, Shridanagari and Arabic script indicate that during the seventh century and after that until the time of the conquests of the Safari and Ghaznavi kingdoms, remnants of Kushani and Hepthalite princes lived in eastern Afghanistan as far as the Indus river. In the Uruzgan inscription they have been named as Shah-Zaool, in the Jaghatu inscription of Ghazni they are known as Gakati-Shapor, and in the Tuchi inscription of Waziristan they are called Gomal-Baghpor. Several of these princes candidly called themselves to be Kushani with the following accounts.

1. An inscription written in two scripts, Takhari and Sanskrit, and discovered in 1926 from Mir Ali, Tuchi Valley, which is now preserved in the Peshawar museum, contains five lines in Sanskrit, five in the Takhari language (meaning old Dari spoken in the eastern regions) and Greek script. The Sanskrit part of the inscription is damaged and most of the words are unreadable but regarding the date of the structure it is said that it was built in the year 38 of the kingdom, the 7th day of the half moon, by a king who called himself Khojana-Putra (meaning Kushan Son). This date is equivalent to the year 862 CE. In the Takhari text the date provided is the year 632 and the 8th month which is equivalent to 862. On this date Mah-Shah M… Nibixt, Gomal Baghpur built a temple and a large Nibixt-Bihar. The title of this Nibixt Gomal Baghpur is Mah-Shah (moon king) in Takhari is similar to Chandra-Bhupa of the Sanskrit text. In Sanskrit chandra means a moon and bhupa means a king. The Khojana-Putra of Sanskrit precisely indicates that this Gomal Baghpur was from the Kushan lineage. The name Nobixt shows up in the Baghlan inscription also, dating to the period of Emperor Kanishka, and it was in use in Dari literature and by dignitaries of the Islamic period.

2. The second inscription, written in Takhari and Arabic languages, and found in Sher Tela of Tuchi Valley of Waziristan, is present in the Peshawar Museum. The four upper lines in Arabic are in a complex Kufi handwriting and only one letter Allah (God) can be read. However, the bottom eleven lines, which are in capital letters of the Greek script, are in the Takhari language. According to my interpretation these lines were written three years later during the first month, in the year 635 CE:

Koshan Gomal Bagh-por Shah Bosar...Xagan Man...Xan Kazal

On this day Koshan Gomal Baghpor Shah Bosar… from the Khaqan clan, the chief of Kazal, constructed a resting station for merchants (corresponding to the year 865 CE). The title of the Kushani prince mentioned in this inscription, Gomal Baghpor, is the same which has been brought up in the previous tablet. His name, Bosar, appears in the Baghlan inscription also, written around 160 CE, with the same spelling, who considers himself to be a Kushani. Khaqan is also his ancestor, who has associated himself to Bosar.

In the Baghlan inscription we see: Sha-i-Baghpohr-i-Loix Bocar-i-Shizogarg. Bagpor is the old spelling of the Baghpor, of the Tuchi inscriptions. However, Loyax, which is a family name, in two other copies of the same inscription, has been written as Lox and Allix. During the Islamic period the same names have been recorded, in Arabic and Dari books, but with different spellings as Loyak, Lawiyak, Anok and Lawayal. Based on Pashto literary documents from the same time, I prefer the name Loyak, to be more authentic. It is close to the Loix of the Baghlan inscription. It was the family name of Bosar bin Shizogarg. From this family we know the following kings:

1. Shah Baghpor Loyak Bosar bin Shizogarg, according the the Baghlan inscription written around 777 CE.

2. Loyak Wajwir (Hajwir), king of Ghazni, contemporary of the Kabul Shahan, around 738 CE (according to the handwritten, Keramat-e Sakhi Sarwar).

3. Loyak Khaqan, son of Wajwir, contemporary of Khenjil Kabul Shah, around 780 CE. He embraced Islam and later rescinded. He has been mentioned in Zein-al-Akhbar of Gardezi and the Tuchi inscription.

4. Mohammad bin Khaqan, who embraced Islam around 826 CE, according to Gardezi.

5. Abu Mansur Aflah, son of Mohammad, who was defeated by Yaqub Lyce Safari, in 870 CE. He has been mentioned in Zein-al-Akhbar of Gardezi. According Keramat-e Sakhi Sarwar, the Aflakh mosque, mentioned on the Ghazni gate, which was built on the site of an old temple of the Loykan, is associated to him.

6. Mansur bin Aflah, who lived around 932 CE according to Gardezi.

7. Marsal bin Mansur, who in 1030 CE brought the treaty of unrest against the Caliphate from Baghdad to Sultan Masud in Neshapur. His full name was Abu-Sahl Marsal bin Mansur bin Aflah Gardezi (Gardezi p. 196). A shrine in Khogyani of Nangarhar, is named Marsal Baba, and about 15 miles south of Ghazni, an ancient dam is know as the Marsal Dam.

8. Sahl bin Marsal, who lived around 1058 CE (according to the nickname of his father in Gardez).

9. Abu Ali or Abubakr Lawek, according to Tabaqat-e Nasiri or Siyasat Nama of Nezam-al-Mulk Mutlaq, Loyak was father-in-law of Kabul Shah, who was defeated by Subuktageen, in Charkh-e Logar, together with his son-in-law in 976 CE.

10. Koshan Gomal Baghpor Shah Bosar Xagan Khel Xan Kazal, who lived around 865 CE. We know him from the second Tuchi tablet and he may be the grandson of Khaqan and a contemporary of Aflah, who was a ruler in the Gomal Valley in the eastern region of the country.

According to historical documents, we know ten personalities from the family of Kushani kings. The titles of Baghpor and Shah were in use in the family of the Great Kushan king, Kanishka and his son Hawishka, until the early Islamic era. Their sphere of influence extended from Ghazi to the banks of the Indus river.

The Jaghatu Stone Tablets

About 20 kilometers from Ghazni, two tablets written in Greek scripts, have been found in the Kohe Barkol area one of which is a Takhari text of Buddhism, Tri Ratna (three jewels), i.e. right knowledge, right faith and right conduct, manifesting Buddhist philosophy.

The second inscription contains the words Baka-gakati-Shapor (o) Oima Shah (o) Ologh meaning the temple of Shapor of Jaghatu, the Great Oima-shah. Even though there is no clear indication, in this inscription, about Shapor of Jaghatu being a Kushani, but we know from the name Oima that he is related to the Kushans. The name Oima has a long history among the people of this land. The name of the Kushani king with the title, Kujula-Kara-Kadphises, was Oima. On coins his name has been inscribed in Greek letters as Oohma and in Kharushti script it has been written as Vima-Kathphisa. The title of great king and savior appears on the coin and he may be brother of the mentioned Kujula.[40]

As explained earlier, the Kabul Shahan family was the second tribe of the Kushans. It is possible that Shapor and Oima Shah, may be linked with the Kabul Shahan, who were rulers in Jaghatu near Kabul.[41]

References: