Ghurid dynasty
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Ghurid Sultanate Sūrī, Shansabānī | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1011–1215 | |||||||||||||
 Map of the Ghurid dynasty at it's greatest extent under Ghiyas ad-Din Ghori | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Firuzkuh[1] Herat[2] Ghazni (1170s-1215)[3] Lahore (winter) | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Persian (official & court)[4] | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||||||
| Government | Sultanate | ||||||||||||
| Malik/Sultan | |||||||||||||
• ???–1011 | Muhammad ibn Suri (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1214-1215 | Ala al-Din Ali (last) | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 1011 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1215 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| History of Afghanistan |
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| Timeline |
The Ghurids or Ghorids (Template:Lang-fa; self-designation: Shansabānī and Sūrī) were a native Sunni Muslim dynasty of Eastern Iranian, possibly Tajik, origin, ruling at their zenith over parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.[5] The dynasty ruled from 1011 to 1215 and succeeded the Ghaznavid Empire.[6] Their empire was centered in Ghor Province or Mandesh, now in the center of Afghanistan. It encompassed Khorasan in the West and reached in the East to northern India, as far as Bengal.[7] Their first capital was Fīrūzkūh in Ghor, which was later replaced by Herat,[2] while Ghazni[3] and Lahore were used as additional capitals, especially during the winter seasons. The Ghurids were patrons of Persian culture and heritage.[8]
The Ghurids were succeeded in Persia by the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty and in northern India by the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
Origins
In the 19th century, some European scholars, such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty relate to today's Pashtun people,[9][10][11] but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship, and, as explained by Morgenstierne in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, is for "various reasons very improbable".[12] Instead, the consensus in modern scholarship (incl. Morgenstierne, Bosworth, Dupree, Gibb, Ghirshman, Longworth Dames and others) holds that the dynasty was most likely of Tajik origin.[13][14][15] Bosworth further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, Āl-e Šansab (Persianized: Šansabānī), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally Middle Persian name Wišnasp, hinting at a (Sasanian) Persian origin.[16]
The Ghuristan region remained primarily populated by Hindus and Buddhists till the 12th century. It was then Islamised and gave rise to the Ghurids.
The rise to power of the Ghurids at Ghur, a small isolated area located in the mountain vastness between the Ghaznavid empire and the Seljukids, was an unusual and unexpected development. The area was so remote that till the 11th century, it had remained a Hindu enclave surrounded by Muslim principalities. It was converted to Islam in the early part of the 12th century after Mahmud raided it, and left teachers to instruct the Ghurids in the precepts of Islam. Even then it is believed that paganism, i.e. a variety of Mahayana Buddhism persisted in the area till the end of the century.[17]
Language
The language of the Ghurids is subject to some controversy. What is known with certainty is that it was considerably different from the Persian used as literary language at the Ghaznavid court. Nevertheless, like the Samanids and Ghaznavids, the Ghurids were great patrons of Persian literature, poetry, and culture, and promoted these in their courts as their own. There is nothing to confirm the recent surmise (as claimed in the Paṭa Khazāna) that the Ghurids were Pashto-speaking,[18] and there is no evidence that the inhabitants of Ghor were originally Pashto-speaking.[13] Contemporary book writers refer to them as the "Persianized Ghurids".[19]
History
Before the mid-12th century, the Ghurids had been bound to the Ghaznavids and Seljuks for about 150 years. Beginning in the mid-12th century, Ghor expressed its independence from the Ghaznavid Empire. In 1149 the Ghaznavid ruler Bahram-Shah of Ghazna poisoned a local Ghūrid leader, Qutb al-Din Muhammad, who had taken refuge in the city of Ghazni after having a quarrel with his brother Sayf al-Din Suri. In revenge, Sayf marched towards Ghazni and defeated Bahram-Shah. However, one later year, Bahram returned and scored a decisive victory against Sayf, who was shortly captured and crucified at Pul-i Yak Taq. Baha al-Din Sam I, another brother of Sayf, set out to avenge the death of his two brothers, but died of natural causes before he could reach Ghazni. Ala al-Din Husayn, one of the youngest of Sayf's brothers and newly crowned Ghurid king, also set out to avenge the death of his two brothers. He managed to defeat Bahram-Shah, and then had Ghazna sacked and burned and put the city into fire for seven days and seven nights. It earned him the title of Jahānsūz, meaning "the world burner".[20] The Ghaznavids retook the city with Seljuq help, but lost it to Oghuz Turks.[20] In 1152, Ala al-Din Husayn refused to pay tribute to the Seljuks and instead marched an army from Firuzkuh but was defeated at Nab by Sultan Ahmed Sanjar.[21]
In 1173, the son of Baha al-Din Sam I, Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghori reconquered the city of Ghazna and assisted his brother Ghiyasuddin—to whom he was a loyal subordinate—in his contest with Khwarezmid Empire for the lordship of Khorāsān. Shahabuddin Ghori captured Multan and Uch in 1175 and annexed the Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186. He was alleged by contemporary historians to extract revenge for his great grandfather Muhammad ibn Suri. After the death of his brother Ghiyas-ud-Din in 1202, he became the successor of his empire and ruled until his assassination in 1206 near Jhelum by Khokhar tribesmen (in modern-day Pakistan).[22] A confused struggle then ensued among the remaining Ghūrid leaders, and the Khwarezmids were able to take over the Ghūrids' empire in about 1215. Though the Ghūrids' empire was short-lived, Shahabuddin Ghori's conquests strengthened the foundations of Muslim rule in India. On his death, the importance of Ghazna and Ghur dissipated and they were replaced by Delhi as the centre of Islamic influence during the rule of his successor Sultans in India.[23]
Cultural influences
The Ghurids were great patrons of Persian culture and literature and lay the basis for a Persianized state in India.[24][25] They also transferred the Khorasanian architecture of their native lands to India, of which several great examples have been preserved to this date (see gallery). However, most of the literature produced during the Ghurid era has been lost.
Out of the Ghurid state grew the Delhi Sultanate which established the Persian language as the lingua franca of the region – a status it retained until the fall of the Mughal Empire in the 19th century.
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The two mausoleums of Chisht (the western was built in 1167) -
The eastern mausoleum of Chisht (built in 1194) -
The Minaret of Jam in Ghor Province of Afghanistan (finished in 1174/75) – UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 -
Inscription on the Minaret of Jam, showing the name and titles of Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad -
-
Ruins of the Shah-i Mashhad madrasa (built in 1176)
Ghurid dynasty
| Titular Name(s) | Personal Name | Reign | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malik ملک |
Muhammad ibn Suri |
? – 1011 | |
| Malik ملک |
Abu Ali ibn Muhammad |
1011–1035 | |
| Malik ملک |
Abbas ibn Shith |
1035 – 1060 | |
| Malik ملک |
Muhammad ibn Abbas |
1060 – 1080 | |
| Malik ملک |
Qutb al-din Hasan |
1080 – 1100 | |
| Abul-Muluk ابولملک |
Izz al-Din Husayn |
1100–1146 | |
| Malik ملک |
Sayf al-Din Suri |
1146–1149 | |
| Malik ملک |
Baha al-Din Sam I |
1149 | |
| Malik ملک Sultan al-Muazzam سلطان بن معظم |
Ala al-Din Husayn |
1149–1161 | |
| Malik ملک |
Sayf al-Din Muhammad |
1161–1163 | |
| Sultan Abul-Fateh سلطان ابوالفتح |
Ghiyāṣ-ud-din Muhammad ibn Sām |
1163–1202 | |
| Sultan Shahāb-ud-din Muhammad Ghori سلطان شہاب الدین محمد غوری |
Muizz-ud-din Muhammad ibn Sām |
1202–1206 | |
| Sultan سلطان |
Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud |
1206-1212 | |
| Sultan سلطان |
Baha al-Din Sam III |
1212–1213 | |
| Sultan سلطان |
Ala al-Din Atsiz |
1213-1214 | |
| Sultan سلطان |
Ala al-Din Ali |
1214-1215 | |
| Break up of the Ghurid Empire under Turkic slaves: Qutb-ud-din Aibak becomes ruler of Delhi in 1206, establishing the Sultanate of Delhi; Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha became ruler of Multan in 1210; Tajuddin Yildoz became ruler of Ghazni; Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji became ruler of Bengal; the actual Ghurid dynasty divided into two groups, one under Mahmud bin Ghiyāṣ-ud-din Muhammad bin Sām who succeeded his uncle Muhammad of Ghor in possession of Ghor, Herat, Sistan and eastern Khorasan with his capital at Firuzkuh the other family group under Jalal-ud-din Ali bin Sām at Bamiyan with possession of Tukharistan, Badakhshan, Shughnan, Vakhsh and Chaghaniyan. | |||
- Blue shaded rows signifies Ghurid vassalage under the Ghaznavids.
- Yellow shaded rows signifies Ghurid vassalage under the Seljuks.
-
Sultan Shahāb-ud-din Muhammad Ghuri -
Asia in 1200 C.E., showing the Ghurid Sultanate and its neighbors.
Ghor Branch
| Titular Name(s) | Personal Name | Reign | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malik |
Mahmud ibn Ghiyāṣ-ud-din Muhammad ibn Sām |
1206–1212[26] | |
| Malik ملک |
Baha-ud-din Sām ibn Mahmud |
1212–1213 | |
| Malik ملک Ala-ud-Daulah علاء الدولہ |
Ala-ud-din Atsiz ibn Husayn |
1213–1214 | |
| Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty replaces the Ghurids. | |||
- Green shaded row signifies Ghurid vassalage under the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty.
Bamiyan Branch
| Titular Name(s) | Personal Name | Reign | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malik ملک |
Fakhr al-Din Masud |
1152–1163 | |
| Malik ملک |
Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Fakhr |
1163–1192 | |
| Malik ملک Abul-Mu'ayyid |
Baha al-Din Sam II |
1192–1206 | |
| Malik ملک |
Jalal al-Din Ali |
1206–1215 | |
| Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty replaces the Ghurids. | |||
- Green shaded row signifies Ghurid vassalage under the Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty.
Ghurid family tree
| Suri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Muhammad ibn Suri (???-1011) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abu Ali ibn Muhammad (1011-1035) | Abbas ibn Shith (1035-1060) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Muhammad ibn Abbas (1060-1080) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Qutb al-din Hasan (1080-1100) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Izz al-Din Husayn (1100-1146) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sayf al-Din Suri (1146-1149) | Shuja al-Din Muhammad | Qutb al-din Muhammad | Baha al-Din Sam I (1149) | Naser al-Din Muhammad | Ala al-Din Husayn (1149-1161) | Fakhr al-Din Masud (1152–1163) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ala al-Din Ali (1214-1215) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ghiyas ad-Din Ghori (1157–1202) | Muhammad Ghori (1202–1206) | Shams al-Din Muhammad (1163–1192) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sayf al-Din Muhammad (1149–1157) | Ala al-Din Atsiz (1213-1214) | Baha al-Din Sam II (1192–1206) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud (1206-1212) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jalal al-Din Ali (1206–1215) | Ala al-Din Muhammad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baha al-Din Sam III (1212–1213) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ Firoz Koh in Ghur or Ghor (a region to the west of Ghazni), the Ghurids' summer capital
- ^ a b Firuzkuh: the summer capital of the Ghurids, by David Thomas, pg. 18.
- ^ a b The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-volume set, by Jonathan Bloom, Sheila Blair, pg. 108.
- ^ The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids, C.E. Bosworth, Iran, Vol. 6, (1968), 35.
- ^ C. E. Bosworth: GHURIDS. In Encyclopaedia Iranica. 2001 (last updated in 2012). Online edition.
- ^ Kingdoms of South Asia – Afghanistan in Far East Kingdoms: Persia and the East
- ^ Encyclopedia Iranica, Ghurids, Edmund Bosworth, Online Edition 2001, ([1])
- ^ Finbarr Barry Flood, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter, (Princeton University Press, 2009), 13.
- ^ Elphinstone, Mountstuart. The History of India. Vol. 1. J. Murray, 1841. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. Link: "...the prevalent and apparently the correct opinion is, that both they and their subjects were Afghans. " & "In the time of Sultan Mahmud it was held, as has been observed, by a prince whom Ferishta calls Mohammed Soory (or Sur) Afghan." p.598-599
- ^ A short history of India: and of the frontier states of Afghanistan, Nipal, and Burma, Wheeler, James Talboys, (LINK): "The next conqueror after Mahmud who made a name in India, was Muhammad Ghori, the Afghan."
- ^ Balfour, Edward. The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1885. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. Link: "IZ-ud-DIN Husain, the founder of the Ghori dynaasty, was a native of Afghansitan. The origin of the house of Ghor has, however, been much discussed, – the prevailing opinion being that both they and their subjects were an Afghan race. " p.392
- ^ G. Morgenstierne (1999). "AFGHĀN". Encyclopaedia of Islam (CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0 ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV.
- ^ a b M. Longworth Dames, G. Morgenstierne, and R. Ghirshman (1999). "AFGHĀNISTĀN". Encyclopaedia of Islam (CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0 ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV.
"... there is no evidence for assuming that the inhabitants of Ghūr were originally Pashto-speaking (cf. Dames, in E I1). If were are to believe the Paṭa Khazāna (see below, iii), the legendary Amīr Karōṝ, grandson of Shansab, (8th century) was a Pashto poet, but this for various reasons is very improbable ..."
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Ghurids", C.E. Bosworth, (LINK): ". . . The Ghurids came from the Šansabānī family. The name of the eponym Šansab/Šanasb probably derives from the Middle Persian name Wišnasp (Justi, Namenbuch, p. 282). . . . The chiefs of Ḡūr only achieve firm historical mention in the early 5th/11th century with the Ghaznavid raids into their land, when Ḡūr was still a pagan enclave. Nor do we know anything about the ethnic stock of the Ḡūrīs in general and the Šansabānīs in particular; we can only assume that they were eastern Iranian Tajiks. . . . The sultans were generous patrons of the Persian literary traditions of Khorasan, and latterly fulfilled a valuable role as transmitters of this heritage to the newly conquered lands of northern India, laying the foundations for the essentially Persian culture which was to prevail in Muslim India until the 19th century. . . ."
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Ghurids", C.E. Bosworth, Online Edition, 2006: "... The Shansabānīs were, like the rest of the Ghūrīs, of eastern Iranian Tājik stock ..."
- ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Ghurids", C.E. Bosworth, (LINK); with reference to Justi, "Namenbuch", p. 282
- ^ Medieval India Part 1 Satish Chandra Page 22
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam, "Ghurids", C.E. Bosworth, Online Edition, 2006: "... There is nothing to confirm the recent surmise that the Ghūids were Pashto-speaking [...] the Paṭa Khazāna "Treasury of secrets", claims to include Pashto poetry from the Ghūid period, but the significance of this work has not yet been evaluated ..."
- ^ Finbarr Barry Flood, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter, (Princeton University Press, 2009), 13.[2]
- ^ Ghurids, C.E. Bosworth, Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol.2, Ed. Bernard Lewis, C. Pellat and J. Schacht, (E.J.Brill, 1991), 1100.
- ^ Balaji Sadasivan, The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India, (ISEAS Publishing, 2011), 147.
- ^ Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press 2002
- ^ Ghurids, C.E.Bosworth, Encyclopaedia Iranica, (15 December 2001);[3]
- ^ Persian Literature in the Safavid Period, Z. Safa, The Cambridge history of Iran: The Timurid and Safavid periods, Vol.6, Ed. Peter Jackson and Laurence Lockhart,(Cambridge University Press, 1986), 951;"...Ghurids and Ghurid mamluks, all of whom established centres in India where poets and writers received ample encouragement.".
- ^ The Seljuqs and the Khwarazm Shahs, A. Sevim and C.E. Bosworth, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol.4, (UNESCO, ), 171; "The new sultan of Ghur, Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud, had to acknowledge the Khwarazm Shah as his suzerain....".
Sources
- C. Edmund, Bosworth (2001). "GHURIDS". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- Frye, R.N. (1975). "The Ghaznavids and Ghūrids". In Frye, R.N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 5: The Iranian world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 157–165. ISBN 0-521-20093-8.