Khalaj people

The Khalaj people (also spelt Xalaj or Khaladzh; Bactrian Xalaso, Persian: خلج‌ها, romanized: Xalajhâ, 賀羅施, Middle Chinese: *ɦɑ^H-lɑ-ɕiᴇ > Mandarin: Hèluóshī) are primarily classified as a Turkic people that speak the Khalaj language. Their local language has preserved some features of Old Turkic lost in other Turkic languages. The language also has much Persian influence.

History

According to 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 "Xalac"."

"Oguzs and Kipchaks translate "x" to k". They are a group of "Xalac". 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?"

Yury Zuev instead stated that *Qalač resulted from *Halač, owing to the sound-change of prothetic *h- to *q-, typical in many medieval Turkic dialects, and traced Halač's etymology back to ala, alach, alacha "motley, piebald".

According to al-Khwarizmi, Khalajes were remnants of Hephthalites,who were Indo-Iranians. Minorsky and Golden noted that Khalajes and Karluks were often confused by Muslim authors as their names were transcribed almost similarly in Arabic; even so, Kitāb al-Masālik w’al- Mamālik's author Ibn Khordadbeh distinguished Khalajes from Karluks, though he mentioned that both groups lived beyond 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."

In 1040, they revolted against Mas'ud I of Ghazni, was sultan of Ghaznavids. He sent a punitive expedition but he was defeated and later dethroned and executed by Mohammad Ghaznavi. During the Ghaznavid and Ghurid rules. Ghurid Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud came to power at Firuzkuh with support of them. Later they were subjected by Khwarezmshahs in the 1210s. During the Mongol invasion of 1221, many Khalajes joined the Mongols but others continued to Sayf al-Din Ighrak, who formed an ephemeral independent state in the valley of Kabul. Many Khalajes then went to India and served the sultans of Delhi, in western India and in Bengal, its members were called Khalji and founded a dynasty which ruled Delhi sultanate from 1290 to 1320 and other dynasties in various places as Malwa.

Some of the Khalaj remained in present area of Afghanistan, in the fourteenth century are discussed in Khalaj Abiward in northern Khorasan, they should set the thirteenth century during the struggles between Ghurids and Khwarezmhsahs. An Uzbek tribe identified by the Russians in the 19th century with the name of Galachi, would originate from Khalaj. Other groups are indicated in Kerman and Fars as well as in Azerbaijan and Anatolia. A region of western Iran, the mountainous region southwest of Tehran towards Hamadan named traditional Khalajistan, especially living in the districts (shahristans) of Saveh and Arak Province (ustan) of Markazi, and in territories inhabited by Bakhtiyaris including some close to the central mountains of Zagros.

The Khaljī tribe had long been settled in Afghanistan. A Khalji dynasty of Turkic Khalaj origin ruled large parts of South Asia from 1290 to 1320, they were the second Muslim dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India, they are noted in history for repeatedly defeating the warring Mongols and thereby saving India from plundering raids and attacks.

Khalajes give their name to Halaç District at Lebap Province of Turkmenistan. Their inhabitants are Ersari tribe of Turkmens, who originated from Seljuk Turks.

Origins

Khalajes themselves have no idea about their origin. It is said, by al-Khawarizmi and al-Tabari, the Khalaj originated as remnants of the Hephthalite confederation, thus indicating an Indo-Iranian origin. However, Sims-Williams (2002: 234-235) cited Bactrian documents dated from the years 678 and 710, wherein the people were named as Khalaj; thus these new archaeological documents do not support the suggestion that Khalajes were the Hephthalites' successors. Alternatively, Kashgari linked Khalajes to another bilingual Turkophone people, the Arghu, based on linguistic features shared by Arghu and Khalaj.

"The language of peoples who are living in cities are corrupted. Tribes like Sogdians, Kencheks and Arghu are bilingual."

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 Turkic influence in their language. However, the Khalaj are very few in 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. 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.

Notable people from the Khalaj tribe

• Alauddin Khalji
• Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji

See also

• Alat tribe

References

• Histoire des Turcs de l'Asie centrale, Vasily Bartold