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{{Short description|665–870 CE Turkic dynasty based in Kabul}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Turk Shahis
| common_name            = Turk Shahis
| status                 = Empire
| era                    = [[Early Middle Ages]]
| capital                = [[Kabul]] (summer capital) <br>  [[Udabhanda]] (winter capital)
| common_languages       = [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]]
| year_start             = 665
| year_end               = 822 CE<ref name="MA283"/><ref name="KHM16">{{cite web |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase16?language=en |title= The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 16. The Hindu Shahis in Kabulistan and Gandhara and the Arab Conquest | last1 = Alram | first1 = Michael| last2 = Filigenzi | first2 = Anna | last3 = Kinberger | first3 = Michaela | last4 = Nell | first4 = Daniel | last5 = Pfisterer | first5 = Matthias | last6 = Vondrovec | first6 = Klaus |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date= July 22, 2017}}</ref>
| p1                     = Hephthalites
| flag_p1                =
| p2                     = Alchon Huns
| flag_p2                = Alchon_Tamga.png
| p3                     = Nezak Huns
| flag_p3                = Nezak_Crown.png
| p4                     = Tokhara Yabghus
| flag_p4                = Tokhara_Yabghus_tamgha.png
| s1                     = Zunbils
| s2                     = Hindu Shahi
| s3                     = Saffarid dynasty
| image_flag             = 
| flag_type              = 
| image_coat             = Tamgha of the Turk Shahis.png
| symbol_width           = 40px
| coa_size               = 200px
| symbol_type            = [[Tamga]]
| image_map              = {{Continental Asia in 720 CE|center||{{location map~ |Continental Asia |lat=29.5|N |long=71|E |label= |label_size=|mark=Turk Shahi territory (fine).png|marksize=35}}||none}}
| image_map_caption      = Approximate location of the Turk Shahis circa 665–870 AD, with contemporary Asian polities.
| image_map2             = {{Location map+
|Hindu-Kush 
|float      = center
|border     = none
|width      = 300 <!--  DO NOT CHANGE MAP SIZE (300) AS THIS WILL DISPLACE THE LABELS  -->
|caption    =  
|nodiv      = 1
|mini       = 1
|relief=yes
|places     =
{{location map~ |West Asia |lat=11|N |long=46.9|E |label= |label_size=|mark=Turk Shahi territory (fine).png|marksize=185}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=39.1|N |long=65.3|E |label='''''[[Bukhar Khudahs|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">KHUDAHS</span>]]''''' |position=left |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=39.766667|N |long=64.433333|E |label=[[Bukhara|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Bukhara</span>]] |position=top |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=40|N |long=71.5|E |label='''''[[Principality of Ushrusana|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">AFSHINS</span>]]''''' |position=left |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=39.1|N |long=68.3|E |label='''''[[Ikhshids of Sogdia|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">IKHSHIDS</span>]]''''' |position=left |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=36.728611|N |long=68.868056|E |label=[[Kunduz|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Kunduz</span>]]|position=right |label_size=100|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=39.7|N |long=66.983333|E |label=[[Samarkand|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Samarkand</span>]] |position=top |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.341944|N |long=62.203056|E |label=[[Herat|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Herat</span>]] |position=top |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=30.197778|N |long=71.469722|E |label=[[Multan|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Multan</span>]] |position=left |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=31.4|N |long=72|E |label='''''[[Caliphal province of Sind|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">CALIPHAL<br>SIND</span>]]''''' |position=left |label_size=80|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=32|N |long=76|E |label='''''[[Gurjara-Pratiharas|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">GURJARA-<br>PRATIHARAS</span>]]''''' |position=left |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=36.766667 |N |long=66.9|E |label=[[Balkh|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Balh</span>]] |position=right |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.5|N |long=70.3|E |label='''''<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">TURK SHAHIS</span>'''''|position=bottom |label_size=110|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=31.616667|N |long=65.716667|E |label=[[Kandahar|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Kandahar</span>]]|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon Brown.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=33.549167|N |long=68.423333|E |label=[[Ghazni|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Ghazni</span>]]|position=left |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon Brown.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.525278|N |long=69.178333|E |label=[[Kabul|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Kabul</span>]]|position=top|label_size=100|mark=Capital mark.svg|marksize=10}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=33|N |long=67|E |label=[[Zunbils|'''''<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">ZUNBILS</span>''''']]|position=bottom |label_size=100|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=35.920833|N |long=74.308333|E |label=[[Gilgit|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Gilgit</span>]]|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon White.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=36.7|N |long=74.3|E |label='''''[[Patola Shahis|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">PATOLAS</span>]]'''''|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=40|N |long=74.8|E |label='''''[[Protectorate General to Pacify the West|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">TANG<br> EMPIRE</span>]]'''''|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}

{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=38|N |long=65|E |label=''[[Tokhara Yabghus|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">TOKHARA YABGHUS</span>]]''|position=bottom |label_size=110|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.9|N |long=74.6|E |label=[[Karkota Empire|<div talign=center>'''''<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">KARKOTAS</span>'''''</div>]]|position=bottom |label_size=85|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.016667|N |long=72.433333|E |label=[[Hund (village)|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Hund</span>]]|position=bottom|label_size=90|mark=Button Icon Brown.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=31.583056|N |long=64.369167|E |label=[[Lashkargah|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Bost</span>]]|position=top |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon Brown.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.825|N |long=67.833333|E |label=[[Bamiyan|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Bamiyan</span>]]|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon Brown.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=34.737663|N |long=66.763899|E |label=[[Alkhis|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">Tang-i Safedak</span>]]|position=left |label_size=90|mark=Button Icon Brown.svg|marksize=7}}
{{location map~ |Hindu-Kush |lat=36.3|N |long=66|E |label='''''[[Guzgan|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">GOZGAN</span>]]'''''|position=bottom |label_size=80|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
}}
| image_map2_caption     = The summer capital [[Kabul]], the winter capital [[Udabhanda|Hund]], and other important cities of the Turk Shahis and [[Zunbils]].
| religion               = [[Buddhism]]<br>[[Hinduism]]
| today                  = [[Afghanistan]] <br> [[Pakistan]]
| demonym                = 
| area_km2               = 
| area_rank              = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
}}
{{Turk Shahi rulers}}
The '''Turk Shahis''' or '''Kabul Shahis''' were a dynasty of [[Western Turk]], or mixed [[Western Turk|Turko]]-[[Hephthalite]], or a group of Hephthalites origin,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wink |first=Andre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H43zDwAAQBAJ&dq=kabul+shahi+not+turk&pg=PA63 |title=The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE |publisher=Cambridge University |year=2020 |pages=63|isbn=978-1-108-28475-2 }}</ref> that ruled from [[Kabul]] and [[Kapisa (city)|Kapisa]] to [[Gandhara]] in the 7th to 9th centuries AD.<ref name="MA283"/><ref name="HJK58">{{cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Hyun Jin |title=The Huns |date=19 November 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34090-4 |pages=58–59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcf4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT61 |language=en}}</ref><ref>"The advance of Islamic forces both into Tokharistan in the north and into Zabulistan farther south was opposed by local rulers of probably Western Turkish identity" in {{cite journal |last1=Vondrovec |first1=Klaus |title=Coinage of the Nezak |page=181 |url=https://www.academia.edu/880242 |language=en}}</ref> 
They may have been of [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]] ethnicity.<ref name="academia.edu">"The new rulers of Kabul, who according to me were Khalaj Turks, extended their rule over the
former territory of the Kapisi kingdom [Kapisa to Gandhara], while a branch of them became independent in Zabulistan. A Korean
monk Huichao (慧超) who visited these regions in the third decade of the 8th century, reported that both regions were ruled by the Turkish kings." {{cite journal |last1=Inaba |first1=Minoru |title=From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia |pages=443–444 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7838558 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rezakhani|first=Khodadad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bjRWDwAAQBAJ&q=Turk+shahis+khalaj&pg=PA165|title=ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity|date=2017-03-15|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-1-4744-0030-5|pages=165|language=en|quote=A Bactrian Document (BD T) from this period brings interesting information about the area to our attention. In it, dated to BE 476 (701 AD), a princess identified as `Bag-aziyas, the Great Turkish Princess, the Queen of Qutlugh Tapaghligh Bilga Sävüg, the Princess of the Khalach, the Lady of Kadagestan offers alms to the local god of the region of Rob, known as Kamird, for the health of (her) child. Inaba, arguing for the Khalaj identity of the kings of Kabul, takes this document as a proof that the Khalaj princess is from Kabul and has been offered to the (Hephthalite) king of Kadagestan, thus becoming the lady of that region. The identification of Kadagestan as a Hephthalite stronghold is based on Grenet's suggestion of the survival of Hephthalite minor stares in this region...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ḵalaj i. Tribe – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/khalaj-i-tribe-turkistan|access-date=2021-01-15|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref> The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the [[Karkota dynasty|Kashmir kingdom]] and the [[Kannauj|Kannauj kingdom]] to the east.<ref name="MI443">{{cite book|last1=Inaba|first1=Minoru|url=https://www.academia.edu/7838558|title=Khotan in the last quarter of the first millennium: is there artistic evidence of the interrelation between Khotan and Tibet? A preliminary survey, Coins, Art and Chronology II: From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia|date=2010|publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften|location=Vienna|pages=443–444|language=en}}</ref> From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from [[Transoxonia]], and occupied [[Bactria]] and the [[Hindu-Kush|Hindu Kush]] region, forming largely independent polities.<ref>"The period from 560 CE onwards would be that of the Western Turks, although it is not clear how and foremost when they gained power over Bactria and the Hindukush-region. Minoru Inaba states that "gradually having extended their power, they came to be independent ..."" in {{cite journal |last1=Vondrovec |first1=Klaus |title=Coinage of the Nezak |page=173 |url=https://www.academia.edu/880242 |language=en}}</ref> The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk [[Yabghus of Tokharistan]].<ref name="HJK58"/> In the Hindu Kush region, they replaced the [[Nezak Huns]] – the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the [[Xionites|''Xwn'']] (Xionite) and/or ''[[Huna people|Huna]]'' peoples (who are sometimes also referred to as "Huns" who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period).<ref name="HJK58"/>

The Turk Shahis arose at a time when the [[Sasanian Empire]] had already been conquered by the [[Rashidun Caliphate]]. The Turk Shahis then resisted for more than 250 years the eastward expansion of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], until they fell to the Persian [[Saffarids]] in the 9th century AD.<ref name="MA21">{{cite book|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford|date=1 February 2021|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-46066-9|page=21|language=en}}</ref> The [[Ghaznavids]] then finally broke through into India after overpowering the declining subsequent [[Hindu Shahis]] and [[Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty|Gurjaras]].<ref name="MA283" /><ref name="HJK58" />

[[Kabulistan]] was the heartland of the Turk Shahi domain, which at times included [[Zabulistan]] and [[Gandhara]].<ref name="Turk Shahi">{{cite web |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase15?language=en |title= The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 15. The Rutbils of Zabulistan and the "Emperor of Rome" |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date= July 22, 2017}}</ref>

== Territorial extents ==
The Turks under the [[Western Turk]] ruler [[Tong Yabghu Qaghan]] crossed the [[Hindu-Kush]] and occupied [[Gandhara]] as far as the [[Indus River]] from circa 625 AD.<ref name="Vondrovec2014">{{cite book |author=Klaus Vondrovec |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek6_jgEACAAJ |title=Coinage of the Iranian Huns and Their Successors from Bactria to Gandhara (4th to 8th Century CE) |year=2014 | publisher=Austrian Academy of Sciences Press |isbn=978-3-7001-7695-4}}</ref><ref name="HH475">{{cite book |last1=Laet |first1=Sigfried J. de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGUz01yBumEC&pg=PA475 |title=History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. |last2=Herrmann |first2=Joachim |date=January 1996 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-102812-0 |page=475 |language=en}}</ref> Overall, the territory of the Turk Shahi extended from Kapisi to Gandhara, with a Turkic branch becoming independent in Zabulistan at one point.<ref name="MI443" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Dani|first1=Ahmad Hasan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA375|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750|last2=Litvinsky|first2=B. A.|date=January 1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103211-0|page=375|language=en}}</ref><ref name="academia.edu" /> The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the [[Kashmir kingdom]] and the [[Kanauj kingdom]] to the east.<ref name="MI443" /> The Turk Shahi capital of Gandhara, which possibly functioned as a winter capital alternating with the summer capital of Kabul, was [[Udabhandapura]].<ref name="UBA">"The capital of the state of Kapisa–Gandhara (possibly, its winter capital) was Udabhandapura, now the settlement of Hund, situated on the right bank of the Kabul river. Most of the city was surrounded by a defensive rampart." in {{cite book|last1=Harmatta|first1=J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwigmxoCLT8C&pg=PA391|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Tokharistan and Gandhara under Western Türk Rule (650–750)|last2=Litvinsky|first2=B. A.|publisher=Unesco|year=1992|isbn=978-92-3-103211-0|page=391|language=en}}</ref> The Korean pilgrim [[Hui Chao]], visiting the area in 723–729 AD, mentioned that these regions were ruled by Turk kings.

== History ==

=== Establishment: Arab offensive and displacement of the Nezaks ===
The last extant [[Nezak]] ruler Ghar-ilchi was recorded as the king of [[Jibin]] (former [[Kapisi]]/ [[Kabulistan]]) by the [[Tang dynasty]] in 653 AD.{{sfn|Rahman|2002a|p=37}} He was also likely to be the unnamed ruler who was confirmed as Governor of Jibin under the newly formed Chinese [[Protectorate General to Pacify the West|Anxi Protectorate]] in 661 CE and would broker a peace-treaty with the Arabs, the same year.{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}}{{Sfn|Ziad|2022|p=59, 89}} Nonetheless, in 664-665 CE, [[Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura]] launched an expedition to reconquer the territories lost during the Caliphate Wars.{{efn|In 653-4 CE, an army of around 6,000 Arabs led by [[Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura]] of the [[Rashidun caliphate]] attacked Zabul and laid seize to [[Rukhkhaj]] and [[Zamindawar]].{{sfn|Morony|2012|p=216}} [[Lashkargah|Bost]] and [[Zabulistan]] submitted to the Arab invader by a [[Capitulation (treaty)|treaty of capitulation]] in 656 CE.{{sfn|Morony|2012|p=216}} However, the Muslims soon lost control of these territories during the [[First Fitna|First Civil War]] (656–661), which led to the replacement of the Rashidun caliphate by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] in 661.{{sfn|Morony|2012|p=216}}}} [[Kabul]] was occupied in 665 CE after a siege of a few months but soon revolted, only to be reoccupied after another year-long siege.{{Efn|[[Ibn A'tham al-Kufi]] notes that the ruler of Kabul mounted periodic resistance against Samura before retreating into the city.{{sfn|Rehman|1976|pp=58-59}} This ruler is unfavorably compared to Samura, who had persisted in the siege despite difficulties.{{sfn|Rehman|1976|pp=59}}}} These events mortally weakened the Nezaks though their ruler — not named in sources — was spared upon converting to [[Islam]].{{sfn|Rehman|1976|pp=59, 64}}

Sometime soon (666/667?), the Nezaks were replaced by the Turk Shahis, first in Zabulistan and then in Kabulistan and Gandhara.<ref name=":12">{{cite book |last1=Alram |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford |date=1 February 2021 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-46066-9 |page=12 |language=en}}</ref> Their ethnic identity remains unclear and the name might be a misnomer.{{efn|'Turk" was used rather liberally in sources to describe a wide spectrum of alien people. Xuanzang, returning via Kapisa in 643 C.E., had already noted Turk ascendancy in the region — Turks held power over Vṛjisṭhānā, a minor state between Kapisi and Gandhara.{{Sfn|Ziad|2022|p=50, 87}}}} According to [[Hyecho]], who visited the region about 50 years after the events, the first [[Turk Shahi|Shahi]] ruler of Kapisi — named Barha Tegin by [[Al-Biruni]] — was an usurper, who used to be a military commander in the service of the last Nezak King.{{sfn|Rahman|2002a|p=37, 39}}{{Sfn|Kuwayama|2000|p=59}}{{efn|{{blockquote|[[File:Wang wu tian zhu guo zhuan 往 五 天 竺 國 傳 by Hui chao Hyecho, visit of Gandhara (建馱羅國).jpg|thumb|left|Account of Gandhara by Hyecho (first three lines given here).]]From [[Kashmir]] I travelled further northwest. After one month's journey across the mountains I arrived at the country of [[Gandhara]]. The king and military personnel are all Turks. The natives are [[Barbarians|Hu]] people; there are [[Brahmin]]s. The country was formerly under the influence of the king of [[Kingdom of Kapisa|Kapisa]]. A-yeh [''alternatively'' read as "The father", than a personal name, referring to Barha Tegin, father of then-King [[Tegin Shah]]{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993}}] of the Turkish King took a defeated cavalry [''alternatively'' "led an army and a tribe" ''or'' "led troops of his entire tribe"{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993}}] and allied himself to the king of Kapisa. Later, when the Turkish force was strong, the prince assassinated the king of Kapisa [''possibly'' [[Ghar-ilchi]]] and declared himself king. Thereafter, the territory from this country to the north was all ruled by the Turkish king, who also resided in the country.|[[Hyecho]] on [[Gandhara]], "[[Wang ocheonchukguk jeon|An account of travel to the five Indian kingdoms]]", c. 726 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ch'o |first1=Hye |last2=Ch'ao |first2=Hui |last3=Yang |first3=Han-sŭng |title=The Hye Ch'o Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India |date=1984 |publisher=Jain Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-89581-024-3 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWo47KtISe8C&pg=PA48 |language=en|postscript= Also published by the Asian Humanities Press, 1986, Issue 2 of Religions of Asia series Unesco collection of representative works}}</ref>}}}} Al-Biruni provides a rather legendary account of Barhategin's rise, extrapolating from multiple mythological motifs,{{efn|The account goes as:<ref name="SK403">{{cite journal |last1=Kuwayama |first1=Shoshin |title=The Turki Śāhis and Relevant Brahmanical Sculptures in Afghanistan |journal=East and West |date=1976 |volume=26 |issue=3/4 |page=403 |jstor=29756318 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756318 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref>{{blockquote|The Hindus had kings residing in Kabul, Turks who were said to be of Tibetan origin. The first of them, Barhatakin, came into the country and entered a cave in [[Kabul]], which none could enter except by creeping on hands and knees. [...] Some days after he had entered the cave, he began to creep out of it in the presence of the people, who looked on him as a newborn baby. He wore Turkish dress, a short tunic open in front, a high hat, boots and arms. Now people honoured him as a being of miraculous origin, who had been destined to be king, and in fact he brought those countries under his sway and ruled them under the title of a Shahiya of Kabul. The rule remained among his descendants for generations, the number of which is said to be about sixty. [...] The last king of this race was Lagatarman, and his Vizir was Kallar, a Brahman.|[[Al-Biruni]],''Tārīkh al-Hind'' ("History of India")}}}} and the precise circumstances surrounding the dawning of the Turk Shahis remain unclear.{{Efn|Baladhuri notes of the "Kabul Shah" that he purged all Muslims out of Kabul (city - ?) and "Rutbil" (ex-ruler of Zabul) and regained control of Bost and Rukhdwaj the same year, drawing Arab forces into renewed offensive.{{sfn|Rehman|1976|pp=64}} Whether the "Kabul Shah" refers to the first Turk Shahi or the last Nezak cannot be confirmed; in case of the latter, the resulting conflict would have provided a ground for the rise of Turk Shahis.{{sfn|Ziad|2022|p=90}}}}

=== Tang Protectorate and vassalage to the Tokhara Yabghus ===
[[File:Upper Bala Hissar from west Kabul in 1879.jpg|thumb|The [[Bala Hissar, Kabul|Bala Hissar fortress]], west [[Kabul]], originally built around the 5th century AD]]
The Turk Shahis, like the rest of the [[Western Turks]], were nominally part of a protectorate under the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]] since circa 658 AD.<ref>"China, at the other end of Central Asia, managed to bring the Western branch of the Qaγanate under Tang supremacy in 658 CE and consequently established a protectorate in Bactria which also extended south of the Hindukush." in {{cite journal|last1=Vondrovec|first1=Klaus|title=Coinage of the Nezak|url=https://www.academia.edu/880242|language=en|page=681}}</ref> The territory of the Turk Shahis was nominally partitioned into several Chinese Commanderies under administration of the [[Anxi Protectorate]]: the city of Yege (modern [[Mihtarlam]]) east of Kabul was considered as the seat of a Chinese Commandery for the [[Jibin]] country, and named the Xiuxian Commandery (修鮮都督府, ''Xiūxiān Dūdùfû''),{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}} the city of Yan at the border with [[Gandhara]] was the seat of the Yuepan Commandery (悅般都督府, ''Yuèpān Dūdùfû''), [[Ghazni]] was the seat of the Tiaozhi Commandery (條枝都督府, ''Tiáozhī Dūdùfû'').<ref>{{cite journal |last1=稲葉穣 |first1=Inaba Minoru |title=From Caojuzha to Ghazna/Ghaznīn: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan |journal=Journal of Asian History |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=97–117, especially p. 108 Table 2 |doi=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |issn=0021-910X}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Theobald|first1=Ulrich|author-link=Chinaknowledge|title=The Western Territories 西域 (www.chinaknowledge.de)|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/xiyu.html|website=www.chinaknowledge.de|language=en}}</ref>

According to Chinese sources, in particular the chronicles of the ''[[Cefu Yuangui]]'', the Turks in Kabul were vassals of the [[Tokhara Yabghus|Yabghus of Tokharistan]], who in turn swore allegiance to the Tangs.<ref name="SW1057">{{cite journal|last1=Sims-Williams|first1=Nicholas|date=2002|title=Nouveaux document bactriens du Guzgan (note d'information)|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_2002_num_146_3_22500|journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres|volume=146|issue=3|page=1057|doi=10.3406/crai.2002.22500}}</ref> A young brother of the [[Tokhara Yabghu]] Pantu Nili — named Puluo (僕羅 ''púluó'') in Chinese sources — visited the court of the [[Tang dynasty]] in [[Xi'an]] in 718 AD and gave an account of the military forces in the Tokharistan region, explaining that "two hundred and twelve kingdoms, governors and prefects" had been recognizing the authority of the Yabghus (specifically mentioning among them that "the king of Zabul rules two hundred thousand soldiers and horses, the king of Kabul two hundred thousand"), since the time of his grandfather, that is, probably since the time of their establishment.<ref name="SW1057" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kuwayama|first1=S.|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39251127.pdf|title=Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of the papers|date=2002|publisher=Kyoto University|page=139}}</ref>{{efn|This account also shows that the Yabghu of Tokharistan ruled a vast area circa 718 AD, formed of the territories north and south of the [[Hindu Kush]], including the areas of [[Kabul]] and [[Zabul]].<ref>"The account herewith quoted as 3.5. shows that this king of Tokhara had political power to control the principalities belonging to the Governors-General to the north and the south of the Hindukush, not to mention the Yuezhi Governor General."  in {{cite journal |last1=Kuwayama |first1=Shoshin |title=Chinese Records on Bamiyan: Translation and Commentary |journal=East and West |date=2005 |volume=55 |issue=1/4 |pages=153, 3–5 |jstor=29757642 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757642 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref>}}{{efn|"On the Dingwei day of the eleventh month in the sixth year of the [[Kaiyuan era]], [[Ashina tribe|Ashi]] [[Tegin]] Puluo (阿史特勒僕羅) writes to the emperor: [[Tokharistan|Tokhara]] [[Yabghu]] (吐火羅葉䕶), his elder brother, is controlling as his subordinates two hundred and twelve persons, such as the local kings of various states, Dudu (Governors-General), and Cishi (heads of regional governments). The king of [[Zabul]] rules two hundred thousand soldiers and horses, the king of [[Kabul]] two hundred thousand, each king of [[Khuttal]], [[Chaghaniyan|Chaghanian]], Jiesu (解蘓國), [[Shighnan|Shughnan]], [[Hephthalites|Evdal]] (悒達國), Kumedha Wa'khan (䕶宻國), [[Guzgan]]an, [[Bamiyan]], Lieyuedejian (久越徳建國), and [[Badakhshan]] fifty thousand." ''[[Cefu Yuangui]]'' 3.5. Fanyan in Vol. 999 (Claims, Foreign Subjects), 718 AD. in {{cite journal |last1=Kuwayama |first1=Shoshin |title=Chinese Records on Bamiyan: Translation and Commentary |journal=East and West |date=2005 |volume=55 |issue=1/4 |pages=143–144 |jstor=29757642 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757642 |issn=0012-8376}} {{PD-notice}} Original text of [[Cefu Yuangui]] 3.5. Fanyan in Vol. 999: 六年十一月丁未阿史特勒僕羅上書訴曰僕羅克吐火羅葉䕶部下管諸國王都督刺史總二百一十二人謝颺國王統領兵馬二十萬衆罽賔國王統領兵馬二十萬衆骨吐國王石汗那國王解蘓國王石匿國王悒達國王䕶宻國王䕶時健國王范延國王久越徳建國王勃特山王各領五萬衆僕羅祖父已来並是上件諸國之王蕃望尊重僕羅兄般都泥利承嫡繼襲先𫎇恩勑差使持節就本國册立為王然火羅葉䕶積代以來扵大唐忠赤朝貢不絶本國緣接近大食吐蕃東界又是西鎮僕羅兄每徴發部落下兵馬討論擊諸賊與漢軍相知聲援應接在扵邊境所以免有侵漁僕羅兄前後屢𫎇聖澤媿荷國恩遂發遣僕羅入朝侍衛玉階至願獻忠殉命以為臣妾僕羅至此為不解漢法鴻臚寺不委蕃望大小有不比類流例髙下相懸即奏擬授官竊見石國龜兹并余小國王子首領等入朝元無功効並緣蕃望授三品将軍况僕羅身恃勤本蕃位望與親王一種北䫫大小與諸國王子懸殊却授僕羅四品中郎但在蕃王子弟娑羅門瞿曇金剛龜兹王子白孝順等皆數改轉位至諸衛將軍唯僕羅最是大蕃去神龍元年𫎇恩勑授左領軍衛翊府中郎將至今經一十四年久被淪屈不𫎇准例授職不勝苦屈之甚勑鴻臚卿准例定品秩勿令稱屈  in {{cite web |title=冊府元龜 (四庫全書本)/卷0999 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%86%8A%E5%BA%9C%E5%85%83%E9%BE%9C_(%E5%9B%9B%E5%BA%AB%E5%85%A8%E6%9B%B8%E6%9C%AC)/%E5%8D%B70999 |website=zh.m.wikisource.org}} }}

=== Conflict with the Arabs ===
{{see also|Muslim conquest of Sistan|Muslim conquests of Afghanistan|Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent}}
[[File:Arabsumf1.png|thumb|325px|right|The Turk Shahis were affected by the [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent]].<br>
{{legend|yellow|Desert areas ([[Registan Desert]] and [[Thar Desert]])}}
{{legend|#FFD700|[[Zunbils]]}}
{{legend|#FFDEAD|Turk Shahis}}
{{legend|#9932CC|[[Karkota dynasty|Kingdom of Kashmir]]}}
{{legend|#DEB887|[[Brahman dynasty of Sindh|Kingdom of Sindh]] (c. 632– 711 CE)<br>then, [[Caliphal province of Sind]] (712-854 CE)}}
{{legend|#E0FFFF|[[Maitraka dynasty|Maitraka Kingdom]] (c.475–c.776 CE)}}
]]
Under [[Barha Tegin]], the Shahis mounted a counter-offensive and repulsed the Arab forces after [[Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura]] was replaced as [[List of caliphal governors of Sijistan|Governor of Sistan]] c.665 CE, taking back lost territory as far as the region of [[Arachosia]] and [[Kandahar]].<ref name=":0"/><ref name="HJK583">{{cite book|last1=Kim|first1=Hyun Jin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcf4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT61|title=The Huns|date=19 November 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-34090-4|pages=58–59|language=en}}</ref><ref name="KV1832">{{cite book|last1=Vondrovec|first1=Klaus|url=https://www.academia.edu/880242|title=Coins, Art and Chronology II - The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands (Coinage of the Nezak)|page=183|language=en}}</ref> The capital was shifted from [[Kapisi|Kapisa]] to [[Kabul]].<ref name="MAL142">{{cite book |last1=Alram |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford |date=1 February 2021 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-46066-9 |pages=14–15 |language=en}}</ref> The Arabs attempted a counter-offensive when [[Rabi ibn Ziyad al-Harithi]] assumed the governorship of Sistan in 671 CE, attacking the Turkic "[[Zunbils|Rutbil]]" at [[Lashkargah|Bost]], and driving him to al-Rukhkhaj ([[Arachosia]]).<ref name=":0"/> Rabi's successor [[Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra]] continued the war upon being appointed in 673 CE, leading Rutbil to negotiate a peace treaty for both [[Kabulistan|Kabul]] and [[Zabul]], in which the governor of [[Sistan]] acknowledged control of these territories by Rutbil and the King of Kabul.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7QWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|title=Resistance at the Edge of Empires: The Archaeology and History of the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200|page=69|publisher=Cambridge University Press|first=Cameron A.|last=Petrie|isbn=9781785703065|date=2020-12-28}}</ref> Little more is known about the rule of Barha Tegin, but many of the early Turk Shahi coins are attributed to him.{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993|p=394}}

He was succeeded by his son [[Tegin Shah]] c. 680, whose regal title was "[[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] Tegin Shah" meaning "Tegin, King of the East", probably referring to his resistance against the [[Umayyad caliph]].<ref name="KV1832" /><ref name="KHM14">{{cite web|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|last2=Filigenzi|first2=Anna|last3=Kinberger|first3=Michaela|last4=Nell|first4=Daniel|last5=Pfisterer|first5=Matthias|last6=Vondrovec|first6=Klaus|title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 14. Kabulistan and Bactria at the Time of "Khorasan Tegin Shah"|url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase14?language=en|access-date=July 16, 2017|publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna|newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at}}</ref> His territory comprised the area from Kabulistan to Gandhara and initially included Zabulistan, which came to be ruled by Rutbil (Turkic: ''Iltäbär''), his elder brother, who founded the dynasty of the [[Zunbils]].<ref name="KHM14" /> Their relationship was at times antagonistic, but they fought together against Arab incursions.<ref name="KHM14" /><ref name="IM102-103">{{cite journal |last1=Minoru |first1=Inaba (稲葉穣) |title=From Caojuzha to Ghazna/Ghaznīn: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan |journal=Journal of Asian History |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=102–103 |doi=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |issn=0021-910X}}</ref>

The Arabs again failed to capture Kabul and Zabulistan in 683 AD: their general Abu Ubaida ibn Ziyad was imprisoned in Kabul and Governor of [[Sijistan]] [[Yazid ibn Ziyad]] was killed as he attacked the city.<ref name="HJK58" /><ref name="AM71">{{cite book|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7QWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|title=Resistance at the Edge of Empires: The Archaeology and History of the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200|date=28 December 2020|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-78570-306-5|page=71|language=en}}</ref> In 684–685, Kabul briefly comes under Arab control.<ref name="AM71" /> In 698 [[Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra]] of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] lead an 'Army of Destruction' against the Zunbils, was defeated and was forced to offer a large tribute, give hostages including three of his sons and take an oath not to invade Zunbil again.<ref name="Hugh Kennedy">{{cite book|author=Hugh Kennedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pk7BS9XC10QC&q=Hugh+Kennedy%2CThe+Great+Arab+Conquests%27+%22army+of+destruction%22&pg=PT128|title=The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In|publisher=Hachette UK|year=2010|isbn=9780297865599|page=128}}</ref> About 700 [[Ibn al-Ash'ath]] tried again to invade with the 'Peacock Army', but after some initial progress eventually formed a peace treaty with the Turks, and turned around to lead a rebellion against the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] viceroy of the east, [[al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf]].<ref>Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests', 2007, pages 194-198</ref>

Tegin Shah apparently regained complete suzerainty over Zabulistan around 710 CE.<ref name="KHM14" /> This appears from the accounts in the Chinese chronicles, which relates that the rulers of Zabulistan "subjugated themselves to [[Jibin]] (Kabul)", sometime between 710 and 720 CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Minoru |first1=Inaba (稲葉穣) |title=From Caojuzha to Ghazna/Ghaznīn: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan |journal=Journal of Asian History |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=99–103 |doi=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |issn=0021-910X}}</ref> During this period, it seems the Zunbils and the Turk Shahis intermittently accepted, or were forced to accept, payment of taxes to the Arabs, thereby acknowledging some form of political dependence, but resisted fiercely when the Arabs attempted to take a more direct military, political or religious control.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Petrie|first1=Cameron A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7QWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72|title=Resistance at the Edge of Empires: The Archaeology and History of the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200|date=28 December 2020|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-78570-306-5|page=72|language=en}}</ref>

From 711 CE, the Turk Shahis also had to face a Muslim threat from the southeast, as the campaigns of [[Muhammad ibn Qasim]] established the [[Caliphal province of Sind]], as far as [[Multan]], at the gates of [[Punjab]], which would last until 854 CE as an [[Ummayad]] and then [[Abbasid]] dependency.<ref name="CAP148">{{cite book |last1=Petrie |first1=Cameron A. |title=Resistance at the Edge of Empires: The Archaeology and History of the Bannu basin from 1000 BC to AD 1200 |date=28 December 2020 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-78570-304-1 |page=148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbQWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT148-149 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Tang dynasty investiture ====
In 719/20 CE, the Tegin of Kabulistan ([[Tegin Shah]]) and the Iltäbär of [[Zabulistan]] (here named "Shiquer") sent a combined embassy to [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang|Xuanzong]], the Chinese Emperor of the [[Tang dynasty]] in [[Xi'an]], to obtain confirmation of their thrones.{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}} The Chinese emperor signed an investiture decree, which was returned to the Turk rulers. The official Chinese recognition of the enthronement of Tegin Shah appears in the annals of the ''[[Tangshu]]'':

[[File:Tegin Shah (obverse).jpg|thumb|Portrait of the Turk Shahis ruler [[Tegin Shah]], who received the investiture from the [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang|Tang Emperor]] in 719/720 CE, as "King of [[Kabul|Jibin]], ''Tegin'' (ruler) of the [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]]".<ref name="KHM14"/>{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}}]]
{{blockquote|In the seventh year of the Kaiyuan reign [719 CE], [Jibin (Kabul) dispatched] envoys to the [Tang] court, who offered up a book of an astrological text, secret medical recipes, together with foreign medecines and other things. An imperial edict was issued to bestow on the king [of Jibin] the title [[Khalaj people|Geluodazhi]] Tele [for "Tegin"].|[[Old Book of Tang]], Book 198.<ref name="KHM14"/>{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Original Chinese: 开元七年，遣使来朝，进天文经一夹、秘要方并蕃药等物，诏遣册其王为葛罗达支特勒。|url=http://www.guoxue123.com/shibu/0101/00jts/209.htm |website=www.guoxue123.com}}</ref>}}

The word "''Geluodazhi''" in this extract (Chinese: 葛罗达支, pronounced in [[Early Middle Chinese]]: kat-la-dat-tcǐe), is thought to be a transliteration of the ethnonym [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]].{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=105}} Hence Tegin Shah was described as "Tegin of the Khalaj".{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=105}} This title also appears on his coinage in [[Gupta script]], where he is named "''hitivira kharalāča''", probably meaning "[[Iltäbär]] of the Khalaj".{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=105}}

In 720 CE, the ruler of [[Zabulistan]] (謝䫻, ''Xiėyù'') also received the title ''Gedaluozhi Xielifa'' (Chinese: 葛達羅支頡利發), ''Xielifa'' being the known Chinese transcription of the Turkish "[[Iltäbär]]", hence "Iltäbär of the Khalaj".<ref>Original Chinese in [[Cefu Yuangui]], book 0964 冊府元龜 (四庫全書本)/卷0964 "九月遣使冊葛達羅支頡利發誓屈爾為謝䫻國王葛達羅支特勒為𦋺賔國王", simplified Chinese "九月遣使册葛达罗支颉利发誓屈尔为谢䫻国王葛达罗支特勒为𦋺賔国王", "In September [720 CE] ambassadors recorded that Gedalouzhi Xielifa Shiquer was enthroned as king of Zabulistan, ''Gedaluozhi Tele'' was enthroned as king of [[Jibin]]." see {{cite book|last1=Inaba|first1=Minoru|url=https://www.academia.edu/7838558|title=From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia, in "Coins, Art and Chronology II The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderland"|date=2010|publisher=Austrian Academy of Sciences Press|isbn=978-3700168850|location=Vienna|page=452}} also " 開元八年，天子冊葛達羅支頡利發誓屈爾為王。至天寶中數朝獻。" "In the eighth year of Kaiyuan (720), the Emperor approved the enthronement of Gedalouzhi Xielifa Shiquer. Their envoys came to the royal court several times until the Tianbao era (742–756)." in {{cite journal|last1=稲葉穣|first1=Inaba Minoru|date=2015|title=From Caojuzha to Ghazna/Ghaznīn: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097|journal=Journal of Asian History|volume=49|issue=1–2|page=100|doi=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097|jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |issn=0021-910X}}</ref> This appears in another extract from the ''[[Tangshu]]'' describing the country of Zabulistan (谢䫻, ''Xiėyù''), mentioning how Zabulistan was a vassal to the Kabul Shah around the same period, and how the Zunbil ruler, named "Shiquer", was also recognized by the Chinese court:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michael |first1=Alram |title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford |date=1 February 2021 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-46066-9 |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=稲葉穣 |first1=Inaba Minoru |title=From Caojuzha to Ghazna/Ghaznīn: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan |journal=Journal of Asian History |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=99–100 |doi=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |issn=0021-910X}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The people from ''Tujue'' (Turks), ''Jibin'' ([[Kabul]]), and ''Tuhuoluo'' ([[Tokhara Yabghus|Tokharistan]]) live together in this country [Zabulistan]. Jibin recruits from among them young men to defend against ''Dashi'' (Arabs). They sent an envoy to the Tang in the first year of Jingyun (710) to present gifts. Later, they subjugated themselves to Jibin. In the eighth year of Kaiyuan (720), the Emperor approved the enthronement of ''Gedalouzhi'' ("[[Khalaj people|Khalaj]]") ''[[Zabulistan|Xielifa]]'' ("[[Iltäbär]]") Shiquer. Their envoys came to the royal court several times until the Tianbao era (742–756).|[[Old Book of Tang]], Book 221: account of Zabulistan (谢䫻 ''Xiėyù'').<ref>Original Chinese: "谢䫻居吐火罗西南本曰漕矩吒或曰漕矩显庆时谓诃达罗支武后改今号东距罽賔东北帆延皆四百里南婆罗门西波斯北护时健其王居鹤悉那城地七千里亦治阿娑你城多郁金瞿草瀵泉灌田国中有突厥罽賔吐火罗种人𮦀居罽賔取其子弟持兵以御大食景云初遣使朝贡后遂臣罽賔开元八年天子册葛达罗支颉利发誓屈尔为王至天宝中数朝献" in {{cite web |title=唐书 (四库全书本)/卷221下 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8_(%E5%9B%9B%E5%BA%AB%E5%85%A8%E6%9B%B8%E6%9C%AC)/%E5%8D%B7221%E4%B8%8B |website=zh.wikisource.org |language=zh-Hans}}, also: {{cite journal |last1=稲葉穣 |first1=Inaba Minoru |title=From Caojuzha to Ghazna/Ghaznīn: Early Medieval Chinese and Muslim Descriptions of Eastern Afghanistan |journal=Journal of Asian History |date=2015 |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=99–100 |doi=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |jstor=10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0097 |issn=0021-910X}}</ref>}}

These two Chinese accounts tend to confirm that the Turk Shahi and Zunbil rulers were Khalaj Turks.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Inaba|first1=Minoru|title=From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia|url=https://www.academia.edu/7838558|page=445}}</ref> The Korean pilgrim [[Hyecho]] accompanied the return embassy in 726 AD, and wrote an account of his travel and visit at the court of Kabul, relating that Turk (''"T’u-chüeh"'') kings ruled the territories of Gandhara, Kapisa and [[Zabulistan]] at the time, that they were [[Buddhist]]s, and that the King of Kabul was the uncle of the ruler of Zabul.<ref name="HC370">"The definitive annexation of Tokharistan and Gandhara to the Western Türk Empire was to take place some years later, in c. 625, when Sasanian Iran became involved in the war against Byzantium that ultimately led to its eclipse." in {{cite book|last1=Dani|first1=Ahmad Hasan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA370|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750|last2=Litvinsky|first2=B. A.|date=January 1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103211-0|pages=370–375|language=en}}</ref><ref name="KHM14" />

=== Victory over the Arabs ===
[[File:Royal figure with crown and halo, wearing a double-lapel caftan and boots, accompanied by a figure in armour.jpg|thumb|Royal figure with triple-crescent crown and halo, wearing a double-lapel caftan and boots, accompanied by a figure in armour. This is a possible depiction of Sun and Moon deities, showing Central Asian influence. Mural from the [[Fondukistan monastery]], circa 700 AD.<ref name="SN31">{{cite journal |last1=Novotny |first1=Susanne |title=The Buddhist Monastery of Fondukistān, Afghanistan – A Reconstruction |journal=Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology |date=1 January 2007 |volume=2 |pages=31–37 |doi=10.1484/J.JIAAA.2.302542 |url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JIAAA.2.302542?journalCode=jiaa |issn=1783-9025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hackin |first1=J. |title=Les travaux de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan: Compte-Rendu Sommaire (Septembre 1936-Août 1937) |journal=Revue des arts asiatiques |date=1938 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=10–11 |jstor=43475079 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43475079 |issn=0995-7510}}</ref> Similarities can be seen with the [[Kizil Caves]] knights, indicating the continuity of Central Asian art under the patronage of the Western Turks.<ref name="EB145">Bosworth also says that the "[[Ephthalites]] were incapable of such work" in {{cite book|last1=Bosworth|first1=C. Edmund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT145|title=The Turks in the Early Islamic World|date=15 May 2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-351-88087-9|page=145|language=en}}</ref>]]
In 739 CE, Tegin abdicated in favour of his son [[Fromo Kesaro]]:<ref name="HJK583"/>{{efn|{{harvnb|Martin|2011|p=127}}:"He received this laudatory epithet because he, like the Byzantines, was successful at holding back the Muslim conquerors."}}
{{blockquote|In the 27th year [of Kaiyuan, ie 739 CE], the king Wusan Tela Sa [for Khorasan Tegin Shah] submitted a memorial requesting that due to his old age, his son [[Fromo Kesaro|Fulin Jisuo]] may succeed him on the throne. The emperor agreed and dispatched an envoy in order to confer the king's title on him through an imperial edict.|[[Old Book of Tang]], Book 198.<ref name="KHM14"/>{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}}<ref>Original Chinese: 二十七年，其王乌散特勒洒以年老，上表请以子拂菻罽婆嗣位，许之，仍降使册命。{{cite web |title=卷一百九十八 列传第一百四十八_旧唐书 |url=http://www.guoxue123.com/shibu/0101/00jts/209.htm |website=www.guoxue123.com}}</ref>}}
"[[Fromo Kesaro]]" is probable phonetic transcription of "Rome Caesar".<ref name="HJK58" /><ref name="Fromo Kesaro">{{cite journal|last1=Piras|first1=Andrea|title=Fromo Kesaro. Echi del prestigio di Bisanzio in Asia Centrale, in Polidoro. Studi offerti ad Antonio Carile, a cura di G. Vespignani (Centro italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo), Spoleto 2013, pp. 671-690.|url=https://www.academia.edu/5340750|language=en|page=681}}</ref> He was apparently named in honor of "Caesar", the title of the then [[Byzantine Empire|East Roman]] Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]] who had defeated their common enemy the Arabs during the [[Siege of Constantinople (717–718)|Siege of Constantinople]] in 717 AD, and sent [[Sino-Roman relations|an embassy to China through Central Asia]] in 719 AD which probably met with the Turk Shahis.<ref name="HJK58" />{{efn|{{harvnb|Martin|2011|p=127}}:"He received this laudatory epithet because he, like the Byzantines, was successful at holding back the Muslim conquerors."}} In Chinese sources "Fromo Kesaro" was aptly transcribed ''"Fulin Jisuo"'' (拂菻罽娑), "[[Daqin|Fulin]]" (拂菻) being the standard [[Tang dynasty]] name for "[[Byzantine Empire]]" and Jisuo (罽娑) the phonetic transcription of "Caesar":<ref name="AR37">{{cite book |last1=Rahman |first1=Abdur |title=Afghanistan. Ancien Carrefour entre l'Est et l'Ouest (New Light on Khingal, Turk and Hindu Shahis) |last2=Bopearachchi (Ed.) |first2=Osmund |last3=Boussac (Ed.) |first3=Marie-Françoise |date=2002 |publisher=Brepols |isbn=2-503-51681-5 |volume=XV |location=Turnhout, Belgium |pages=37–41}}</ref>{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=106}}<ref name="Fromo Kesaro" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Qiang|date=2017|title=Handbook of the International Symposium on "Byzantine Gold Coins in the World of Late Antiquity"|url=https://www.academia.edu/34687635|journal=中国 · 长春|language=en}}</ref>

Fromo Kesaro appears to have successfully fought against the Arabs.<ref name="HJK58" /><ref name="MA19-20">{{cite book|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford|date=1 February 2021|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-46066-9|page=1920|language=en}}</ref> His coinage suggests that the Arabs were defeated and forced to pay tribute to Fromo Kesaro, since Sasanian coins and coins of Arab governors were overstruck by him on the rim with the following text in the [[Bactrian script]]:<ref name="Overstrike">{{cite book|last1=Dani|first1=Ahmad Hasan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA381|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750|last2=Litvinsky|first2=B. A.|date=1 January 1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103211-0|pages=381–382|language=en}}</ref>
{{blockquote|[[File:Phromo kesaro coin with victory legend (and transcription).jpg|thumb|left|Sasanian drachm with Fromo Kesaro obverse and reverse rim overstrike in [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]].<ref>"New Coins of Fromo Kēsaro" by Helmut Humbach in: G. Pollet (ed.), "India and the Ancient World. History, trade and culture before A.D. 650". Professor P.H.L. Eggermont jubilee volume. Leuven 1987, 81-85,  [https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/30872542769_3.jpg plates. XI-XIII]</ref><ref name="Inscription"/>]]''Obverse:'' ϕρoµo κησαρo βαγo χoαδηo κιδo βo ταzικανo χoργo<br>''Reverse:'' oδo σαo βo σαβαγo ατo ι µo βo γαινδo<br><br>
''Fromo Kesaro, the Majestic Sovereign, [is] who defeated the Arabs and laid a tax [on them]. Thus they sent it.''|Rim legend of Sasanian and Arab coins overstruck by Fromo Kesaro<ref name="Overstrike"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Charlton |first1=Evan |title=India in the ancient world |date=1987 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=9780333124291}}</ref><ref name="Inscription">{{cite book |last1=Harmatta |first1=János |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |date=1996 |publisher=United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization |location=Paris |isbn=92-3-103211-9 |page=374 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35651106}}</ref>{{efn|The study of these new coins originally appeared in "New Coins of Fromo Kēsaro" by Helmut Humbach in: G. Pollet (ed.), "India and the Ancient World. History, trade and culture before A.D. 650". Professor P.H.L. Eggermont jubilee volume. Leuven 1987, 81-85,  [https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/30872542769_3.jpg plates. XI-XIII]}} }}

Since these coins did not come out from Fromo Kesaro's foundries, but were simply pre-existing Arab/Sasanian coins which he overstruck on the rim with his victorious legends in Bactrian, it would seem that in all likelihood the coins underwent this rather simple overstriking procedure in the field, probably during one of his victorious campaigns against the Muslims.<ref name="MA19-20"/>

Fromo Kesaro's victories may have forged parts of the epic legend of the Tibetan King whose name appears to be phonetically similar: [[Epic of King Gesar|Phrom Ge-sar]].<ref name="HJK58" /><ref name="Overstrike" />

=== Dissolution of the Tang protectorate ===
{{South Asia in 800 CE|right|{{center|The Turk Shahis and Zunbils in South Asia, with neighbouring polities, circa 750 CE.<ref name="JES">{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=145, map XIV.1 (e)|isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182}}</ref>}}|{{Annotation|60|17|[[File:Rectangle (plain).svg|50px]]}}}}
In 745 AD, Fromo Kesaro's son [[Bo Fuzhun]] (勃匐準 ''Bo Fuzhun'' in Chinese sources) became the king, as recorded in the Old Book of Tang;{{efn|{{blockquote|天寶四年，又冊其子勃匐準為襲罽賓及烏萇國王，仍授左驍衛將軍<br>In the 4th year of the Tianbao reign [745 CE]{{efn|Tianbao (天寶, 742–756), era name used by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang}} another imperial edict was issued to make his [i.e. [[Fromo Kesaro]]'s] son Bo Fuzun succeed him on the throne as the King of [[Jibin]] and [[Oddiyana|Uddiyana]]. He was conferred the title of "General of Left Stalwart Guard".|[[Old Book of Tang]], Book 198.{{sfn|Balogh|2020|p=104}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuwayama |first1=S. |title=Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of papers |date=2002 |publisher=INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES KYOTO UNIVERSITY |page=259 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39251127.pdf}}</ref>}}}} he was simultaneously conferred with the Tang title "General of the Left", which probably alludes to a strategic relationship between the Chinese and the Turk Shahis, in the context of expanding Islamic frontiers.<ref name="CAP148" />

The Chinese departed from the region c. 760 AD, following their strategic defeat at the [[Battle of Talas]] (751 AD) and the events of the [[An Lushan Rebellion]], thus weakening the geopolitical position of the Turk Shahis.<ref name="HC216">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18eABeokpjEC&pg=PA216|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia|date=January 1998 |publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103467-1|page=216ff|language=en}}</ref> [[Ya'qubi|Al-Yakubhi]] records that c. 775–785, a Turk Shahi ruler of Kabul—variously reconstructed as [[Khingal|Ḥanḥal/Khinkhil/Khingil/Khingal]]—was sent a proposal by [[Al-Mahdi]] (775-785), the third [[Abbasid]] [[Caliph]], asking for his submission, to which he conceded.{{efn|{{blockquote|[[Al-Mahdi|Al-Mahdī]] sent messengers to the kings, calling on them to submit, and most of them submitted to him. Among them were the king of Kābul Shāh, whose name was [[Khingal|Ḥanḥal]]; the king of [[Tabaristan|Ṭabaristān]], the [[Ispahbadh|Iṣbahbadh]]; the king of [[Soghdia]], the [[Ikhshid|Ikhshīd]]; the king of [[Tokharistan|Tukhāristān]], [[Sharwin I|Sharwin]]; the king of [[Bamiyan]], the Shīr; the king of [[Ferghana|Farghana]], ------ ; the king of [[Usrushana|Usrūshana]], [[Afshin|Afshīn]]; the king of the [[Karluks|Kharlukhiyya]], Jabghūya; the king of [[Sijistān]], [[Zunbil|Zunbīl]]; the king of Turks, [[Tarkhan]]; the king of [[Tibet]], Ḥ-h-w-r-n; the king of [[Sind]], al-Rāy; the king of [[China]], [[Son of Heaven|Baghbür]]; the king of India and Atrāḥ, Wahūfūr; and the king of the [[Toquz Oghuz|Tughuz-ghuz]], Khāqān.|[[Ya'qubi]] (died 897/8), ''Ta'rikh'' ("History")<ref name="AY1138">{{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Mathew S. and al. |title=The Works Of Ibn Wāḍiḥ Al Yaʿqūbī |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004364165 |pages=1138–1139, note 2959 |url=https://archive.org/details/the-works-of-ibn-wadih-al-yaqubi/The%20Works%20of%20Ibn%20W%C4%81%E1%B8%8Di%E1%B8%A5%20al-Ya%CA%BFq%C5%ABb%C4%AB%20volume%203/page/1138/mode/2up?}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rahman |first1=A. |title=New Light on the Khingal, Turk and the Hindu Sahis |journal=Ancient Pakistan |date=2002|page=41|url=http://journals.uop.edu.pk/papers/AP_v15_37to42.pdf}}</ref>}}}}<ref name="SK442"/> He was either a unique ruler of the Turk Shahis or identical with Bo Fuzhun.<ref name="SK442">{{cite journal|last1=Kuwayama|first1=Shoshin|date=1999|title=Historical Notes on Kapisi and Kabul in the Sixth-Eighth Centuries|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39183379.pdf|journal=ZINBUN|volume=34|page=44}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 15. The Rutbils of Zabulistan and the "Emperor of Rome"|url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase15?language=en|access-date=July 22, 2017|publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna|newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Inaba|first1=Minoru|title=From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia|url=https://www.academia.edu/7838558|language=en|page=446}}</ref><ref>天寶四年,又冊其子勃匐準為襲罽賓及烏萇國王,仍授左驍衞將軍。"Kesar's son Bo Fuzhun succeed him on the throne as the king of Jibin and Wuchang. He was conferred the title General of the Left Stalwart Guard" in {{harvnb|Balogh|2020|p=104}}</ref><ref name="KR171">{{cite book|last1=Rezakhani|first1=Khodadad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjVYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT234|title=ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity|date=15 March 2017|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-1-4744-0031-2|page=171|language=en}}</ref>

=== Renewed conflict with the Arabs and decline ===
[[File:Royal couple, Fondukistan, 7th century CE.jpg|thumb|300px|Funerary stele of a royal couple in the Buddhist [[Fondukistan|Fondukistan monastery]], dedicated around the end of the 7th century CE under the Turk Shahis. King wearing a Central Asian [[caftan]] with double [[lapel]], a belt and pointed boots, and Queen of Indian type, holding hands over cushions. Circa 700 AD.<ref name="SN31" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hackin |first1=J. |title=Les travaux de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan: Compte-Rendu Sommaire (Septembre 1936-Août 1937) |journal=Revue des arts asiatiques |date=1938 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=10–11 |jstor=43475079 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43475079 |issn=0995-7510}}</ref><ref name="KHM12" /><ref>A recent highly detailed view: {{cite web |title=Les trésors sataniques - Satanic treasures – Patrick Chapuis Photographe |url=https://patrickchapuis.photoshelter.com/image/I0000YsS2DZa4Dmw |website=patrickchapuis.photoshelter.com}}</ref>]]
The struggle between the Arabs and the Turk Shahis continued into the 9th century AD.<ref name="HJK58" /> Hoping to take advantage of the [[Great Abbasid Civil War]] (811-819 AD), the Turk Shahi, named "Pati Dumi" in Arab sources, invaded parts of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]].<ref name="AR37" /> Once the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] caliph [[Al-Ma'mun]] prevailed in the Civil War, he sent troops to confront the Turk invaders: in 814/815 AD, the Turk Shahis were soundly defeated by these Arab troops, which pushed as far as [[Gandhara]].<ref name="MA20">{{cite book|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford|date=1 February 2021|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-46066-9|page=20|language=en}}</ref><ref name="KHM16" /> The Turk Shah now had to convert to Islam, and had to pay an annual tribute of 1,500,000 dirhams and 2,000 slaves to the Abbasid governor of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]].<ref name="MA20" /><ref name="KHM16" /> He also ceded a large and precious idol made of gold, silver and jewels, which was sent to [[Mecca]].<ref name="AR37" /> Following [[Al-Azraqi]]'s initial account of 834 AD, Quṭb ed-Dîn wrote:
{{blockquote|Now, when this King converted to Islam, he decided that the throne with the idol should be given as an offering for the [[Ka'ba]].
He therefore sent the throne to [[Al-Ma'mun]] in [[Merv]], who then sent it to [[Al-Hasan ibn Sahl]] in [[Wasit, Iraq|Wasit]], who in turn charged one of his lieutenants from [[Balkh]], Naçîr ben Ibrahim, with accompanying it to [[Mecca]]. This lieutenant arrived there in the year [[Anno Hegirae|AH]] 201 (816 AD) during the time of pilgrimage when Isḥâḳ ben Mûsá ben ´Isá was leading the pilgrims to the holy sites. When they returned from [[Mina, Saudi Arabia|Mina]], Naçîr ben Ibrahim placed the throne with the carpet and the idol in the center of the square dedicated to [[Omar Ibn Al-Khattab]], between [[Safa and Marwa]], where it remained for three days.|Quṭb ed-Dîn,  ''History of the city of Mecca''<ref>transl. from Wüstenfeld (Wüstenfeld, III, 186: 190–191). The transcription of the Arabic follows Wüstenfeld. in {{cite book |last1=Klimburg-Salter |first1=Deborah |title="Cultural Mobility, a Case Study: the Crowned Buddha of the Kabul Shāh" in: Coins, Art and Chronology II The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands |date=210 |publisher=Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften |pages=42–43|url=https://www.academia.edu/30022581}}</ref>}}

[[Al-Azraqi]] also made a very detailed description of the statue, which points to a crowned and bejewelled Buddha seated on a throne, a design otherwise well known and quite specific to this historical period for the region of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Kashmir]].<ref>"As we shall see, this particular conjunction of iconographic features described by al-Azraqî is quite rare and is in fact limited to the northwest of the subcontinent – from Afghanistan to Kashmir – and to this period." in {{cite book|last1=Klimburg-Salter|first1=Deborah|url=https://www.academia.edu/30022581|title="Cultural Mobility, a Case Study: the Crowned Buddha of the Kabul Shāh" in: Coins, Art and Chronology II The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands|date=210|publisher=Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften|pages=46}}</ref> In the south, the [[Zunbils|Zunbil]] Turk Shahis escaped unaffected and continued to rule for about two more decades, before falling in 870/871 AD to the [[Saffarid dynasty|Saffarids]] under an upstart adventurer [[Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar]].{{sfn|Rehman|1976|p=}}

===Takeover by the Hindu Shahis (822 CE)===
{{main|Hindu Shahis}}
According to the Arab chronicler [[al-Biruni]], the last Turk Shahi ruler of Kabul, Lagaturman—probable son of Pati Dumi—was deposed by a [[Brahmin]] minister, named Kallar around 822 AD.<ref name="AR37" /><ref>D. W. Macdowall, "The Shahis of Kabul and Gandhara" ''Numismatic Chronicle'', Seventh Series, Vol. III, 1968, pp. 189–224, see extracts in R. T. Mohan, ''AFGHANISTAN REVISITED'' ...  Appendix –B, pp. 164-68</ref> A new dynasty, the [[Hindu Shahi]] took over, with its capital in Kabul.<ref name="KHM16" /> To the south, the [[Zunbils]] held fort against Muslim forces until the Saffarid offensive of 870 CE.

== Society and Religion ==
[[File:Mes Aynak stupa.jpg|thumb|Remains of a Buddhist monastery at [[Mes Aynak]], near Kabul, which remained in use until the 9th century AD.<ref name="KHM13">{{cite web |last1=Alram |first1=Michael |last2=Filigenzi |first2=Anna |last3=Kinberger |first3=Michaela |last4=Nell |first4=Daniel |last5=Pfisterer |first5=Matthias |last6=Vondrovec |first6=Klaus |title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 13. The Turk Shahis in Kabulistan |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase13?language=en |access-date=July 16, 2017 |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at}}</ref>]]
[[File:Wang wu tian zhu guo zhuan 往 五 天 竺 國 傳 by Hui chao 慧 超 Visit of Jibin by Hui chao (with transliteration).jpg|thumb|[[Hui Chao]] reported that the Turk King, Queen and dignitaries practiced Buddhism. 726 AD.<ref name="SK405" />]]
The [[Alchon Huns]], predecessors of the Turk Shahis in Afghanistan and Gandhara, had brought destruction upon Buddhism.<ref name="HJK">{{cite book|last1=Kim|first1=Hyun Jin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mi45DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA260|title=Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Graeco-Roman World, Inner Asia and China|last2=Vervaet|first2=Frederik Juliaan|last3=Adali|first3=Selim Ferruh|date=5 October 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-12131-6|pages=260–270|language=en}}</ref> When Chinese pilgrim [[Xuanzang]] visited northwestern India in {{circa|630}} AD, he reported that Buddhism had drastically declined, and that most of the monasteries were deserted and left in ruins.<ref name="HeirmanBumbacher2007">{{cite book|author1=Ann Heirman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuOvCQAAQBAJ|title=The Spread of Buddhism|author2=Stephan Peter Bumbacher|date=11 May 2007|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-474-2006-4|location=Leiden|page=60}}</ref> The Turk Shahis are reported as having been supporters of Buddhism, and are generally believed to be Buddhists, though they also worshipped Hindu gods.<ref name="SK405">{{cite journal|last1=Kuwayama|first1=Shoshin|date=1976|title=The Turki Śāhis and Relevant Brahmanical Sculptures in Afghanistan|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756318|journal=East and West|volume=26|issue=3/4|pages=405–407|issn=0012-8376|jstor=29756318}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kumāra|first1=Braja Bihārī|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lJI9avHstYC&pg=PA73|title=India and Central Asia: Classical to Contemporary Periods|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|year=2007|isbn=978-81-8069-457-8|page=73|language=en}}</ref> There was a renewed patronage of Buddhism in the area of Afghanistan during the 7-8th century AD as a function of the expansion of the [[Tang dynasty]] power in [[Central Asia]] at that time, just as the Arabs were pressuring [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] and [[Sistan]].<ref name="GV432">{{cite journal|last1=Verardi|first1=Giovanni|last2=Paparatti|first2=Elio|date=2005|title=From Early to Late Tapa Sardār: A Tentative Chronology|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757657|journal=East and West|volume=55|issue=1/4|pages=432–433|issn=0012-8376|jstor=29757657}}</ref> The Korean pilgrim [[Hui Chao]] in 726 AD recorded in the Chinese language that the Turkic (突厥, Tū-chuèh) rulers of [[Kapisa Province|Kapisa]] ("[[Jibin]]") followed the [[Three Refuges|Triratna]] and dedicated many Buddhist temples:<ref name="SK405" />

{{blockquote|(...) 至罽賓國。(...) 此國土人是胡。王及兵馬突厥。(...) 國人大敬信三寶。足寺足僧。百姓家各絲造寺。供養三寶。大城中有一寺。名沙糸寺。寺中貝佛螺髻骨舍利見在王官百姓每日供養。此國行小乘。<br>
(...) I arrived in [[Jibin]].(...) The natives of the country are Hu (Barbarian) people; the king and the cavalry are [[Western Turk|Turks]] (突厥, ''Tūjué''). (...) The people of this country greatly revere the [[Three Jewels]]. There are many monasteries and monks. The common people compete in constructing monasteries and supporting the Three Jewels. In the big city there is a monastery called Sha-hsi-ssu. At present, the curly hair ([[ushnisha]], 螺髻) and the relic bones of the Buddha are to be seen in the monastery. The king, the officials, and the common people daily worship these relics. [[Hinayana]] (小乘) Buddhism is practised in this country.|[[Hui Chao]], ''[[Memoir of the pilgrimage to the five kingdoms of India]]'', 726 AD.<ref name="HCD50">{{cite book |last1=Jan |first1=Yun-Hua |last2=Iida |first2=Shotaro |last3=Yang |first3=Han-Sung |title=The Hye Ch'O Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India (Religions of Asia Series) |date=1984 |publisher=Asian Humanities Pr |pages=50–51|isbn=978-0895810243|edition=English and Korean }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Su-Il |first1=Jeong |title=The Silk Road Encyclopedia |date=18 July 2016 |publisher=Seoul Selection |isbn=978-1-62412-076-3 |page=782 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UgOwDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT782 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{PD-notice}} Text of the visit to Jibin by Huei-ch'ao: "又從此覽波國而行入山。經於八日程。至罽賓國。此國亦是建馱羅王所管。此王夏在罽賓。逐涼而坐。冬往建馱羅。趁暖而住。彼即無雪。暖而不寒。其罽賓國冬天積雪。為此冷也。此國土人是胡。王及兵馬突厥。衣著言音食飲。與吐火羅國。大同少異。無問男之與女。並皆著㲲布衫袴及靴。男女衣服無有差別。男人並剪鬚髮。女人髮在。土地出駝騾羊馬驢牛㲲布蒲桃大小二麥欝金香等。國人大敬信三寶。足寺足僧。百姓家各絲造寺。供養三寶。大城中有一寺。名沙糸寺。寺中貝佛螺髻骨舍利見在王官百姓每日供養。此國行小乘。亦住山裏山頭無有草木。恰似火燒山也" Within chapter 25 in {{cite web |title=원문/전문 보기 - 徃五天竺國傳(왕오천축국전) |url=http://www.davincimap.co.kr/davBase/Source/davSource.jsp?Job=Body&SourID=SOUR001273 |website=www.davincimap.co.kr}}<br>Translation of [[:File:Wang_wu_tian_zhu_guo_zhuan_往_五_天_竺_國_傳_by_Hui_chao_慧_超_Visit_of_Jibin_by_Hui_chao_(with_transliteration).jpg|the original Chinese text]]:<br>"From Lampaka (覽波國, [[Kashmir]]), I again entered the mountains. After eight days journey I arrived at the country of Kapisa ([[Jibin]] (罽賓國)). This country is also under the authority of the king of [[Gandhara]] (建馱羅). During the summer the king comes to Kapisa and resides here because of the cool temperature. During the winter he goes to Gandhara and resides at that warm place because there is no snow and it is warm and not cold. In the winter the snows accumulate in Kapisa. This is the reason for the cold. The natives of the country are Hu (Barbarians) people; the king and the cavalry are [[Western Turk|Turks]] (突厥, "Tuque"). The dress, language, and food of this place are mostly similar to [[Tokharistan]] (吐火羅國), though there are small differences. Whether man or woman, all wear cotton shirts, trousers, and boots. There is no distinction of dress between men and women. The men cut their beards and hair, but the women keep their hair. The products of this land include camels, mules, sheep, horses, asses, cotton cloth, grapes, barley, wheat, and saffron. The people of this country greatly revere the [[Three Jewels]]. There are many monasteries and monks. The common people compete in constructing monasteries and supporting the Three Jewels. In the big city there is a monastery called Sha-hsi-ssu. At present, the curly hair ([[ushnisha]], 螺髻) and the relic bones of the Buddha are to be seen in the monastery. The king, the officials, and the common people daily worship these relics. [[Hinayana]] (小乘) Buddhism is practised in this country. The land is situated in the mountains. On the mountains there is no vegetation. [It looks] as if the land had been burned by fire."<br>adapted from: {{cite book |last1=Jan |first1=Yun-Hua |last2=Iida |first2=Shotaro |last3=Yang |first3=Han-Sung|pages=50–51 |title=The Hye Ch'O Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of India (Religions of Asia Series) |date=1984 |publisher=Asian Humanities Pr |isbn=978-0895810243|edition=English and Korean }}</ref>}}

The Kingdoms of Central Asia, often Buddhist or with an important Buddhist community, were generally under the formal control of the Tang dynasty, had regular exchanges with China, and expected Tang protection.<ref name="GV432" /> Chinese monks were probably directly in charge of some of the Buddhist sanctuaries of Central Asia, such as the temple of [[Suyab|Suiye]] (near [[Tokmok|Tokmak]] in present-day [[Kirghizistan]]).<ref name="GV432" /> During this period too, the Chinese [[Tang Empire]] extended its influence and promotion of Buddhism to the kingdoms of [[Central Asia]], including Afghanistan, with a corresponding influx of Chinese monks, while there was conversely a migration of Indian monks and artistic styles from India to Central Asia, as "[[Brahmanical]] revivalism" was pushing Indian Buddhist monks out of their country.<ref name="GV437">{{cite journal|last1=Verardi|first1=Giovanni|last2=Paparatti|first2=Elio|date=2005|title=From Early to Late Tapa Sardār: A Tentative Chronology|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757657|journal=East and West|volume=55|issue=1/4|pages=437–438|issn=0012-8376|jstor=29757657}}</ref><ref name="GV432" />

According to the Chinese pilgrim [[Wukong (monk)|Wukong]], who arrived in Gandhara in 753 AD,<ref name="SK405" /> the country of [[Kapisi]] had its eastern capital in [[Gandhara]] during the winter, and its capital in Kapisi during the summer.<ref name="SK405" /> In [[Kashmir]], which he visited from 756 to 760 AD, he explained that Buddhist temples were dedicated by the ''Tü-kiu'' ("Turk") kings.<ref name="SK405" /> [[Brahmanism]] too seems to have flourished, but to a lesser extent, under the Turk Shahis, with various works of art also attributed to their period.<ref name="SK405" /><ref>Images of the sculptures of Khair Khana in {{cite web|title=Afghanistan Significant Site 120. Khair Khana|url=https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh05-120.html|website=www.cemml.colostate.edu}}</ref>

At the end of the 10th century, the [[Samanid Empire]] led by the Turk [[Ghilman|ghulams]] [[Alp Tigin]] established itself in Eastern Afghanistan, later followed by the [[Ghaznavid dynasty]].<ref name="sinor">{{citation|title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia|year=1990|editor-last=Sinor|editor-first=Denis|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521243049}}</ref><ref name="WR13">{{cite book|last1=Rienjang|first1=Wannaporn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZf6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|title=The Global Connections of Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 18th-19th March, 2019|last2=Stewart|first2=Peter|date=2 September 2020|publisher=Classical Art Research Centre|isbn=978-1-78969-696-7|page=13|language=en}}</ref> At that time, local Buddhist Turk communities seem to have mingled with the newly arrived Muslim Turks of the Samanid Empire, forming an ethnic continuity among the ruling class of Ghazni. The local Buddhist Turks progressively islamized, but there was a continuation in artistic development and Buddhist religious activities, not a break.<ref name="WR13" /> The Buddhist site of Qol-i Tut in Kabul remained in use until the end of the 11th century.<ref name="WR13" />

== Coinage ==
[[File:Turk Shahi portrait. King Sri Ranasrikari. Late 7th to early 8th century CE.jpg|thumb|An early Turk Shahi ruler, possibly [[Barha Tegin]],{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993|p=394|loc=Coin E.254}} with inscription "Lord Ranasrikari" ([[Brahmi script]]: [[File:Gupta_allahabad_shrii.jpg|7px]][[File:Gupta_allahabad_r.svg|10px]][[File:Gupta_allahabad_nn.svg|10px]][[File:Gupta_allahabad_shrii.jpg|7px]][[File:Gupta_allahabad_k.svg|10px]][[File:Gupta allahabad ri.jpg|8px]] ''Sri Ranasrikari'', "The Lord who brings excellence through war"), with [[tamgha]] of the Turk Shahis: [[File:Tamgha of the Turk Shahis.jpg|12px]]. In this realistic portrait, he wears the double-lapel Turkic [[caftan]], and a crown with three [[crescent]]s (one hidden from view) surmounted by the head of a wolf, a [[Turkic mythology|Turkic symbol]].{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993|p=394|loc=For a clear example of the wolf, see [https://data1.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/dasantlitzdesfremden/coins/coin99%3Fref=showcases%252Fshowcase14&language=en.html]. Also: [[File:Vilurayukari Period of Sahi Tigin.jpg|50px|Vilurayukari Period of Sahi Tigin]]}} Late 7th to early 8th century AD.<ref>Göbl 1967, 254; Vondrovec type 254</ref><ref name="KHM13"/><ref>See coin 3 from the same ruler in {{cite web |url=https://data1.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/dasantlitzdesfremden/coins/coin101%3Fref=showcases%252Fshowcase14&language=en.html |title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 14. Kabulistan and Bactria at the Time of "Khorasan Tegin Shah" | last1 = Alram | first1 = Michael| last2 = Filigenzi | first2 = Anna | last3 = Kinberger | first3 = Michaela | last4 = Nell | first4 = Daniel | last5 = Pfisterer | first5 = Matthias | last6 = Vondrovec | first6 = Klaus |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date= July 16, 2017}}</ref>]]

From the middle of the 7th century AD, the Turk Shahis emulated the coinage of their predecessors, the [[Huna people|Hunnish]] [[Nezak]]-[[Alchons]].<ref name="MA283"/><ref name="KHM12"/> [[:File:Nezak Huns Anonymous (Nezak Shah) circa 500-560.jpg|The first coins of the Turk Shahi]] kept the winged bull's head of the Nezak as well as their legend "King of Nezak" (''nycky MLKA'') but in corrupted [[Pahlavi script]]. But the style of the rulers in the coins was now quite different, and the coins were of markedly higher silver quality.<ref name="MAL142"/> Soon, these coins introduced a new legend in replacement of the "King of Nezaks" legend, using the Indian honorific ''"[[Shri]]"'' ("Perfection") with the royal title "Shahi" in the [[Bactrian language]] ({{lang|xbc-Grek|σριο Þανιο}}, ''Srio šauoi'') and in Sanskrit (''Śri Sāhi'').{{sfn|Alram|2014|p=282}}<ref name="KHM12"/> This new coinage corresponds to the formal establishment of the Turk Shahis, sometime after 661 AD.<ref name="MA283"/><ref name="KHM12">{{cite web |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase12?language=en | last1 = Alram | first1 = Michael| last2 = Filigenzi | first2 = Anna | last3 = Kinberger | first3 = Michaela | last4 = Nell | first4 = Daniel | last5 = Pfisterer | first5 = Matthias | last6 = Vondrovec | first6 = Klaus |title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 12. Zabulistan: From the Alkhan-Nezak Crossover to the Turks |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date= July 16, 2017}}</ref>

In later stages, the crown adorned with a bull's head is replaced by a crown consisting in three crescent moons in the middle of which a flower or trident is set.<ref name="KHM12"/>{{efn|In nearby [[Kakrak Valley, Bamyan Province|Kakrak]], a valley next to [[Bamiyan]], a famous Buddhist mural named "The Hunter King" (7-8th centuries AD) shows a typically local royal figure seated on a throne, his bow and arrows on the side. He wears a triple-crescent crown which is said to have a close similarity to the triple-crescent crowns on the coinage found in northeastern Afghanistan in the area of [[Zabulistan]], for example [[:File:Coin_found_in_Ghazni_(Turk_Shahi).jpg|this coin]] from [[Ghazni]].<ref name="ODA49">Joseph Hackin affirms the "close connection" between the triple-crescent crown of the Kakrak Hunter King and [[:File:Coin found in Ghazni (Turk Shahi).jpg|this coin]] from [[Ghazni]], [[Zabulistan]], also describing the double-lapel caftan worn by the ruler on the coin: {{cite book |last1=Hackin |first1=Joseph |title=L'Œuvre de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan (1922-1932) : vol.1 |date=1936 |page=49 |url=http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/viewer/index.html?pages=VIII-5-A-a-33/V-1&pos=59&lang=en}}</ref><ref name="KHM14" /> Other authors have attributed the triple-crescent crown to [[Hephthalite]] influence.<ref name="researchgate.net">{{cite journal|last1=Compareti|first1=Matteo|date=2008|title=The Painting of the "Hunter-King" at Kakrak: Royal Figure or Divine Being?|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283346535|journal=Studio Editoriale Gordini|page=133}}</ref> The painting may be an allegory of a King abandoning violence, particularly the hunting of animals, and converting to Buddhism.<ref>"According to Jäger’s interpretation, the so-called «Hunter-King» was a symbolic representation of a royal person who converted to Buddhism and abandoned hunting and violence in general." in {{cite journal|last1=Compareti|first1=Matteo|date=2008|title=The Painting of the "Hunter-King" at Kakrak: Royal Figure or Divine Being?|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283346535|journal=Studio Editoriale Gordini|page=133}}</ref>}} Often the bull's head in the crown is also replaced by the symbol of a lion's or a wolf's head.<ref name="MAL16">{{cite book|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|title=Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford|date=1 February 2021|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-46066-9|pages=16–17|language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993|p=394|loc=For a clear example of the wolf, see [https://data1.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/dasantlitzdesfremden/coins/coin99%3Fref=showcases%252Fshowcase14&language=en.html]. Also: [[File:Vilurayukari Period of Sahi Tigin.jpg|50px|Vilurayukari Period of Sahi Tigin]]}} In other coins the triple-crescent moons were kept, and the king was shown wearing a Central Asian [[caftan]].<ref name="KHM13"/>

Many of these coins are attributed to [[Shahi Tegin]], the second Turk Shahi ruler, and dated to circa 700 AD.<ref name="KV183">{{cite book |last1=Vondrovec |first1=Klaus |title=Coins, Art and Chronology II - The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands (Coinage of the Nezak) |page=183 |url=https://www.academia.edu/880242 |language=en}}</ref> After this transitory period, Turk Shahi coinage adopted the [[Sasanian coinage]] style, and added a trilingual legend in [[Bactrian script|Greco-Bactrian]], [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]], and [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]]. Based on finds, Turk Shahi coins apparently circulated in Zabulistan, Kabulistan, [[Gandhara]] and [[Uddiyana]].<ref name="MA283" />

<gallery class="center" widths="250" heights="125" perrow="4">
File:Shahi Tegin (Sri Shahi). After 679 in the style of the Nezak Huns.jpg|upright=1.25|Early coin of the Turk Shahis, in the style of the [[Nezak|Nezak Huns]]. The Turk Shahis replaced the [[Pahlavi language|Pahlavi]] legend of the Nezaks by a [[Bactrian script]] legend [[File:Srio Shaho on a Turk Shahi coin.jpg|20px]] ''{{lang|xbc-Grek|σριο Þανιο}}'' "Srio Shaho" i.e. "Lord King", with [[tamgha]]. The crown is now made of crescents. Late 7th century AD.{{sfn|Alram|2014|p=282}}
File:Turk Shahi lion headdress.jpg|Crowns with the head of a lion or a wolf{{sfn|Kuwayama|1993|p=394|loc=For a clear example of the wolf, see [https://data1.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/dasantlitzdesfremden/coins/coin99%3Fref=showcases%252Fshowcase14&language=en.html]. Also: [[File:Vilurayukari Period of Sahi Tigin.jpg|50px|Vilurayukari Period of Sahi Tigin]]}} as central symbol, on the obverses of two Turk Shahi coins. This new symbol replaced the earlier bull's head of [[Nezak Huns]] coinage.<ref name="MAL16"/>
File:Shahi Tegin 728 CE.jpg|[[Sasanian coinage|Sasanian]]-style trilingual coin of [[Tegin Shah]] towards the end of his reign. Iranian god [[Atar|Adur]] on the reverse. Obverse legend: "His Excellence, the [[Iltäbär]] of [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]], Worshipper of the highest God, His Excellence, the King, the divine Tegin […]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/coins/coin105?ref=showcases/showcase14&language=en |title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 14. Kabulistan and Bactria at the Time of "Khorasan Tegin Shah"| last1 = Alram | first1 = Michael| last2 = Filigenzi | first2 = Anna | last3 = Kinberger | first3 = Michaela | last4 = Nell | first4 = Daniel | last5 = Pfisterer | first5 = Matthias | last6 = Vondrovec | first6 = Klaus |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date= July 16, 2017}}</ref> Date in [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]]: 728 AD
File:Turk Shahis. Sandan. After 688 CE.jpg|A Turk Shahis ruler named Sandan, otherwise unknown. Copy of a late issue of [[Khusrau II]], combining [[Brahmi script]] around the ruler, [[Bactrian script]] along the two rims, where "ςανδανο [[:wikt:βαγο|βαγο]] [[:wikt:χοαδηο|χοαδηο]]" "Lord King Sandan" is mentioned, and [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]] around the altar on the reverse.<ref>{{cite web|title=Coin type IOC.2367 British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_IOC-2367|website=The British Museum|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Alram|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5AcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA32|title="The numismatic legacy of the Sasanians in the East" in "Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford"|date=1 February 2021|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-46066-9|page=32|language=en}}</ref>
</gallery>

==Art==
There was a relatively high level of artistic activity in the areas controlled by the Turk Shahis during 7-8th centuries CE, either as a result of the Sasanian cultural heritage, or as a result of the continued development of [[Buddhist art]], with possible Hephthalite influence.<ref name="researchgate.net" /> The destruction upon Buddhism wrought by their predecessors had deeply weakened the [[Greco-Buddhism|Hellenistic-Buddhist art of Gandhara]].<ref name="HJK" /> Yet, consequent to Tang patronage of Buddhism, a [[Chinese art|Sinicized]]-[[Indian art|Indian]] phase re-developed during the 7th to 9th century CE.<ref name="GV437" /> The [[Western Turks]] in [[Afghanistan]] are generally associated with a major revival of [[Art of Gandhara|Gandharan Buddhist art]] between the 7th and 9th century CE, especially in the areas of [[Bamiyan]], [[Kabul]] and [[Ghazni]], with major new Buddhist sites such as [[Tapa Sardar]] in [[Ghazni]], or [[Tepe Narenj]] and [[Mes Aynak]] near [[Kabul]], which remained active at least until the 9th century CE.<ref name="WR13" /> This process and chronology are visible in the archaeological site of [[Tapa Sardar]] near [[Ghazni]] in [[Afghanistan]], while this new form of art appears in its mature state in [[Fondukistan]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Verardi|first1=Giovanni|last2=Paparatti|first2=Elio|date=2005|title=From Early to Late Tapa Sardār: A Tentative Chronology|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757657|journal=East and West|volume=55|issue=1/4|pages=405–444|issn=0012-8376|jstor=29757657}}</ref>[[File:Seated Bodhisattva, Fondukistan monastery, 7th century CE. Kabul Museum.jpg|thumb|Seated [[Bodhisattva]], [[Fondukistan monastery]], circa 700 CE. [[Kabul Museum]].]]

===Buddhist works of art===
The works of art of this period in eastern Afghanistan, with a sophistication and iconography comparable to other works of art of the [[Silk Road]] such as those of [[Kizil Caves|Kizil]], are attributable to the sponsorship of the "cosmopolitan" Turks, rather than their "Ephthalite" predecessors in this area (the [[Nezak]]-[[Alchon Huns]]), who, in the words of [[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|Edmund Bosworth]], "were not capable of such work".<ref name="EB145" /> And, soon after, the expansion of Islam made the creation of such works of art impossible.<ref name="EB145" />

The style as well as the techniques used in making these works of art (modelling of clay mixed with straw, wool or horsehair), are characteristic of the paintings and sculptures of [[Central Asia]].<ref name="CR11" /> The production of [[Fondukistan]] must correspond to the southernmost expansion of this particular type of Buddhist art.<ref name="CR11">{{cite journal |last1=Hackin |first1=J. |title=Les travaux de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan: Compte-Rendu Sommaire (Septembre 1936-Août 1937) |journal=Revue des arts asiatiques |date=1938 |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=11 |jstor=43475079 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43475079 |issn=0995-7510}}</ref> The new region occupied by the Turk Shahis had numerous Buddhist monasteries, such as [[Mes Aynak]], which appear to have remained in use until the 9th century CE.<ref name="KHM13" /> Dedications including Turk Shahis coins have been found under a statue in the Buddhist [[monastery of Fondukistan]].<ref name="MA283" /><ref name="iranicaonline.org">For the photograph of the famous statue, named the "Royal Couple of Fondukistan", see: {{cite web|title=FondoqesāN – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/fondoqestan-#prettyPhoto[content]/0/|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref>

Devotees or sponsors wearing Central Asian clothes such as the tight-fitting double-lapel [[caftan]] appear in the Buddhist [[Monastery of Fondukistan]], as in [[:File:Royal couple, Fondukistan, 7th century CE.jpg|the statue of a King wearing the caftan and pointed boots]], seated together with a Queen of Indian type, and dated to the 7th century CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hackin |first1=J. |title=Les travaux de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan: Compte-Rendu Sommaire (Septembre 1936-Août 1937) |journal=Revue des arts asiatiques |date=1938 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=10–11 |jstor=43475079 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43475079 |issn=0995-7510}}</ref><ref name="KHM12" />

Dedications including coins of the Buddhist Turk Shahis and one Sasanian coin of [[Khusro II]] have been found under the statue of the royal couple with a king in Turk attire in the monastery of [[Fondukistan]], providing important insights regarding the datation of the statue as well as Buddhist art in general: as a result of the analysis the statue can be dated to after 689 CE, and as a consequence a date of circa 700 CE is generally given for it and the other works of art of Fondukistan.<ref name="SN31" /><ref name="MA283">"Contained within a clay urn were a gold bracteate with the portrait of a ruler, three early drachms of the Turk-Shahis (Type 236, one of which is countermarked), and a countermarked drachm of the Sasanian king [[Khusro II]] dating from year 37 of his reign (= 626/7). The two countermarks on Khusro 's drachm prove that the urn could only have been deposited after 689" {{harvnb|Alram|2014|pp=282–285}}</ref><ref name="iranicaonline.org" /> The royal couple consists in a princess in "Indian" dress, and a prince "wearing a rich [[caftan]] with double lapel and boots", characteristic of Central Asian clothing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fondukistan Digitaler Ausstellungskatalog |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/story235?language=en |website=pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hackin |first1=J. |title=Les travaux de la Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan: Compte-Rendu Sommaire (Septembre 1936-Août 1937) |journal=Revue des arts asiatiques |date=1938 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=10–11 |jstor=43475079 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43475079 |issn=0995-7510}}</ref>

{{clear}}
<gallery widths="200" class="center" heights="200" perrow="4">
File:Painting of Maitreya Bodhisattva, Fondukistan, Afghanistan, circa 700 CE. National Museum of Afghanistan.jpg|Mural of a [[Bodhisattva]] [[Maitreya]] at the entrance of the niche of the royal couple. [[Fondukistan monastery]], circa 700 CE. [[National Museum of Afghanistan]].
File:Afghanistan, bodhisattva, valle di ghorband, monastero di fondukistan, VII sec.JPG|The period of the Turk Shahis also corresponds to the last stages of [[Greco-Buddhist art]]. circa 700 CE, [[Fondukistan monastery]], [[Ghorband District]], [[Afghanistan]]
File:Fondukistan Seated Buddha.jpg|Seated Buddha, [[Fondukistan monastery]]. [[National Museum of Afghanistan]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Novotny |first1=Susanne |title=The Buddhist Monastery of Fondukistān, Afghanistan – A Reconstruction |journal=Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology |date=1 January 2007 |volume=2 |pages=31–37 and [https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSS178cfUleuOEDyFEQ1odHAmdRuEXZpT3rjA&usqp=CAU this page], also [https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSA5pyFM8PUxS8s6dYzMzml0fbPkmyTOMuNjQ&usqp=CAU this page]|doi=10.1484/J.JIAAA.2.302542 |url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JIAAA.2.302542?journalCode=jiaa |issn=1783-9025}}</ref>
File:Seated Maitreya, 7th-8th century, Kabul, Afghanistan.jpg|Seated Maitreya, 7th-8th century AD, near Kabul, Afghanistan. "Stylistically related to Shahi sculpture of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan".<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38109 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Hindu works of art===
[[File:Surya of Khair Kaneh, Kabul, 7-8thcentury, Kabul Museum (B&W).jpg|thumb|Sun deity (either Mitra or Surya), wearing tunic and boots. [[Khair Khaneh]], [[Kabul]], 7-8th century CE, [[Kabul Museum]].<ref name="Le dieu Solaire">{{cite web |title=Recherches Archéologiques au Col de Khair khaneh près de Kābul : vol.1 / Page 77 (Grayscale High Resolution Image) |url=http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/La-187-7/V-1/page-hr/0077.html.en |website=dsr.nii.ac.jp}}</ref><ref name="Afghanistan">{{cite book |last1=Dupree |first1=Louis |title=Afghanistan |date=14 July 2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-5891-0 |pages=309 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvr_AwAAQBAJ&q=mitra+khair+khaneh&pg=PA309 |language=en |quote=Khair Khaneh is situated in the pass separating the Kabul Valley from Kohistan (which includes Begram). Kushano–Sasanian and early Hindu art motifs mingle in a whitish-gray marble statue of the Sun God (either Surya or Mithra) seated on a ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Adrych |first1=Philippa  |first2=Robert |last2=Bracey |last3=Dalglish |first3=Dominic |last4=Lenk |first4=Stefanie |last5=Wood |first5=Rachel |title=Images of Mithra |year=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-879253-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwFLDgAAQBAJ&q=solar+deity+khair+khaneh+mitra&pg=PA120 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Journal of the American Oriental Society |date=1986 |edition=Volumes 56-57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSgGAQAAIAAJ&q=solar+deity+khair+khaneh+mithra |language=en |quote=To overcome the difficulty that Pingala wears a beard, the Kabirs had to be introduced, Great Gods of Samothrake who ... This feature brings the sun - god of Khair Khaneh as close as possible to the Iranian Mithras, who guides the soul of the ...}}</ref>]]

Hinduism too seems to have flourished to some extent under the Turk Shahis, with various works of art also attributed to their period.<ref name="SKSK" /><ref>Images of the sculptures of [[Khair Khaneh]] in {{cite web |title=Afghanistan Significant Site 120. Khair Khana |url=https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh05-120.html |website=www.cemml.colostate.edu}}</ref> In particular the famous statue of a [[Sun deity]] that is either [[Mitra]] or [[Surya]] in tunic and boots discovered in [[Khair Khaneh]] near Kabul,<ref name="Afghanistan" /> as well as a statue of [[Ganesha]] from [[Gardez]] are now attributed to the Turk Shahis in the 7-8th century CE, and not to their successors the Hindu Shahis as formerly suggested.<ref name="SKSK">"It is not therefore possible to attribute these pieces to the Hindu Shahi period. They should be attributed to the Shahi period before the Hindu Shahis originated by the Brahman wazir Kallar, that is, the Turki Shahis." p.405 " According to the above sources, Brahmanism and Buddhism are properly supposed to have coexisted especially during the 7th-8th centuries CE just before the Muslim hegemony. The marble sculptures from eastern Afghanistan should not be attributed to the period of the Hindu Shahis but to that of the Turki Shahis." p.407 in {{cite journal |last1=Kuwayama |first1=Shoshin |title=The Turki Śāhis and Relevant Brahmanical Sculptures in Afghanistan |journal=East and West |date=1976 |volume=26 |issue=3/4 |pages=375–407 |jstor=29756318 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756318 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref> In particular, great iconographical and stylistic similarities with the works of the Buddhist monastery of [[Fondukistan]] have been identified.<ref name="SKSK" /> Archaeologically, the construction of the [[Khair Khaneh]] temple itself is now dated to 608-630 CE, at the beginning of the Turk Shahis period.<ref name="KS407">{{cite journal |last1=Kuwayama |first1=Shoshin |title=The Turki Śāhis and Relevant Brahmanical Sculptures in Afghanistan |journal=East and West |date=1976 |volume=26 |issue=3/4 |page=407 |jstor=29756318 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756318 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref>

The [[Gardez Ganesha|marble statue of Ganesha]] from [[Gardez]] is now attributed to the Turk Shahis,<ref name="SKSK" /> and was donated by a certain "Śrī Ṣāhi Khiṃgāla", possibly the Turk Shahi king named "[[Khingala]]" who according to [[Ya'qubi|Al-Yakubhi]] gave his submission to [[Al-Mahdi]] in 775–785 CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Inaba |first1=Minoru |title=From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia |page=446 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7838558 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase15?language=en |title= The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit: 15. The Rutbils of Zabulistan and the "Emperor of Rome" |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date= July 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=KUWAYAMA |first1=Shoshin |title=Historical Notes on Kapisi and Kabul in the Sixth-Eighth Centuries |journal=ZINBUN |date=1999 |volume=34 |page=44 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39183379.pdf}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Seated Avalokiteshvara, white marble, Khair Khaneh, 6th-7th century CE. Musée Guimet MA 8151.jpg|Seated [[Avalokiteshvara]], white marble, [[Khair Khaneh]], 6th-7th century CE. [[Musée Guimet]] MA 8151.<ref>{{cite book |title=De l'Inde au Japon, 10 ans d'acquisitions au musée Guimet |date=2007 |publisher=Musée Guimet |page=14, item 27 |url=https://docplayer.fr/106191083-De-l-inde-au-japon-10-ans-d-acquisitions-au-musee-guimet-juin-au-13-Decembere2007-selection-d-oeuvres.html}}</ref>
File:Khair Khaneh sanctuary (devotee 1).jpg|[[Khair Khaneh]] donor, wearing a tunic, boots and a sword.
File:Ganesha from Gardez.jpg|The ''[[Gardez Ganesha]]'' is now dated to the 8th century and attributed to the Turk Shahis.<ref name="SKSK"/>
</gallery>

==See also==
{{History of the Turks pre-14th century|[[File:Turk Shahis. Sri Ranasrikari. Late 7th to early 8th century CE.jpg|150px|Turk Shahis. Sri Ranasrikari. Late 7th to early 8th century CE.]]}}
* [[History of Afghanistan]]
* [[Umayyad campaigns in India]]
* [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent]]
* [[Western Turkic Khaganate]]
* [[Hephthalites]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
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 | last6 = Vondrovec | first6 = Klaus 
 | year = 2012–2013
 | access-date=1 November 2020 
 | title = The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012-2013 exhibit
 | publisher = Kunsthistorisches Museum, Coin Cabinet | location = Vienna, Austria
 | url = http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/?language=en
}}
* {{cite journal |last=Alram|first=Michael|year=2014 |title=From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=174 |pages=261–291|jstor=44710198 }} {{Registration required}}
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* {{Cite journal|last=Kuwayama|first=Shoshin|date=March 2000|title=Historical Notes on Kāpiśī and Kābul in the Sixth-Eighth Centuries|url=https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/handle/2433/48769|journal=ZINBUN|volume=34|issue=1|pages=25–77|doi=10.14989/48769|issn=0084-5515}}
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* {{cite book |last=Morony |first=Michael G. |chapter=Iran in the Early Islamic Period |editor-last=Daryaee |editor-first=Touraj |title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History |date=16 February 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-973215-9 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199732159.013.0009}}
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{{Gandhara}}
{{Central Asian history}}
{{Afghanistan topics}}

[[Category:Dynasties of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Kabul Shahi]]
[[Category:Central Asian Buddhist kingdoms]]
[[Category:Medieval Indian monarchies]]

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Template:Sidebar (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Source-attribution (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:South Asia in 800 CE (edit)
Template:Subinfobox bodystyle (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Template other (view source) (protected)
Template:Trim (view source) (protected)
Template:Turk Shahi rulers (edit)
Template:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Template:Yesno-no (view source) (template editor protected)
Portal:Afghanistan (edit)
Module:Aligned table (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Color contrast (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Color contrast/colors (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Disambiguation/templates (view source) (protected)
Module:Exponential search (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes/anchor id list (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes/anchor id list/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes/whitelist (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Format link (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Hatnote list (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:ISO 3166 (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:ISO 3166/data/National (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:If empty (view source) (protected)
Module:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:InfoboxImage (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Labelled list hatnote (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/ISO 639 synonyms (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/data/iana languages (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/data/iana regions (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/data/iana scripts (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/data/iana suppressed scripts (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Lang/data/iana variants (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:List (view source) (protected)
Module:Location map (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Location map/data/Continental Asia (view source) (semi-protected)
Module:Location map/data/Hindu-Kush (edit)
Module:Location map/data/South Asia (view source) (semi-protected)
Module:Location map/data/West Asia (view source) (semi-protected)
Module:Location map/multi (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Location map/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/rfd (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (protected)
Module:Redirect (view source) (protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Module:Separated entries (view source) (protected)
Module:Sidebar (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Sidebar/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:TableTools (view source) (protected)
Module:Unicode data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unicode data/scripts (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk_Shahis"