The Qarlughids were a tribe of Turkic origin that controlled Ghazni, lands of the Bamyan, the Kurram Valley (Ghazna, Banban, and Kurraman), and established a short-lived Muslim principality and dynasty that lasted between 1224 and 1266. The Qarlughids (or Karluk Turks) arrived from the north to settle in the regions of Hazarajat together with the armies of Muhammad II of Khwarezm, the Shah of Khwarezm.
Qarlughid Dynasty | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1238–1266 | |||||||||||||
Coinage of Saif al-Din al-Hasan (1239-1249), ruler of the Qarlughids. Sind mint. In the name of the Abbasid Caliph, al-Zahir. Struck in 1225-1226 CE.
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| Capital | Ghazna, Binban | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Nāgarī script (written) | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Malik, Khan | |||||||||||||
• 1238–1249 | Saif al-Din al-Hasan Qarlugh | ||||||||||||
• 1249–1259 | Nasir al-Din Muhammad Qarlugh | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 1238 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1266 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | Jital | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Afghanistan Pakistan | ||||||||||||
Throughout most of its existence, the Qarlugh Kingdom functioned as a buffer state between its two powerful neighbors, the Delhi Sultanate to the east and south and the Mongol Empire to the north and west.[1] With the Malik at the throne, the Qarlugh would frequently switch allegiances between their two powerful neighbors and through balanced diplomacy managed to become an important trade intermediary between the Mongols of Central Asia and the lands of the subcontinent. One testament to Qarlughid prosperity is the significant coinage found from this dynasty.[2]
History
Establishment of the Kingdom
The establishment of the Qarlugh Kingdom was a result of the turbulent power struggles of the 12th and 13th centuries in Greater Khurasan as the Ghurid Empire gave way to the Delhi Sultanate and the Mongols. The lands of Peshawar and the Kurram valley were ruled in rapid succession by Muhammad of Ghor, Taj al-Din Yildiz, Nasir ad-Din Qabacha, Iltutmish, Genghis Khan, Mingburnu, and again Iltutmish, who incorporated them into the Delhi Sultanate. The Sultana of Delhi, Razia al-Din, appointed Saif al-Din al-Hasan Qarlugh as governor of Ghazni, who in 1238 seceded from the Sultanate and asserted the independence of the Qarlugh Kingdom ruling Ghazni, Bamyan, and Kurraman.
After the Mongol invasion
The Qarlughids developed rapidly in the wake of the Mongolian invasion and the resulting power vacuum of the preceding decade. They repopulated, rebuilt, and administered the devastated areas, most notably the city of Bamyan that was completely destroyed in the Siege of Bamyan (1221) by Ghenghis Khan, turning the rebuilt city into their stronghold.
See also
References
- ^ André Wink (1997). Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest : 11Th-13th Centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-10236-1.
- ^ Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1908). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society. pp. 389–408. JSTOR 25210587. Retrieved 2016-06-13.