Anushtigin Gharchai

Anūš Tigin Ghrachaī (Persian: نوشتکین غرچه - Nūštekīn Gharcha) (d. 1096 or 1097) was a Turkic slave commander of the Seljuqs^[1] and the governor of Khwārezm from around 1077 until his death. He was the first member of his family to rule Khwārezm, and the namesake for the dynasty that would rule the province in the 12th and early 13th centuries.

Originally a slave of either Central Asian Khalaj or Qipchaq origin,^[1] Anūš Tigin was put in command together with his master Gümüštigin Bilge Beg in 1073 by the Seljuq sultan Malik Shah I to retake territory in northern Greater Khorasan that the Ghaznavids had seized. He was subsequently made the sultan's tašt-dār (Persian: "keeper of the royal vessels"), and, as the revenues from Khwārezm were used to pay for the expenses incurred by this position, he was made governor of the province. The details of his tenure as governor are unclear, but he died by 1097 and the post was briefly given to Ekinči bin Qočqar before being transferred to his son, Muhammad I.

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