Pre-Islamic Hindu and Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan

Up until the advent of Islam, some eastern portions of Afghanistan was ruled by the Hindu Kabul Shahi kings. When Xuanzang visited the region early in the 7th century CE, the Kabul valley region was ruled by a Kshatriya king who is identified as the Shahi Khingal and whose name has been found in an inscription found in Gardēz.

The Hindu Shahi kings of Kabul and Gandhara may have had links to some ruling families in neighboring Kashmir and other areas to the east. The Shahis, though Hindu, were rulers of a multi-religious Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and pagan population and were thus patrons of numerous faiths, and various artifacts and coins from their rule have been found that display their multicultural domain.

Contents

Archeology

Site Articles Found Other Information
Hindu Temple at Khair Khana near Kabul Marble statues of Surya the Hindu God of the sun.[1]
Gardēz Statues of Durga Mahishasuramardini.[1] They show, as the Sanskrit name says, the Indian Goddess Durga, the consort of Shiva slaying the buffalo demon.
Hindu Temple at Chaghan Saray in the Kunar Valley in the Extreme east of Afghanistan .[1] Temple complex
Tapa Skandar 31 km north of Kabul.[1] *Remains of Settlement dating to the second half of the first millennium AD.* Marble statue of Shiva and his wife Parvati[1]
Tapa Sadr near Ghazni .[1] Statue of the Parinivana Buddha (Buddha lying down at the end of his cycle of rebirths [1] 8th century AD
Gardiz Śāradā script engraved on a marble statue on a marble statue of Indian elephant God Ganesh [1] 8th century AD
Nava Vihara Balkh
Airtam Near Termez A stone slab with a Bactrian Inscription and a carved image of Shiva [2]
Tepe Sardar, Ghazni Large Buddhist monastery complex [3] The main Stupa is surrounded by many miniature stupas and shrines, ornamented with clay bas reliefs . There were several colossal statues of the Buddha, included one seated and of the Buddha in Nirvana . In one shrine which is in the Hindu style a clay sculpture of Durga slaying a buffalo-demon was found [3]
Homay Qalay Near Qandahar Buddhist Cave Complex at Homay Qalay[4]
Tepe Sardar Ghazni Durga Clay 10th Century [5] 10th Century A D .[5] The cult of Durga was popularised during the Sahi period as several images of this deity are found in Afghanistan.[6]
Various Coins of the Shahi rulers of Punjab and Afghanistan have been found .[1] c AD 650-1000[7]
These coins were issued from at least eight mint towns, which suggests a wider range for their circulation[1]
Buddhas of Bamyan Bamyan Province
Hazarajat region		 Built during the Shahi Period
Khair Khana Kabul [1] Hindu Temple [1]
Two marble statues of Shiva [1]
Basawal Basawal is the site of a Buddhist cave temple complex in eastern Afghanistan. The caves, 150 in all, are partly hewn out in two rows and arranged in seven groups, which presumably corre­spond to the seven monastic institutions of Buddhist times[8]
Buddhist Cave complex at Homay Qala[9]

Table of Pre Islamic dynasties of Afghanistan up to the advent of Islam in Afghanistan

Dynasty Period Domain
Hindu Shahi Closing years of the 10th and the early 11th century. Jayapala defeated by Mahmud [10] in 1013 Kabuls last Shahi ruler [11]
“ By the mid ninth century the whole region from the fortress city of Kabul to at least Udhabanadpura (Waihind or Ohind)in the east was held by the dynasty called by later writers the Shahis. In addition to the natural products of the Gandhara region, the Shahi kings drew revenue from the constant caravan trade passing through their dominions [12] ”

Gandhara overrun by Mahmud .[10]Kabul valley
Zunbils Zunbils deposed by Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari first Saffarid ruler in 870 AD[13] Zabulistan Kandahar.[14]

Islamic conquest

Islamic influence prevailed increasingly upon the pre islaimc culture of Afghanistan upon invasion by Islamic conquerors in Afghanisthan over a very wide period of time in different regions of the country.

Region Conquered by Date
Ghazni Province Saffarid In 683 AD, Arab armies brought Islam to the area and attempted to conquer the capital of Ghazni but the local tribes fiercely resisted. Its resistance was so famed that Yaqub Saffari (840-879) from Zaranj made an example of Ghazni when he ranged the vast region conquering in the name of Islam. The city was completely destroyed by the Saffarids in 869 AD.[15] 869
Balkh Samanids take Balkh[16] 900 AD
Ghor Mahmud of Ghazni[17] defeats Ibn Suri 1010
Zamindawar

Still Muslim control of Zamindawar remained imperfect until the end of the ninth century, and in Ghazana the Saffarid governor was once again expelled by two Indian princes in 899-900 [18]

 Late 9th early 10th century
Bamian

Buddhism survived until at least Mahmud established his power centre at Ghazni in the eleventh century Late 9th early 10th century and perhaps beyond. In fact Bamian might well have escaped any Islamic incursion prior to Ghengiz Khan's raid in 1221. True scholars believe that the Hepthalite princes who conquered Bamian in the seventh century converted to Islam 100 years later and that the town was captured in 871 by Yaqub ibn Lays founder of the Islamic Saffarid Dynasty; nevertheless, there is no physical evidence for any Arab or Islamic presence at Bamian. Its Buddhist paintings and sculptures, offensive to Islamic sensibilities were left unharmed. Further there were Buddhist Kings of Bamian in the late 9th and again late 10th centuries, well after the regions to the north and the south of the mountains had been taken by the Arabs and had become strongly Islamic [19]

 Late 9th and again late 10th centuries[19]
Kandahar

During the closing years of the tenth and the early years of the succeeding century of our era, Mahmud the first Sultan and Musalman of the Turk dynasty of kings who ruled at Ghazni, made a succession of inroads twelve or fourteen in number, into Gandhara.[10]

 10th and early 11th
Entire Afghanistan

Buddhism in Afghanistan was extinguished by Genghis Khan's Mongol invasion of Afghanistan, leaving Islam as the dominant and strongest religion in the area.[20][21]

 1218-1221
Nuristan Province

They had only been converted to Islam as late as the 1890s, at the point of the sword. [22]

 19th century

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The Afghans By Willem Vogelsang Page 184
  2. ^ History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3 By Boris Abramovich Litvinovskiĭ Page 427
  3. ^ a b History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3 By Boris Abramovich Litvinovskiĭ Page 399
  4. ^ South Asian archaeology 1975: papers from the third International Conference Edited By Johanna Engelberta Lohuizen-De Leeuw Page 121 to 126
  5. ^ a b History of Buddhism in Afghanistan By Sī. Esa Upāsaka, Kendrīya-Tibbatī-Ucca-Śikṣā-Saṃsthānam page XX
  6. ^ History of Buddhism in Afghanistan By Sī. Esa Upāsaka, Kendrīya-Tibbatī-Ucca-Śikṣā-Saṃsthānam page page 187
  7. ^ Early medieval Indian society: a study in feudalisation By R.S. Sharma Page 130
  8. ^ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/basawal-the-site-of-a-buddhist-cave-temple-complex-in-eastern-afghanistan-first-visited-and-described-in-1878-by-w Encyclopedia Iranica
  9. ^ http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=H2GW1PTHQ1YC&pg=PA119&dq=The+buddhist+cave+complex+of+Homay&hl=en&ei=yg9hTpzWBcjjrAeKjtkO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20buddhist%20cave%20complex%20of%20Homay&f=false South Asian archaeology 1975: papers from the third International Conference , By Johanna Engelberta Lohuizen-De LeeuwPage , Published By EJ Brill, Page 119
  10. ^ a b c The races of Afghanistan Being a brief account of the principal nations inhabiting that country By Henry Walter Bellow Asian Educational services Page 73
  11. ^ Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan By Rizwan Hussain page 17
  12. ^ Encyclopaedia of Historiography By M.M. Rahman
  13. ^ Medieval India Part 1 by Satish Chandra Page 17
  14. ^ Excavations at Kandahar 1974 & 1975 (Society for South Asian Studies Monograph) by Anthony McNicoll
  15. ^ Dupree9
  16. ^ Afghanistan revisited By Cary Gladstone Page 151
  17. ^ The wonder that was India II by S A A Rizvi published by Picador India page 16
  18. ^ Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Volume 1 By André Wink PAGE 124
  19. ^ a b International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania By Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda Page 80
  20. ^ Amy Romano (2003). A Historical Atlas of Afghanistan (illustrated ed.). The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 25. ISBN 0823938638. http://books.google.com/books?id=TKUxyVCrYn0C&pg=PA25&dq=genghis+khan+destroyed+buddhism+afghanistan&hl=en&ei=kVx1TuXkJOj30gGWgq3BDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=genghis%20khan%20destroyed%20buddhism%20afghanistan&f=false. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  21. ^ Steven Otfinoski (2004). Afghanistan (illustrated ed.). Infobase Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 0816050562. http://books.google.com/books?id=fbXmk-EauHIC&pg=PA6&dq=genghis+khan+destroyed+buddhism+afghanistan&hl=en&ei=kVx1TuXkJOj30gGWgq3BDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=genghis%20khan%20destroyed%20buddhism%20afghanistan&f=false. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
  22. ^ A passage to Nuristan: exploring the mysterious Afghan hinterland By Nicholas Barrington, Joseph T. Kendrick, Reinhard Schlagintweit Edition: illustrated Published by I.B.Tauris, 2006 Page Preface xiii ISBN 1845111753, 9781845111755