Ghurid dynasty

| common_languages = [[Persian language|Persian]] <small>(court, literature)</small><ref>''The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids'', C.E. Bosworth, '''Iran''', Vol. 6, (1968), 35;;"Like the Ghaznavids whom they supplanted, the Ghurids had their court poets, and these wrote in '''Persian'''"</ref>{{sfn|O'Neal|2015}}

| common_languages = [[Persian language|Persian]] <small>(court, literature)</small><ref>''The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids'', C.E. Bosworth, '''Iran''', Vol. 6, (1968), 35;;"Like the Ghaznavids whom they supplanted, the Ghurids had their court poets, and these wrote in '''Persian'''"</ref>{{sfn|O'Neal|2015}}

}}

}}

The '''Ghurid dynasty''' (also spelled '''Ghorids'''; {{langx|fa|دودمان غوریان|translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân}}; self-designation: {{lang|fa|شنسبانی}}, ''Šansabānī'') was a [[Persianate]] dynasty of eastern [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [[Tajik people|Tajik]] origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of [[Ghor]], and became an Empire from 1175 to 1215.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barisitz |first1=Stephan |title=Central Asia and the Silk Road: Economic Rise and Decline over Several Millennia |date= 2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51213-6 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLPDDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |language=en}}</ref> The Ghurids were centered in the hills of the [[Ghor]] region in the present-day central [[Afghanistan]], where they initially started out as local chiefs. They gradually converted to [[Sunni Islam]] after the conquest of Ghor by the [[Ghaznavid]] ruler [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] in 1011. The Ghurids eventually overran the Ghaznavids when [[Muhammad of Ghor]] [[Siege of Lahore (1186)|seized Lahore]] and expelled the Ghaznavids from their last stronghold.

The '''Ghurid dynasty''' (also spelled '''Ghorids'''; {{langx|fa|دودمان غوریان|translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân}}; self-designation: {{lang|fa|شنسبانی}}, ''Šansabānī'') was a [[Persianate]] dynasty of eastern [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [ ]] origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of [[Ghor]], and became an Empire from 1175 to 1215.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barisitz |first1=Stephan |title=Central Asia and the Silk Road: Economic Rise and Decline over Several Millennia |date= 2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51213-6 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLPDDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |language=en}}</ref> The Ghurids were centered in the hills of the [[Ghor]] region in the present-day central [[Afghanistan]], where they initially started out as local chiefs. They gradually converted to [[Sunni Islam]] after the conquest of Ghor by the [[Ghaznavid]] ruler [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] in 1011. The Ghurids eventually overran the Ghaznavids when [[Muhammad of Ghor]] [[Siege of Lahore (1186)|seized Lahore]] and expelled the Ghaznavids from their last stronghold.

The Ghurids initially ruled as vassals of the [[Ghaznavids]] and later of the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]]s. However, during the early twelfth century the long-standing rivalry between the Seljuks and Ghaznavids created a power vacuum in eastern [[Afghanistan]] and [[Punjab|Panjab]] which the Ghurids took advantage of and began their territorial expansion. [[Ala al-Din Husayn]] ended the Ghurid subordination to the Ghaznavids, ruthlessly sacking their capital, although he was soon defeated by the [[Seljuks]] after he stopped paying tribute to them. The Seljuk imperial power, however, was itself swept away in eastern [[Iran]] with the contemporaneous advent of the [[Khwarazmian Empire]].

The Ghurids initially ruled as vassals of the [[Ghaznavids]] and later of the [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]]s. However, during the early twelfth century the long-standing rivalry between the Seljuks and Ghaznavids created a power vacuum in eastern [[Afghanistan]] and [[Punjab|Panjab]] which the Ghurids took advantage of and began their territorial expansion. [[Ala al-Din Husayn]] ended the Ghurid subordination to the Ghaznavids, ruthlessly sacking their capital, although he was soon defeated by the [[Seljuks]] after he stopped paying tribute to them. The Seljuk imperial power, however, was itself swept away in eastern [[Iran]] with the contemporaneous advent of the [[Khwarazmian Empire]].

==Origins==

==Origins==

[[File:Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad. AH 599-602 AD 1171-1206.jpg|thumb|300px|Gold Dinar of [[Muhammad of Ghor]], dated AH 601 (1204/5 CE), struck in [[Ghazni]].]]

[[File:Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad. AH 599-602 AD 1171-1206.jpg|thumb|300px|Gold Dinar of [[Muhammad of Ghor]], dated AH 601 (1204/5 CE), struck in [[Ghazni]].]]

In the 19th century some European scholars, such as [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]], favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was related to today's [[Pashtun people]]<ref>[[Mountstuart Elphinstone|Elphinstone, Mountstuart]]. The History of India. Vol. 1. J. Murray, 1841. Web. 29 April 2010. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oAluAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA598 Link]: ''"...the prevalent and apparently the correct opinion is, that both they and their subjects were Afghans. "'' & ''"In the time of Sultan Mahmud it was held, as has been observed, by a prince whom Ferishta calls Mohammed Soory (or Sur) Afghan."'' pp. 598–599</ref><ref>A short history of India: and of the frontier states of Afghanistan, Nipal, and Burma, [http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3022M Wheeler, James Talboys] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609112709/http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3022M |date=9 June 2007 }}, ([https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.96740/page/n105 <!-- pg=77 quote=afghan ghori. --> LINK]): ''"The next conqueror after Mahmud who made a name in India, was Muhammad Ghori, the Afghan."''</ref><ref>[[Edward Balfour|Balfour, Edward]]. The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1885. Web. 29 April 2010. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3U0OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA392 Link]: ''"IZ-ud-DIN Husain, the founder of the Ghori dynasty, was a native of Afghanistan. The origin of the house of Ghor has, however, been much discussed,&nbsp;– the prevailing opinion being that both they and their subjects were an Afghan race. "'' p. 392</ref> but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship.<ref name=EofI-Afghanistan>{{cite encyclopedia |author1=M. Longworth Dames |author2=G. Morgenstierne |author3=R. Ghirshman |title = AF<u>GH</u>ĀNISTĀN| encyclopedia = [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]| edition = CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0| publisher = Koninklijke Brill NV| location = Leiden, The Netherlands| year = 1999 | quote=''"... there is no evidence for assuming that the inhabitants of Ghūr were originally Pashto-speaking (cf. Dames, in E I1). If we are to believe the Paṭa Khazāna (see below, iii), the legendary Amīr Karōṝ, grandson of Shansab, (8th century) was a Pashto poet, but this for various reasons is very improbable ..."''}}</ref> Contemporary scholars state that the dynasty was of [[Tajik people|Tajik]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book |author=[[Richard M. Eaton|Richard Eaton]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLXXAAAAMAAJ&q=Rajputs |title=Essays on Islam and Indian History |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=100|quote=The dynamics of north Indian politics changed dramatically, however, when the Ghurids, a dynasty of Tajik (eastern Iranian), origin arrived from central Afghanistan towards the end of twelfth century|isbn=978-0-19-565114-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], "Ghurids", C.E. Bosworth, Online Edition, 2006: ''"... The Shansabānīs were, like the rest of the <u>Gh</u>ūrīs, of eastern Iranian Tājik stock ..."''</ref>{{sfn|Wink|2020|p=78}}<ref>Cynthia Talbot, ''The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Past, 1200–2000'', (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 36.</ref>{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Finbarr B. |title=Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18074-8 |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MhJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Routledge">{{cite book |last1=Avari |first1=Burjor |title=Islamic Civilization in South Asia: A History of Muslim Power and Presence in the Indian Subcontinent |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-58061-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGHpVtQ8eKoC&pg=PA41 |language=en|page=41}}</ref> Later, due to intermarrying, the Ghurid princes were distinguished by their significant blending of Tajik, [[Persians|Persian]], [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], and native [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]] ethnicities.<ref name="Routledge"/>

In the 19th century some European scholars, such as [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]], favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was related to today's [[Pashtun people]]<ref>[[Mountstuart Elphinstone|Elphinstone, Mountstuart]]. The History of India. Vol. 1. J. Murray, 1841. Web. 29 April 2010. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oAluAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA598 Link]: ''"...the prevalent and apparently the correct opinion is, that both they and their subjects were Afghans. "'' & ''"In the time of Sultan Mahmud it was held, as has been observed, by a prince whom Ferishta calls Mohammed Soory (or Sur) Afghan."'' pp. 598–599</ref><ref>A short history of India: and of the frontier states of Afghanistan, Nipal, and Burma, [http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3022M Wheeler, James Talboys] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609112709/http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3022M |date=9 June 2007 }}, ([https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.96740/page/n105 <!-- pg=77 quote=afghan ghori. --> LINK]): ''"The next conqueror after Mahmud who made a name in India, was Muhammad Ghori, the Afghan."''</ref><ref>[[Edward Balfour|Balfour, Edward]]. The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial Industrial, and Scientific: Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1885. Web. 29 April 2010. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3U0OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA392 Link]: ''"IZ-ud-DIN Husain, the founder of the Ghori dynasty, was a native of Afghanistan. The origin of the house of Ghor has, however, been much discussed,&nbsp;– the prevailing opinion being that both they and their subjects were an Afghan race. "'' p. 392</ref> but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship.<ref name=EofI-Afghanistan>{{cite encyclopedia |author1=M. Longworth Dames |author2=G. Morgenstierne |author3=R. Ghirshman |title = AF<u>GH</u>ĀNISTĀN| encyclopedia = [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]| edition = CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0| publisher = Koninklijke Brill NV| location = Leiden, The Netherlands| year = 1999 | quote=''"... there is no evidence for assuming that the inhabitants of Ghūr were originally Pashto-speaking (cf. Dames, in E I1). If we are to believe the Paṭa Khazāna (see below, iii), the legendary Amīr Karōṝ, grandson of Shansab, (8th century) was a Pashto poet, but this for various reasons is very improbable ..."''}}</ref> Contemporary scholars state that the dynasty was of origin.<ref>{{Cite book |author=[[Richard M. Eaton|Richard Eaton]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLXXAAAAMAAJ&q=Rajputs |title=Essays on Islam and Indian History |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=100|quote=The dynamics of north Indian politics changed dramatically, however, when the Ghurids, a dynasty of (eastern Iranian), origin arrived from central Afghanistan towards the end of twelfth century|isbn=978-0-19-565114-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], "Ghurids", C.E. Bosworth, Online Edition, 2006: ''"... The Shansabānīs were, like the rest of the <u>Gh</u>ūrīs, of eastern Iranian stock ..."''</ref>{{sfn|Wink|2020|p=78}}<ref>Cynthia Talbot, ''The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Past, 1200–2000'', (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 36.</ref>{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Finbarr B. |title=Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18074-8 |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MhJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Routledge">{{cite book |last1=Avari |first1=Burjor |title=Islamic Civilization in South Asia: A History of Muslim Power and Presence in the Indian Subcontinent |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-58061-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGHpVtQ8eKoC&pg=PA41 |language=en|page=41}}</ref> Later, due to intermarrying, the Ghurid princes were distinguished by their significant blending of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], and native [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]] ethnicities.<ref name="Routledge"/>

''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' states: "Nor do we know anything about the ethnic stock of the Ḡūrīs in general and the Šansabānīs in particular; we can only assume that they were eastern Iranian Tajiks".{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}} [[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|Bosworth]] further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, ''Āl-e Šansab'' (Persianized: ''Šansabānī''), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally [[Middle Persian language|Middle Persian]] name ''Wišnasp''.{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}}

''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' states: "Nor do we know anything about the ethnic stock of the Ḡūrīs in general and the Šansabānīs in particular; we can only assume that they were eastern Iranian".{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}} [[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|Bosworth]] further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, ''Āl-e Šansab'' (Persianized: ''Šansabānī''), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally [[Middle Persian language|Middle Persian]] name ''Wišnasp''.{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}}

[[File:Afghanistan Ghor Province location.PNG|thumb|left|200px|The Ghurids originated from [[Ghor Province]] in central [[Afghanistan]].]]

[[File:Afghanistan Ghor Province location.PNG|thumb|left|200px|The Ghurids originated from [[Ghor Province]] in central [[Afghanistan]].]]

Historian [[André Wink]] explains in ''[[The New Cambridge History of Islam]]'':<ref name="New Cambridge">{{New Cambridge History of Islam|volume=3|last=Wink|first=André|author-link=André Wink|chapter=The early expansion of Islam in India|page=96}}</ref>{{blockquote|The Shansabānī dynasty superseded the Ghaznavids in the second half of the twelfth century. This dynasty was not of [[Turkic peoples|Turkish]], nor even [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]], but of eastern Persian or Tājīk origin, speaking a distinct Persian dialect of its own, like the rest of the inhabitants of the remote and isolated mountain region of Ghūr and its capital of Fīrūzkūh (in what is now central Afghanistan).}}

Historian [[André Wink]] explains in ''[[The New Cambridge History of Islam]]'':<ref name="New Cambridge">{{New Cambridge History of Islam|volume=3|last=Wink|first=André|author-link=André Wink|chapter=The early expansion of Islam in India|page=96}}</ref>{{blockquote|The Shansabānī dynasty superseded the Ghaznavids in the second half of the twelfth century. This dynasty was not of [[Turkic peoples|Turkish]], nor even [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]], but of eastern, speaking a distinct Persian dialect of its own, like the rest of the inhabitants of the remote and isolated mountain region of Ghūr and its capital of Fīrūzkūh (in what is now central Afghanistan).}}

When the Ghurids started to distinguish themselves through their conquests, courtiers and genealogists (such as [[Fakhr-i Mudabbir]] and [[Minhaj-i-Siraj|al-Juzjani]]) forged a fictive genealogy which connected the Ghurids with the Iranian past. They traced the Ghurid family back to the mythical Arab tyrant [[Zahhak]], mentioned in the medieval Persian epic {{lang|fa|[[Shahnameh]]}} ("The Book of Kings"), whose family had reportedly settled in Ghur after the Iranian hero [[Fereydun]] had ended Zahhak's thousand-year tyranny.{{sfn|O'Neal|2015}}{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}}

When the Ghurids started to distinguish themselves through their conquests, courtiers and genealogists (such as [[Fakhr-i Mudabbir]] and [[Minhaj-i-Siraj|al-Juzjani]]) forged a fictive genealogy which connected the Ghurids with the Iranian past. They traced the Ghurid family back to the mythical Arab tyrant [[Zahhak]], mentioned in the medieval Persian epic {{lang|fa|[[Shahnameh]]}} ("The Book of Kings"), whose family had reportedly settled in Ghur after the Iranian hero [[Fereydun]] had ended Zahhak's thousand-year tyranny.{{sfn|O'Neal|2015}}{{sfn|Bosworth|2001b}}

Out of the Ghurid state grew the [[Delhi Sultanate]] which established the Persian language as the official court language of the region&nbsp;– a status it retained until the late [[Mughal Empire|Mughal era]] in the 19th century.

Out of the Ghurid state grew the [[Delhi Sultanate]] which established the Persian language as the official court language of the region&nbsp;– a status it retained until the late [[Mughal Empire|Mughal era]] in the 19th century.

There was a strong Turkic presence among the Ghurids, since Turk slave-soldiers formed the vanguard of the Ghurid armies.<ref name="BA41"/> There was intense amalgamation between these various ethnic groups: "a notable admixture of Tajik, Persian, Turkish and indigenous Afghan ethnicities therefore characterized the Shansabanis".<ref name="BA41">{{cite book |last1=Avari |first1=Burjor |title=Islamic Civilization in South Asia: A History of Muslim Power and Presence in the Indian Subcontinent |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-58061-8 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGHpVtQ8eKoC&pg=PA41 |language=en}}</ref> At least until the end of the 13th century when they ruled the [[Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)|Mamluk Sultanate]] in India, the Turks in the Ghurid realm maintained their ethnical characteristics, continuing to use Turkish as their main language, rather than Persian, and persisting in their rude and bellicose ways as "men of the sword", in opposition to the Persian "men of the pen".{{sfn|Eaton|2019|pp=48–49}}

There was a strong Turkic presence among the Ghurids, since Turk slave-soldiers formed the vanguard of the Ghurid armies.<ref name="BA41"/> There was intense amalgamation between these various ethnic groups Persian, Turkish and indigenous Afghan ethnicities therefore characterized the Shansabanis".<ref name="BA41">{{cite book |last1=Avari |first1=Burjor |title=Islamic Civilization in South Asia: A History of Muslim Power and Presence in the Indian Subcontinent |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-58061-8 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGHpVtQ8eKoC&pg=PA41 |language=en}}</ref> At least until the end of the 13th century when they ruled the [[Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)|Mamluk Sultanate]] in India, the Turks in the Ghurid realm maintained their ethnical characteristics, continuing to use Turkish as their main language, rather than Persian, and persisting in their rude and bellicose ways as "men of the sword", in opposition to the Persian "men of the pen".{{sfn|Eaton|2019|pp=48–49}}

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