Khingala Explained

Khingala
The supreme lord, the great King, the King of Kings, the Majestic Sovereign
Succession:Turk Shahi King
Reign:circa 775-785 CE
Predecessor:Possibly Bo Fuzhun
Successor:Possibly Langaturman

Khingala,[1] also transliterated Khinkhil, Khinjil or Khinjal, (Sharada script: khiṃ-gā-la, ruled circa 775-785 CE) was a ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Ya'qubi and from an epigraphical source, the Gardez Ganesha. The identification of his coinage remains conjectural.

Arabic accounts

The Muslim historian Ya'qubi (died 897/8) in his Ta'rikh ("History"), recounts that the third Abbasid Caliph Al-Mahdi (ruled 775-785 CE) asked for, and apparently obtained, the submission of various Central Asian rulers, including that of the Kabul Shah.[2] Al-yaqubi seems to give the name of the Kabul Shah as "Ḥanḥal", but the reading is uncertain.[3] But a later handwritten copy of the book is known to transcribe the name as "Khanjal".[3] The original account by Ya'qubi reads:

The name "Khanjal" has been variously reconstructed as "Khinkhil", "Khinjil" or "Khinjal", and is very similar to the name of an earlier Alchon Hun ruler named Khingila (5th century CE).[3] [4] According to historian Rezakhani, the name mentioned by Ya'qubi is "obviously a namesake" of Khingila.[5]

Epigraphy

See main article: Gardez Ganesha. The Gardez Ganesha is a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha, discovered in Gardez, near Kabul in Afghanistan. It is considered as "a typical product of the Indo-Afghan school".[6] A dedicatory inscription appears on the base of the statue. It is written in the Siddhamatrika script, a development of the Brahmi script.[7] An analysis of the writing suggests a date from the 6th or 8th century CE.[8]

The identity of this Khingala is uncertain.[6] A famous Khingila is known from the dynasty of the Alchon Huns, and one of his coins has the legend "Deva Shahi Khingila" ( "God-King Khingila"), but he is dated quite earlier, to the 5th century CE.[6]

Given the stylistically probable mid-8th century date for the Ganesha, the Śrī Ṣāhi Khiṃgāla of the inscription may have been identical with the Turk Shahi ruler of Kabul known in Arab sources as Khinkhil or Khinjil, who, according to Ya'qubi, gave his submission to Al-Mahdi in 775-785.[2]

Relation with Bo Fuzhun

There is a possibility that the Khinkhil of the Arabs is identical with the Turk Shahi Bo Fuzhun (勃匐準) of the Chinese sources, which mention that he was the son of Fromo Kesaro and acceded to the throne precisely in 745 CE.[9] [10] [11] [12]

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Book: Alram . Michael . Sasanian Iran in the Context of Late Antiquity: The Bahari Lecture Series at the University of Oxford . 1 February 2021 . BRILL . 978-90-04-46066-9 . 19 . en.
  2. Kuwayama . Shoshin . Historical Notes on Kapisi and Kabul in the Sixth-Eighth Centuries . ZINBUN . 1999 . 34 . 44 .
  3. Habibi . Abdul Hai . Abdul Hai Habibi. Afghanistan at the end of the Koshan period . Afghanistan Magazine . 1971 . 1971 . 4 . 51-56, reproduced in the Kabul Times . 29 November 2021.
  4. Rahman . A. . New Light on the Khingal, Turk and the Hindu Sahis . Ancient Pakistan . 2002 .
  5. Book: Rezakhani . Khodadad . ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity . 15 March 2017 . Edinburgh University Press . 978-1-4744-0030-5 . 109, note 9 . en.
  6. Dhavalikar . M. K. . A Note on Two Gaṇeśa Statues from Afghanistan . East and West . 1971 . 21 . 3/4 . 331–336 . 29755703 . 0012-8376.
  7. Book: Sircar . D.C. . Epigraphia-indica 35 . 1966 . Archeological Survey of India . 44–60 .
  8. KUWAYAMA . Shoshin . Historical Notes on Kapisa and Kabul in the Sixth-Eighth Centuries. ZINBUN . 1999 . 34 . 69-72 .
  9. Web site: 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" . Pro.geo.univie.ac.at . Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna . July 22, 2017 . August 2, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170802204758/http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase15?language=en . dead .
  10. Inaba . Minoru . From Kesar the Kābulšāh and Central Asia . 446 . en.
  11. 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 Oddiyana. He was conferred the title General of the Left Stalwart Guard" in Book: Balogh . Dániel . Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History . 12 March 2020 . Barkhuis . 978-94-93194-01-4 . 104 . en.
  12. Book: Rezakhani . Khodadad . ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity . 15 March 2017 . Edinburgh University Press . 978-1-4744-0031-2 . 171 . en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Khingala".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.