| Tegin Shah | |
| Majestic Sovereign | |
| Succession: | Turk Shahi King |
| Reign: | 680–739 CE |
| Predecessor: | Barha Tegin |
| Successor: | Fromo Kesaro |
Shahi Tegin, Tegin Shah or Sri Shahi (ruled 680–739 CE, known to the Chinese as 烏散特勤灑 Wusan Teqin Sa "Tegin Shah of Khorasan") was a king of the Turk Shahis, a dynasty of Western Turk or mixed Western Turk-Hephthalite origin who ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries.[1]
Kabulistan was the heartland of the Turk Shahi domain, which at times included Zabulistan[2] and Gandhara.
During their rule, the Turk Shahi were in constant conflict against the eastward expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate.[1] About 650 CE, the Arabs captured Sistan, and started to attack Shahi territory from the west.[1] They captured Kabul in 665 CE, but the Turk Shahis were able to mount a counter-offensive and repulsed the Arabs, taking back the areas of Kabul and Zabulistan (around Ghazni), as well as the region of Arachosia as far as Kandahar.[1]
In 680 CE, Shahi Tegin succeeded Barha Tegin.[3] The Arabs again failed to capture Kabul and Zabulistan in 697–698 CE, and their general Yazid ibn Ziyad was killed in the action.[1]
In 719/20 CE, the Tegin of Kabulistan (Tegin Shah) and the Iltäbär of Zabulistan sent a combined embassy to the Chinese emperor of the Tang dynasty in Xi'an to obtain confirmation of their thrones.[4] The Chinese emperor signed an investiture decree, which was returned to the Turk rulers:
The word "Geluodazhi" in this extract (Chinese: 葛罗达支, pronounced in Early Middle Chinese: kat-la-dat-tcǐe), is thought to be a transliteration of the ethnonym Khalaj. Hence Tegin Shah was "Tegin of the Khalaj".[5] This title also appears on his coinage in Gupta script, where he is named "hitivira kharalāča", probably meaning "Iltäbär of the Khalaj".[5] In 720 CE, the ruler of Zabulistan (謝䫻, xieyu) also received the title Gedaluozhi Xielifa (Chinese: 葛達羅支頡利發), Xielifa being the known Chinese transcription of the Turkish "Iltäbär", hence "Iltäbär of the Khalaj".[6] Overall, it seems that the Turk Shahi rulers were Khalaj Turks.[7]
Tegin Shah abdicated in 739 CE in favour of his son Fromo Kesaro and sent an embassy through Central Asia in 719 CE:[1]