Ghurids

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The Ghurid Empire around 1200
The Ghurid Empire and its neighbors at the beginning of the 13th century

The Ghurids ( Persian غوریان, DMG Ġūriyān ; Arabic غوريون, DMG Ġūriyūn , also Guriden) were an Iranian dynasty indigenous to the mountainous region of Ghur in today's Afghanistan , which conquered the Ghaznavid empire in the second half of the 12th century and through advances in the west to Bistam and in the east to Bengal at the beginning briefly rose to the dominant power of the Islamic East in the 13th century. The final annihilation of the Ghurid Empire ruled by several lines, the center of which was the city ​​of Firuzkuh (Fīrūzkūh - " Turquoise Mountain "), which is probably identical to Jām (Ǧām) , took place in 1215 by the Khorezm Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad (ʾAlāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad) .

Event history

The Ghurids belonged to the house of the Shansabanids (Āl-i Šansab) ruling over Ghur, whose origin is unknown. The historian Mountstuart Elphinstone suspects that they were eastern Iranian Pashtuns . Others, on the other hand, suggest a Tajik origin, which would, however, contradict the fact that the mother tongue of the Ghurids was different from Persian, since the Tajik people are primarily defined by Persian as their mother tongue. Clifford Edmund Bosworth derives the name of the eponymous dynasty founder Schansab from the Middle Persian personal name Wischnasp .

After Ghur was not Islamized until the 11th century, its princes were initially subordinate to the Ghaznavids from 1011. Approx. 1107/08 was followed by the supremacy of the Seljuk sultan Sandschar , from which the Ghuride Ala ad-Din Husain II. (ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Ḥusain) tried in vain to free himself in 1152. In the previous year, however, he had succeeded in destroying Ghazna , among other things , which earned him the nickname Dschahansuz (ǧahān-sūz - "the burner of the world") and was part of a considerable expansion phase, which laid the foundation for the establishment of a great empire. While the Seljuk rule over eastern Iran was broken with Sandjar's death, the Guridic conquests continued in what is now Afghanistan and limited the hated Ghaznavids to the Punjab with the capital Lahore . The metropolis of Ghazna, which was finally captured in 1173/74 , became the seat of a separate branch of the dynasty , just like Bamiyan , from where they soon advanced beyond the Amu Darya. From here they pushed further east and in the process overturned the last Ghaznavids in 1186.

The high point of the Ghurid Empire is marked by a dual rule beginning in 1173, under which Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad (Ġiyāṯ ad-Dīn Muḥammad) ruled from Firuzkuh from Eastern Iran and his younger brother Sultan Muizz ad-Din Muhammad (Muʿizz ad-Dīn Muḥammad) from Ghazna penetrated into the Indus valley. While Ghiyath ad-Din, a loyal ally of the Abbasid caliphate , conquered the whole of Khorasan and successfully defended it against the Khorezm Shahs - who rival the Ghurids - Muizz ad-Din continued the Ghazi tradition of the Ghaznavids and began with forays into northern India, the Ghurids - in contrast to Mahmud of Ghazna - wanted to conquer. The first two major clashes with the Hindu princes ended in 1178 and 1191, however, with heavy defeats against the Chalukya king of Gudscharat and Prithviraj III. from Delhi . It was only after the second battle of Tarain (1192), in which the coalition of Hindu princes was surprisingly defeated and Prithviraj killed, that northern India could be almost completely subjugated step by step until 1202 (conquest of Bengal ), with the Ghurids as patrons of Persian literature and art also conveyed cultural influences.

Although Muizz ad-Din was 1203 autocrat and could 1204 even to Khorezm advance, but the Ghuridenreich fell apart after his assassination (1206) quickly: while in northern India Mamluk -Generäle as Qutb al-Din Aibak (Qutb ad-Din Aibak) the founder of the Sultanate of Delhi , made independent and the rule over Ghazna was lost to the Ghulam Taj ad-Din Yildiz (Tāǧ ad-Dīn Yildiz), the Chorasan possessions of the Ghurids came under the rule of the powerful Khorezm Shah Ala ad in 1206 -Din Muhammad , who initially made the Sultan of Firuzkuh his vassal and completely destroyed the dynasty in 1215.

The kartids , who ruled Eastern Khorasan from 1245 to 1389 as vassals of the Mongols, can be considered descendants and heirs of the Ghurids .

Cultural developments among the Ghurids

Like the Ghaznawid sultans, the Ghurid rulers also distinguished themselves as patrons of the arts and promoters of Persian literature . The “world burner” Ala ad-Din Husain II had Ghazna largely destroyed and looted, but when conquering the metropolis he made sure to keep the works of the great Ghaznavid poets located here for his own library and even made himself a name as a talented poet. Among the many poets of Ghuridenhofs which, as such, especially by their mention in Aufi are known ('Aufī) and Daulat Shah (Daulat-Šāh) include, among others, the panegyrists Nizami Aruzi (Nizami'Arūżī), Abu 'l-Qasim Rafii (Abu 'l-Qāsim Rafīʿī), Abu Bakr Dschauhari (Abū Bakr Ǧauharī) and Ali Sufi (ʿAlī Ṣūfī). But, unlike the divans of the Ghaznavid poets, hardly anything has survived from her work. The situation is similar with the prose literature developed under the Ghurids: In addition to the important historical work Tabaqat-i nasiri ( Ṭabaqāt-i nāṣirī ), which was written by the Gurid court chronicler (and ambassador) Juzdschani (Ǧūzǧānī) and is the main source of the history of the dynasty, the Bahr al-ansab ( Baḥr al-ansāb ), a genealogical work, and the Adab al-harb wa- sh-Sha'aah ( Ādāb al-ḥarb wa-'š-šaǧāʿa ) on statecraft are to be mentioned here, both of which are from Fachr ad-Din Mubarakschah (Faḫr ad-Dīn Mubārakšāh), also known as Fachr-i Mudabbir (Faḫr-i Mudabbir).

Just as in literature, the Ghurids continued the Ghaznavid tradition in architecture by and large and expanded the centers of their power into splendid metropolises. While Ghazna was quickly rebuilt and, especially under Muizz ad-Din Muhammad, profited from the riches captured in India, Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad had a large number of mosques, madrasahs , mausoleums and caravanserais built in Khorasan and thus became the greatest builder of the dynasty . As can be seen from an inscription that has survived to this day, for example, he initiated the complete restoration of the Friday mosque of Herat and built a mausoleum for his dynasty and a madrasa in the same city (north of the mosque), which remained the most important of the city until the Timurid era . Furthermore, a mosque, a madrasa and two mausoleums in Tschisht (Čišt) as well as an extensive palace complex in Laschkar-i Bazar (Laškar-i Bāzār) near Bost and another madrasa in Shah-i Maschhad (Šāh-i Mašhad), of their former glory today at least ruins testify. Certainly the most famous evidence of Guridic architecture is the grandiose, 65 m high minaret of Jam , which is probably the only remnant of the lost Ghurid capital Firuzkuh.

  • The two mausoleums of Tschischt (the "western" one was built in 1167, the "eastern" one in 1194)

  • The poorly preserved "eastern mausoleum" of Tschischt

  • The Minaret of Jam (built 1174/75) - World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 2002

  • Kufic inscription on the minaret of Jam (here in blue the name and title of Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad)

  • Detail of the decoration of the minaret of Jam (the intertwined ribbons carry the 19th sura of the Koran )

  • Ruins of the madrasa of Shah-i Mashhad (built 1176)

Ruler list

The main line in Ghur, Ghazna, North India and Khorasan

  • Muhammad ibn Suri Schansabani (ruled until 1011)
  • Abu Ali ibn Muhammad (ruled from 1011 to the 1030s, vassal of the Ghaznavids)
  • Abbas ibn Shith (vassal of the Ghaznavids)
  • Muhammad ibn Abbas (ruled after 1059, vassal of the Ghaznavids)
  • Qutb ad-Din Hasan ibn Muhammad (vassal of the Ghaznavids)
  • Izz ad-Din Abu l-Muluk (or Abu l-Salatin) Husain (I.) ibn Hasan (ruled 1100–1146, initially a vassal of the Ghaznavids, then of the Seljuk sultan Sanjar)
  • Saif ad-Din Suri ibn Husain (r. 1146–1149, vassal of Sultan Sandjars)
  • Baha ad-Din Sam (I.) ibn Husain (r. 1149, vassal of Sultan Sanjars)
  • Ala ad-Din Jahan-Suz Husain (II.) Ibn Husain (r. 1149–1161, vassal of Sultan Sanjars)
  • Saif ad-Din Muhammad ibn Husain (r. 1161–1163)
  • Ghiyath ad-Din Abu l-Fath Muhammad ibn Sam (r. 1163-1203)
  • Muizz ad-Din Muhammad ibn Sam (r. 1203–1206, in Ghazna since 1173)
  • Ghiyath ad-Din Mahmud ibn Muhammad (r. 1206-1212, vassal of the Khorezm Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad)
  • Baha ad-Din Sam (II.) Ibn Mahmud (r. 1212–1213, vassal of the Khorezm Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad)
  • Ala ad-Din Atsiz ibn Husain (r. 1213–1214, vassal of the Khorezm Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad)
  • Ala ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ali Shuja ad-Din ibn Ali Ala ad-Din ibn Husain (r. 1214–1215, vassal of the Khorezm Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad)

The branch line in Bamiyan, Tucharistan, Badachschan, Shughnan, Wachsch and Tschaghaniyan

  • Fachr ad-Din Masud ibn Husain (r. 1145–1163)
  • Shams ad-Din Muhammad ibn Masud (r. 1163–1192)
  • Baha ad-Din Abu 'l-Muayyid Sam ibn Muhammad (r. 1192–1206)
  • Jalal al-Din Ali ibn Sam (r. 1206-1215, vassal of the Khorezm Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad)

Sources, literature and web links

  • Minhāǧ ad-Dīn Abū ʿAmr ʿUṯmān Ǧūzǧānī : Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī. in translation by Henry George Raverty: Tabakāt-i-Nāsirī. A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia, including Hindūstān, from AH 194 [810 AD], to AH 658 [1260 AD], and the Irruption of the Infidel Mu gh als into Islām. Gilbert & Rivington et al., London 1881-1897.
  • Clifford E. Bosworth: The Early Islamic History of Ghūr. In: Central Asiatic Journal. Vol. 6, No. 2, 1961, ISSN  0008-9192 , pp. 116-133, JSTOR 41926500 .
  • Clifford E. Bosworth: Gh ūrids. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume 2: C - G. New Edition. Brill et al., Leiden et al. 1965.
  • Clifford E. Bosworth: The political and dynastic history of the Iranian world (AD 1000-1217). In: The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 5: John A. Boyle (Ed.): The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1968.
  • Khaliq A. Nizami: The Ghurids. In: History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume 4: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century. Part 1: Muhammad S. Asimov and Clifford E. Bosworth (Eds.): The Historical, Social and Economic Setting. UNESCO, Paris 1998, ISBN 92-3-103467-7 , pp. 182-195, (online edition at http://www.unesco.org/culture/asia ).

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Elphinstone, Mountstuart . The History of India. Vol. 1. J. Murray, 1841. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. 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. " p. 598-599
  2. ↑ Finbarr Barry Flood, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter , (Princeton University Press, 2009), 13. [1]
  3. ↑ Clifford Edmund Bosworth: Article “GHURIDS” (December 15, 2001) in: Encyclopaedia Iranica , Online Edition