The Ghurid Sultanate, 1009-1215
A Medieval Afghan State between Herat and Helmand
The history of the Ghurid Sultanate, their liberation from the Ghaznavid Dynasty and eventual defeat by the Khwarizm Shah.
The area of what is now northern India, Afghanistan and Pakistan has throughout history acted as a meeting place for different cultures. Peoples from the Steppes, from Persia and its environs, from Arabia, from Alexander’s conquering Macedonians and others all traveled there at different times and created states of their own. Some states were strong and persisted for centuries, giving rise to recognizable and characteristic artistic and cultural institutions of their own. Others were short-lived and have left almost no record in the modern age. Sometimes, the states matched the geographic area in which a particular set of ethnically-related people lived but it was more likely that similar people lived across borders, which both gave kings and sultans a motive for conquering more territory and also makes it more difficult for us, in the modern age, to distinguish accurately among the myriad of seemingly very similar states, rulers and dynasties.
One dynasty that does stand out, to some extent, is the Ghurid Sultanate which flourished with a base at what is now Ghur or Ghawr in western and central Afghanistan. This is rugged and difficult terrain, heavily mountainous and almost impregnable to outside forces, as mountain strongholds could resist more numerous opponents for lengthy periods of time. To the northwest of Ghur was Herat and to the southeast the valley of the River Helmand. Mahmud of Ghazni did take Ghur in 1009 (many dates are contested) and held it as tributary of the Ghaznavids until 1149 (http://south-asian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_ghaznavid_dynasty). It was during this period that the people of Ghur converted to Islam. The region contained different sets of people often in conflict with each other: the local Ghurid people, the Ghaznavids of northern India, Persians, the Oguz Turkmen from the Steppes and others. Princes were forever being chased from one throne and forced to take exile in another court. There was never any shortage of reasons to fight or maintain vendettas, which the local rulers were quite happy to do. Consequently, it was the leader of the Ghaznavids Bahram Shah who poisoned the Ghurid Qutb ud-Din, who was taking refuge in his city, as the result of some family dispute or other. This led to an outbreak of fighting which resulted in the Ghurid Sultanate not only repudiating the dominance of the Ghaznavids but actually crippling their state by seizing their capital city of Ghazna.
Holding Ghazna proved to be too much for the comparatively few Ghurids but they were able to hold on to their own Sultanate for another 70 years. Perhaps the most famous leader was Ghiyas who, between 1173-1202, led the Ghurids to the peak of their powers when they challenged the mighty Seljuk Turks in their own homelands, seizing Heart, eastern Iran and Turkmenistan. However, the death of Ghiyas led to a rapid decline and the Shah of the Khwarizm Khanate took over a land riven by internal disputes and would-be Sultans at each other’s throats.
The Ghurid people left behind some influence on local architecture, in particular and the minarets and towers built still evince praise. As for what else they may have contributed, it has nearly all been lost in the melting pot of history.
John Walsh, Shinawatra University, March 2007
