Pre Islamic Hindu and Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan

Pre Islamic Hindu and Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan

[
thumb|200px|Coin_of_the_Shahi_king_Spalapati_Deva,_circa_750-900.
Obv: Bull, symbol of Shiva.Rev: King mounted on a horse.]

Up until the advent of Islam, Afghanistan was ruled by the Hindu Shahi kings. When Hsüan-tsang visited the region early in the 7th century CE, the Kabul valley region was ruled by a Hindu Kshatriya king, who is identified as the Shahi Khingal, and whose name has been found in an inscription found in Gardez.

The Hindu Shahi kings of Kabul and Gandhara may have had links to some ruling families in neighboring Kashmir and other areas to the east. The Shahis, though Hindu, were rulers a multi religious Buddhist, Zoroastrian, and pagan population and were thus patrons of numerous faiths, and various artifacts and coins from their rule have been found that display their multicultural domain. The Last Shahi rulers Jayapal, Anandapal and Trilochanpal fought Muslim Turks from Europe and were gradually defeated. They then retreated to the Punjab.

ee also

*Panini (grammarian)
*Gandhara Kingdom
*Nava Vihara
*Bamyan
*Padmasambhava
*Shahi
*Ghazni Province


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