हिंदीOn this day

Hindu Shahis of Kabul and Udabhandapura

A Brahmin minister founded this house in the Kabul valley, and for two hundred years it stood between India and the armies coming from the west. Jayapala, Anandapala and Trilochanapala fought Ghazni until the line ended in 1026.

  1. Kallar (Lalliya)c. 822–?
  2. Samantadeva9th c.
  3. Kamalukalate 9th c.
  4. Bhimadevac. 930s–964
  5. Jayapalac. 964–1002
  6. Anandapalac. 1002–1010
  7. Trilochanapalac. 1010–1021
  8. +1
Period: c. 822–1026 CERegion: Kabul valley, Gandhara and the Punjab, later the Salt RangeCapitals: Kabul, Udabhandapura (Hund)
Photo: CNG Coins · CC BY-SA 3.0

01Kallar and the bull coins

Al-Biruni, who learned their history at Ghazni, says the last of the Turk Shahis of Kabul was deposed by his Brahmin minister Kallar, who founded a new line. Their silver coins, with Nandi recumbent on one side and a horseman on the other, carry the name Shri Samantadeva and were struck for so long and copied so widely that they became the common coin of the north-west. Kabul was lost in the late ninth century, and the capital moved east to Udabhandapura, now Hund, at the crossing of the Indus. The temples of the Salt Range at Amb and Kafirkot belong to their age.

02Jayapala and Anandapala

Bhimadeva’s granddaughter Didda became queen of Kashmir, and Kalhana records the Bhimakeshava temple he built there. Jayapala, who ruled from about 964, faced Sabuktigin of Ghazni and then his son Mahmud. On 27 November 1001 Mahmud defeated him near Peshawar and took him prisoner. Al-Utbi, Mahmud’s secretary, writes that after his release Jayapala, feeling the disgrace of defeat, gave the kingdom to his son and burned himself on a pyre. Anandapala gathered an alliance of Indian kings and met Mahmud at Waihind in 1008–09, and lost when his elephant turned in the battle.

Jayapala
Person · Reigned c. 964–1001 CEJayapalaJayapala ruled the Hindu Shahi kingdom from Kabul to the Punjab and for thirty years was the first wall against the new Turkish power at Ghazni. Beaten and captured by Mahmud near Peshawar in 1001, he gave up the throne to his son and ended his life on a funeral pyre.Read →

03The last stand

Trilochanapala fell back to the fort of Nandana in the Salt Range, lost it in 1014, and with Kashmiri troops sent by Samgramaraja was beaten again on the Tausi. He fought on in the Punjab and was killed in 1021. His son Bhimapala died in 1026, and the house ended. Al-Biruni, who served Mahmud, wrote of them that in all their grandeur they never slackened in the desire to do what is good and right, and that they were men of noble sentiment and bearing.

The rulers

  1. 1Kallar (Lalliya)Brahmin minister who founded the linec. 822–?
  2. 2SamantadevaName on the bull-and-horseman coins9th c.
  3. 3Kamalukalate 9th c.
  4. 4BhimadevaGrandfather of Queen Diddac. 930s–964
  5. 5JayapalaDefeated at Peshawar, 1001c. 964–1002
  6. 6AnandapalaLed the alliance at Waihindc. 1002–1010
  7. 7TrilochanapalaKilled fighting in 1021c. 1010–1021
  8. 8BhimapalaLast of the linec. 1021–1026

What they left

  • Bull-and-horseman silver coins, copied for centuries
  • Temples of the Salt Range at Amb and Kafirkot
  • Al-Biruni’s account of their line in the Kitab al-Hind

People

JayapalaRuler
Reigned c. 964–1001 CE

Jayapala

Hindu Shahi king who faced Ghazni

AnandapalaRuler
Reigned c. 1002–1010 CE

Anandapala

Hindu Shahi king, led the Waihind coalition

Places

Katas Raj TemplesRuined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Katas Raj Temples

A ring of stone temples around a green spring-fed pond in the Salt Range. The pond is held to have formed from Shiva’s tears for Sati, and the Pandavas are said to have spent part of their exile here.

KabulStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Kabul

The city on the river the Rigveda calls the Kubha, for centuries a seat of kings of the Indic world: the Turk Shahis and then the Hindu Shahis, until the Saffarids took it around 870. Hindus and Sikhs lived here until the last decades, worshipping at the Asamai temple.

Waihind (Udabhandapura, Hund)Ruined
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Waihind (Udabhandapura, Hund)

Udabhandapura, the Waihind of the Arab writers, on the right bank of the Indus above Attock, was the capital of the Hindu Shahi kings Jayapala and Anandapala. Near it in 1008–09 Anandapala’s allied army fought Mahmud of Ghazni and lost.

Amb Temples, Salt RangeRuined
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Amb Temples, Salt Range

Brick and stone temples on a hill in the Sakesar valley of the Salt Range, among the finest left from the Hindu Shahi age. The main shrine still rises three storeys, though no worship has been offered there for centuries.

Nandana FortRuined
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Nandana Fort

A fort on a spur of the Salt Range guarding the pass to the Jhelum plain, the last strong place of the Hindu Shahis. Mahmud of Ghazni took it in 1014, and a few years later al-Biruni used its hill to measure the size of the earth.

Battles

Battle of Peshawar

The first of Mahmud’s invasions of India. Jayapala, the Hindu Shahi king who had stood for decades between Ghazni and the Punjab, was beaten and captured near Peshawar.

27 November 1001 CE

Battle of Chach (Waihind)

Anandapala gathered the largest Hindu army yet raised against Ghazni, with help from other kings of the north. It came close to winning on the Chach plain before it broke.

Winter 1008–1009 CE

Evidence

Tarikh-i-Yamini of al-UtbiChronicle
c. 1020 CE

Tarikh-i-Yamini of al-Utbi

A court history of Sabuktigin and his son Mahmud of Ghazni, written while Mahmud was still raiding Bharat.

On the timeline

  • c. 870 CE

    Kabul falls; the Shahis hold UdabhandapuraWar

    The Saffarid Yaqub ibn al-Layth took Kabul around 870. The Hindu Shahi kings held their line east of it, ruling from Udabhandapura (Hund) on the Sindhu.

  • 1026 CE

    The Hindu Shahi line endsResistance

    With the death of Bhimapala, the dynasty that had guarded the north-west gate for two centuries came to an end. Al-Biruni praised them for their noble bearing.