The last two dynasties of the Sahis : an analysis of their history, archaeology, coinage and palaeography

Abstract

Albiruni has done a great service to the early medieval rulers of North West India and Afghanistan by investigating their history. He complains of a serious lack of information and excuses himself for responsibility regarding the accuracy of the stories related to him about them. According to the information available to him the two preMuslim dynasties of Gandhara and Kabul were called 1Shahi11 (Sahi). He qualifies the dynasties as Turks and Hindus, but he tells nothing about their origin, the duration of their rule, the territorial limits of their kingdom and, except in a few cases, the dates of the individual rulers. The word 'Shaht1 is also known from Ibn Hauqal2 (A.D. 976). Istakhri (A.D. 951) uses the form Shah as a title for the pre-Ghaznavid rulers of Kabul.3 The Dewai stone inscription of Bhimal (c. A.D. 921-6U) and the Rajatarahgint5 (c. A.D. 111+9) have the form Sahi. The Kabul image (our no.l) and the Hatun rock (our no.2) inscriptions give the spelling Sahi.