Khalaj Kings Worshiped Lord Shiva.

Khalaj_coin._8th_century_CE._Crowned_bust_right._Shiva_standing_facing,_holding_trident

 

 

At Least till 8th Century Khalaj kings worshiped Lord Shiva.

A Khalaj coin of the 8th century CE.  

King’s crowned bust appears on the obverse.

On the reverse: Shiva standing holding trident.

 The Story

 

·        The Khalaj   are classified as a Turkic tribe.

·        The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups of Central, East, North and West Asia as well as parts of Europe and North Africa, who speak Turkic languages.

·        In Afghanistan, the Ghilji tribe of Pashtuns are descends from the Khalaj people.

·        Historians consider  Khalaj tribe to be one of the earliest to cross the Amu Darya from Central Asia into present-day Afghanistan.

·        The Khalaj were described as sheep-grazing nomads in Ghazni, Qalati Ghilji, and the surrounding districts, who had a habit of wandering through seasonal pastures.

·        In Iran, they still speak Khalaj language, which is classified as Turkic, although most of them are Persianized.


Notable people from the Khalaj tribe

 

·        Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, founder of the Khalji dynasty of Bengal (d. 1206)

·        Jalal-ud-din Khalji, founder of the Khalji dynasty of Delhi (d. 1296)

·        Alauddin Khalji, most powerful Sultan of the Khalji dynasty of Delhi (d. 1316)

·        Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah, Sultan of Delhi (d. 1320)

 

[The coin is on the Hephthalite model, imitating Sasanian king Peroz I 438-457. The Hephthalites, sometimes called the White Huns, were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to 8th centuries CE. They formed an empire, the Imperial Hephthalites, and were militarily important from 450 CE, when they defeated the Kidarites, to 560 CE] 

 

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