Zunbil, also written as Zhunbil, or Rutbils of Zabulistan, was a royal dynasty south of the Hindu Kush in present southern Afghanistan region.
They ruled from circa 680 AD until the Saffarid conquest in 870 AD.
The Zunbil dynasty was founded by Rutbil (Turkic: Iltäbär), the elder brother of the Turk Shahi ruler (either Barha Tegin or Tegin Shah), who ruled over a Khalaj Turk-Hephthalite kingdom from his capital in Kabul.Andre Wink,  Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol.1, (Brill, 1996), 115;""The Zunbils of the early Islamic period and the Kabulshahs were almost certainly epigoni of the southern-Hephthalite rulers of Zabul."
History of Civilizations of central Asia, B A Litivinsky Zhang Guang-Da, R Shabani Samghabadi, p.376 The Zunbils are described as having Turkish troops in their service by Arabic sources like Tarikh al-Tabari and Tarikh-i Sistan.
The faith of this community has been little researched.
According to the interpretation of Chinese sources by Marquarts and de Groots in 1915, the king of Ts'ao is said to have worn a crown with a golden fish head and was related to the Sogdians.
The Temple of the Zun was recognizable by a large fish skeleton on display; this would indicate a related merchantry deity.H. Miyakawa und A. Kollautz: Ein Dokument zum Fernhandel zwischen Byzanz und China zur Zeit Theophylakts In: Byzantinische Zeitschrift, S. 14 (Anhang).
De Gruyter Januar 1984. .
In addition to that Marquarts states the Zunbils to have worshipped a solar deity which might have been connected to Aditya (Surya).
However, according to Shōshin Kuwayama there was a clear dichotomy between worshipers of the Hindu god Surya and followers of Zhun.
This is exemplified by the conflict between Surya and Zhun followers, which lead to the followers of Zhun migrating southwards towards Zabulistan from Kapisa.
According to André Wink the followers of this god were primarily Hindu, though parallels have also been noted with pre-Buddhist religious and monarchy practices in Tibet and had Zoroastrian influence in its ritual.
Other scholars such as H. Schaeder and N. Sims-William have connected it with the Zoroastrian deity of time.
Their territory included between what is now the city of Zaranj in southwestern Afghanistan and Kabulistan in the northeast, with Zamindawar and Ghazni serving as their capitals.André Wink, "Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World", Brill 1990, p. 118 In the south their territory reached at times the cities of Rakhwad (al-Rukhkhaj) and Bost (near Kandahar).
The title Zunbil can be traced back to the Middle-Persian original Zūn-dātbar, 'Zun the Justice-giver'.
The geographical name Zamindawar would also reflect this, from Middle Persian 'Zamin-i dātbar' (Land of the Justice-giver).Bosworth, Clifford Edmund.
2002.
The Encyclopaedia of Islam.
Leiden: Brill.
Zamindawar.
p.439.
History
Around the time Barha Tegin died, his dynasty split into two kingdoms.
The Zunbil is already mentioned to have existed during his time and two campaigned together against the Arabs after Abdur Rahman ibn Samura was replaced as the governor of Sistan.
The Zunbil may have been his brother oe that of Tegin Shah, and may also have been appointed as the governor in Zabulistan by Barha Tegin after he conquered the region from the king of Kapisa Ghar-ilchi.
Rabi ibn Ziyad al-Harithi upon assuming governorship in 671 attacked the Zunbil and drove him to Bost, before marching into al-Rukhkhaj.
Rabi's successor Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra continued the war upon being appointed in 673 AD, forcing the Zunbil to negotiate a peace treaty for both Kabul and Zabul.
From 680 AD, the Tegin Shah was the king of the Turk Shahis, and ruled the area from Kabulistan to Gandhara as well as Zabulistan.
His title was "Khorasan Tegin Shah" (meaning "Tegin, King of the East"), and he was known in Chinese sources as Wusan teqin sa.
His grand title probably refers to his resistance to the peril of the Umayyad caliph from the west.
At the time when Salm ibn Ziyad was governor of Sistan (681-684 AD), Rutbil split from his brother the Shahi of Kabul, and established the Zunbil dynasty, paying temporary allegiance to Salm ibn Ziyad.
The area of  Zabulistan came to be ruled by Rutbil, also spelled Zibil or Jibul (from Turkic: Iltäbär "Commander").
The relationship between the two brothers was at times antagonistic, but they fought together against Arab incursions.
Rubtil issued coins derived from Sassanian prototypes, with a Bactrian script legend on the obverse, a Pahlavi script legend on the reverse, and a short Brahmi script legend in the name of Śrī Vākhudevaḥ ("His Highness the Majestic Lord"):
thumb|A coin of the Rutbils, minted in Zabulistan circa 720 AD.
According to Anthony McNicoll, "the Zunbils ruled in the Kandahar area for nearly 250 years until the late 9th century AD".Excavations at Kandahar 1974 & 1975 (Society for South Asian Studies Monograph) by Anthony McNicoll Their main capital Zamindawar was located in the present-day Helmand Province of Afghanistan.
The shrine of Zoon was located about three miles south of Musa Qala in Helmand, which may still be traced today.
Some believe that the Sunagir temple mentioned by the famous Chinese traveler Xuanzang in 640 AD pertains to this exact house of worship.
Vassalage to the Yabghus of Tokharistan
According to Chinese sources, in particular the chronicles of the Cefu Yuangui, The Turk in Kabul were vasals of the Yabghus of Tokharistan.
When a young brother of the Yabghu Pantu Nili, named Puluo (僕羅 púluó in Chinese sources), visited the court of the Tang Dynasty in Xi'an in 718 AD, he gave an gave an account of the military forces in the Tokharistan region.
Puluo described the power of "the Kings of Tokharistan", explaining that "Two hundred and twelve kingdoms, governors and prefects" recognize the authority of the Yabghus, and that it has been so since the time of his grand-father, that is, probably since the time of the establishment of the Yabghus of Tokharistan.
This account also shows that the Yabghu of Tokharistan ruled a vast area circa 718 AD, formed of the territories north and south of the Hindu Kush, including the areas of Kabul and Zabul."
The account herewith quoted as 3.5.
shows that this king of Tokhara had political power to control the principalities belonging to the Governors-General to the north and the south of the Hindukush, not to mention the Yuezhi Governor General."
in  Finally, Puluo reaffirmed the loyalty of Yabghu Pantu Nili towards the Tang Dynasty.
Part of the Chinese entry for this account by Puluo is: Early Arab incursions
During the more than two centuries of their rule, the Turk Shahi and Zunbils were consistently an obstacle to the eastward expansion of Muslims forces.
Rashiduns
About 643-644 AD, the Arabs raided Sistan for the first time, and then started to attack Turkic territory from the southwest.
In 653-4 AD, an army of around 6,000 Arabs were led by General Abdur Rahman bin Samara of the Rashidun Caliphate, and they arrived to the shrine of Zoon in Zamindawar.
It is reported that General Abdur Rahman "broke off a hand of the idol and plucked out the rubies which were its eyes in order to persuade the Marzbān of Sīstān of the god's worthlessness."
André Wink, "Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World", Brill 1990.
p 120 The General explained to the Marzbān: "my intention was to show you that this idol can do neither any harm nor good."
Umayyad Caliphate
Circa 665 AD, the Arabs under Abdur Rahman bin Samara captured Kabul for the first time.
But the Turk Shahis under Barha Tegin were able to mount a counter-offensive and repulse the Arabs, taking back the areas of Kabul and Zabulistan (around Ghazni), as well as the region of Arachosia as far as Kandahar.
In 681-684 AD, Rutbil split from his brother the Shahi of Kabul, and established the Zunbil dynasty, paying temporary allegiance to Salm ibn Ziyad, governor of Sistan.
The relationship between the two brothers was at times antagonistic, but they fought together against Arab incursions.
In 698 Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra of the Umayyad Caliphate lead an 'Army of Destruction' against the Zunbils.
He was defeated and was forced to offer a large tribute, give hostages including three of his sons and take an oath not to invade Zunbil again.
About 700 Ibn al-Ash'ath tried again with the 'Peacock Army' which led to a mutiny.Hugh Kennedy,The Great Arab Conquests',2007, pages 194-198 Abbasid Caliphate
Arabic sources recount that, after the Abbasids came to power in 750, the Zunbils made submissions to the third Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (r. 775–785), but these appear to have been nominal acts,Al-Ya'qubi, Historiae, p. 479; al-Tabari, v. 30: p. 143 and the people of the region continued to resist Muslim rule.For example, joining Rafi' ibn Layth's rebellion and reneging on tribute agreements: al-Ya'qubi, Historiae, p. 528; al-Baladhuri, pp.
203-04 The Muslim historian Ya'qubi (died 897/8) in his Ta'rikh ("History"), recounts that Al-Mahdi asked for, and apparently obtained, the submission of various Central Asian rulers, including that of the Zunbils.
The original account by Ya'qubi reads: Saffarids
C.E. Bosworth writes that:
The Zunbils were finally defeated in 870 AD by Muslim conquerors.
Yaqub bin Laith al-Saffar (r.
861–879 AD, founder of the Saffarid dynasty, vanquished the Zunbils and conquered the entire territory from his base in Sistan.
The Hindu Shahis took over the resistance.
Religion
In his travel diaries, the Chinese monk Xuanzang reported in the early 700s that there were numerous Buddhist stupas in the area of Zabul, which may been built by Ashoka in the 3rd century BC.
He also reported hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, and dozens of Hindu temples.
In addition the temple of the Hindu god Zun was in the region, drawing many pilgrims.
Zhun
The Zunbils worshiped a deity called Zhūn (or Zūn), from whom they derived their name.
He is represented with flames radiating from his head on coins.
Statues were adorned with gold and used rubies for eyes.
Huen Tsang calls him "sunagir".
The origin and nature of Zhun is disputed.
M. Shenkar in his study comes to the conclusion that Zhun was possibly connected to the deity of the river Oxus, the modern river Amudarya.
Furthermore he holds it most likely that Zhun was the greatest deity worshiped in Zabulistan.
F. Grenet believes that Zhun might have been connected with the Iranian solar deity Mithra.
Zhun has been linked with the Hindu god Aditya at Multan, pre-Buddhist religious and kingship practices of Tibet as well as Shaivism.
Some scholars have considered the cult to be neither Buddhist nor Zoroastrian, but primarily Hindu.
Scholars point out the connections between the Iranian god Zhun/Zun and the Hindu god Shiva, suggesting a syncretic mixture of the Iranian and Indian gods in the Indo-Iranian borderlands of ancient Bactria.
His shrine lay on a sacred mountain in Zamindawar.
Originally he appears to have been brought there by Hepthalites, displacing an earlier god on the same site.
Parallels have been noted with the pre-Buddhist monarchy of Tibet, next to Zoroastrian influence on its ritual.
Whatever his origins, he was certainly superimposed on a mountain and on a pre-existing mountain god while merging with Shaiva doctrines of worship.
Zurvan hypothesis
Other scholars however have connected Zun with the Sassanid Zoroastrian deity Zurvān, the deity of time.
According to Gulman S, its Afghan followers were, most probably, initially Zoroastrians.
Mention of Žun and its devotees disappeared with the end of Žunbil dynasty of Zabulistan in 870.
Its followers, according to Ibn Athir, accepted Islam.
According to N. Sims-Williams:
Ulf Jäger states: We should interpret “Zhun” as the name of the ancient Iranian deity of time, “Zurwan”.
See also
Islamic conquest of Afghanistan
Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan
Religion in Afghanistan
References
External links
Zunbil in Encyclopædia Britannica
Notes
1."
Xuanzang's story is simple , but suggests a historical background:there happened a conflict between the two religious groups, the Surya group and the Zhuna group".
