The Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Western Turk-Hephthalite, origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD."
The advance of Islamic forces both into Tokharistan in the north and into Zabulistan farther south was opposed by local rulers of probably Western Turkish identity" in   They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity."
The new rulers of Kabul, who according to me were Khalaj Turks, extended their rule over the former territory of the Kapisi kingdom [Kapisa to Gandhara], while a branch of them became independent in Zabulistan.
A Korean monk Huichao (慧超) who visited these regions in the third decade of the 8th century, reported that both regions were ruled by the Turkish kings."
The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kanauj kingdom to the east.
From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia, and occupied Bactria and the Hindu-Kush region, forming largely independent polities."
The period from 560 CE onwards would be that of the Western Turks, although it is not clear how and foremost when they gained power over Bactria and the Hindukush-region.
Minoru Inaba states that "gradually having extended their power, they came to be independent ..."" in  The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan.
In the Hindu-Kush region, they replaced the Nezak Huns – the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the Xwn (Xionite) and/or Huna peoples (who are sometimes also referred to as "Huns" who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period).
The Turk Shahis arose at a time when the Sasanian Empire had already been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate.
The Turk Shahis then resisted for more than 250 years to the eastward expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate, until they fell to the Persian Saffarids in the 9th century AD.
The Muslim Turkic Ghaznavids then finally broke through into India after overpowering the declining Hindu Shahis and Gurjaras.
Kabulistan was the heartland of the Turk Shahi domain, which at times included Zabulistan and Gandhara.
Displacement of the Hunnish Nezak-Alchons
From around 625 AD, the Turks progressively displaced the Hunnish tribe of the Nezak, which also had incorporated the remnants of the Alchon Huns, first in Zabulistan (area of Ghazni) and then in Kabulistan (area of Kabul) and in Gandhara as far as the Indus river.
The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, visiting Kapisi in 629 AD, testified that "... the Turks have lived in the mountain area between Zabulistan and Kapisi".
Visiting the area a century later in 723–729, the Korean Buddhist pilgrim Hui Chao attested that the areas of Gandhara, Kapisa and Zabulistan were under Turk rule.
Before the formal establishment of the Turks, the last local king of Kapisi was the Nezak ruler known in Chinese and Arab sources by the name of Ghar-ilchi (653-661 AD), and he had been formally installed as king of Jibin (former Kapisi/ Kabulistan) by the Chinese Tang Dynasty emperor in 653 AD, and again as Governor of Jibin under the newly formed Chinese Anxi Protectorate, the "Protectorate of the Western Regions", in 661 AD.
Ghar-ilchi may have been the last member of a local "Khingal dynasty" founded by Khingila.
The first known Turk ruler of Kapisi, named Barha Tegin, may have been initially a vassal in the service of Ghar-ilchi, but then revolted and usurped the throne.
He took control of the areas of Zabulistan, Kabulistan and Gandhara, and his name was recorded by the Arab historian Al-Biruni.
Vassalage to the Yabghus of Tokharistan
According to Chinese sources, in particular the chronicles of the Cefu Yuangui, the Turks in Kabul were vasals of the Yabghus of Tokharistan.
When a young brother of the Tokhara 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 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 grandfather, 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: Rulers of Kabul and displacement of the Nezak Huns (661-665 AD)
Between 661 and 665, Chinese and Arab sources indicate that a new Turkic ruler became Shah of Kabul, founding a "Turk Shahis" dynasty.
The Turkic rulers first had their capital in Kapisa (Begram), and then in Kabul as they expanded eastward.
Having lost Ghazni and Kabul, the Nezak dynasty declined rapidly as indicated by the progressive elimination of Nezak symbols from the historical coin record.
From the middle of the 7th century AD, the Turk Shahis emulated the coinage of their predecessors, the Hunnish Nezak-Alchons.
These coins use the same type of portrait as the Nezak, except that the Nezak crown adorned with a bull's head is replaced by a crown consisting in three crescent moons in the middle of which a flower or trident is set.
In other coins the triple-crescent moons were kept, and the king was shown wearing a Central Asian caftan.
Their coinage also introduced a new legend in replacement of the "King of Nezaks" legend, using the Indian honorific "Shri" ("Perfection") with the royal title "Shahi" in the Bactrian language (σριο Þανιο, Srio šauoi) and in Sanskrit (Śri Sāhi).
This new coinage corresponds to the formal establishment of the Turk Shahis, who, according to the literary sources arose sometime after 661 CE.
Several of these coins are attributed to Shahi Tegin, the second Turk Shahi ruler, and dated to circa 700 CE.
After this transitory period, Turk Shahi coinage adopted the Sasanian coinage style, and added a trilingual legend in Greco-Bactrian, Pahlavi, and Brahmi.
Based on finds, Turk Shahi coins apparently circulated in Zabulistan, Kabulistan, Gandhara and Uddiyana.
The new region occupied by the Turk Shahis had numerous Buddhist monasteries, such as Mes Aynak, which appear to have remained in use until the 9th century AD.
Dedications including Turk Shahis coins have been found under a statue in the Buddhist monastery of Fondukistan.For the photograph of the famous statue, named the "Royal Couple of Fondukistan", see: Al-biruni on the Turk Shahis
Al-Biruni in his Tārīkh al-Hind ("History of India") describes the rule of the Turk Shahis at Kabul.
He names their first king as "Barhatakin", who "wore Turkish dress, a short tunic open in front, a high hat, boots and arms".
This king "brought those countries under his sway and ruled them under the title of a Shahiya of Kabul.
The rule remained among his descendants for generations, the number of which is said to be about sixty".
Al-biruni then describes the rise of the Hindu Shahis after them.
File:Shahi Tegin 728 CE.jpg|Sasanian-style trilingual coin of Tegin Shah towards the end of his reign.
Iranian god Adur on the reverse.
Obverse legend: "His Excellence, the Iltäbär of Khalaj, Worshipper of the highest God, His Excellence, the King, the divine Tegin […]".
Date in Pahlavi: 728 AD File:Mes Aynak stupa.jpg|Remains of a Buddhist monastery at Mes Aynak, near Kabul, which remained in use until the 9th century AD.
File:Upper Bala Hissar from west Kabul in 1879.jpg|The Bala Hissar fortress, west Kabul, originally built around the 5th century AD Rule in Gandhara
The Turks under the Western Turk ruler Tong Yabghu Qaghan crossed the Hindu-Kush and occupied Gandhara as far as the Indus river from circa 625 AD.
Overall, the territory of the Turk Shahi extended from Kapisi to Gandhara, with a Turkic branch becoming independent in Zabulistan at one point.
The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kanauj kingdom to the east.
The Turk Shahi capital of Gandhara, which possibly fonctionned as a winter capital alternating with the summer capital of Kabul, was Udabhandapura."
The capital of the state of Kapisa–Gandhara (possibly, its winter capital) was Udabhandapura, now the settlement of Hund, situated on the right bank of the Kabul river.
Most of the city was surrounded by a defensive rampart."
in
The Korean pilgrim Hui Chao, visiting the area in 723-729 AD, mentioned that these regions were ruled by Turk kings.
Of Gandhara, Hui Chao writes: Rule in Zabulistan
From 680 AD, the Turk Shahi ruler Tegin Shah was the king of the Turk Shahis, and ruled the area from Kabulistan to Gandhara as well as Zabulistan.
His title as given in Chinese sources was "Tegin, King of the Khorasan" (烏散特勤灑 Wusan Teqin Sa "Tegin Shah of Khorasan").
The area of Zabulistan eventually came to be ruled by Rutbil (Turkic: Iltäbär), his elder brother, who founded the dynasty of the Zunbils.
Their relationship was at times antagonistic, but they fought together against Arab incursions, and the Turk Shahis of Kabul took back control of the Zabulistan territory temporarily in 710 AD.
Bamiyan and Kakrak region
Many of the late mural paintings surrounding the Buddhas of Bamiyan, or the paintings of Kakrak and Dukhtar-e Nushirvan are attributed to the "Turkic period" in the 7-8th centuries AD.
Several of these paintings show a variety of male devotees in double-lapel caftans.
These works of art display a sophistication and cosmopolitanism comparable to other works of art of the Silk Road such as those of Kizil, and are attributable to the sponsorship of the Western Turks.Bosworth also says that the "Ephthalites were incapable of such work" in
In nearby Kakrak, a valley next to Bamiyan, a famous Buddhist mural named "The Hunter King" (7-8th centuries AD) shows a typically local royal figure seated on a throne, his bow and arrows on the side.
He wears a triple-crescent crown which is said to have a close similarity to the triple-crescent crowns on the coinage found in northeastern Afghanistan in the area of Zabulistan, for example this coin from Ghazni.
Other authors have attributed the triple-crescent crown to Hephthalite influence.
The painting may be an allegory of a King abandoning violence, particularly the hunting of animals, and converting to Buddhism."
According to Jäger’s interpretation, the so-called «Hunter-King» was a symbolic representation of a royal person who converted to Buddhism and abandoned hunting and violence in general." in Conflict with the Arabs
About 643-644 AD, the Arabs raided Sistan for the first time, and then started to attack Turkic territory from the southwest.
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.
Barha Tegin was the first ruler of the Turk Shahis.
He is mentioned by the Chorasmian historian al-Biruni as the first Turkic Kabul Shah.
During the more than two centuries of their rule, the Turk Shahi were consistently an obstacle to the eastward expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate.
From 680 AD, his son Tegin Shah was the king of the Turk Shahis.
His title was "Khorasan Tegin Shah" (meaning "Tegin, King of the East"), and he was known in Chinese sources as 烏散特勤灑 Wusan Teqin Sa "Tegin Shah of Khorasan".
His grand title, "King of the East", probably refers to his resistance to the peril of the Umayyad caliph from the west.
His territory comprised the area from Kabulistan to Gandhara and initially included Zabulistan, which came to be ruled by Rutbil (Turkic: Iltäbär), his elder brother, who founded the dynasty of the Zunbils.
Bactria, however, remained under the Yabghus of Tokharistan.
The Arabs again failed to capture Kabul and Zabulistan in 683 AD: their general Abu Ubaida ibn Ziyad was imprisoned in Kabul and Governor of Sijistan Yazid ibn Ziyad was killed as he attacked the city.
In 684-685, Kabul briefly comes under Arab control.
In 698 Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Bakra of the Umayyad Caliphate lead an 'Army of Destruction' against the Zunbils, 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 to invade with the 'Peacock Army' which led to a mutiny.Hugh Kennedy,The Great Arab Conquests',2007, pages 194-198 Tegin Shah apparently regained complete suzerainty over Zabulistan in 710 AD.
During this period, it seems the Zunbils and the Turk Shahis intermitently accepted, or were forced to accept, to pay taxes to the Arabs, thereby acknowledging some form of political dependence, but resisted fiercely when the Arabs attempted to take a more direct military, political or religious control.
Embassies to China
The Turk Shahis, like the rest of the Western Turks, were nominally part of a protectorate under the Chinese Tang Dynasty since circa 658 CE."
China, at the other end of Central Asia, managed to bring the Western branch of the Qaγanate under Tang supremacy in 658 CE and consequently established a protectorate in Bactria which also extended south of the Hindukush."
in  According to Chinese sources, the Turks were preceded by a dynasty of twelves generations of rulers, starting with 馨孽 (Xinnie, possibly Khingila), the last king to be recognized by the Chinese being 曷擷支 (Hexiezhi) in 658 CE.
It is thought that he was replaced by the Turks soon after.
The territory of the Turk Shahis was nominally partitioned into several Chinese Commanderies under administration of the Anxi Protectorate: the city of Yege (modern Mihtarlam) east of Kabul was considered as the seat of a Chinese Commandery for the Jibin country, and named the Xiuxian Commandery (修鮮都督府, Xiūxiān Dūdùfû), the city of Yan at the border with Gandhara was the seat of the Yuepan Commandery (悅般都督府, Yuèpān Dūdùfû), Ghazni was the seat of the Tiaozhi Commandery (條枝都督府, Tiáozhī Dūdùfû).
In 719/20 AD, the Tegin of Kabulistan (Tegin Shah) and the Iltäbär of Zabulistan sent a combined embassy to the Chinese Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in Xi'an to obtain confirmation of their thrones.
The Chinese emperor signed an investiture decree, which was returned to the Turk rulers:
The Korean pilgrim Huei-ch’ao accompanied the return embassy in 726 AD, and wrote an account of his travel and visit at the court of Kabul, relating that Turk ("T’u-chüeh") kings ruled the territories of Gandhara, Kapisa and Zabulistan at the time, that they were Buddhists, and that the King of Kabul was the uncle of the ruler of Zabul."
The definitive annexation of Tokharistan and Gandhara to the Western Türk Empire was to take place some years later, in c. 625, when Sasanian Iran became involved in the war against Byzantium that ultimately led to its eclipse."
in Contacts with the Byzantine Empire
Tegin Shah then abdicated in 739 AD in favour of his son, named on his coins "Fromo Kesaro", probable phonetic transcription of "Rome Caesar".
He was apparently named in honor of "Caesar", the title of the then East Roman Emperor Leo III the Isaurian who had defeated their common enemy the Arabs during the Siege of Constantinople in 717 AD, and sent an embassy to China through Central Asia in 719 AD which probably met with the Turk Shahis.
The Chinese annals record that "In the first month of the seventh year of the period Kaiyuan [719 AD] their Lord (拂菻王, "the King of Fulin" ie the Byzantine Empire) sent an officer of high rank of Tokhara [吐火羅大首領 T'u-huo-lo Ta-shou-ling)] (...) to offer lions and antelopes, two of each.
A few months after, he further sent Priests of great virtue  [大德僧 Ta-te-seng] to our court with tribute."
Old Book of Tang (舊唐書 Jiu Tangshu), ch.
198 (written mid-10th Century C.E.), for 618-906 C.E: "開元七年正月，其主遣吐火羅大首領獻獅子、羚羊各二。不數月，又遣大德僧來朝貢" quoted in English translation in
The new ruler of the Turk Shahi, Fromo Kesaro, receive the investiture of the Chinese court in 739.
In Chinese sources "Fromo Kesaro" was aptly transcribed "Fulin Jisuo" (拂菻罽娑), "Fulin" (拂菻) being the standard Tang Dynasty name for "Byzantine Empire" and Jisuo (罽娑) the phonetic transcription of "Caesar": Victories over the Arabs
Fromo Kesaro (739-745 AD) appears to have fought vigorously against the Arabs.
He seems to have been very successful in this struggle.
His coinage suggests that the Arabs were defeated and forced to pay tribute to Fromo Kesaro, since Sasanian coins and coins of Arab governors were overstruck by him on the rim with the following text in the Bactrian script:
The victories of Fromo Kesaro against the Arabs may have forged the Tibetan epic legend of King Phrom Ge-sar.
In 745 AD, Fromo Kesaro's son Bo Fuzhun (勃匐準 Bo Fuzhun in Chinese sources) became king and received the investiture from the Chinese court as king of Kapisa (罽賓, Jibin) and Uddiyana (烏萇國, Wuchang), with the honorific title of "General of the Left Stalwart Guard" (左驍衞將軍).天寶四年,又冊其子勃匐準為襲罽賓及烏萇國王,仍授左驍衞將軍。"
Kesar's son Bo Fuzhun succeed him on the throne as the king of Jibin and Wuchang.
He was conferred the title General of the Left Stalwart Guard" in
The Chinese departed from the region circa 760 AD, following their strategic defeat at the Battle of Talas (751 AD) and the events of the An Lushan Rebellion, thus weakening the geopolitical position of the Turk Shahis.
Turkic tribes are known to have taken control of the region of Kashmir further east, where they displaced the Buddhist Patola Shahis, and founded the Trakhan dynasty.
Decline
In 775–785, Arab sources mention a Turk Shahi ruler of Kabul named Ḥanḥal/Khinkhil or Khingal, who, according to Al-Yakubhi, was sent a messenger by Al-Mahdi (775-785), the third Abbasid Caliph, asking for his submission, which he apparently gave.
The original account by Ya'qubi reads:
There is possibility that the Khingal of the Arabs is identical with the Turk Shahi Bo Fuzhun (勃匐準) of the Chinese sources.
The struggle between the Arabs and the Turk Shahis continued into the 9th century AD.
Hoping to take advantage of the Great Abbasid Civil War (811-819 AD), the Turk Shahi, named "Pati Dumi" in Arab sources, invaded parts of Khorasan.
Once the Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun prevailed in the Civil War, he sent troops to confront the Turk invaders: in 814/815 AD, the Turk Shahis were soundly defeated by these Arab troops, which pushed as far as Gandhara.
The Turk Shah now had to convert to Islam, and had to pay an annual tribute of 1,500,000 dirhams and 2,000 slaves to the Abbasid governor of Khorasan.
He also ceded a large and precious idol made of gold, silver and jewels, which was sent to Mecca.
Following Al-Azraqi's initial account of 834 AD, Quṭb ed-Dîn wrote:
Al-Azraqi also made a very detailed description of the statue, which points to a crowned and bejewelled Buddha seated on a throne, a design otherwise well known and quite specific to this historical period for the region of Afghanistan and Kashmir."
As we shall see, this particular conjunction of iconographic features described by al-Azraqî is quite rare and is in fact limited to the northwest of the subcontinent – from Afghanistan to Kashmir – and to this period."
in
According to the Arab chronicler al-Biruni, the last Turk Shahi ruler of Kabul, Lagaturman, probable son of Pati Dumi, was deposed by a Brahmin minister, named Kallar, or possibly Vakadeva, around 822 AD.D. W. Macdowall, "The Shahis of Kabul and Gandhara" Numismatic Chronicle, Seventh Series, Vol. III, 1968, pp.
189-224, see extracts in R. T. Mohan, AFGHANISTAN REVISITED ...
Appendix –B, pp.
164-68Raizada Harichand Vaid, Gulshane Mohyali, II,  pp.
83 and 183-84.H. G. Raverty, Tr.
Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Maulana Minhaj-ud-din, Vol. I, p. 82 A new dynasty, the Hindu Shahi took over, with its capital in Kabul.
Saffarids
In the south, the Zunbil Turks of Kandahar and Zabulistan fell in 870/871 AD to the Persian forces of the Saffarid dynasty under the powerful general Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar (r. 861–879 AD), who led his offensive from Sistan.
He continued his offensive to Kabul, now under the control of the Hindu Shahis, and took the Kabul Shah prisoner, at the same time plundering the "holy temple", where numerous statues of gold and silver were taken and dispatched to the caliph in Baghdad.
As a consequence, Islamic coinage start to appear in Kabul from the years 259-270 AH (872-883 AD).
After their expulsion by the Saffarids, the Hindu Shahs apparently retook Kabul in 879 AD, but only for a few years.
Local dhirams from the Panjshir valley started to be minted in 293 AH (905 AD).
Samanids and Ghaznavids
The Hindu Shahis were ultimately driven out by the Samanid ruler Ismail Samani around 900 AD.
The Hindu Shahis had to move their capital from Kabul to Udabhandapura in Gandhara, so as to have a better defensive position against Arab attacks.
But they may have been able to continue minting coinage for a while in Kabulistan, as vassals under the Samanids.
In 962 AD, the Turk ghulams Alp Tigin of the Samanid Empire, commander of the army in Khorasan, seized Ghazni and established himself there.
He would be followed by his successors such as Abu Ishaq and Sebük Tigin, founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty.
At that time, the remnants of the local Buddhist Turk communities seem to have mingled with the newly arrived Muslim Turks of the Samanid Empire, forming an ethnic continuity among the ruling class of Ghazni, and local Buddhist Turks progressively converted to Islam.
The Hindu Shahis resisted from their base in Gandhara until 1021 AD, when they were overrun by the Turkic Ghaznavids.
Art under the Turk Shahis (7-8th century AD)
thumb|Seated Maitreya, 7th-8th century AD, near Kabul, Afghanistan.
"Stylistically related to Shahi sculpture of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan".
These was a relatively high level of artistic activity in the areas controlled by the Turk Shahis during 7-8th centuries AD, either as a result of the Sasanian cultural heritage, or as a result of the continued development of Buddhist art, with possible Hephthalite influence.
The art of Fondukistan in particular, dated to the 7th century, is considered as belonging "to the period of the Western Turks".Statue of the seated Devata: "époque des Turcs Occidentaux, 7e siècle" in  The Western Turks in Afghanistan are generally associated with a major revival of Gandharan Buddhist art between the 7th and 9th century AD, especially in the areas of Bamiyan, Kabul and Ghazni, with major new Buddhist sites such as Tapa Sardar in Ghazni, or Tepe Narenj and Mes Aynak near Kabul, which remained active at least until the 9th century AD.
Geopolitical context
The Alchon Huns, predecessors of the Turk Shahis in Afghanistan and Gandhara, had brought destruction upon Buddhism, deeply weakening the Hellenitic art of Gandhara.
When Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited northwestern India in  AD, he reported that Buddhism had drastically declined, and that most of the monasteries were deserted and left in ruins.
The renewed patronage of Buddhism in the area of Afghanistan during the 7-8th century AD is a function of the expansion of the Tang Dynasty power in Central Asia at that time, just as the Arabs were pressuring Khorasan and Sistan, right until the decisive Battle of Talas in 751.
The Kingdoms of Central Asia, often Buddhist or with an important Buddhist community, were generally under the formal control of the Tang Dynasty, had regular exchanges with China, and expected Tang protection.
Chinese monks were probably directly in charge of some of the Buddhist sanctuaries of Central Asia, such as the temple of Suiye (near Tokmak in present-day Kirghizistan).
During this period too, the Chinese Tang Empire extended its influence and promotion of Buddhism to the kingdoms of Central Asia, including Afghanistan, with a corresponding influx of Chinese monks, while there was conversely a migration of Indian monks and artistic styles from India to Central Asia, as "Brahmanical revivalism" was pushing Indian Buddhist monks out of their country.
Hellenistic Buddhist art, which had flourished for several centuries, was thus succeeded by a Sinicized-Indian phase during the 7th to 9th century AD.
This process and chronology are visible in the archaeological site of Tapa Sardar near Ghazni in Afghanistan, while this new form of art appears in its mature state in Fondukistan.
At the end of the 10th century, the Samanid Empire led by the Turk ghulams Alp Tigin established itself in Eastern Afghanistan, later followed by the Ghaznavid dynasty.
At that time, local Buddhist Turk communities seem to have mingled with the newly arrived Muslim Turks of the Samanid Empire, forming an ethnic continuity among the ruling class of Ghazni.
The local Buddhist Turks progressively islamized, but there was a continuation in artistic development and Buddhist religious activities, not a break.
The Buddhist site of Qol-i Tut in Kabul remained in use until the end of the 11th century.
Turk support of Buddhism
The Turk Shahis are reported as having been supporters of Buddhism, and are generally presented as Buddhists.
The Korean pilgrim Hui Chao in 726 AD recorded in the Chinese language that the Turkic (突厥, Tū-chuèh) rulers of Kapisa ("Jibin") followed the Triratna and dedicated many Buddhist temples:
The Chinese pilgrim Wulong arrived in Gandhara in 753 AD.
According to him, the country of Kapisi had its eastern capital in Gandhara during the winter, and its capital in Kapisi during the summer.
In Kashmir, which he visited from 756 to 760 AD, he explained that Buddhist temples were dedicated by the Tü-kiu ("Turk") kings.
Brahmanism too seems to have flourished, but to a lesser extent, under the Turk Shahis, with various works of art also attributed to their period.Images of the sculptures of Khair Khana in Buddhist works of art
The works of art of this period in eastern Afghanistan, with a sophistication and iconography comparable to other works of art of the Silk Road such as those of Kizil, are attributable to the sponsorship of the "cosmopolitan" Turks, rather than their "Ephthalite" predecessors in this area (the Nezak-Alchon Huns), who, in the words of Edmund Bosworth, "were not capable of such work".Bosworth also says that the "Ephthalites were incapable of such work" in  And, soon after, the expansion of Islam made the creation of such works of art impossible.
The style as well as the techniques used in making these works of art (modelling of clay mixed with straw, wool or horsehair), are characteristic of the paintings and sculptures of Central Asia.
The production of Fondukistan must correspond to the southernmost expansion of this particular type of Buddhist art.
Devotees or sponsors wearing Central Asian clothes such as the tight-fitting double-lapel caftan appear in the Buddhist Monastery of Fondukistan, as in the statue of a King wearing the caftan and pointed boots, seated together with a Queen of Indian type, and dated to the 7th century AD.
Datation
Dedications including coins of the Buddhist Turk Shahis and one Sasanian coin of Khusro II have been found under the statue of the royal couple with a king in Turk attire in the monastery of Fondukistan, providing important insights regarding the datation of the statue as well as Buddhist art in general: as a result of the analysis the statue can be dated to after 689 AD, and as a consequence a date of circa 700 AD is generally given for it and the other works of art of Fondukistan."
Contained within a clay urn were a gold bracteate with the portrait of a ruler, three early drachms of the Turk-Shahis (Type 236, one of which is countermarked), and a countermarked drachm of the Sasanian king Khusro II dating from year 37 of his reign (= 626/7).
The two countermarks on Khusro 's drachm prove that the urn could only have been deposited after 689"  The royal couple consists in a princess in "Indian" dress, and a prince "wearing a rich caftan with double lapel and boots", characteristic of Central Asian clothing.
File:Painting of Maitreya Bodhisattva, Fondukistan, Afghanistan, circa 700 CE.
National Museum of Afghanistan.jpg|Mural of a Bodhisattva Maitreya at the entrance of the niche of the royal couple.
Fondukistan monastery, circa 700 AD.
National Museum of Afghanistan.
File:Afghanistan, Standing Buddha, Ghorband Valley, Fondukistan Monastery, 7th century.jpg|Statue of the Buddha wearing the Iranian three-pointed camail, Ghorband valley, Fondukistan monastery, circa 700 AD.
File:Afghanistan, bodhisattva, valle di ghorband, monastero di fondukistan, VII sec.JPG|The period of the Turk Shahis also corresponds to the last stages of Greco-Buddhist art.
circa 700 AD, Fondukistan monastery, Ghorband District, Afghanistan File:Pakistan, hund, devata femminile, vi-vii sec 2.JPG|Buddhist Devata statue from Udabhandapura, the Gandhara capital of the Turk Shahis, 6-7th century AD.
Museum of Oriental Art (Turin).
Brahmanical works of art
Brahmanism too seems to have flourished to some extent under the Turk Shahis, with various works of art also attributed to their period.Images of the sculptures of Khair Khaneh in  In particular the famous statue of a Sun deity that is either Mitra or Surya in tunic and boots discovered in Khair Khaneh near Kabul, as well as a statue of Ganesha from Gardez are now attributed to the Turk Shahis in the 7-8th century AD, and not to their successors the Hindu Shahus as formerly suggested."
It is not therefore possible to attribute these pieces to the Hindu Shahi period.
They should be attributed to the Shahi period before the Hindu Shahis originated by the Brahman wazir Kallar, that is, the Turki Shahis."
p.405 " According to the above sources, Brahmanism and Buddhism are properly supposed to have coexisted especially during the 7th-8th centuries A.D. just before the Muslim hegemony.
The marble sculptures from eastern Afghanistan should not be attributed to the period of the Hindu Shahis but to that of the Turki Shahis."
p.407 in  In particular, great iconographical and stylistic similarities with the works of the Buddhist monastery of Fondukistan have been identified.
Archaeologically, the construction of the Khair Khaneh temple itself is now dated to 608-630 AD, at the beginning of the Turk Shahis period.
The marble statue of Ganesha from Gardez is now attributed to the Turk Shahis,"It is not therefore possible to attribute these pieces to the Hindu Shahi period.
They should be attributed to the Shahi period before the Hindu Shahis originated by the Brahman wazir Kallar, that is, the Turki Shahis."
p.405 " According to the above sources, Brahmanism and Buddhism are properly supposed to have coexisted especially during the 7th-8th centuries A.D. just before the Muslim hegemony.
The marble sculptures from eastern Afghanistan should not be attributed to the period of the Hindu Shahis but to that of the Turki Shahis."
p.407 in  and was donated by a certain Śrī Ṣāhi Khiṃgāla, ruler in the Kabul area, who could be the Turk Shahi ruler only known from Chinese sources as Bo Fuzhun (勃匐準 Bo Fuzhun in Chinese sources), the son of Fromo Kesaro, who acceded to the throne in 745 AD.
File:Seated Avalokiteshvara, white marble, Khair Khaneh, 6th-7th century CE.
Musée Guimet MA 8151.jpg|thumb|Seated Avalokiteshvara, white marble, Khair Khaneh, 6th-7th century CE.
Musée Guimet MA 8151 File:Khair Khaneh sanctuary (devotee 1).jpg|thumb|Khair Khaneh donor, wearing a tunic, boots and a sword.
File:Ganesha from Gardez.jpg|The Gardez Ganesha is now dated to the 8th century and attributed to the Turk Shahis.
Rulers
Barha Tegin (665-680 AD).
Name known from Arab sources."
The Hindus had kings residing in Kabul, Turks who were said to be of Tibetan origin.
The first of them, Barhatakin, came into the country and entered a cave in Kabul, which none could enter except by creeping on hands and knees..."
Al-Biruni, quoted in
Tegin Shah (680-739 AD)
Fromo Kesaro (739-745 AD)
Bo Fuzhun (745-?)
Name known from Chinese sources.
Khingala (circa 780–785) Name known from Arab sources.
Pati Dumi (-815 AD) Name known from Arab sources
Lagaturman (815-c.850 AD) Name known from Arab sources
See also
Umayyad campaigns in India
Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent
References
Notes
Sources
