What language did the Kabul Shahi speak?

yoyo

Banned
They were kingdom that rules NW pakistan and eastern afghanistan until the ghaznavid invasions. Currently those regions are pashtun speaking but Dardic and Nuristani peoples lived there before.
So what languages did this kingdom speak?
Were they Pashtuns or an Indic-speaking people?
 
Possibility some Iranic language. There has spoken Iranic languages already very long time so it seems quiet plausible.
 
They spoke an Indo-Aryan language. Their rulers possessed Sanskrit and Prakrit names. Kalhana grouped the realm of the Kabul Shahs in with the kingdoms in the Punjab as a 'people' in the Rajatrangini.
 
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yoyo

Banned
They spoke an Indo-Aryan language. Their rulers possessed Sanskrit and Priorities names. Kalhana grouped the realm of the Kabul Shahs in with the kingdoms in the Punjab as a 'people' in the Rajatrangini.
What exactly was the extent of Indian area? Did it include Bamiyan, Ghazni, Kandahar or even Balkh?
 
What exactly was the extent of Indian area? Did it include Bamiyan, Ghazni, Kandahar or even Balkh?

The Indianized parts of Afghanistan extended till Ghor, Southern Bamiyan, Zabul and Kabul as well as adjacent regions, practicing folk religions consisting of largely Indic deities and Mahayana Buddhism with an Indo-Aryan language for the lay people. However areas like Balkh, Helmand, Kandahar etc. fell into the Iranian sphere using largely Iranic deities and using Iranic languages for Buddhism. Nuristan and Badakhshan are difficult to place due to their Dardic group’s place in the greater Indo-Iranian family and were always remote.

It’s important to remember that lines were usually pretty blurred between practices and a lot of the border areas would have been bilingual. However the Kabul Shahi court language and Lingua Franca was Sanskrit.
 
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yoyo

Banned
The Indianized parts of Afghanistan extended till Ghor, Southern Bamiyan, Zabul and Kabul as well as adjacent regions, practicing folk religions consisting of largely Indic deities and Mahayana Buddhism with an Indo-Aryan language for the lay people. However areas like Balkh, Helmand, Kandahar etc. fell into the Iranian sphere using largely Iranic deities and using Iranic languages for Buddhism. Nuristan and Badakhshan are difficult to place due to their Dardic group’s place in the greater Indo-Iranian family and were always remote.

It’s important to remember that lines were usually pretty blurred between practices and a lot of the border areas would have been bilingual. However the Kabul Shahi court language and Lingua Franca was Sanskrit.
Wow thanks.
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yoyo

Banned
The Indianized parts of Afghanistan extended till Ghor, Southern Bamiyan, Zabul and Kabul as well as adjacent regions, practicing folk religions consisting of largely Indic deities and Mahayana Buddhism with an Indo-Aryan language for the lay people. However areas like Balkh, Helmand, Kandahar etc. fell into the Iranian sphere using largely Iranic deities and using Iranic languages for Buddhism. Nuristan and Badakhshan are difficult to place due to their Dardic group’s place in the greater Indo-Iranian family and were always remote.

It’s important to remember that lines were usually pretty blurred between practices and a lot of the border areas would have been bilingual. However the Kabul Shahi court language and Lingua Franca was Sanskrit.
How did the people look like? Did they look like Iranians or they resembled Kashmiris ?
 
How did the people look like? Did they look like Iranians or they resembled Kashmiris ?

Umm... sort of impossible to tell. There aren’t any ethnological descriptions of what the people might have looked like in any local texts as far as I know. The texts of Fa Hien and Xuansang might have some information but I doubt it. Anyways Kashmiris and the East Iranians (ie. Pathans, Wakhis, Yaghnobis) have largely similar phenotypes.
 
They spoke an Indo-Aryan language. Their rulers possessed Sanskrit and Prakrit names. Kalhana grouped the realm of the Kabul Shahs in with the kingdoms in the Punjab as a 'people' in the Rajatrangini.

Which coinage did the Hindu Shahi use? If I am not mistaken, some peoples in the region corresponding to the ancient Kushan and Hepthalite empire, continued to use Kushanshah coins into the middle ages, or so it has been said. If this is true, could there not have been an element of Bactrian, Sogdian and Tocharian literacy among the populace of both the Hindu Shahi and the Zwambinar realms to the south, both of whom may be seen as Neo-Hepthalite states which are in some ways, Neo-Kushan-Saka/Scythian realms. Not to mention, there would certainly be at least tangential Persian literacy along the borders, as a result of the prior four centuries of Sassanid rule in the area.
 
Which coinage did the Hindu Shahi use? If I am not mistaken, some peoples in the region corresponding to the ancient Kushan and Hepthalite empire, continued to use Kushanshah coins into the middle ages, or so it has been said. If this is true, could there not have been an element of Bactrian, Sogdian and Tocharian literacy among the populace of both the Hindu Shahi and the Zwambinar realms to the south, both of whom may be seen as Neo-Hepthalite states which are in some ways, Neo-Kushan-Saka/Scythian realms. Not to mention, there would certainly be at least tangential Persian literacy along the borders, as a result of the prior four centuries of Sassanid rule in the area.

I'm definitely not denying that, Kapiśa was as vital to the Hunas and Kushans as Bagram and Saketa but the vast demographic of the priorly mentioned regions had become Prakrit speakers via centuries of Buddhist influence introducing Gandhari Prakrit to the region.

The coinage was using the Devanagari fore-runner, Śarada script.
 
I'm definitely not denying that, Kapiśa was as vital to the Hunas and Kushans as Bagram and Saketa but the vast demographic of the priorly mentioned regions had become Prakrit speakers via centuries of Buddhist influence introducing Gandhari Prakrit to the region.

The coinage was using the Devanagari fore-runner, Śarada script.

My view was, that the general trend in the region was one of Hindu-Indo-Aryan culture in the area, including language and religion. However, there must have been some level of co-mingling between the Sassanid imperial complex later and the earlier steppe nomadic-Greek element which surely had their impact upon the Kabulistan region, which I wished to bring the reader to attention to. One point to mention, if i am not mistaken, later Hepthalite rulers began to mold their believes to Hinduism. According to one point that I read once, a Hepthalite ruler, proclaimed himself a follower of Vishnu and generally the Hepthalite show a stronger trend toward the Hindu elements than the Kushans before them did (who remained somewhat preferential in terms of coins to Iranic and Greek deities, which they mixed with Hindu deities, aside from Shiva, Vishnu and Skandar)
 

yoyo

Banned
My view was, that the general trend in the region was one of Hindu-Indo-Aryan culture in the area, including language and religion. However, there must have been some level of co-mingling between the Sassanid imperial complex later and the earlier steppe nomadic-Greek element which surely had their impact upon the Kabulistan region, which I wished to bring the reader to attention to. One point to mention, if i am not mistaken, later Hepthalite rulers began to mold their believes to Hinduism. According to one point that I read once, a Hepthalite ruler, proclaimed himself a follower of Vishnu and generally the Hepthalite show a stronger trend toward the Hindu elements than the Kushans before them did (who remained somewhat preferential in terms of coins to Iranic and Greek deities, which they mixed with Hindu deities, aside from Shiva, Vishnu and Skandar)
Do you know Abu Hanifa? @Anawrahta
 

yoyo

Banned
Umm... sort of impossible to tell. There aren’t any ethnological descriptions of what the people might have looked like in any local texts as far as I know. The texts of Fa Hien and Xuansang might have some information but I doubt it. Anyways Kashmiris and the East Iranians (ie. Pathans, Wakhis, Yaghnobis) have largely similar phenotypes.
The reason I asked this question was that I couldnt wrap my mind around non-muslim afghans. Its something beyond my present imagination.
Thanks for the answer tho.
 
Yeah your right, but Wiki says his father was a marzban or trader from Kabul.

Possibly, but this is heresay, he never made these claims. These are post reconstructions of his name, postulating different origins. It’s agreed upon that he is of Farsian extract, yet the idea of his imperial Sassanian relation, I take it with a grain of salt.
 

yoyo

Banned
My view was, that the general trend in the region was one of Hindu-Indo-Aryan culture in the area, including language and religion. However, there must have been some level of co-mingling between the Sassanid imperial complex later and the earlier steppe nomadic-Greek element which surely had their impact upon the Kabulistan region, which I wished to bring the reader to attention to. One point to mention, if i am not mistaken, later Hepthalite rulers began to mold their believes to Hinduism. According to one point that I read once, a Hepthalite ruler, proclaimed himself a follower of Vishnu and generally the Hepthalite show a stronger trend toward the Hindu elements than the Kushans before them did (who remained somewhat preferential in terms of coins to Iranic and Greek deities, which they mixed with Hindu deities, aside from Shiva, Vishnu and Skandar)
The greek influence was on sculpture and art, if you're familiar with Shaivism there is a Dhyanalinga with a greek face on it. There were also bactrian writing in this place. In terms of buddhism the iranic and greek influence was here but Hindu influence preceded both since there was vedic Gandhara and Kamboja kingdoms here. Idk much tho
 
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