Who exactly are the Ma'danids?

Anawrahta

Banned
There was an islamic dynasty known as the Ma'danids which ruled baluchistan from 9th to early 11th centuries, which used title Maharaja. They were vassals of much larger empires such the ghaznavids and buyids.
Were they of Arab or local origin?
If they were of local origin, were they of Iranian or Indian extraction?
If so, did they speak language akin to Baluchi or Sindhi? Perhaps something else?

@John7755 يوحنا @haider najib
It's a very obscure article. An orphan article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma'danids
 

Anawrahta

Banned
This is topic is so obscure, that I cannot find any other relevant article.
I may have reached the abyss of wikipedia.
 
Allow me to spend some time studying the topic. There may be a more clear answer on this in some sources that I own, but have forgotten.

However, according to my memory, these were Sistano-Arabs who were appointed to power there. In the early Abbasid period until the 860s, the whole of the Baluchistan region was in a status of anarchy since the Abbasid revolution. This anarchy was one where varied Kharijite converts and warlords ruled the areas and lorded over the populace. When Ya’qub ibn Layth al-Saffar conquered Zwambinar and forcibly converted the Zunbils, he was given the secondary task by the caliph to end the anarchy of Baluchistan. Ya’qub ibn Layth al-Saffar thus invaded and defeated one of the ascendant lords therein, named Yasr ibn Amr, who was an elderly Khawarij warrior with a large warband. Saffaro-Caliphal soldiers secured the rest of the area and appointed local rulers of their choosing who I assume were of Sistani extraction. The appointment of rulers by Ya’qub ibn Layth al-Saffar was mentioned as one of his crimes, my assumption is that the Ma’danids were one of these.

Their survival and relative ease to switch their alliances to ‘northern’ rulers can be explained by this.
 
They almost sound similar to the Solluba of Arabia, in that they are a group that are extremely divergent from local populations and yet serve distinct roles in society due to their unique niches. Perhaps there was some intermingling with an archaic population of PIE speakers in the area, or that the title "Maharaja" was adopted from surrounding rulers, since in Sanskrit "Maharaja" simply means "Great King" as opposed to a religiously coupled name. Remember, this whole area had been in flux for many generations, with PIE speakers (who themselves pushed out archaic groups of Dravidians and Pre-Dravidians in timeframes long before the scope of this question) being influenced by Hellenic and Persian conquests and the rise of Islam. Not to mention IIRC a polity in an area like Balouchistan in the 9th century would still be rather peripheral to the Islamic World at this time, with Persia proper a collage of a multitude of different traditions.
 

Anawrahta

Banned
They almost sound similar to the Solluba of Arabia, in that they are a group that are extremely divergent from local populations and yet serve distinct roles in society due to their unique niches. Perhaps there was some intermingling with an archaic population of PIE speakers in the area, or that the title "Maharaja" was adopted from surrounding rulers, since in Sanskrit "Maharaja" simply means "Great King" as opposed to a religiously coupled name. Remember, this whole area had been in flux for many generations, with PIE speakers (who themselves pushed out archaic groups of Dravidians and Pre-Dravidians in timeframes long before the scope of this question) being influenced by Hellenic and Persian conquests and the rise of Islam. Not to mention IIRC a polity in an area like Balouchistan in the 9th century would still be rather peripheral to the Islamic World at this time, with Persia proper a collage of a multitude of different traditions.
There may have been some dravidians such as Brahui in this area. At one point the buddhist rai and Brahman dynasty rules makran and the title is a legacy from that time.
 

Anawrahta

Banned
They almost sound similar to the Solluba of Arabia, in that they are a group that are extremely divergent from local populations and yet serve distinct roles in society due to their unique niches. Perhaps there was some intermingling with an archaic population of PIE speakers in the area, or that the title "Maharaja" was adopted from surrounding rulers, since in Sanskrit "Maharaja" simply means "Great King" as opposed to a religiously coupled name. Remember, this whole area had been in flux for many generations, with PIE speakers (who themselves pushed out archaic groups of Dravidians and Pre-Dravidians in timeframes long before the scope of this question) being influenced by Hellenic and Persian conquests and the rise of Islam. Not to mention IIRC a polity in an area like Balouchistan in the 9th century would still be rather peripheral to the Islamic World at this time, with Persia proper a collage of a multitude of different traditions.
The region seems to be either Iranian or Indian. I'm not sure which one but the poverty of the region means that ethnic displacement is easily done and it's likely some unknown ethnic groups may have existed like the Burushaski.
 
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