Forgotten Kings: The Story of the Hindu Sahi Dynasty
By Changez Saleem Jan
Folio Books
ISBN: 978-969-7834-55-6
176pp.

They say history is written by the victors. Quite often, and this is true for many parts of the world, we also find that it is interpreted according to the interests of governments, the whims of politicians, or whichever ideology is popular.

In Pakistan, this has, since the 1980s at least, meant that all references to the region’s pre-Islamic past have essentially been erased from school history books, and from the consciousness of ordinary people. For most of us Pakistanis, history began in 712 CE when Muhammad bin Qasim landed in Sindh — how people were living before that, or indeed living in other parts of the Subcontinent, is not important.

It is, thus, always interesting when a writer chooses to highlight an era and a part of Pakistan’s heritage which remains largely unknown to the average person. Changez Saleem Jan’s effort is all the more remarkable, as he is not a historian per se — instead, he studied economics, and is a banker by profession. Nevertheless, he belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is obviously deeply interested in his native land’s ancient history and culture.

The subject of Changez’s research is the Hindu Sahi or (Shahi) dynasty, which ruled what is now northwest Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan for almost 200 years, from around 865 CE to 1026 CE.

A book makes a formidable effort to collect information and trace sources on the history of the Hindu Sahi dynasty that ruled a large part of what is now northwest Pakistan for almost 200 years

Among the wonders of this book is the meticulous manner in which the author has put together a family tree for the dynasty, mapping dates of accession to the throne, the succession, and periods of rule overlapping with other ruling dynasties in the Subcontinent. This is a quick and easy reference for the first chapter, which traces the history of the region ruled by the Sahi dynasty, beginning with the conquests of Alexander the Great.

We also get a quick overview of the rule of the Greeks and the Mauryans in India, including some interesting information on how a long-lasting truce was negotiated between the two through a matrimonial alliance or an exchange of gifts including 500 elephants (the author is himself not sure about this). The fall of the Mauryan Dynasty (the last Mauryan king, greatly diminished in power, was assassinated) heralded the end of a long period of centralised rule in India and gave rise to the empowerment of small kingdoms, including the one ruled by the Hindu Sahi.

Relying mainly on the writings of Al-Beruni, Changez Jan traces the origins of the Hindu Sahi dynasty to an ambitious minister in the court of the Buddhist kings of Kabul. Kallar, the said minister and the founder of the Hindu Sahi dynasty, faced threats from the Muslim Saffarid kings who ruled parts of what is now Iran, as well as the kings of Kashmir, but managed to defend his territory and pass his throne on to his son.

At this point, the source material on the dynasty is scant but, according to the author, Kallar’s son Kamalu inherited the city of Kabul and parts of the surrounding valley, as well as the Peshawar valley, Swat and parts of southern Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab — perhaps even all the way to the Chenab river.

However, Kamalu was soon overthrown by one of his ministers, Samanta, and retired to the court of Kashmir, only to be reinstated with the latter’s help.

The saga of the Sahi dynasty continues through a series of battles and losses and gains of territory, but the high point of the saga is the reign of the Sahi king Jayapala, and his encounters with Subuktigin, the general raised to the throne of Ghazni in 977 CE.

Thereafter, the fate of the Hindu Sahi dynasty is intertwined with that of the Ghaznavid kings. In fact, it is Mahmud, the son of Subuktigin, who brings about the ultimate fall of the Hindu Sahi dynasty with his defeat of the Sahi king Trinochanapala, somewhere around 1020 CE.

The last king of the dynasty, Bhimapala, ruled for just five years, dying, coincidentally, in the year 1026 CE when his family’s sworn enemy, Mahmud of Ghazni, ransacked the temple of Somnath. Many of Bhimapala’s descendants ended up in Kashmir, many assuming important positions in the administration of that state.

There is a reason why Changez Jan has named his book Forgotten Kings. It is clear from his account that he made a formidable effort to collect information and trace sources on the history of this dynasty that ruled a large part of what is now northwest Pakistan.

His work spans a review of secondary sources (such as the works of Al-Beruni and historians such as Yogender Mishra and Abdul Rehman, who have also written on the dynasty), numismatology (studies of extant coins from the period), and inscriptions on rocks and stones which have been de-codified and interpreted.

Piecing together the chain of events has clearly been a painstaking process. As a layperson, this reviewer’s only wish would have been for the author to say something about the governance of the Sahi dynasty, and to add information on how it ruled its lands, rather than focus only on the wars it engaged in and the treachery and rivalries it faced. But then, the lack of primary sources probably precludes such commentary.

The story of how Changez Jan became interested in the Sahi kings is also fascinating. As he recounts in the preface, he read a book on the life of Mahmud of Ghazni as a teenager, and came across an account of a letter written to Mahmud by the Sahi king Anandpala, in which the latter, having been defeated by Mahmud, offers him help in the form of equipment and logistics against the Turks of Central Asia.

Anandpala apparently did this saying that, having been defeated by Mahmud, he did not want Mahmud to be defeated by anyone else! To Changez Jan, this was an example of “ghairatmandi” or honour. At the very least, it is an example of a ruler showing large-heartedness towards a rival. There is much to learn from this.

The reviewer is a researcher and policy analyst

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, January 14th, 2024