Qarakhanid Coins as a Source for the History of Saghaniyan

MICHAEL FEDOROV

Recent research and fresh discoveries have now made obsolete the article

which I wrote in 1968 on the history of eleventh century ad Saghaniyan using the Qarakhanid coins of the period as a source.1 The present article is an update taking account of the new material.2 The medieval principality of Saghaniyan (or Chaghaniyan) was situated in the valley of the Surkhan Darya river which flows south from the Gissar mountains into the Amu Darya (or Oxus). The capital of Saghaniyan was near the modern
town of Denau, about 100 km to the north of Termez. The earliest Qarakhanid

coin of Saghaniyan, a dirham, was minted in ah 395/ad 1004/5. It cited two Qarakhanids: the suzerain Nasir al-Haqq Khan (Tongha Khan Ahmad b. 'Air) and his vassal Mu'ayid al-'Adl Ilek Nasr (b. 'Air, brother of Ahmad) on the
reverse. The subvassal Muzaffar Kia was cited on the obverse. Dirhams of the

same type were minted in 396. Some coins of 396 and 397 cited Muzaffar instead
of Muzaffar Kia. Dirhams of 398 cited the suzerain Nasir al-Haqq Khan, the

vassal Mu'ayid al-'Adl Ilek Nasr and the subvassal Muzaffar (Kia?) on the
reverse. The name of the subvassal was therefore transferred from the obverse to

a more honourable place on the reverse where the caliph and suzerain were also
cited. The fulus of 398 cited the Qarakhanid suzerain Nasr b. 'Air in the reverse field and Amir al-Jalil Ahmad b. Muhammad in the circular legend. Muzaffar was cited on the obverse.3 (Kl p. 214, no. 153; p. 215, nos 170-1; p. 217, nos 196-7) The fulus of 398 do not cite the supreme Qarakhanid suzerain Tongha Khan Ahmad b. 'AH, though he was cited on the Saghaniyan dirhams of that year.
1 M.N. Fedorov, 'Numizmaticheskie dannye k istorii Saganiana pervoi poloviny XI v.', Istoriia Material'noi Kul'tury Uzbekistana 8 (1969), pp. 193-9. For later research see E.A. Davidovich, 'Klad saganianskikh monet vtoroi chelverti XI v. kak istoricheskii istochnik', Pis'mennyePamiatniki Vostoka 1968 (Moscow, 1970), pp. 73-97 = D in text. E.V. Rtveladze, 'K biografii Farrukhi', Khudozhjestvennaia Kul'tura Srednei Azii IX-XHI vekov, (Tashkent, 1983), pp. 177-81. E.V. Rtveladze, 'K istorii Saganiiana pervoi chetverti XI v. po numizmaticheskim dannym', Epigrafika Vostoka 24 (1988), pp. 48-56. M.N. Fedorov, 'Redkii Saganianskii fel's iz okrestnostei Uzgenda'. Izvestiia Akaclemii Ntutk Kirgizskoi SSR,
Obshchestvennye Nauki 4 (1989), pp. 73-7.

3 B.D. Kochnev, 'Svod nadpisei na karakhanidskikh monetakh: antroponimy i tittilatura, I',

Vosrochnoe istoricheskoe istochnikovedenie i spetsial'nye istoricheskie distsipliny 4 (Moscow, 1995) = Kl in text. B.D. Kochnev, 'Svod nadpisei na karakhanidskikh monetakh: antroponimy i titulatura, 2' Vostochnoe istoricheskoe istochnikovedenie i spetsial'nye istoricheskie distsipliny 5 (Moscow,
1997) = K2 in text.

202

MICHAEL FEDOROV

It was not unusual for the mention of one or both suzerains to be omitted on small

copper coins which only served as a local petty currency.

Saghaniyan dirhams of 400-24 cited as suzerain both Nasir al-Haqq Khan, the

vassal al-Mu'ayrd al-'Adl Tlek and the subvassal Muzaffar (written in small letters
above the main legend in the field) on the reverse. Rukn al-Daula was cited on the

obverse. The Saghaniyan dirham of 400 from the Qysmychi hoard differed from
other recorded specimens in that both Muzaffar and Rukn al-Daula (the latter written in big letters in the main legend of the field) were cited on the reverse.5 The reverse of the 401 Saghaniyan fulus cited Nasr b. 'Air (field) as suzerain and

Amir al-Jalil Ahmad b. Muhammad (circular legend). Muzaffar was cited on the obverse. As with the fulus of 398 the supreme Qarakhanid suzerain Ahmad b. 'Air was not cited. (Kl p. 217, no. 197) In 402 the Saghaniyan fulus cited Amir Fakhr alDaula Ahmad b. Muhammad in the reverse circular legend. Muzaffar was again cited in the obverse field. Neither of the Qarakhanid suzerains, Ahmad, or Nasr b. 'All, were cited. The Qarakhanids, involved in civil war, were unable to conrol Saghaniyan which is why no Qarakhanid suzerein was cited. There are some obscure words in the reverse field. E.V. Rtveladze suggested '(Muha?)mmad b.

Nasr' while B.D. Kochnev merely put a question-mark. (Kl p. 223, nos 292-3)6
Rtveladze thought that this (Muha?)mmad b. Nasr was the son of Ilek Nasr, but since

Kochnev could see neither Nasr or Muhammad, Rtveladze's reading is doubtful. In 402 the warring Qarakhanid factions made peace. Soon after, in 403, Nasr died. His dominions fell to his brother Tongha Khan Ahmad.7 Saghaniyan dirhams of 403 cited Nasir al-Haqq Khan (Ahmad b. 'All") as suzerain in the
reverse field, and Rukn al-Daula as vassal. Muzaffar was written in small letters

above the central legend of the reverse field. Saghaniyan fulus of 403 cited the
vassal Amir al-Jalal Fakhr al-Daula Ahmad b. Muhammad in the reverse circular

legend and the suzerain Ahmad b. 'Air in the field, with Muzaffar in the obverse field. (Kl.p. 225, nos 313-14) Some Saghaniyan fulus of 405 cited the suzerain
Ahmad b. 'Air in the reverse field and the vassal Amir al-'Adil Fakhr al-Daula in

the circular legend with Muzaffar in the obverse field.8 Other fulus of 405 cited

Amu- al-Jalal Fakhr al-Daula Ahmad b. Muhammad in the reverse circular legend and Muzaffar in the obverse field but no Qarakhanid suzerain. (Kl p. 231,
no. 390) In 406 Amir al-Jalal Fakhr al-Daula Ahmad b. Muhammad was cited in

the reverse circular legend and Muzaffar in the field. On the obverse two Qarakhanids, Khan Shams al-Daula, and Ilek (superior and immediate suzerain) appeared again. (Kl p. 233, no. 426)
4 F. Schwarz, SNA Tubingen XIVc: Balkh etc. p. 140, no. 1214.

5 M. Fedorov, 'The Qysmychi hoard of Qarakhanid dirhams', NC 160 (2000), pp. 171-202 at
p. 190, nos 1-2.

6 Rtveladze, 'K istorii Saganiiana'. p. 49. 7 V.V. Bartold, Turkestan vepokhu mongol'skogo nashestviia, Sochineniia, vol. 1 (Moscow, 1963). p. 336. 8 M.N. Fedorov, 'Rare Qarakhanid coins from the collections of Bishkek', ONSN 161 (Autumn 1999), p. 8.

QARAKHANID COINS

203

In 405 the head of Western Qarakhanids, Ahmad b. 'All, was waging an unsuccessful war against his brother Shams al-Daula Arslan Khan Mansur. The
coins minted at the time indicate that as a result he lost control of Akhslket and

other towns to Arslan Khan. Since Ahmad b. 'AH was not a close neighbour, the ruler of Saghaniyan took the opportunity to throw off his allegiance and started to mint coins as an independent ruler. In 406 he had to recognize Shams al-Daula Khan (Arslan Khan) as supreme suzerain and Ilek (Arslan Khan's brother, ally and vassal Muhammad b. 'AH) as immediate suzerain on the fulus which he minted in Saghaniyan. In 1983 Rtveladze noted that the name and laqab of the Saghaniyan ruler (Faklir ad-Daula Ahmad h. Muhammad) found on Saghaniyan fulus coincided
with those of Fakhr al-Daula Abu-1-Muzaffar Ahmad b. Muhammad, the ruler of

Saghaniyan and patron of the famous Persian poet Farrukhl.'' Since the kunia (i.e. the statement of the relationship) of this ruler was Abu-1-Muzaffar ('Father of
Muzaffar'), the vassal Muzaffar, cited on his coins, was most probably his son. This Muzaffar, sometimes with the Persian surname Kid ('guardian of the frontier' or 'hero') appeared on Saghaniyan dirhams of 395 as a vassal of the Qarakhanids and disappeared from the coins struck after 406. Ahmad b. Muhammad appeared on the coins of Saghaniyan as a vassal of the Qarakhanids and the suzerain of Muzaffar in 398 and also disappeared after 406. During this

time, excluding only part of 405, the four brothers: Qarakhanids Nasir al-Haqq
Khan Ahmad b. 'AH, Mu'ayid al-'Adl Ilek Nasr b. 'AH, Shams al-Daula Arslan Khan Mansur and Muhammad b. 'AH, were supreme or immediate suzerains of the rulers of Saghaniyan. Muhammad b. 'AH, received the title ilek' after the death of Nasr in 403. Samarqand coins of 406-7, citing Khan and his vassal

Muhmmad b. 'AH flek, show that the anonymous ilek' cited on Saghaniyan
fulus dated 406 was Muhammad b. 'AH. (Kl p. 233, no. 427)

It is strange that Muzaffar Kia should have appeared on the coins of Saghaniyan as a vassal of the Qarakhanids from 395-8, before Ahmad b.
Muhammad but, when Ahmad was cited on the coins in 398, Muzaffar was

relegated to subvassal. Could it be that Ahmad b. Muhammad was absent from Saghaniyan between and 395-7? On dirhams of 395-8 the hierarchy was as follows. The supreme Qarakhanid suzerain was Nasir al-Haqq Khan (Tongha
Khan Ahmad b. 'AH); the immediate Qarakhanid suzerain was Ilek Nasr b. 'AH

(who captured Bukhara in 389, put an end to the Samanid state and created a Qarakhanid dominion in Mawarannahr) and the subvassal was Muzaffar Kia. Ahmad b. Muhammad appeared on Saghaniyan fulus of 398 being cited in the circular legend after the formula Aj ja\ U-o which shows that he was now the ruler of Saghaniyan and coins were minted there by his authority. Muzaffar was
cited on the obverse where as a rule the vassal or subvassal was cited. It is

interesting that the supreme suzerain Ahmad b. 'AH is not cited on these fulus.
" Rtveladze, 'K biografii Farrukhi'. p. 179.

204

MICHAEL FEDOROV

Nasr b. 'AH was cited on the reverse as the immediate and only suzerain. This was also the case on the 401 fulus of Saghaniyan. It is strange that Ahmad b. Muhammad was not cited on Saghaniyan dirhams of 400 and 401, so I would suggest that the laqab 'Rukn al-Daula' on these coins belongs to him. Otherwise it would be very strange for Ahmad b. Muhammad to be cited on fulus as the immediate ruler of Saghaniyan, but not to be cited on Saghaniyan dirhams struck in the same years. Some Saghaniyan fulus of 402 cited Fakhr al-Daula Ahmad b. Muhammad and Muzaffar but no Qarakhanid suzerain. This was probably because a Qarakhanid civil war had broken out. After Ilek Nasr died in 403 the rulers of Saghaniyan were vassals of Ahmad b. 'AH until 405. For part of 405 they minted in Saghaniyan as independent rulers because civil war had broken out yet again and Ahmad b. 'AH had been defeated. In 406 they again became vassals of two newly victorious Qarakhanids. This time it was Shams al-Daula Arslan Khan Mansur b. 'AH (supreme suzerain) and Ilek Muhammad b. 'All (immediate suzerain). In 410 anonymous dirhams were minted in Saghaniyan with no mention of a suzerain or a vassal. (Kl p. 241, no. 534) This is strange because it was a time of peace and stability in the Western Qarakhanid khaqanate and all the other mints cited Arslan Khan as suzerain. Could it have been a diplomatic move? By minting anonymous coins the ruler of Saghaniyan avoided having to choose between citing either a Qarakhanid or a Ghaznavid suzerain. Rtveladze mentions anonymous Saghaniyan dirhams of 414 but, curiously, omits them from his table of coins of years 395-416.'" If they do really exist, it would mean that such coins were minted in Saghaniyan not only in 410 but probably up to 414 as well. Between 414 and 418 most coins of Saghaniyan cited the Qarakhanid Nasir alHaqq Khan as suzerain. (Kl p. 241, no. 534) One coin of 417 cited '... al-Daula' on the reverse instead, while another of the same year cited Nasir al-Haqq Khan on the reverse and '... al-Daula' on the obverse. (D p. 83, nos 1 and 2) Could this '... al-Daula' be the vassal of Nasir al-Haqq Khan and ruler of Saghaniyan? Davidovich, following O. Pritsak's suggestion that the laqab Nasir al-Haqq belonged to Ahmad b. 'AH and then to Qadir Khan, deemed that the Nasir al-

Haqq Khan cited on coins of Saghaniyan of 414-18, was Qadir Khan. (D p. 85)."
The laqab Nasir al-Haqq va al-Din appeared on the coins of Qadir Khan only after he had conquered vast territories from the Western Qarakhanids in 416-18. The first instances are on fulus of Farghana of 416 and Ishtlkhan of 419. (Kl pp. 249-51, nos 416 and 699) I believe Kochnev mistook Ispljab for Ishtlkhan. Likewise an Uzgend coin citing Nasir al-Haqq va al-Din Qadir Khan dated by Kochnev to 407 (Kl p. 237, no. 407) was, I believe, minted in 417. The only time Nasir al-Haqq (not Nasir al-Haqq va al-Din) occurs is on a Kashghar coin of 423 and never in the combination Nasir al-Haqq Khan.12 On the other hand coins of
10 Rtveladze. 'K biograiii Farrukhi', p. 55 and p. 50 (tables).
" O. Pritsak, 'Die Karachaniden', Der Islam 31, 1 (1953), pp. 27, 32-3.

12 T. Mayer. SNA Tubingen XVb, Nord- itnd Ostzentralasien, p. 64. no. 523.

QARAKHANID COINS

205

Shash dated 415 (Kl p. 248, no. 640) cited Nasir al-Haqq flek al-'Adil 'AH b
Hasan. Kochnev'-1 thought that the laqab Nasir al-Haqq belonged to 'AH but this is out of the question because 'AH b. Hasan only started to place the title Khan
on his coins in 423. (Kl p. 225, no. 768) The Nasir al-Haqq Khan on the coins of Saghaniyan was his brother and suzerain Tongha Khan Muhammad, head of the Western Qarakhanids since 415. The coin of 414 must have been struck using an old die with an obsolete date. In 418 the name of Tongha Khan disappeared from coins of Akhslket. The contemporary chronicler BaihaqI wrote that there was a

war and Toghan Khan, brother of 'AH Tegin, was killed.w In 418 mention of
Nasir al-Haqq Khan also disappeared from the coins of Saghaniyan. From 418 to 424 most of the coins minted in Saghaniyan (D p. 83, nos 4 and 6) were anonymous though some coins of 420 cited a 'Nasr'. (D p. 83, no. 5) These may also have been struck from mis-matched dies, one of them being obsolete. The minting of anonymous coins in Saghaniyan ceased in 424. Coins of 424-6 and 428 cited Malik al-'Adil Abu al-Qasim. (D p. 83, no. 7) I believe that Nasr (proper name) and Abu al-Qasim (kunia) referred to the same individual: the ruler of Saghaniyan, though Rtveladze considered Nasr and Abu al-Qasim to be

different persons.15 It could be that Abu al-Qasim came to power in 424 and
changed the policy of his predecesor who had minted anonymous coins. BeihaqI mentions Abu al-Qasim as a ruler of Saghaniyan in 426 and says that he was the son-in-law of the Ghaznavid sultan Mas'ud. This ruler of Saghaniyan
was also mentioned in Safar (second month) of 430 (November 1038). But in

Sha'ban (eighth month) of 430 he was already dead because in Sha'ban Mas'ud received a letter from Burl Tegin, which said that since the ruler of Saghaniyan had died young and left no heir, he, Buri Tegin, had taken possession of Saghaniyan.'61 deem that Abu al-Qasim was the hereditary ruler of Saghaniyan.
If so it means that he was the relative of that same Fakhr ad-Daula Abu al-

Muzaffar Ahmad b. Muhammad, who was the ruler of Saghaniyan and patron of the famous Persian poet Farrukhi. The Qarakhanid prince Burl Tegin Ibrahim, son of Ilek Nasr (conqueror of Bukhara in 389), was the prisoner of Yusuf b. 'AH, son of the ruler of Bukhara and Samarqand 'AH b. Hasan (called 'AH Tegin by BeihaqI). In 429 Burl Tegin escaped from Yusuf, gained the suport of the Kenjlne and Kumljl nomads and raised an army of 3,000 horsemen. With that force he captured Saghaniyan in 430 and started a war against Yusuf b. 'AH. The coins show that Burl Tegin

conquered Kesh and Samarqand in 431 and Bukhara in 433.1?

13 B.D. Kochnev, 'Zametki po srednevekovoi numizmatike Srednei Azii. Chast' 2 (Karakhanidy)', lstoriia Material'noi Kul'tury Uzbekistana 15 (1979), p. 134. 14 Beihaqi, Abu-1-Fazl, Istoriia Mas'uda 1030-1041, trans. A.K. Arendsa. (Tashkent. 1962), p. 467. 15 Rtveladze, 'K biografii Farrukhi'. p. 55. "' Beihaqi, Istoriia Mas 'uda, pp. 411, 435, 499 and 504. 17 M.N. Fedorov, 'Politicheskaiia istoriia Karakhanidov vo vtoroi polovine XI v.' NE 13 (1980), pp. 40-2.

206

MICHAEL FEDOROV

These events were also reflected in the coins of Saghaniyan. In 430 and 431 Saghaniyan dirhams cited Fakhr al-Daula (or Malik al-Mu'ayyad) Burl Tegin on the reverse and the vassal 'Ali on the obverse. (Kl p. 261, nos 849, 856, 857) On some 431 dirhams 'AH was not cited. Other Saghaniyan dirhams of 431 cited the new khanian title of Burl Tegin Ibrahim: Tafghach Boghra Khan. (K2 p. 248,
no. 863)

There are two strange 431 Saghaniyan coins which cited Malik al-'Adil Nasr. Davidovich noted that on Saghaniyan coins of 424-6 and 428 the ruler of Saghaniyan, Abu al-Qasim, was cited with the same title Malik al-'Adil. (D p. 82, p. 84, no. 24, p. 86) This corroborates my opinion that Abu al-Qasim and Nasr were the same person. We have two equations: Malik al-'Adil = Nasr and Malik al-'Adil = Abu al-Qasim. This would give a third equation: Abu al-Qasim = Nasr,

but the Abu al-Qasim who was the ruler of Saghaniyan died in 430 having left no heir. I would argue therefore that these coins were also struck using obsolete dies citing Malik al-'Adil Nasr. Saghaniyan dirhams of 432 cited Tafghach Khan on the reverse and Mu'ayid al-'Adl Ibrahim on the obverse. (K2 p. 248, no. 866) Some coins dated 432-4 cited an anonymous Khaqan al-Ajall. i.e. Ibrahim b. Nasr. (K2 p. 248, no. 867) Saghaniyan dirhams of 433 cited Mu'ayid al-'Adl Khan, or Tafghach Boghra Khan Ibrahim b. Nasr on the reverse and his vassal 'AH (obverse), or Khaqan alAjall (reverse) and his vassal 'AH (obverse). (K2 p. 249, nos 875-7) The dirhams of 434 are the last eleventh century Qarakhanid coins of Saghaniyan. That same year coins of Saghaniyan cited the Ghaznavid sultan Maudud. (D p. 84, nos 25-6) After his disastrous defeat in the battle of Dandanaqan (8 Ramadan 431/23 May 1040) Mas'ud was killed in Sha'ban

432/January 1041 by his mutinous warriors. His son Maudud took revenge on the
murderers of his father and stemmed the Seljuq expansion. He retained control of Balkh and Tirmidh and was acknowledged by the 'king of Turks in
Mawarannahr' (i.e. Tafghach Khan Ibrahim).'8 The coins corroborate this. Tafghach Khan Ibrahim ceded Saghaniyan to Maudud. A year later, however, Saghaniyan was captured by the Seljuqs: there are 435 Saghaniyan dirhams which cite the Seljuq Chaghry Bek Dawud b. Mika'il or [Chaghry Bek Dawud]
and Shams al-D|au!a|.

Finally, Kochnev mentions a coin of Saghaniyan (?) minted after 574/1178-9 by a certain Arslan Khan. (K2 p. 275, no. 1163) If the mint really is Saghaniyan this coin means that a Qarakhanid principality existed in Saghaniyan in the last quarter of the twelfth century ad.

18 Bartold. Turkestan, p. 366.

19

B.D. Kochnev. 'A group of coins from a hoard containing eleventh century coins of

Saghaniyan', ONSN 164 (Summer 2000). p. 8.

QARAKHANID COINS
Table 1

207

Names laqabs and titles on the coins of Saghaniyan D = Dirham. F = Fals. W = Western Qarakhanid. G = Ghaznavid. S = Seljuk.
Yeai

Suzerain
D

Vassal

Subvassal

395

W. Nasir al-Haqq Khan

(Ahmad b. 'Air)

W. Mu'ayfd al-'Adl
Ilek Nasr (b. 'Air)
The same
The same

Muzaffar Kia

396 396- 7 398

D D

The same The same The same W. Nasr b. 'Air

The same Muzaffar Muzaffar Kia? Muzaffar

D F

The same Ahmad b.

Muhammad

398, 401

402 400- .?

F D

The same

The same Rukn al-Daula and Muzaffar ?

W. Nasir al-Haqq Khan

(Ahmad b. 'Air)

W. Mu'ayrd al-'Adl Nek Nasr (b. 'Air)

Fakhr al-Daula
Ahmad b. Muhammad

402

403 403

W. Nasir al-Haqq Khan

W. Ahmad b. 'Air

Rukn al-Daula

Muzaffar The same

Fakhr al-Daula Ahmad

b. Muhammad

405 405

F
F

The same Fakhr al-Daula Ahmad b. Muhammad

The same Muzaffar

The same

406

W. Khan Shams al-Daula

(Mansur b. 'All")
410 414- 18
?

W. Ilek (Muhammad b. 'Air)

Not cited

Amad b. Muhammad

and Muzaffar
Not cited

D
D

Not cited

Nasir al-Haqq Khan

The same ... al-Daula? ... al-Daula?

D
D D

417

Not cited

418- 24
424--28 430

Anonymous

Anonymous Malik Abu-I-Qasim

D
D

W. Fakhr al-Daula Buntegrn (Ibrahnri b. Nasr)

Air

431

W. Malik al-Mu'ayyad BuiTtegrn

The same

The same

431?

431
432

D D

W. Tafghach Boghra Khan

W. Mu'ayfd al-'Adl Tafghach Khan Ibrahim (b. Nasr)
Continued

208

MICHAEL FEDOROV
Table 1 Continued

432-4 433 433

D D D

W. Khaqan al Ajall (Ibrahfrn)

The same
'Air

W. Tafghach Boghra Khan

Ibrahim b. Nasr
The same

433 434 435

D D

W. Mu'ayrd al-'Adl Khan

G. Mawdud (b. Mas'ud)

S. Chaghry Bek Dawud

b. Mika'il

Sources: B. Kochnev, 'Svod nadpisei na karakhanidskikh monetakh: antroponimy i titulatura 1',

Vostochnoe istoricheskoe istochnikovedenie i spetsial'nye istoricheskie distsipliny 4 (Moscow, 1995),

nos 153,170-1, 196-7, 239, 292-3, 313-14, 390, 426, 534, 609, 680, 690, 849,855-7; B. Kochnev,

'Svod nadpisei na karakhanidskikh monetakh: antroponimy i titulatura 2', Vostochnoe istoricheskoe istochnikovedenie i spetsial'nye istoricheskie distsipliny 5 (Moscow, 1997) nos 863, 866-7, 875-80; B. Kochnev, 'A group of coins from a hoard containing 1lth century coins of Saghaniyan', ONSN 164 (2000), nos 4, 7-8; E. Davidovich. 'Klad saganianskikh monet vtoroi chetverti XI v. kak istoricheskii istochnik', Pis'mennye Pamiatniki Vostoka 196S (Moscow, 1970), p. 83, nos 4, 6, 7; M. Fedorov, 'Rare Qarakhanid Coins from the Collections of Bishkek', ONSN 161 (1999) p. 8, no. 2; F. Schwarz,
SNA Tubingen XIVc, Balkh etc., no. 1214.