The Hindu History of Afghanistan The year 980 C.E marks the beginning of the

The Hindu History of Afghanistan The year 980 C.E marks the beginning of the muslim invasion into india Proper when Subuktagin attacked raja jaya plan in Afghanistan Afghanistan is today A muslim country separated from india by another muslim country Pakistan But in 980C.E Afghanistan was also a place where the people were Hindus and Budhists. The name “Afghanistan comes from (Upa-Gana_stan) which means in Sanskrit the Place inhabited by allied tribes This was the place from where gandhari of the Mahabharat came from Gandhar whose king was shakuni. Today the city of Gandhar is know as Kandahar. The Pakthoons are descendants of the patha tribe mentioned in Vedic literature.Till the year 980C.E this area was aHindu majority area, till Sabuktagin from Ghazni invaded it and displaced the ruling Hinduking-Jaya Pal shahi SHIVA WORKSHIP WAS WIDESPREAD IN AFGHANISTAN There was a time when the entire region was replete with hundreds of shiv Temples celebrating Shiva-Parvati workship and abuzz with shiv chants, Prayers, legends and worship.Archaeological excavations in this region conduced by Sri Estin (an East Indian Company offcial) led to the recovery of euncountable shrines and Inscriptions., He has authored four books on that topic featuring photos of icons, and Inscriptions discovred.The phots show a sun temple and a Ganesh statue too.An Islamabad University professor Abdul Rehman has authored two books on those finds recalling the glory and properity of those times.Regimes of two Hindu Rulers “Kusham” ansd “Kidara”lasted for fairly long periods. During their rule a number of shiva temples were not only Afghanistan but in other West Asianregions too. Uzbekistan and Takzikistan formed part of the Afghan kindom in those times. Tashkent has one of those ancient Shiva temple standing even today.Professor Abdul Rehman states that Bukhara refion was know as :Shah Vihar” in Ancient times. It was ruled by a Hindu King. When Arbs invaded that kindom its queen traveled to Kashmir to seek military help. Arab chronicles mention her as Khatoon Meaning woman Kalhan the ancient hindu Hisstorian o Kashmir has mentioned that army of the then Hindu ruler of Kashmir had a battle with a vast army of the Arab khalifa Mamoon whose headquarters was Baghdad.At that time Bukhara had been under Muslim rule. He had invited a number of leading Hindu experts to Baghdaf.An Ayurvedic practitioners who were eagerly sought by Arab. A list of those translted Sanskrit texts appears ina Volume known as al Frisht. Bau (captil of the Azerbaijan region) know ofr its undersound petroleum yields has still an ancient Hindu temple of the Divine Flame genereated by the subterranean petrol and gas) During the Czar reimes in Russian a Punjabi priest officiated at that temple. The alss display some religious stanzas written in Punjabi Gurumakhi script. The market there also Baku in Azerbaijani Language actually signified a Goddess. Therefore obviously Baku derives its name from a very ancient Vedic Goddess temple there Kenduj a province of Afghansitan. Ruled by a king that had a Hindu prime mimister. This is mentioned in historyin history books. Albirruni”s travel account contains details of ancent Hindu Afghansitan, He mentions a Hindu King Khingla whose coins bore the imprint of Shiva. The fist ruler of that dynasty was Viahitagni. History mentions a Shiva temple in Gardej township which was plundered by Arab invaders. That dynasty ruled the region from 666 to 843 to 850 A.D a Bramin Minister ruled the region. The Kalkaa community of Bramins had ancquired promince in those times. They were later known as kallers. A township of that name exists in Punjab. Prominent amount them who find a mention in later history are Samantdev,Bheemdev,Jaioaldev,Anabdpal and Trilochan Jaipaldev suffered a defeat in 1002 when Mohammd Ganzavi invaded India. Unable to bear that Jaipaldev commetted sucide. When Hsuan-tsang visited the region early in the 7th century CE,the Kabul valley region was by a Hindu Kshatriya king, ho is identified as the shashi khingal. And whose name has been found in an inscription found in Gardez. The Hindu Shshi king of Kabul and Gandhara may have had links to some ruling families in neighboring Kashmir and other areas to the east. The victory of Sabuktagin pushed the frontiers of the Hindu Kingdom of the Shahis from Kabul to behind the Hindu kush mountains Hindu kush is literally “Killer of Hindus”- a name given by Mahmud Ghazni to describe the number of Hindus who died on their way into Afghanistan to a life of captivity. After thid setback, the shahis shifte their capital fro Kubha (Kabul) to Udbhandapura (modern Und in NWFP).Sabuktagin”s son Mahmud Ghazni, kept up the attack on the Shahis and captured Und. Subequently, the Shahis moved their capital to Lahor and later to Kangra in Himachal. The recovery and significance of the inscription, telling a story of the Hindu ruler Veka and his devotion to Lord Shiva. Was told leading epigraphist and archaeologist Pfro Ahmed Hasan Dani of the Quaid-E_azam university fo Islamabad at the ongoing India Histroy Congress here. The date of 138 of Present inscription, should be equal to 959AD which falls during the reign of Bhimapala, Dani said in a paper :Mazar-i-Sharif inscription of the time of the Shahi ruler Veka,dated the year 138” Acording to the inscription the ruls Veka occupied by eight-fold forces, the earth, the markets and forts.It is during his regin that a temple of Shiva in the embarace with Uma was built at Maityasya by Parimaha (Great) Maitya for the benefit of himself and his son . Dani said the inscription gives the name of the king as shshi Veka Raja and bestows on him the qualification of Iryatumatu Ksanginaka….and (he) appears to be the same king who bears the name of Khingila or Khinkhila who shoul be accepted as a shahi ruler” Dani further said he amy be an ancestor of Veka deve. As his coins are found in Afghanistan and he is mentioned by the Arab ruler Yaqybi, he may be an immediate predecessor of Veka deve…Both the evidence of inscription and coins suggenst that Veka or Vaka should be accepted as an undependent ruler of northem Afghanistan. Thus we another branch of the shshi rule in notherm part of Afghanistan beyoud the Hindukush.Veka is said to have conquered the eath, the markets and the forts by his eight-fold forces, suggestion that he much have himself gained success the Arab rules of southem Afghanistan. Dani observed that going by the findings it seemed that during the rule of the Hindu Shahi ruler Bhimapa there was a break in the dynasty- one branch headed by Jayapala, ruled in Lamaghan and Punjab, and another branch headed by Veka, ruled century AD”he said . India has developed a highly constructive, imaginative reconstruction strategy for Afghanistan that is designed to please every sector of Afghan society, give India high Profile with the Afghan people gain the Maximum political advantage with the Afghan Govermment, increase its influence with its Northen Alliance friends and turn its image from that a country that supported the Soviet Invasion and the communist regime in the 1980s to an Indiaspensable ally and friend of the Afghan people in the century.