Balkh

Ancient Bactrian religion

Bactrian documents - in the Bactrian language, written from the fourth to eighth centuries - consistently evoke the name of local deities, such as Kamird and Wakhsh, for example, as witnesses to contracts. The documents come from an area between Balkh and Bamiyan, which is part of Bactria.^[23]

Zoroastrianism and Buddhism

Balkh is well known to Buddhists as the hometown of Trapusa and Bahalika, two merchants who, according to scripture, became Buddha's first disciples. They were the first to offer Buddha food after he attained enlightenment, and in return Buddha gave them eight of his hairs to remember him by. According to some accounts, Trapusa and Bahalika returned to Balkh, and built two stupas in the way Buddha instructed. Balkh is therefore named after Bahalika, who is credited with introducing Buddhism to the city. This is reflected in literature, where the town has been called Balhika, Bahlika or Valhika. The first Buddhist monastery (vihara) at Balkh was built for Bahalika when he returned home after becoming a Buddhist monk.

The Chinese pilgrim Faxian (337-422 CE) traveled to the region in the early 5th century, and found Hinayana Buddhism prevalent in Shan Shan, Kucha, Kashgar, Osh, Udayana and Gandhara. Later, the Chinese monk Xuanzang (602–664 CE) visited Balkh in 630 CE, when it was a flourishing centre of Hinayana Buddhism. According to his memoirs, there were about a hundred Buddhist convents in the city or its vicinity at the time of his visit. There were 3,000 monks and a large number of stupas and other religious monuments. Xuanzang also remarked that Buddhism was widely practiced by the Hunnish rulers of Balkh, who were descended from Indian royal stock.^[24]

During the 8th century, the Korean monk and traveler Hyecho (704–787 CE) recorded that even after the Arab invasion, the residents of Balkh continued to practice Buddhism and followed a Buddhist king. He noted that the king of Balkh at the time had fled to nearby Badakshan.^[25]

The most remarkable Buddhist monastery was the Nava Vihara ("New Temple"), which possessed a gigantic statue of Gautama Buddha. Located near the city of Balkh, it served as a pilgrimage centre for political leaders who came from far and wide to pay homage to it.^[26] Shortly before the Arab conquest, the monastery became a Zoroastrian fire-temple.^{[citation needed]} A curious reference to this building is found in the writings of the geographer Ibn Hawqal, an Arab traveler of the 10th century, who describes Balkh as built of clay, with ramparts and six gates, and extending for half a parasang. He also mentions a castle and a mosque.

A large number of Sanskrit medical, pharmacological, and toxicological texts were translated into Arabic under the patronage of Khalid, the vizier of Al-Mansur. Khalid was the son of a chief priest of a Buddhist monastery. Some of the family were killed when the Arabs captured Balkh; others including Khalid survived by converting to Islam. They would later come to be known as the Barmakids of Baghdad.^[27]

Judaism

Sennacherib, who reigned over the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705 to 681 BCE, is said to have forcibly transferred some Israelites to Balkh after dispossessing them from the Kingdom of Israel during the Assyrian captivity. This account is discussed in the works of the Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi, who wrote that the arrival and establishment of the Jews in Balkh had occurred in light of Sennacherib's campaign in the Levant. Additionally, a number of geographers from the Arab world attested the existence of a monument called Bāb al-Yahūd (lit. 'Gate of the Jews') and a settlement called al-Yahūdiyya at the site of Balkh.^[28] Some Muslims believe that the Israelite prophet Jeremiah fled to Balkh during the Babylonian captivity and that the Israelite prophet Ezekiel was buried there, though Jews revere Ezekiel's Tomb in modern-day Iraq as the site of his final resting place.^[29]

Balkh's Jewish community was further noted in the Ghaznavid Empire during the 11th century, when Jews were forced to maintain a garden for Mahmud of Ghazni and pay a minority tax of 500 dirhams. According to Jewish oral history, under Timur of the Timurid Empire, the Jews of Balkh were given a gated city quarter of their own to live in.^[30]

There was still a substantial Jewish community in Balkh as late as 1885, as attested by the British administrator Charles Yate following the Second Anglo-Afghan War: "a considerable colony of Jews, who have a separate quarter of the village to themselves, and appeared, so far as we could judge, to be fair-looking men with most unmistakably Jewish features."^[31][32]

Hiwi al-Balkhi, a 9th-century exegete and Bible critic, was born in Balkh and is widely believed to have been a Bukharan Jew, at least by ethnicity, as some scholars have asserted that he was a practicing gnostic Christian.

Arab conquests and Islamization

At the time of the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century, however, Balkh had provided an outpost of resistance and a safe haven for the Persian emperor Yazdegerd III who fled there from the armies of Umar. Later, in the 9th century, during the reign of Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, Islam became firmly rooted in the local population.

Arabs occupied Persia in 642 (during the Caliphate of Uthman, 644–656 AD). Attracted by the grandeur and wealth of Balkh, they attacked it in 645 AD. It was only in 653 when Arab commander al-Ahnaf raided the town again and compelled it to pay tribute. The Arab hold over the town, however, remained tenuous. The area was brought under Arab control only after it was reconquered by Muawiya in 663 AD. Prof. Upasak describes the effect of this conquest in these words: "The Arabs plundered the town and killed the people indiscriminately. It is said that they raided the famous Buddhist shrine of Nava-Vihara, which the Arab historians call 'Nava Bahara' and describe it as one of the magnificent places, which comprised a range of 360 cells around the high stupas'. They plundered the gems and jewels that were studded on many images and stupas and took away the wealth accumulated in the Vihara but probably did no considerable harm to other monastic buildings or to the monks residing there".

The Arab attacks had little effect on the normal ecclesiastical life in the monasteries or Balkh Buddhist population outside. Buddhism continued to flourish with their monasteries as the centres of Buddhist learning and training. Scholars, monks and pilgrims from China, India and Korea continued to visit this place. Several revolts were made against the Arab rule in Balkh.

The Arabs' control over Balkh did not last long as it soon came under the rule of a local prince, a zealous Buddhist called Nazak (or Nizak) Tarkhan. He expelled the Arabs from his territories in 670 or 671. He is said to have not only reprimanded the Chief Priest (Barmak) of Nava-Vihara but beheaded him for embracing Islam. As per another account, when Balkh was conquered by the Arabs, the head priest of the Nava-Vihara had gone to the capital and became a Muslim. This displeased the people of the Balkh. He was deposed and his son was placed in his position.

Nazak Tarkhan is also said to have murdered not only the Chief Priest but also his sons. Only a young son was saved. He was taken by his mother to Kashmir where he was given training in medicine, astronomy and other sciences. Later they returned to Balkh. Prof. Maqbool Ahmed observes "One is tempted to think that the family originated from Kashmir, for in time of distress, they took refuge in the Valley. Whatever it be, their Kashmiri origin is undoubted and this also explains the deep interest of the Barmaks, in later years, in Kashmir, for we know they were responsible for inviting several scholars and physicians from Kashmir to the Court of Abbasids." Prof. Maqbool also refers to the descriptions of Kashmir contained in the report prepared by the envoy of Yahya bin Barmak. He surmises that the envoy could have possibly visited Kashmir during the reign of Samgramapida II (797–801). Reference has been made to sages and arts.^{[clarification needed]}

The Arabs managed to bring Balkh under their control only in 715 AD, in spite of strong resistance offered by the Balkh people during the Umayyad period. Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bahili, an Arab General was Governor of Khurasan and the east from 705 to 715. He established a firm hold over lands beyond the Oxus for the Arabs. He fought and killed Tarkhan Nizak in Tokharistan (Bactria) in 715. In the wake of Arab conquest, the resident monks of the Vihara were either killed or forced to abandon their faith. The Viharas were razed to the ground. Priceless treasures in the form of manuscripts in the libraries of monasteries were consigned to ashes. Presently, only the ancient wall of the town, which once encircled it, stands partially. Nava-Vihara stands in ruins, near Takhta-i-Rustam.^[33] In 726, the Umayyad governor Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri rebuilt Balkh and installed in it an Arab garrison,^[34] while in his second governorship, a decade later, he transferred the provincial capital there.^[35]

The Umayyad period lasted until 747, when Abu Muslim captured it for the Abbasids (next Sunni Caliphate dynasty) during the Abbasid Revolution. The city remained in Abbasid hands until 861, when it was taken in 870 by the Saffarids captured it.

Mongol conquest and destruction

In 1220 Genghis Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defence – treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwithstanding this, however, Marco Polo (probably referring to its past) could still describe it as "a noble city and a great seat of learning." For when Ibn Battuta visited Balkh around 1333 during the rule of the Kartids, who were Tadjik vassals of the Persia-based Mongol Ilkhanate until 1335, he described it as a city still in ruins: "It is completely dilapidated and uninhabited, but anyone seeing it would think it to be inhabited because of the solidity of its construction (for it was a vast and important city), and its mosques and colleges preserve their outward appearance even now, with the inscriptions on their buildings incised with lapis-blue paints."^[37]

It was not reconstructed until 1338. It was captured by Tamerlane in 1389 and its citadel was destroyed, but Shah Rukh, his successor, rebuilt the citadel in 1407.

16th to 19th centuries

In 1506 Uzbeks entered Balkh under the command of Muhammad Shaybani. They were briefly expelled by the Safavids in 1510. Babur ruled Balkh between 1511 and 1512 as a vassal of the Persian Safavids. But he was defeated twice by the Khanate of Bukhara and was forced to retire to Kabul. Balkh was ruled by Bukhara except for Safavid rule between 1598 and 1601.

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan fruitlessly fought them there for several years in the 1640s. Nevertheless, Balkh was ruled by the Mughal Empire from 1641 and turned into a subah (imperial top-level province) in 1646 by Shah Jahan, only to be lost in 1647, just like the neighboring Badakhshan Subah. Balkh was the government seat of Aurangzeb in his youth. In 1736 it was conquered by Nader Shah. After his assassination, local Uzbek Hadji Khan declared the independence of Balkh in 1747, under the Maimana Khanate.

In 1751, Balkh was captured by Ahmad Shah Durrani of the Durrani Empire.

The area of Balkh was governed by the Uzbek Qataghan dynasty, with its capital in Khulm, for the majority of the early nineteenth century, and only nominally acknowledged Kabul's suzerainty.^[38] During this time, the Qataghan dynasty also competed with Bukhara in interdynastic conflicts throughout the area.^[38] Only through the conquests of the Emirate of Kabul's Dost Mohammad Khan in the 1850s (see also; Afghan Conquest of Balkh), followed by those of Abdur Rahman Khan in 1888, did the region of "little Turkestan" to the south of the Amu Darya (also known as Oxus River) become a permanent part of Afghanistan.^[38][39][40] By 1885, Charles Yate reported that the city was "nothing but a vast ruin" and that there were no more than 500 houses, occupied mostly by "Afghan settlers" and with "very few Usbegs" (i.e. Uzbeks).^[41]

In 1866, after a malaria outbreak during the flood season, Balkh lost its administrative status to the neighbouring city of Mazar-i-Sharif (Mazār-e Šarīf), about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Balkh.^[42][43]

20th to 21st centuries

In 1911 Balkh comprised a settlement of about 500 houses of Afghan settlers, a colony of Jews and a small bazaar set in the midst of a waste of ruins and acres of debris. Entering by the west (Akcha) gate, one passed under three arches, in which the compilers recognized the remnants of the former Jama Masjid (Persian: جَامع مَسجد, romanized: Jama‘ Masjid, Friday Mosque).^[44] The outer walls, mostly in utter disrepair, were estimated about 6.5–7 miles (10.5–11.3 km) in perimeter. In the south-east, they were set high on a mound or rampart, which indicated a Mongol origin to the compilers.

The fort and citadel to the north-east were built well above the town on a barren mound and were walled and moated. There was, however, little left of them but the remains of a few pillars. The Green Mosque (Persian: مَسجد سَبز, romanized: Masjid Sabz),^[45] named for its green-tiled dome (see photograph top right corner) and said to be the tomb of the Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa, had nothing but the arched entrance remaining of the former madrasah (Arabic: مَـدْرَسَـة, school).

The town was garrisoned as of 1911 by a few thousand irregulars (kasidars), the regular troops of Afghan Turkestan being cantoned at Takhtapul, near Mazari Sharif. The gardens to the north-east contained a caravanserai that formed one side of a courtyard, which was shaded by a group of chenar trees Platanus orientalis.^[46]

A project of modernization was undertaken in 1934, in which eight streets were laid out, housing and bazaars built. Modern Balkh is a centre of the cotton industry, of the skins known commonly in the West as "Persian lamb" (Karakul), and for agricultural produce like almonds and melons.

The site and the museum have suffered from looting and uncontrolled digging during the 1990s civil war. After the Taliban's fall in 2001 some poor residents dug in an attempt to sell ancient treasures. The provisional Afghan government said in January 2002 that it had stopped the looting.^[47] On March 9, 2023, the Taliban appointed Governor of Balkh Mohammad Dawood Muzammil was killed in a bomb blast.^[48]

Ancient Buddhist

The earlier Buddhist constructions have proved more durable than the Islamic buildings. The Top-Rustam is 46 m (50 yd) in diameter at the base and 27 m (30 yd) at the top, circular and about 15 m (49 ft) high. Four circular vaults are sunk in the interior and four passages have been pierced below from the outside, which probably lead to them. The base of the building is constructed of sun-dried bricks about 60 cm (2.0 ft) square and 100 to 130 mm (3.9 to 5.1 in) thick. The Takht-e Rustam is wedge-shaped in plan with uneven sides. It is apparently built of pisé mud (i.e. mud mixed with straw and puddled). It is possible that in these ruins we may recognize the Nava Vihara described by the Chinese traveller Xuanzang. There are the remains of many other topes (or stupas) in the neighbourhood.^[49]

The mounds of ruins on the road to Mazar-e Sharif probably represent the site of a city yet older than those on which stands the modern Balkh.^{[citation needed]}

Medieval Islamic

Numerous places of interest are to be seen today aside from the ancient ruins and fortifications:

• The madrasa of Sayed Subhan Quli Khan.
• Bala-Hesar, the shrine and mosque of Khwaja Nasr Parsa.
• The tomb of the poet Rabi'a Balkhi.
• The Nine Domes Mosque (Masjid-e Noh Gonbad). This exquisitely ornamented mosque, also referred to as Haji Piyada, is the earliest Islamic monument yet identified in Afghanistan.
• Tepe Rustam and Takht-e Rustam

Displays at the Balkh Museum

The museum was formerly the second largest museum in the country, but its collection has suffered from looting in recent times.^[50]

The museum is also known as the Museum of the Blue Mosque, from the building it shares with a religious library. As well as exhibits from the ancient ruins of Balkh, the collection includes works of Islamic art including a 13th-century Quran, and examples of Afghan decorative and folk art.

Poets

• Abu-Shakur Balkhi – 10th-century Persian poet.
• Abul Moayyad Balkhi^[51] – 10th-century Persian poet.^[52]
• Abu Ali Balkhi^[53] – Author of a Shah-nama, according to Biruni.^[54]
• Rabi'a Balkhi – 10th-century Persian poetess and the first woman poet in Persian literature.
• Abu Mansur Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Daqiqi – 10th-century Persian poet; Balkh is one of his suggested birthplaces.
• Ma'ruf Balkhi – 10th-century Persian poet, one of the earliest to compose poems in New Persian.
• Sani Balkhi – 10th-century Persian Rubaʿi poet.^[55]
• Unsuri Balkhi – 10th/11th-century Persian poet at the court of the Ghaznavids.
• Manuchihri Damghani – 11th-century Persian royal poet at the Ghaznavid court, possibly born in Balkh according to Dawlat Shah Samarkandi.
• Rashid al-Din Vatvat – 11th-century Persian secretary, poet, and philologist.
• Anvari – 12th-century Persian poet and scientist, regarded as one of the most significant figures in Persian literature; lived and died in Balkh.
• Mawlānā Jalal ad-Din Rūmī Balkhi – 13th-century Persian poet, one of the most famous and influential Persian writers, born in Balkh.^[56][57]
• Amir Khusraw (Dehlavi) – 13th-century Persian-writing poet of medieval India whose father, Amir Saifuddin, was from Balkh.
• Fasihuddin Balkhi – 20th-century Indian author and historian with ancestral ties to Balkh.
• Wasef Bakhtari – Contemporary Afghan poet, literary figure, and intellectual known for introducing she’r-e nimaa'i ("Nimaic poetry") to Afghan-Persian literature; born in Balkh.

Scientists

• Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi – 8th-century Persian astrologer, astronomer, and philosopher, considered a major astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad.
• Abu Zayd al-Balkhi – 9th-century Persian polymath: geographer, mathematician, physician, and psychologist; pioneer in mental health concepts.
• Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina al-Balkhi al-Bukhari or Avicenna – 10th/11th-century philosopher and scientist, regarded as the father of early modern medicine; his father, Abdullah, was from Balkh.
• Ali ibn Yusuf al-Ilaqi – 11th-century Persian physician and student of Avicenna, practiced in Balkh.
• Al-Isfizari – 12th-century Khorasani mathematician who worked in Balkh.
• Ibn Balkhi – 12th-century Iranian historian and author of Fārs-Nāma.

Monarchs and Rulers

• Vishtaspa – Ancient king of Balkh and early supporter of Zoroaster.
• Diodotus I – Greek king who ruled in Balkh in the 3rd century BC.
• Saman Khuda – Founder of the Samanid dynasty, born near Balkh.
• Sabuktigin – Founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, who died in Balkh.
• Timur – 14th-century conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire; crowned in Balkh.

Statesmen and Administrators

• Khalid ibn Barmak – 8th-century wazir of the Abbasid Caliphate and member of the prominent Barmakid family.
• Harthama ibn A'yan – 8th-century Abbasid military commander and governor of Khurasan.

Religious figures

• Zoroaster ancient prophet traditionally associated with Balkh by some scholars^[58]
• Muqatil ibn Sulayman Al-Balkhi, 8th-century story teller of the Quran, wrote one of the earliest, if not first, commentaries (tafsir) of the Qur'an
• Ibrahim ibn Adham Balkhi, 8th century Sufi saint and reputedly ruler of Balkh, one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints.
• Hiwi al-Balkhi, 9th century Bukharan Jewish exegete and Biblical critic
• Abu l-Jaysh al-Balkhi^[59] 10th century Twelver Shiite theologian and Muhaddith
• Shahid Balkhi 10th century Persian theologian, philosopher, poet and sufi
• Abdullah, father of Avicenna and respected Ismaili scholar^[60][61]
• Muhammad ibn Husayn al Khatibi al Balkhi ^[ru] also known as Baha al-Din Walad, father of Rumi (Balkhi) and respected theologian, jurist and mystic from Balkh
• Sultan Balkhi, a 16th-century Muslim saint, associated with the spread of Islam in Bengal