History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c1.s1.13

c1.s1.13

A critical study of the subject, however, conclusively points to the Turkish origin of the Khaljīs. Khalj is the name given to the land lying on either side of river Helmand in Afghanistan, and the inhabitants of that region were known as Khaljīs. Various nomadic tribes had settled in Khalj from very remote times and under such circumstances it is impossible to assert with absolute certainty that the Khaljīs belonged to a particular tribe or race. Ibn Haukal, an Arab geographer of the 10th century A.D.,⁴⁶ ascribes Turkish origin to the Khaljīs. According to him they were settled from the old in the regions between Hindustan and Sijistan, and that "they are rich in cattle and their habits, customs and dress are like those of the Turks."⁴⁷ Many other writers like Istakhrī, the author of Hudūd-ul-'Ālam and Dīvān-i-Lughātul Turk also think that the Khaljīs were Turks, who from long past resided in Khalj in Afghanistan.⁴⁸ Besides these there is the authority of Fakhruddīn, the author of Tārīkh-i-Fakhruddīn Mubārak Shāhī who finished his work in 1206 about a century and a half before Barani's Tarīkh was completed. Fakhruddīn gives a list of sixty-four Turkish tribes in which he includes Turk, Ghuz, Khaljī, Tatar, Ughuz, and Qai etc.⁴⁹ He gives valuable information on Turkish tribes which shows that he had intimate knowledge about them. Minhāj Sirāj, the author of the *Tabqāt-i-Nāṣirī* says that the Khaljīs served in the army of the Khvarizm Shahi emperors of Transoxiana and took part in various wars of Ghaur and Ghazna.⁵⁰ According to Raverty also Khaljīs were not a "hypothetical" tribe as Elliot is inclined to think,⁵¹ but were a Turkish tribe who having inhabited in Afghanistan for a very long time had been so much assimilated with the people of the locality that they were considered more as Afghans than as Turks.⁵² Barthold, one of the greatest modern authorities on Central Asia, also thinks the Khaljīs to be a Turkish tribe, who, as early as the fourth century A.D., had settled in the southern Afghanistan.⁵³