Tokharistan is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources.
Hyecho was a Buddhist monk from Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
Hinduism in Afghanistan is practiced by a tiny minority of Afghans, about 30-40 individuals as of 2021, who live mostly in the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad. Afghan Hindus are ethnically Pashtun, Hindkowan (Hindki), Punjabi, or Sindhi and primarily speak Dari, Pashto, Hindko, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu).
Jean-François Jarrige was a French archaeologist specializing in South Asian archaeology and Sindhology. He held a doctorate from the University of Paris in oriental archaeology. He carried out the excavations in Balochistan, Mehrgarh and Pirak. In 2004, he became the director of the Musée Guimet in Paris.
Zunbil, also written as Zhunbil, or Rutbils of Zabulistan, was a royal dynasty south of the Hindu Kush in present southern Afghanistan region. They ruled from circa 680 AD until the Saffarid conquest in 870 AD. The Zunbil dynasty was founded by Rutbil, the elder brother of the Turk Shahi ruler, who ruled over Hephthalite kingdom from his capital in Kabul. The Zunbils are described as having Turkish troops in their service by Arabic sources like Tarikh al-Tabari and Tarikh-i Sistan.
The Kingdom of Kapisa was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium CE. Its capital was the city of Kapisa. The kingdom stretched from the Hindu Kush in the north to Bamiyan and Kandahar in the south and west, out as far as the modern Jalalabad District in the east.
The Hindu Shahis were a dynasty that held sway over the Kabulistan, Gandhara and western Punjab during the early medieval period in the Indian subcontinent, replacing the earlier Turk Shahis. They were ultimately conquered by Ghaznavid Empire in a series of wars in the early 11th century.
Marie Parmentier, married name Marie Hackin, (1905-1941) was an archaeologist and Resistance member who worked with her husband Joseph Hackin, who also was an archaeologist, philologist, and Resistance member. Marie Hackin's father was from Luxembourg. She died in 1941 when she was in a sea convoy trying to go from Liverpool into the Atlantic Ocean en route to Africa, when the ship was sunk by a German submarine.
The Nezak Huns, also Nezak Shahs, was a significant principality in the south of the Hindu Kush region of South Asia from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the Hunnic states, their ethnicity remains disputed and speculative. The dynasty is primarily evidenced by coinage inscribing a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend.
The Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko-Hephthalite, origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity. The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom and the Kannauj kingdom to the east. From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia, and occupied Bactria and the Hindu-Kush region, forming largely independent polities. The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan. In the Hindu-Kush region, they replaced the Nezak Huns – the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the Xwn (Xionite) and/or Huna peoples.
The French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan was created in France in 1922 at the request of the Afghan government and King Amanullah Khan to commence archaeological studies in Afghanistan. After a break in research during the Second World War, work resumed around 1946-47, until it was closed by the pro-Soviet Afghan government on December 15, 1982. Some notable 20th century French archaeologists who were part of the delegation include Jules Barthoux, Daniel Schlumberger, and Paul Bernard.
The Fondukistan monastery was a Buddhist monastery located at the very top of a conical hill next to the Ghorband Valley, Parwan Province, about 50 kilometers northwest of Kabul. The monastery dates to the early 8th century CE, with a terminus post quem in 689 CE obtained through numismatic evidence, so that the Buddhist art of the site has been estimated to around 700 CE. This is the only secure date for this artistic period in the Hindu Kush, and it serves as an important chronological reference point.
The Gardez Ganesha is a statue of the Hindu god Ganesha, discovered in Gardez, near Kabul in Afghanistan. It is considered as "a typical product of the Indo-Afghan school". It was dedicated by a king named Khingal.
Tepe Sardar, also Tapa Sardar or Tepe-e-Sardar, is an ancient Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan. It is located near Ghazni, and it dominates the Dasht-i Manara plain. The site displays two major artistic phases, an Hellenistic phase during the 3rd to 6th century CE, followed by a Sinicized-Indian phase during the 7th to 9th century.
The Seal of Khingila is an historical seal from the region of Bactria, on southern Central Asia. The seal was published recently by Pierfrancesco Callieri and Nicholas Sims-Williams. It is now in the private collection of Mr. A. Saeedi (London). Kurbanov considers it as a significant Hephthalite seal. It has also been considered as intermediate between the Kidarites and the Hephthalites.
Tepe Maranjan was a Buddhist monastery, located on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, and dated to the 4th century CE, or the 6-7th century for the Buddhist phase. Many Buddhist sculptures were discovered on the site. They are made of clay, and stylistically derived from the sculptures of Hadda, but preceded the style of the Fondukistan monastery. Tepe Maranjan can be considered as representative of the Art of Gandhara of the 5th or 6th century CE.
Barha Tegin was the first ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Al-Biruni and reconstructions from Chinese sources, and the identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
Khingala, also transliterated Khinkhil, Khinjil or Khinjal, was a ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Ya'qubi and from an epigraphical source, the Gardez Ganesha. The identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
Bo Fuzhun, also Bofuzhun was a ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from Chinese imperial accounts and possibly numismatic sources. The identification of his coinage remains conjectural.
Shōshin Kuwayama is a Japanese historian and archaeologist. He has been Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at Kyoto University, and is credited with contributing to the "formation of an entire generation of scholars in Japan and abroad". Kuwayama is one of the leading scholars in the area of historical interactions between China and India, and especially researches the southern Hindukush region. He led extensive archaeological projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
