Kingdom of Kapisa

The Kingdom of Kapisa, appearing in contemporary Chinese sources as Caoguo (漕國) and Jibin (罽賓),[1] was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium. 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.[2]

The name Kapisa appears to be a Sanskritized form of an older name for the area, from prehistory.[3] Following its conquest in 329 BC by Alexander the Great, Bagram and the surrounding area were known in the Hellenic world as Alexandria on the Caucasus in reference to the Hindu Kush as the "Indic Caucasus", although the older name appears to have survived.

In the early 7th century, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang made a pilgrimage to Kapisa, and described there the cultivation of rice and wheat, and a king of the Suli tribe. In his chronicle, he relates that in Kapisa were over 6,000 monks of the Mahayana school of Buddhism.[4] In a 7th-century Chinese chronicle, the Book of Sui, Kapisa appears as the realm of Cao[5] (Middle Chinese pronunciation *Dzaw). In other Chinese works, it is called Jibin[6] (*Kjej-pjin), a name appearing as early as the Book of Han (Old Chinese *Krads-pin or Krats-pin) in reference to Kashmir and surrounding areas.

Between the 7th and 9th centuries, the kingdom was ruled by the Turk Shahi dynasty.[7] At one point, Bagram was the capital of the kingdom, though in the 7th century, the center of power of Kapisa shifted to Kabul.[8]

  1. ^ Kuwayama, S. (2002). Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of the papers (PDF). Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University. pp. 215–216. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  2. ^ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Volumes 4–6. Asiatic Society of Pakistan, 1959.[1] Archived 2 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Dr S. Chattopadhyaya 1974: 58; India as Known to Panini, 1953, p. 71, Dr V. S. Aggarwala; Foreign Elements in Ancient Indian Society, 2nd Century BC to 7th Century AD, 1979, p. 86, Dr Uma Prasad Thapliyal.
  4. ^ Dust in the wind: retracing Dharma Master Xuanzang's Western pilgrimage. Rhythms Monthly, 2006. ISBN 986-81419-8-2, ISBN 978-986-81419-8-8 [2] Archived 2 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Gandhāran Buddhism: archaeology, art, texts. Asian religions and society series. Pia Brancaccio, Kurt A. Behrendt. UBC Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7748-1080-7, ISBN 978-0-7748-1080-7 [3] Archived 31 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Kuwayama, S. (2002). Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of the papers (PDF). Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University. pp. 215–216. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  7. ^ Buddha Prakash . Glimpses of ancient Panjab. Sita Ram Kohli memorial lectures. Punjabi University, Dept. of Punjab Historical Studies, 1966 [4] Archived 2 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Giovanni Verardi, Elio Paparatti. Buddhist caves of Jāghūrī and Qarabāgh-e Ghaznī, Afghanistan. Volume 2 of Reports and. IsIAO, 2004. ISBN 88-85320-22-8, ISBN 978-88-85320-22-2 [5] Archived 2 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine