Iran to India : The Shansabānīs of Afghanistan, c. 1145-1190 CE

Brings together all the architectural patronage attributed to the Shansabānīs in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Swat and lower Indus region) * Creates an architectural biography of this pivotal polity and its trans-regional empire * Treats built remains as independent, primary sources – and juxtaposes them with the principal texts – to create a complex understanding of the historical processes the Shansabānīs initiated throughout the landscapes they re-conjoined * Provides the first analysis of this important epigraphic corpus * Serves as the starting point for future research on the medieval epigraphy of Afghanistan and Pakistan This book charts the origins and rise of the Shansabānīs, a nomadic-pastoralist or transhumant group from modern central Afghanistan. As they adapted and mastered the mores of Perso-Islamic kingship, they created a transregional empire unseen in the region for almost a millennium, since the Kushanas of the early centuries CE. The Shansabānīs’ imperialism of little more than a half-century belies their longue durée significance: they altered the geopolitical landscapes of eastern Khurasan through the Indo-Gangetic plains, reconnecting these regions in continuous flows of people, objects, and ideas that broadened the Persianate world and had consequences into the modern age of nation-states in Central and South Asia. "This book charts the origins and rise of the Shansabanis, a nomadic-pastoralist or transhumant group from modern central Afghanistan. As they adapted and mastered the mores of Perso-Islamic kingship, they created a transregional empire unseen in the region for almost a millennium, since the Kushanas of the early centuries CE. The Shansabanis' imperialism of little more than a half-century belies their longue durée significance: they altered the geopolitical landscapes of eastern Khurasan through the Indo-Gangetic plains, reconnecting these regions in continuous flows of people, objects, and ideas that broadened the Persianate world and had consequences into the modern age of nation-states in Central and South Asia."-- Back cover Alka Patel brings together all the architectural patronage attributed to the Shansabānīs in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Swat and lower Indus region). In doing so, she creates an architectural biography of this pivotal polity and its trans-regional empire.