34 Facts About Balkh

Balkh was historically an ancient place of religions, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, and one of the wealthiest and largest cities of Khorasan, since the latter's earliest history.

French Buddhist Alexandra David-Neel associated Shambhala with Balkh, offering the Persian Sham-i-Bala as an etymology of its name.

Old name of Balkh was Bami which was named after the Indo-Scythian Naga queen, Bami.

Balkh was earlier considered to be the first city to which the Iranian tribes moved from north of the Amu Darya, between 2000 and 1500 BC.

Balkh was part of one of the Janapadas that existed in India during the Vedic period somewhere between 1500 BCE and 600 BCE.

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Balkh is well known to Buddhists as the hometown of Trapusa and Bahalika, two merchants who, according to scripture, became Buddha's first disciples.

Balkh is therefore named after Bahalika, who is credited with introducing Buddhism to the city.

The first Buddhist monastery at Balkh was built for Bahalika when he returned home after becoming a Buddhist monk.

Later, the Chinese monk Xuanzang visited Balkh in 630 CE, when it was a flourishing centre of Hinayana Buddhism.

Balkh noted that the king of Balkh at the time had fled to nearby Badakshan.

Some family were killed when the Arabs captured Balkh; others including Khalid survived by converting to Islam.

An ancient Jewish community existed in Balkh as recorded by the Arab historian Al-Maqrizi who wrote that the community was established by the transfer of Jews to Balkh by the Assyrian King Sennacherib.

Jewish community in Balkh was reported as late as the nineteenth century where Jews still resided in a special quarter of the city.

At the time of the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century 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.

Arabs' control over Balkh did not last long as it soon came under the rule of a local prince, a zealous Buddhist called Nazak Tarkhan.

Balkh expelled the Arabs from his territories in 670 or 671.

Balkh is said to have not only reprimanded the Chief Priest of Nava-Vihara but beheaded him for embracing Islam.

Balkh was deposed and his son was placed in his position.

Balkh was taken by his mother to Kashmir where he was given training in medicine, astronomy and other sciences.

Balkh surmises that the envoy could have possibly visited Kashmir during the reign of Samgramapida II.

Balkh established a firm hold over lands beyond the Oxus for the Arabs.

Balkh fought and killed Tarkhan Nizak in Tokharistan in 715.

Balkh was sent to the Abbasid Caliph as a prisoner and was executed in 902.

Samanid rule in Balkh lasted until 997, when their former subordinates, the Ghaznavids, captured it.

In 1006, Balkh was captured by Karakhanids, but Ghaznavids recaptured it 1008.

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Between 1141 and 1142, Balkh was captured by Atsiz, Shah of Khwarezm, after the Seljuks were defeated by the Kara-Khitan Khanate at the Battle of Qatwan.

Balkh was nominally ruled by Mahmud Khan, the former khan of Western Karakhanids, but the real power was held by Muayyid al-Din Ay Aba, amir of Nishabur for three years.

Balkh died in 1157 and control of Balkh passed to Mahmud Khan until his death in 1162.

Balkh was ruled by Bukhara except for Safavid rule between 1598 and 1601.

Nevertheless, Balkh was ruled by the Mughal Empire from 1641 and turned into a subah in 1646 by Shah Jahan, only to be lost in 1647, just like the neighboring Badakhshan Subah.

In 1751, Balkh was captured by Ahmad Shah Durrani of the Durrani Empire, and from that time it remained under Afghan rule.

In 1866, after a malaria outbreak during the flood season, Balkh lost its administrative status to the neighbouring city of Mazar-i-Sharif, about 20 kilometres southeast of Balkh.

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.

Balkh had a major role in the development of the Persian language and literature.