Afghanistan’s History and its connections with India

Starting in the 1960s a series of archeological discoveries in Afghanistan put the

focus on the country; revealing it as a treasure trove of archaeological finds. The
findings revealed the importance of the country, and turned it into an essential part
in the study of the historical and cultural evolution of central and south Asia, Iran,
China, and India. Starting from the pre-historic era the region is now central in
understanding the socio-cultural, religious, and political interactions within the
entire aforementioned geographical area. This article will take a brief look at the
interesting parts in the history (pre-historic, proto-historic, and historic eras) of
Afghanistan, cultural links with India, and explore a bit of its Hindu past.

Pre—historic period
In 1974 Louis Dupree and his team discovered various Lower and Middle
Paleolithic tools from a site in the Ghazni province. The Lower Paleolithic tools
comprised of pebble tools, choppers, chopping tools, hand axes, etc., and according
to the scholars the culture showed remarkable similarities with the Soanian culture
of India (archaeological culture of the Lower Paleolithic in the Sivalik Hills). As
V.C. Srivastava (1982) in his book “The Prehistoric Afghanistan” suggested, it
was likely that there existed a common cultural zone stretching from southern
Afghanistan to India during the Lower Paleolithic era. Similarly Middle Paleolithic
artifacts found at the Dasht-I Newur site again suggests closeness to the Indian
cultural zone. In 1976 the Soviet excavation team headed by A.V. Vinogradov
excavated many epi-Paleolithic or Mesolithic sites (Samangan and Turkestan) near
the sandy deserts, and the alluvium deposits by the rivers descending from the
Hindu Kush Mountains. Here again, as Srivastava pointed out, there were many
common cultural traits among the epi-Paleolithic or Mesolithic sites of
Afghanistan (Dasht-I Newur and Tukestan sites) and the Ganga valley sites in
India (Mesolithic lake cultures).

Proto-historic period
Moving on to the proto-historic era, Shortugai situated on the eastern bank of the
river Amu or Oxus has been the most important site in Afghanistan, which was
excavated in 1975 by a French archeological team headed by H.P. Francfort, and
where he found the remains of four Bronze Age sites. The cultural periods
discovered at Shortugai are Shortugai I, II, III, and IV; and of these, the period I
matches with the Harappan era culture, while II and III match with the post or late
Harappan culture (Jhukar, area is as shown in the map).

Fig- Late Harappan culture (image from Wikipedia)

The Shortugai I matches well with the Harappan culture, as evident from the
Harappan era pottery found at the site. Furthermore, large finds of lapis lazuli and
gold, along with a Harappan seal with a rhinoceros and inscription engraved on it
suggest that the site would have been a trading colony serving as a trade outpost.
As Kenoyer (1998) tells us, “Another source of gold was along the Oxus river
valley in northern Afghanistan where a trading colony of the Indus cities has been
discovered at Shortughai. Situated far from the Indus Valley itself, this settlement
may have been established to obtain gold, copper, tin and lapis lazuli, as well as
other exotic goods from Central Asia” (Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley
Civilization, OUP, p.96).

Harappan seal with a rhinoceros from Shortugai I – photo by Photo: Henri-Paul Francfort.
(Image courtesy Afghanistan centre at Kabul University- photo strictly for representational
purposes only)
Harappan era pottery from Shortugai I – photo by Photo: Henri-Paul Francfort.

(Image courtesy Afghanistan centre at Kabul University- photo strictly for representational
purposes only)

Besides Shortugai, the Soviet team found three other Bronze era farming and cattle
breeding cultures in the oases parts of northern Afghanistan – Daulatabad, Dashli,
and Farukabad. In India, there has been found evidences of farming and animal
domestication from some sites in UP from the Neolithic (late Mesolithic) period
(G.R. Sharma, et al. Beginnings of Agriculture: From Hunting and Food Gathering
to Domestication of Plants and Animals, 1980). Based on these finding reports,
Srivastava (The Prehistoric Afghanistan, 1982) points out that with further
researches it could be possibly established farming and cattle breeding cultural
links between India and the various Afghanistan bronze era sites.  Of the three
aforementioned sites, Dashli is significant as it shows the building plan of a round
building, which is a probable point of the origin of arch, and has ceramic kilns for
melting metals as evident from traces of a melted dagger blade (thus proving it to
be a place where old metals were melted to form new items). In 1974 Dupree
explored the site Abai Istata in Ghazni and found Bronze era pottery of the
Harappan variety, and concluded that it was a similar Harappan trading site as
Shortugai, thus again showing the close cultural connectivity.

Historical period
The Tillya Tepe site in northern Afghanistan, which was earlier considered a
farming settlement from 1000 BCE to 500 CE, later revealed Iron Age artefacts in
the 1969, 1971, and 1978 excavations by the Soviet team. However, what is
interesting is the large amount of gold found from what is said to have been the
graveyard for the people living in the nearby ancient city of Emchi. The site
yielded 15000 pieces of gold relics, which included earrings, crown, nose-rings,
bangles, finger-rings, belts, plates, figures of deities, etc., all of which belong to the
Kushana period. A-Khanum, another site, which was an urban centre with
continuous habitation from 4th c. BCE to 2nd c. CE, has yielded a coin of
Agathocles (early 2nd c. BCE), which shows the prevalence of Vasudeva
Samkarsana worship at that time. Various other sites have revealed Kushana era
Shiva-Parvati iconographic presence, Buddhist stupas, along with many other
artefacts, all of which can help to make a good study of the socio-economic,
religious, and political history of Afghanistan under the Kushanas, with a
comparative analysis of the Indian scenario under the same dynasty (one must note
here that during ancient times the current geo-political boundaries didn’t exist).
While some theories postulate that after the Kushana period urban culture seemed
to have disintegrated in India, the evidences from the Afghanistan excavated sites
however speak otherwise and do not support this theory.
Crown from Tillya Tepe- Tomb VI, 1st c. BCE

(Photo courtesy- Musee Guimet- photo strictly for representational purposes only)

Pair of simhamukha bangles, Tillya Tepe, Tomb VI, 1st c. BCE- 1st c. CE.
(Photo courtesy- Musee Guimet- photo strictly for representational purposes only)

Neck Ornament, 1st- 2nd c. CE, Tillya Tepe, Tomb V.

(Photo courtesy- Musee Guimet- photo strictly for representational purposes only)

A further look at Afghanistan’s historical period shows various Kushana era coins
that represent both Hindu and Buddhist deities. In fact most of the Kushana-
Sasanian and Kidara-Kushana coins show Shiva with nandi. The Chinese travelers
have recorded in their books the presence of many ‘deva’ temples in Afghanistan,
and one such remaining deva-sthal is the Surya temple in the Khairkhana pass of
Kabul. The late Kushana and Hephthalite kings also showed reverence for Shiva
and Nrshimha, while sculptures showing distinct influences of the Gupta period,
and the Kanauj school of Gupta traditions of art (7 th -8th c. century) have been also
been found.

The Kanuaj school of Gupta sculptures most likely entered Afghanistan through
the powerful yet short-lived rule of king Lalityaditya of Kashmir, a kingdom which
he had inherited from his predecessors. The Karkota dynasty had already expanded
their kingdom by 7th c. CE, and under their king Candrapida (Rai Ratbil of the
Arab chroniclers) the dynasty ruled entire Punjab, and had the Hindu Shahis of
Afghanistan as their vassals. The Hindu presence continued in Afghanistan as late
as 9th-10th centuries when the Hindu Shahi dynasty that started as governors under
the Kashmir kings but later declared their independence, took control of the
Afghanistan Mountains as the ruling family.

Afghanistan has been seeing wars and violent clashes in the post modern era,
starting from the Cold War period to the recent second time takeover by the
Taliban terrorists, which has left very little hope for further researches into its pre-
Islamic past. The iconoclastic Taliban terrorist regime is an open and obvious
threat to the Kabul museum, which stores some of the priceless artifacts from
ancient Afghanistan (such as the beautiful head of Mahisauramardini). While by
the late 19th century, Afghanistan had turned into a hotspot for sale of its ancient
artefacts (trade in antiquities) with buyers primarily from the US and Europe, and
which resulted in most of its valuables moving out of the country; however, one
can still hope that the remaining artefacts in the museum do not face the same fate
as the Bamiyan Buddhas.
Mahisasuramardini from Ghazni, 4th c. CE. Now at the Kabul Museum.
Ganesha, 5th c. CE, Gardez, now at the Pir Ratannath dargah locality in Kabul.