kingdom · Central Asia and the Steppe

Yabghus of Tokharistan

625 CE – 758 CE (approx.) · capital Kunduz

A Turkic dynasty that ruled Tokharistan, the old Bactria, from Kunduz, holding together a patchwork of principalities between the Turks, Tang China and the Arabs.

Origins

After the Western Turkic Khaganate took Bactria from the Hephthalites, Tong Yabghu Khagan installed his son Tardu Shad as yabghu, or viceroy, of Tokharistan around 625, with his seat at Kunduz. Xuanzang met Tardu Shad there shortly before he was poisoned.

Rule and society

The yabghus were overlords of some 27 local principalities, including Khuttal, Chaghaniyan and Bamiyan, many ruled by Hephthalite dynasties. Buddhism flourished, with great monasteries at Balkh and Bamiyan. Under Tang China's protectorate system the yabghus received Chinese titles and sent embassies asking for help against the Arabs, who took Balkh and pressed into the region from the 650s.

Decline and legacy

The yabghus became vassals of the Umayyads, and in 709 to 710 the Hephthalite prince Nizak Tarkhan, who held the yabghu in his custody, led a revolt crushed by Qutayba ibn Muslim. The dynasty survived as Abbasid clients, with records of envoys to China until about 758, after which Tokharistan was absorbed into Islamic Khurasan.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (3)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Yabghus of Tokharistan. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/yabghus-of-tokharistan
MLA
“Yabghus of Tokharistan.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/yabghus-of-tokharistan. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Yabghus of Tokharistan.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/yabghus-of-tokharistan.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Yabghus of Tokharistan’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/yabghus-of-tokharistan (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻