Ghurid Dynasty - Cultural Influences

Cultural Influences

The Ghurids were great patrons of Persian culture and literature and lay the basis for a Persianized state in India. They also transferred the Khorasanian architecture of their native lands to India, of which several great examples have been preserved to this date (see gallery). However, most of the literature produced during the Ghurid era has been lost.

Out of the Ghurid state grew the Delhi Sultanate which established the Persian language as the lingua franca of the region – a status it retained until the fall of the Mughal Empire in the 19th century.

  • The two mausoleums of Chisht (the western was built in 1167)

  • The eastern mausoleum of Chisht (built in 1194)

  • The Minaret of Jam in Ghor Province of Afghanistan (finished in 1174/75) – UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002

  • Inscription on the Minaret of Jam, showing the name and titles of Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammad

  • Ornamental bands on the Minaret of Jam, bearing the 19th Sura of the Koran

  • Ruins of the Shah-i Mashhad madrasa (built in 1176)

History of Greater Iran
Pre-modern
Pre-Islamic
BCE
Prehistory
Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800
Elamite dynasties 2800–550
Bactria-Margiana Complex 2200–1700
Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th cent.
Median Empire 728–550
Achaemenid Empire 550–330
Seleucid Empire 330–150
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250-125
Parthian Empire 248–CE 224
CE
Kushan Empire 30–275
Sassanid Empire 224–651
Hephthalite Empire 425–557
Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879
Islamic
Patriarchal Caliphate 637–651
Umayyad Caliphate 661–750
Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258
Tahirid dynasty 821–873
Alavid dynasty 864–928
Saffarid dynasty 861–1003
Samanid dynasty 819–999
Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043
Buyid dynasty 934–1055
Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187
Ghurid dynasty 1149–1212
Seljuq Empire 1037–1194
Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231
Ilkhanate 1256–353
Kartids dynasty 1231–389
Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393
Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357
Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432
Timurid Empire 1370–1506
Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468
Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508
Safavid Empire 1501–1722
Mughal Empire 1526–1857
Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729
Afsharid dynasty 1736–1750
Zand Dynasty 1750–1794
Durrani Empire 1794–1826
Qajar Dynasty 1794–1925

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