| Siege of Bamyan | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMongol invasion of Khorasan | |||||||
 Ruins of modern-dayShahr-e-Gholghola | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Mongol Empire | Khwarazmian Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Genghis Khan | Jalal al-Din Mangburni | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy[1] | All killed[2] | ||||||
  Bamyan Bamyan (South Asia) Show map of South Asia | |||||||
Thesiege ofBamyan (Dari:محاصره بامیان) took place in the spring of 1221 A.D. during theMongol invasion of Khorasan. An army under the leadership ofGenghis Khan, ruler of theMongol Empire, who was in pursuit of SultanJalal al-Din Mangburni, the last ruler of theKhwarazmian Empire, Genghis Khan crossed theHindu Kush and after that besieged the citadel ofShahr-e-Gholghola nearBamyan, northwest ofKabul, in present-dayAfghanistan. The siege had led to a devastating attack that left the city in ruins.[3]
After besiegingTaloqan for several months,[4] the Mongols of theKhaganGenghis Khan[5] marched to confront theShahJalal al-Din Mangburni, the last representative of theKhwarazmian Empire, who had formed a new Muslim army in what is nowAfghanistan[6] and had defeated a Mongol army at theBattle of Parwan.[7]
Based onAl-Idrisi,[8] the demographer Tertius Chandler noted thatBamyan was three times smaller thanBalkh in 1150. Chandler estimated that Balkh had a population of about thirty thousand people (a rounded estimate) and calculated that theFriday Mosque of Bamyan had a capacity of about nine thousand people.[9]
When the Mongols arrived beforeBamyan, the inhabitants made it clear that they intended to resist by force, leading both sides to deploy archers and catapults.[10] During the siege, however,Mutukan[note 1]—the eldest son ofChagatai Khan[11] and the Khagan’s favourite grandson[12]—was struck by an arrow and died soon afterward. This event led his grandfather,Genghis Khan, to order that all works aimed at capturing the fortress be accelerated.[13] According to certain accounts, Jalal al-Din Mangburni’s daughter revealed a secret entrance to the Mongols, enabling them to take the city.[14] No quarter was given during the subsequent fighting,[15] which is thought to have lasted for roughly a month.[16]The Khagan was deeply grieved by the death of his grandson,[17] and, upon taking the city, he issued ayasak (edict) commanding that every person, animal, bird, or wild creature in Bamyan be killed and that no booty be taken.[18] Not even pregnant women were spared.[19] He further ordered that no one inform his son Chagatai of what had occurred. When Chagatai eventually arrived and asked about Mutukan, the Khagan informed him of the loss[20] but commanded him not to weep. Chagatai therefore turned to eating and drinking to dull his grief and, under a pretext, withdrew to the steppe so that he might weep alone without disobeying his father.[21]
According to Yaqub al-Herawi, all the inhabitants of the city were killed.[22][23] The city remained in ruins for many years and became known asMao-Kurgan[24] orMa'u-Baligh, which inPersian means “cursed city.”[25] It was also referred to as the “city of sorrows” or the “city of cries,” reflecting the deaths of its inhabitants during the Mongol conquest.[26][27] Today, the site of the ancient city ofBamyan is aUNESCO World Heritage Site,[28] butBamyan did not fully recover from the effects of the Mongol conquest for an extended period. Even decades later, sources indicate that the city remained largely uninhabited and in a state of ruin.[29]
After the victory, the Mongols plunderedTus andMashhad, and by the spring of that year theKhorasan region was under their control.[30] Genghis Khan spent the summer in the foothills nearTaloqan with his sons and armies, planning his next campaign against the Shah,[31] at which time he was joined by his sons Chagatai andÖgedei.[32] He then continued his march toward theIndian subcontinent.[33][34]
The Swedish historian Carl Fredrick Sverdrup estimated that only in the second half of 1221 did Genghis Khan finally gather around 50,000 troops to operate in Khorasan.[35] In addition, about 10,000 soldiers were with his generalsJebe andSubutai in the westernIranian Plateau, while several thousand others garrisonedTransoxiana or followed his sonJochi into the northern steppes.[36]
A common belief holds that after the local Afghan population was annihilated, Genghis Khan repopulated the region with Mongol soldiers and their slave women to garrison the area while he continued his campaign.[37] These settlers are believed to have become the ancestors of theHazara people, whose name likely derives from the Persianhezār (“thousand”), referring to the Mongol military unit of one thousand soldiers.[38][39] Another theory proposes that they are descended from the ancientKushan peoples.[40]
The death of Mutukan meant that his father Chagatai was eventually succeeded by his grandsonQara Hülegü as ruler of theChagatai Khanate.[41]
