Monastery of Hind the Elder

The Monastery of Hind the Elder (Dayr Hind al-Kubrā) was a monastery of the city of Al-Hira in Mesopotamia, capital of the Lakhmid kingdom (present-day Iraq). The monastery is named after Hind, who was the wife of the Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir III and the daughter of al-Harith ibn Amr, the most famous king of the Kingdom of Kinda of Central Arabia. It is named after the Hujrid princess, Hind, who sponsored its construction, recorded by the Dayr Hind inscription.

The Kindite role in sponsoring the monastery documents the spread of Christianity in pre-Islamic Arabia, including into Central Arabia in the 6th century, particularly among the Kindite leadership in the 6th century. This was one of a many monasteries and convents in Al-Hira, forming a network so extensive that a dedicated work was written to this constellation of Christian architectures by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819).

The Monastery of Hind must be distinguished from other monasteries of the same name: Hind's grand-grand daughter, also named Hind, sponsored her own monastery near Kufa, called the Monastery of Hind the Younger, or Dayr Hind al-Ṣughrā. (Yet another Dayr Hind was built by the Ghassanids.)

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