Nezak Huns

The Nezak Huns (Pahlavi: 𐭭𐭩𐭰𐭪𐭩 nycky), also Nezak Shahs, was a significant principality located south of the Hindu Kush from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the four Hunnic states in the Indian subcontinent, their ethnicity remains a matter of dispute and is subject to speculation. The primary evidence for the dynasty comes from coins inscribed with a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend.

The Nezak Huns rose to power after the Sasanian Empire was defeated by the Hephthalites. Their founder Khingal may have been from a Hunnic group, allied to the Hephthalites, or a local ruler who accepted tributary status. Little is known about the rulers who succeeded him; they received regular diplomatic missions from the Tang dynasty, and some coexisted with the Alchon Huns from about the mid 6th century.

The polity collapsed in the mid 7th century after experiencing increasingly frequent invasions from the Arab frontier; the last ruler was Ghar-ilchi. The vassal Barha Tegin usurped the throne and established the Turk Shahis. Half-a-century later, two rulers in Western Tokharistan, who used the appellation "Nezak Tarkhan", played a significant role in opposing a Governor of the Umayyad Caliphate; their links with the Nezak Huns remain speculative.