According to Bartol’d, there is no mention of Chaghāniyān in historical records prior to the migration of the Hephthalites to Transoxania from Altai Krai during the early 5th century ce (see Bartol’d, Turkestan, 73, footnote 1; see below; for more information on the Hephthalites and their migration to Transoxania see Grousset, 110–115; Litvinsky, 135–136).

Archaeological findings in the Surkhān Daryā region indicate that the pre-Islamic history of this area has to be sought in the histories of the northern territories of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom …