Anushtegin Gharchai

Anushtegin Gharchai (also spelled Anush-Tegin; Persian: نوشتکین غرچه, romanized: Anūštigin Ḡaṛčaʾī; died 1097) was a Turkic slave commander (ghulam) of the Seljuks and the governor of Khwarazm from approximately 1077 until 1097.

[1] Anushtegin was originally a Turkic[a] slave from Gharchistan (hence his surname "Gharchai"), but was later sold to the Seljuk officer Gumushtegin Bilge-Beg.

[2] Anushtegin first appears in records in 1073, when he and Gumushtegin Bilge-Beg were sent by the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah I (r. 1072–1092) to reconquer territory in northern Khorasan seized by the Ghaznavid ruler Ibrahim (r. 1059–1099).

However, during the Seljuk period, the Khwarazmian language (which resembled Sogdian and to a lesser extent Ossetian) was commonly spoken and written.

[6] The details of Anushtegin's tenure as governor are unclear, but he died by 1097 and the post was briefly given to Ekinchi before being transferred to his son, Muhammad I, whose accession is considered the start of the fourth and most prominent line of the Khwarazmshahs (which existed from 1097 to 1231).