Negudar

Negudar (Nikudar, Neguder) was a Mongol general under Berke, and a Golden Horde Noyan. With many other Golden Horde generals, he embraced Islam in the late 13th century. He subsequently took the Muslim name of Ahmad Khan.^[1]

Before the conflicts between Berke and Hulagu, Negudar fostered peace in Eastern Khorasan and its surrounding areas in Central Asia. Neguder with other generals of the Mongol Empire raided northwest parts of the Delhi Sultanate in 1230s. When war hostilities broke out between Berke and Hulagu in 1260, Negudar assumed control over a sizeable portion of Berke's forces^[2] primarily in Ghazni and eastern Afghanistan.

Negudar and his forces ultimately settled in various parts of modern-day Afghanistan^[3] including Kabul^[4] and Herat. Mongols and Turks in Afghanistan adopted his name later as they merged into Chagatai Khanate during the reign of Alghu. Today, Nikudari, an archaic form of the Mongolian language extinct in Mongolia, is preserved in Afghanistan and named after Negudar.

References

1. HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME by EVERT A. DUYCKINCK, pg. 128
2. Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-Century Iran: A Persian Renaissance by George Lane, pg 77
3. Shiraz in the Age of Hafez: The Glory of a Medieval Persian City by John W. Limbert, pg.145
4. India as Seen by Babur, AD 1504–1530 by R. Nath, pg. 23