Ikhshid

'''''' (Persian: اخشید; from , ) was the princely title of the Iranian rulers of Soghdia and the Ferghana Valley in Transoxiana during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods. The title is of Iranian origin; scholars have derived it variously from the Old Iranian root , , or from , 'ruler, king' (which is also the origin of the title 'shah'). These Old Iranian terms are etymologically related to the Sanskrit word Kshatriya (literally meaning "ruler, authority"), the Hindu caste of warriors and princes.

thumb|Coin of ruler Turgar, Ikhshid of Sogdia. The Ikhshids of Sogdia, with their capital at Samarkand, are well attested during and after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. The line survived into Abbasid times, although by then its seat was in Istikhan. Among the most notable and energetic of the Soghdian kings was Gurak, who in 710 overthrew his predecessor Tarkhun and for almost thirty years, through shifting alliances, managed to preserve a precarious autonomy between the expanding Umayyad Caliphate and the Türgesh khaganate.