The Qarinvand dynasty (also spelled Karenvand and Qarenvand), or simply the Karenids, was an Iranian dynasty that ruled in parts of Tabaristan (Mazandaran) in what is now northern Iran from the 550s until the 11th-century. They considered themselves as the inheritors of the Dabuyid dynasty, and were known by their titles of Gilgilan and Ispahbadh. They were descended from Sukhra, a Parthian nobleman from the House of Karen, who was the de facto ruler of the Sasanian Empire from 484 to 493. The Qarinvand dynasty is also considered to be the one of the last zoroastrian dynasties before the rise of the Islamic Iranian dynasties
The dynasty was founded by Karen, who in return for aiding the Sasanian king Khosrow I (r. 531–579) against the Turks, received land to the south of Amol in Tabaristan. During the 7th century, an unnamed ruler from the Qarinvand dynasty was granted parts of Tabaristan by the Dabuyids who ruled in the area. In 760, the Dabuyid ruler Khurshid was defeated, his dynasty abolished and Tabaristan annexed by the Abbasids, but the Qarinvand and other minor local dynasties continued in existence. At this time, a certain Vindadhhurmuzd is mentioned as the Qarinvand ruler, while his younger brother Vindaspagan ruled as a subordinate ruler over the western Qarinvand regions, which reached as far as Dailam, a region controlled by the Dailamites, who like the Qarinvands and other rulers of Tabaristan were Zoroastrians.
Vindadhhurmuzd, along with the Bavandid ruler Sharwin I, led the native resistance to Muslim rule and the efforts at Islamization and settlement begun by the Abbasid governor, Khalid ibn Barmak (768–772). Following his departure, the native princes destroyed the towns he had built in the highlands, and although in 781 they affirmed loyalty to the Caliphate, in 782 they launched a general anti-Muslim revolt that was not suppressed until 785, when Sa'id al-Harashi led 40,000 troops into the region.