diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/service/InternalIndexShard.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/service/InternalIndexShard.java
index c1f9f1fc5cc..4c4dbdb4cb9 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/service/InternalIndexShard.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/service/InternalIndexShard.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.index.shard.service;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.document.Document;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.CheckIndex;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanClause;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.FilterClause;
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.ElasticSearchIllegalStateException;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.ShardRouting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.FastByteArrayOutputStream;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.Lucene;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.XBooleanFilter;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -57,6 +59,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.nio.channels.ClosedByInterruptException;
 import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledFuture;
 
@@ -82,6 +85,9 @@ public class InternalIndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements I
 
     private final Object mutex = new Object();
 
+
+    private final boolean checkIndex;
+
     private volatile IndexShardState state;
 
     private ScheduledFuture refreshScheduledFuture;
@@ -102,6 +108,8 @@ public class InternalIndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements I
         this.indexCache = indexCache;
         state = IndexShardState.CREATED;
         logger.debug("state: [CREATED]");
+
+        this.checkIndex = indexSettings.getAsBoolean("index.shard.check_index", false);
     }
 
     public Store store() {
@@ -181,6 +189,9 @@ public class InternalIndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements I
                 throw new IndexShardRelocatedException(shardId);
             }
             engine.start();
+            if (checkIndex) {
+                checkIndex(true);
+            }
             scheduleRefresherIfNeeded();
             logger.debug("state: [{}]->[{}]", state, IndexShardState.STARTED);
             state = IndexShardState.STARTED;
@@ -444,6 +455,9 @@ public class InternalIndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements I
         if (withFlush) {
             engine.flush(new Engine.Flush());
         }
+        if (checkIndex) {
+            checkIndex(true);
+        }
         synchronized (mutex) {
             logger.debug("state: [{}]->[{}]", state, IndexShardState.STARTED);
             state = IndexShardState.STARTED;
@@ -556,4 +570,27 @@ public class InternalIndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements I
             }
         }
     }
+
+    private void checkIndex(boolean throwException) throws IndexShardException {
+        try {
+            CheckIndex checkIndex = new CheckIndex(store.directory());
+            FastByteArrayOutputStream os = new FastByteArrayOutputStream();
+            PrintStream out = new PrintStream(os);
+            checkIndex.setInfoStream(out);
+            out.flush();
+            CheckIndex.Status status = checkIndex.checkIndex();
+            if (!status.clean) {
+                logger.warn("check index [failure]\n{}", new String(os.unsafeByteArray(), 0, os.size()));
+                if (throwException) {
+                    throw new IndexShardException(shardId, "index check failure");
+                }
+            } else {
+                if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+                    logger.debug("check index [success]\n{}", new String(os.unsafeByteArray(), 0, os.size()));
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            logger.warn("failed to check index", e);
+        }
+    }
 }
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