Huna people

History

The Hunas minted coins inspired by Sassanian designs. --

Chinese sources link the Central Asian tribes comprising the Hunas to both the Xiongnu of north east Asia and the Huns who later invaded and settled in Europe. Similarly, Gerald Larson suggests that the Hunas were a Turkic-Mongolic grouping from Central Asia. The works of Ptolemy (2nd century) are among the first European texts to mention the Huns, followed by the texts by Marcellinus and Priscus. They too suggest that the Huns were an inner Asian people.

The 6th-century Roman historian Procopius of Caesarea (Book I. ch. 3), related the Huns of Europe with the Hephthalites or "White Huns" who subjugated the Sassanids and invaded northwestern India, stating that they were of the same stock, "in fact as well as in name", although he contrasted the Huns with the Hephthalites, in that the Hephthalites were sedentary, white-skinned, and possessed "not ugly" features:Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700, Jonathan Conant Cambridge University Press, 2012 p.259

The Kidarites, who invaded Bactria in the second half of the 4th century, are generally regarded as the first wave of Hunas to enter Indian Subcontinent.

The Gupta empire under Skandagupta in the 5th century had successfully repulsed one Hun attack in the northwest in 460 CE. However, over the period of the next several years, the Hunas under successive kings were able to make inroads into the subcontinent.

They were initially based in the Oxus basin in Central Asia and established their control over Gandhara in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent by about 465 CE. From there, they fanned out into various parts of northern, western, and central India. The Hūṇas are mentioned in several ancient texts such as the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, and Kalidasa's Raghuvaṃśa.

In 528 CE, another campaign led by a coalition of Indian kings finally defeated king Mihirakula and his Huna army. The victory was inscribed on a stone pillar and erected in honor of (and in praise for) one of the leaders of the coalition, king Yashodharman, in Mandasaur in Central India. Huna kings in this inscription are described as 'rude and cruel'. They were also responsible for the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and centers of learning in the Northwest regions of the country.

The Mongolian-Tibetan historian Sumpa Yeshe Peljor (writing in the 18th century) lists the Hunas alongside other peoples found in Central Asia since antiquity, including the Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Tukharas, Khasas and Daradas.

Gurjara-Pratiharas

The Gurjara-Pratiharas suddenly emerged as a political power in north India around sixth century CE, shortly after the Hunas invasion of that region. The Gujara-Pratihara were "likely" formed from a fusion of the Alchon Huns ("White Huns") and native Indian elements, and can probably be considered as a Hunnic state, although its precise origins remain unclear. In Bana's Harshacharita (7th century CE), the Gurjaras are associated with the Hunas.

Some of the Hunas may also have contributed to the formation of the warlike Rajputs.

Religion

The religious beliefs of the Hunas are unknown, and believed to be a combination of ancestor worship, totemism and animism.

Songyun and Huisheng, who visited the chief of the Hephthalite nomads at his summer residence in Badakshan and later in Gandhara, observed that they had no belief in the Buddhist law and served a large number of divinities."

Gallery

File:Sondani.jpg|Victory pillar of Yashodharman at Sondani, Mandsaur claiming victory over the Huns. File:Asia 500ad.jpg|Asia in 500 CE, showing the Huna domain at its greatest extent. File:HunCoinDerivedFromSassanianDesign5thCE.JPG|Alchon Huns king Khingila. File:HunaKing.JPG|Nezak Huns king Napki Malka. File:SilverBowlNFPPakistan5-6thcenturyCE.JPG|The "Hephthalite bowl", NFP Pakistan, 5th or 6th century CE. British Museum.

Notes

References

• Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", Paris 2007,

References

1. [[Hans Bakker]] [https://zenodo.org/record/377032/files/Bakker%202016.pdf 24th Gonda lecture]
2. India: A History by John Keay p.158
3. Dani, Ahmad Hasan. (1999). "History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750". Motilal Banarsidass Publ..
4. Haywood, John. (2002). "Historical Atlas of the Classical World 500BC-600AD". Barnes & Noble Books.
5. Kurbanov, Aydogdy. (2010). "The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis".
6. Gerald James Larson. (1995). "India's Agony Over Religion". State University of New York Press.
7. (1983). "JOURNAL OF THE EPIGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA VOL 10". THE EPIGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA, DHARWAR.
8. [http://www.anythinganywhere.com/commerce/coins/coinpics/indi-heph.htm Source]
9. [[Hyun Jin Kim]], ''The Huns'', Abingdon, Routledge, ''passim''.
10. Joseph Kitagawa. (2013). "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture". Routledge.
11. [http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=247021&partId=1 British Museum notice]
12. Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity, Anthony Kaldellis, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ag0mUQiLb7kC&pg=PA70 p.70]
13. [[s:History of the Wars/Book I. Procopius, ''History of the Wars''. Book I, Ch. III, "The Persian War"]]
14. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Ahmad Hasan Dani, B. A. Litvinsky, [[Unesco]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA119 p.119 sq]
15. Atreyi Biswas. (1971). "The Political History of the Hūṇas in India". Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.
16. Upendra Thakur. (1967). "The Hūṇas in India". Chowkhamba Prakashan.
17. [[Sumpa Yeshe Peljor]]'s 18th century work ''Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah'' (Tibetan title) may be translated as "The Excellent [[Kalpavriksha]]"): "Tho-gar yul dań yabana dań Kambodza dań Khasa [sic] dań Huna dań Darta dań..."
18. Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang (1908), I.9, Sarat Chandra Das; Ancient Kamboja, 1971, p 66, [[H. W. Bailey]].
19. (1924). "The early history of India : from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan conquest, including the invasion of Alexander the Great". Oxford : Clarendon Press.
20. (2019). "Negotiating Cultural Identity: Landscapes in Early Medieval South Asian History". Taylor & Francis.
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23. (1987). "The Encyclopedia of religion". Macmillan.
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25. [https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=156854 CNG Coins]
26. Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172.