Huna people
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Obv: Napki Malka type bust, winged headdress with bull head in the center. Pahlavi legend "NAPKI MALKA".
Rev: Zoroastrian fire altar with attendants either side. Sun wheel, or possibly eight-spoked Buddhist Dharmacakra, above left.
The Hunas, Hala-Huna, Hara-Huna, Alchon, Alxon, or Walxon were a group of Xionite or Hephthalite tribes who, via the Khyber Pass, entered India at the end of the 5th or early 6th century and were defeated by the Indian Gupta Empire and the Indian king Yasodharman.[2] In its farthest geographical extent in India, the Huna empire covered the region up to Malwa in central India.[3] Although they were defeated, they were the main reason for the decline of the Gupta Empire
Contents
History
The Hunas initiated a coinage inspired from Sassanian designs.[4]
According to Litvinsky, the initial Huna or Alxon raids on Gandhara took place in the late 5th and early 6th century AD, upon the death of the Gupta ruler, Skandagupta (455–470), presumably led by the Tegin Khingila. M. Chakravary, based on Chinese and Persian histories believes that the Hunas conquered Gandhara from the Ki-to-lo (Kidarites) in c. 475 AD. Gandhara had been occupied by various Kidarite principalities from the early 4th century AD, but it is still a subject of debate as to whether rule was transferred from the Kidarites directly to the Hephthalites. It is known that the Huns invaded Gandhara and the Punjab from the Kabul valley after vanquishing the Kidarite principalities.
The Hunas are mentioned in the Tibetan chronicle Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah (The Excellent Kalpa-Vrksa), along people like the Yavanas, Kambojas, Tukharas, Khaqsas, Daradas etc.[5][6]
Religion
The Hunas were fervent worshippers of the Vedic Sun God and Shiva.[7]
Sung Yun and Hui Sheng, 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."[8]
See also
- Hephthalite Empire
- Kidarites (Red Huns)
- Kushan Empire
- Xionites
- 36 royal races
- Ancient India and Central Asia
- Hon
- History of India
- History of Central Asia
- Raghuvaṃśa
Notes
- ↑ Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172.
- ↑ India: A History by John Keay p.158
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Source
- ↑ Tho-gar yul dań yabana dań Kambodza dań Khasa dań Huna dań Darta dań...
- ↑ Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang (1908), I.9, Sarat Chandra Das; Ancient Kamboja, 1971, p 66, H. W. Bailey.
- ↑ History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3 By Boris Abramovich Litvinovskiĭ Page 173
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
References
- Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-87772-346-6
