Alchon Huns

Alchon Huns
380–560
Tamga of the Alchon Huns
Alchon territories and campaigns into Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, circa 500 CE.
Capital		Kapisa
Languages		Brahmi and Bactrian (written)
Religion		Buddhism, Hinduism
Government		Nomadic empire
Tegin
•	430 – 461 CE	Khingila
•	461 – 493 CE	Mehama
•	493 – 515	Toramana
•	515 – 540 CE	Mihirakula
•	540 – 570 CE	Toramana II
Historical era		Late Antiquity
•	Established	380
•	Disestablished	560
Currency		Hunnic Drachm
Preceded by Succeeded by Sassanian Empire Kidarites Hephthalites Gupta Empire Nezak Huns Aulikaras Turk Shahi
Today part of		Afghanistan  Pakistan  India

The Alchon Huns (Sanskrit: Hūṇas), also Alkhan Huns,^[1] were a group of nomads who established states in central and southern Asia. They were part of the four major "Hunic" states known collectively as Xionites or "Hunas", being preceded in southern Asia by the Kidarites and the Hephthalites, and succeeded by the Nezak Huns.

The Alchons appeared in the Paropamisus and later expanded into the Punjab and central India as far as Eran and Kausambi. Their invasion of Indian territory follows that of the Kidarites about half a century earlier.^[2][3] It greatly weakened, and contributed to the fall of, the Gupta Empire. Their invasion of India follows numerous other invasions in the preceding centuries, such as those of the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians or the Kushans.^[4]

We know of the names of the Alchon kings from their extensive coinage and from inscriptions in Buddhist stupas.

History

The Alchon Huns emerged in Kapisa around 380, taking over Kabulistan from the Sassanian Persians, at the same time the Kidarites (Red Huns) ruled in Bactria and Ghandara. They are said to have taken control of Kabul in 388.^[1]

Gandhara

Around 430 king Khingila, the most notable Alchon ruler, emerges and takes control of the routes across the Hindu Kush from the Kidarites.^[1] As the Alchons Huns took control, diplomatic missions were established in 457 with China.^[5] In 460, the Alchons conquered Taxila. Between 460-470 CE, as they took over Gandhara and Punjab, the Huns apparently undertook the mass destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila, a high center of learning, which never recovered from the destruction. The rest of the 5th century marks a period of territorial expansion and eponymous kings (Tegins), several of which appear to have overlapped and ruled jointly.

First Hunnic War: Central India

In the First Hunnic War (496-515),^[6] the Alchon Huns reached their maximum territorial extent, with king Toramana pushing deep into Indian territory, reaching Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in Central India, and ultimately contributing to the downfall of the Gupta Empire.^[7]

To the south, the Sanjeli inscriptions indicate that Toramana penetrated at least as far as northern Gujarat , and possibly to the port of Bharukaccha.^[8] To the east, far into Central India, the city of Kausambi, where seals with Toramana's name were found, was probably sacked by the Alkhons in 497-500, before they moved to occupy Malwa.^{[6][9][10][11]}

These territories may have been taken from Gupta Emperor Budhagupta.^[12] Alternatively, they may have been captured during the rule of his successor Narasimhagupta.^[13]

First Battle of Eran (510 CE)

A particularly decisive encounter occurred in Malwa, where a local Gupta ruler, probably a Governor, named Bhanugupta was in charge. In the Bhanugupta Eran inscription, this local ruler reports that he participated in a great battle in 510 CE at Eran, where he suffered severe casualties.^[13] Bhanugupta was probably vanquished by Toramana at this 510 CE Eran battle, so that the western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas at that point.^[13]

According to a 6th century CE Buddhist work, the Manjusri-mula-kalpa, Bhanugupta lost Malwa to the "Shudra" Toramana, who continued his conquest to Magadha, forcing Narasimhagupta Baladitya to make a retreat to Bengal. Toramana "possessed of great prowess and armies" then conquered the city of "Tirtha" in the Gauda country (modern Bengal).^[14] Toramana is said to have crowned a new king in Benares, named Prakataditya, who is also presented as a son of Narasimha Gupta.^[15][13]

Having conquered the territory of Malwa from the Guptas, Toramana was mentionned in a famous inscription in Eran, confirming his rule on the region.^[13] The Eran boar inscription of Toramana (in Eran, Malwa, 540 km south of New Delhi, state of Madhya Pradesh) of his first regnal year indicates that eastern Malwa was included in his dominion. The inscription is written under the neck of the boar, in 8 lines of Sanskrit in the Brahmi script. The first line of the inscription, in which Toramana is introduced as Mahararajadhidaja ("The Great King of Kings"),^[12] reads:

"In year one of the reign of the King of Kings Sri-Toramana, who rules the world with splendor and radiance..."

— Eran boar inscription of Toramana.^[19]

On his gold coins minted in India in the style of the Gupta Emperors, Toramana presented himself confidently as:

""Avanipati Torama(no) vijitya vasudham divam jayati"

"The lord of the Earth, Toramana, having conquered the Earth, wins Heaven"

— Toramana gold coin legend.^[20][21]

Defeat (515 CE)

Toramana was finally defeated by local Indian rulers. The local ruler Bhanugupta is sometimes credited with vanquishing Toramana, as his 510 CE inscription in Eran, recording his participation to "a great battle", is vague enough to allow for such an interpretation. The "great battle" to which Bhanagupta participated according to the inscription is not detailed, and it is impossible to know what it was, or which way it ended, and interpretations vary.^[22][23][24] Mookerji and others actually consider, in view of the inscription as well as the Manjusri-mula-kalpa, that Bhanugupta was, on the contrary, vanquished by Toramana at the 510 CE Eran battle, so that the western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas at that point,^[13][15] so that Toramana could be mentioned in the Eran boar inscription, as the ruler of the region.^[13]

Toramana however was finally vanquished with certainty by an Indian ruler of the Aulikara dynasty of Malwa, after nearly 20 years in India. According to the Rishtal stone-slab inscription, discovered in 1983, king Prakashadharma defeated Toramana in 515 CE.^[25][26][6] The First Hunnic War thus ended with a Hunnic defeat, and Hunnic troops apparently retreated to the area of Punjab.^[6] The Manjusri-mula-kalpa simply states that Toramana died in Benares as he was returning westward from his battles with Narasimhagupta.^[13]

Second Hunnic War: to Malwa and retreat

The Second Hunnic War started in 520, when Alchon king Mihirakula, son of Toramana, is recorded in his military encampment on the borders of the Jhelum by Chinese monk Song Yun.^[6]

At the head of the Alkhon Huns, Mihirakula is then recorded in Gwalior, Central India as "Lord of the Earth" in the Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula.^[6] According to some accounts, Mihirakula invaded India as far as the Gupta capital Pataliputra, which was sacked and left in ruins.^[27][28]

Finally however, Mihirakula was defeated in 528 by an alliance of Indian principalities led by Yasodharman, the Aulikara king of Malwa, in the battle of Sondani in Central India, which resulted in the loss of Alchon possessions in the Punjab and north India by 542. The Sondani inscription in Sondani, near Mandsaur, records the submission by force of the Hunas, and claim that Yasodharman had rescued the earth from "rude and cruel kings of the [Kali] age, who delight in viciousness",^[29] and that he "had bent the head of Mihirakula".^[6] In a part of the inscription at Sondani, Yasodharman thus praises himself for having defeated king Mihirakula:^[30]

"He (Yasodharman) to whose two feet respect was paid, with complimentary presents of the flowers from the lock of hair on the top of (his) head, by even that (famous) king Mihirakula, whose forehead was pained through being bent low down by the strength of (his) arm in (the act of compelling) obeisance"

— Sondani pillar inscription^[31]

The Gupta Empire emperor Narasimhagupta is also credited in helping repulse Mihirakula, after the latter had conquered most of India, according to the reports of Chinese monk Xuanzang.^[32][33] In a fanciful account, Xuanzang, who wrote a century later in 630 CE, reported that Mihirakula had conquered all India except for an island where the king of Magadha named Baladitya (who could be Gupta ruler Narasimhagupta Baladitya) took refuge, but that Mihirakula was finally captured by the Indian king, who later spared his life on intercession of his mother, as she perceived the Hun ruler "as a man of remarkable beauty and vast wisdom".^[33] Mihirakula is then said to have returned to Kashmir to retake the throne.^[34][35]

This ended the Second Hunnic War circa 534, after an occupation which therefore lasted nearly 15 years.^[6]

Retreat to Kabulistan

Around the middle of the 6th century CE, the Alchons withdrew to Kashmir and, pulling back from Punjab and Gandhara, went back west across the Khyber pass where they resettled in Kabulistan. There, their coinage suggests that they merged with the Nezak Huns, as coins in Nezak style now bear the Alchon tamga mark.^[37][38]

During the 7th century, continued military encounters are reported between the Hunas and the northern Indian states which followed the disappearance of the Gupta Empire. For example, Prabhakaravardhana, the Vardhana dynasty king of Thanesar in northern India and father of Harsha, is reported to have been "A lion to the Huna deer, a burning fever to the king of the Indus land".^[39]

The Alchons in India declined rapidly around the same time that the Hephthalites, another hunnic group to the North, were defeated by an alliance between the Sassanians and the Western Turkic Kaghanate. This also follows the decline of the Huns in Europe by a few decades only.

Eventually, the Nezak-Alchons were replaced by the Turk shahi dynasty.^[40]

Religion and ethics

The four Alchon kings Khingila, Toramana, Javukha, and Mehama are mentionned as donators to a Buddhist stupa in the Talagan copper scroll inscription dated to 492-493 CE, that is, at a time before the Hunnic wars in India started.^[41] This corresponds to a time when the Alchons had recently taken control of Taxila (around 460 CE), at the center of the Buddhist regions of northwestern India.

Persecution of Buddhism

Later however, the attitude of the Alchons towards Buddhism is reported as very negative. Mihirakula in particular is remembered by Buddhist sources to have been a "terrible persecutor of their religion" in Gandhara in northern Pakistan.^[42] Under his reign, over a thousand Buddhist monasteries throughout Gandhara are said to have been destroyed.^[43] In particular the Chinese monk Xuanzang, writing in 630 CE, explained that Mihirakula ordered the destruction of Buddhism and the expulsion of monks.^[35] Indeed, the Buddhist art of Gandhara, in particular Greco-Buddhist art, becomes essentially extinct around that period. When Xuanzang visited northwestern Indian circa 630 CE, he reported that Buddhism had drastically declined, and that most of the monasteries were deserted and left in ruins.^[44]

Although the Guptas were traditionally a Brahmanical dynasty,^[45] around the period of the invasions of the Alchon Huns, the Gupta rulers had apparently been favouring Buddhism. Narasimhagupta Baladitya, Mihirakula's supposed nemesis, was, according to contemporary writer Paramartha, brought up under the influence of the Mahayanist philosopher, Vasubandhu.^[46] He built a sangharama at Nalanda and also a 300 ft (91 m) high vihara with a Buddha statue within which, according to Xuanzang, resembled the "great Vihara built under the Bodhi tree". According to the Manjushrimulakalpa (c. 800 CE), king Narasimhsagupta became a Buddhist monk, and left the world through meditation (Dhyana).^[47] The Chinese monk Xuanzang also noted that Narasimhagupta Baladitya's son, Vajra, who commissioned a sangharama as well, "possessed a heart firm in faith".^{[48]:45[49]:330}

The 12th century Kashmiri historian Kalhana too painted a dreary picture of Mihirakula's cruelty, as well as his persecution of the Buddhist faith:

"In him, the northern region brought forth, as it were, another god of death, bent in rivalry to surpass... Yama (the god of death residing in the southern regions). People knew of his approach by noticing the vultures, crows and other birds flying ahead eager to feed on those who were being slain within his army's reach. The royal Vetala (demon) was day and night surrounded by thousands of murdered human beings, even in his pleasure houses. This terrible enemy of mankind had no pity for children, no compassion for women, no respect for the aged"

— 12th century Kashmiri historian Kalhana^[33]

Shivaism and Sun cult

The Alchons are generally described as sun worshipers, a traditional cult of steppe nomads, due to the appearance of sun symbols on some of their coins, combined to the probable influence they received from the cult of Surya in India.^[50] Mihirirakula is also said to have been an ardent worshiper of Shiva,^[51][52] although he may have been selectively attracted by the destructive powers of the Indian deity.^[33]

Consequences on India

These invasions, although only spanning a few decades, had long term effects on India, and in a sense brought an end to Classical Indian civilization.^[33]

Soon after the invasions, the Gupta Empire, already weakened by these invasions and the rise of local rulers, ended as well.^[54] Following the invasions, northern India was left in disarray, with numerous smaller Indian powers emerging after the crumbling of the Guptas.^[55]

The Huna invasions are said to have seriously damaged India's trade with Europe and Central Asia.^[33] In particular, Indo-Roman trade relations, which the Gupta Empire had greatly benefited from. The Guptas had been exporting numerous luxury products such as silk, leather goods, fur, iron products, ivory, pearl or pepper from centers such as Nasik, Paithan, Pataliputra or Benares etc. The Huna invasion probably disrupted these trade relations and the tax revenues that came with it.^[56]

Furthermore, Indian urban culture was left in decline, and Buddhism, gravely weakened by the destruction of monasteries and the killing of monks, started to collapse.^[33] Great centers of learning were destroyed, such as the city of Taxila, bringing cultural regression.^[33]

During their rule of 60 years, the Alchons are said to have altered the hierarchy of ruling families and the Indian cast system. For example, the Hunas are often said to have become the precursors of the Rajputs.^[33]

Sources

Ancient sources refer to the Alchons and associated groups ambiguously with various names, such as Huna in Indian texts, and Xionites in Greek texts. Xuanzang chronicled with more detail some of the later history of the Alchons.^[32]

Modern archeology has provided valuable insight into reconstructing the history of the Alchons. The most significant cataloguing of the Alchon dynasty came in 1967 by Robert Göbl's analysis of the coinage of the "Iranian Huns".^[57] This work documented the names of partial chronology of Alchon kings, beginning with Khingila.

Talagan copper scroll

The next significant contribution to our understanding of Alchon history came in 2006 when Gudrun Melzer and Lore Sander published their finding of the "Talagan copper scroll", also known as the "Schøyen Copper Scroll", dated to 492/3 that mentions the four Alchon kings Khingila, Toramana, Javukha, and Mehama (who was reigning at the time) as donors to a Buddhist reliquary stupa.^[58][59]

In 2012, the Kunsthistorisches Museum completed a reanalysis of previous finds together with a large number of new coins that appeared on the antiquities market during the Second Afghan Civil War.^[40] This work redefines the timeline and narrative of the Alchons and related peoples, and is the current authoritative work on the Iranian Huns.

Alchon Tegins

The rulers of the Alchons practiced skull deformation, as evidenced from their coins, a practice shared with the Huns that migrated into Europe. The names of the first Alchon rulers do not survive. Starting from 430 CE, names of Alchon kings, assuming the title "Tegin", survive on coins^[57] and religious inscriptions:^[58]

• Khingila (c. 430 - 490 CE)
• Javukha/Zabocho (c. mid 5th - early 6th CE)
• Mehama (c. 461 - 493 CE)
• Lakhana Udayaditya (c. 490's CE)
• Aduman
• Toramana (c. 490 - 515 CE)
• Mihirakula (c. 515 - 540 CE)
• Toramana II (c. 530 - 570 CE)
• Narana/Narendra (c. 570 - 600 CE)

Coinage

The earliest Alchon Hun coins were based on Sasanian designs, often with the simple addition of the Alchon tamgha and a mention "alchon" or "alkhan".^[60]

Soon however coinage of the Alchon Huns becomes original and differs from predecessors in that it is devoid of Iranian (Sasanian) symbolism.^[1] The rulers are depicted with elongated skulls, a result of artificial cranial deformation.^[1]

After their invasion of India the coins of the Alchon Huns were numerous and varied, as they issued copper, silver and gold coins sometimes roughly following the Gupta pattern. The Alchon Huns Empire in India must have been quite significant and rich, with the ability to issue an important volume of gold coins.^[61]

• 
  Silver drachm of Khingila, legend: "Khiggilo Alchono".^[62]
• 
  Silver drachm of Mehama
• 
  Silver drachm of Mihirakula
• 
  Bronze coin of Toramana II
• 
  Coin of Toramana II, circa 540-570 CE.
• 
  Khingila of the Alchon Huns Circa 440-490 CE.^[63]
• 
  Javukha of the Alchon Huns Mid-late 5th century.jpg
• 
  Lakhana of the Alchon Huns, late 5th-early 6th centuries.
• 
  Adomano of the Alchon Huns, mid-late 5th century.
• 
  Narana-Narenda of the Alchon Huns, late 4th-early 5th century CE.
• 
  Khingila as a young king, without headdress. Artificial cranial deformation clearly visible.^[64]
• 
  Vishnu nicolo seal representing Vishnu with a worshipper (probably Mihirakula), 4th–6th century CE. The inscription in cursive Bactrian reads: "Mihira, Vishnu and Shiva". British Museum.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alchon Huns.

• Xionites
• Kidarites
• Hephthalites
• Nezak Huns

References

External links

• http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase11?language=en
• http://grifterrec.rasmir.com/huns/huns.html

Middle kingdoms of India
Timeline and cultural period	Northwestern India (Punjab-Sapta Sindhu)	Indo-Gangetic Plain			Central India	Southern India
		Western Gangetic Plain (Kuru-Panchala)	Northern India (Central Gangetic Plain)	Northeastern India (Northeast India)
IRON AGE
Culture	Late Vedic Period	Late Vedic Period (Brahmin ideology)[lower-alpha 1] Painted Grey Ware culture	Late Vedic Period (Kshatriya/Shramanic culture)[lower-alpha 2] Northern Black Polished Ware		Pre-history
6th century BC	Gandhara	Kuru-Panchala	Magadha		Adivasi (tribes)
Culture	Persian-Greek influences	"Second Urbanisation" Rise of Shramana movements Jainism - Buddhism - Ājīvika - Yoga			Pre-history
5th century BC	(Persian rule)		Shishunaga dynasty		Adivasi (tribes)
4th century BC	(Greek conquests)		Nanda empire	Kalinga
HISTORICAL AGE
Culture	Spread of Buddhism				Pre-history	Sangam period (300 BC – 200 AD)
3rd century BC	Maurya Empire					Early Cholas Early Pandyan Kingdom Satavahana dynasty Cheras 46 other small kingdoms in Ancient Thamizhagam
Culture	Preclassical Hinduism[lower-alpha 3] - "Hindu Synthesis"[lower-alpha 4] (ca. 200 BC - 300 AD)[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6] Epics - Puranas - Ramayana - Mahabharata - Bhagavad Gita - Brahma Sutras - Smarta Tradition Mahayana Buddhism					Sangam period (continued) (300 BC – 200 AD)
2nd century BC	Indo-Greek Kingdom		Shunga Empire Maha-Meghavahana Dynasty			Early Cholas Early Pandyan Kingdom Satavahana dynasty Cheras 46 other small kingdoms in Ancient Thamizhagam
1st century BC
1st century AD	Indo-Scythians Indo-Parthians		Kuninda Kingdom
2nd century	Kushan Empire
3rd century	Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom	Kushan Empire	Western Satraps	Kamarupa kingdom	Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom(Under Kalabhras)
Culture	"Golden Age of Hinduism"(ca. AD 320-650)[lower-alpha 7] Puranas Co-existence of Hinduism and Buddhism
4th century	Kidarites	Gupta Empire Varman dynasty				Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom(Under Kalabhras) Kadamba Dynasty Western Ganga Dynasty
5th century	Hephthalite Empire	Alchon Huns				Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom(Under Kalabhras) Vishnukundina
6th century	Nezak Huns Kabul Shahi		Maitraka		Adivasi (tribes)	Badami Chalukyas Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom(Under Kalabhras)
Culture	Late-Classical Hinduism (ca. AD 650-1100)[lower-alpha 8] Advaita Vedanta - Tantra Decline of Buddhism in India
7th century	Indo-Sassanids		Vakataka dynasty Empire of Harsha	Mlechchha dynasty	Adivasi (tribes)	Pandyan Kingdom(Under Kalabhras) Pandyan Kingdom(Revival) Pallava
8th century	Kabul Shahi		Pala Empire			Pandyan Kingdom Kalachuri
9th century			Gurjara-Pratihara			Rashtrakuta dynasty Pandyan Kingdom Medieval Cholas Pandyan Kingdom(Under Cholas) Chera Perumals of Makkotai
10th century	Ghaznavids			Pala dynasty Kamboja-Pala dynasty		Kalyani Chalukyas Medieval Cholas Pandyan Kingdom(Under Cholas) Chera Perumals of Makkotai Rashtrakuta
References and sources for table  References ↑ Samuel ↑ Samuel ↑ Michaels (2004) p.39 ↑ Hiltebeitel (2002) ↑ Michaels (2004) p.39 ↑ Hiltebeitel (2002) ↑ Micheals (2004) p.40 ↑ Michaels (2004) p.41 Sources Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press  Hiltebeitel, Alf (2002), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture", Routledge  Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism. Past and present, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press  Samuel, Geoffrey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press