ChristinTrickett: adjusted information per sources and added references per sources

2026-01-20T17:23:53Z

adjusted information per sources and added references per sources

>SunDawn: Reverted edits by 93.77.52.194 (talk): unexplained content removal (HG) (3.4.10)

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Reverted edits by 93.77.52.194 (talk): unexplained content removal (HG) (3.4.10)

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{{Short description|Group of Xionite and/or Hephthalite tribes who entered India in the 5th or 6th century}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{use Indian English|date=November 2016}}
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{{Misleading|date=July 2013}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2012}}
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{{Location map+
|India
|float = right
|width = 300
|caption = [[Find spot]]s of inscriptions related to local control by the [[Alchon Huns]] (map of the [[Indian subcontinent]])<ref>[[Hans Bakker]] [https://zenodo.org/record/377032/files/Bakker%202016.pdf 24th Gonda lecture]</ref>
|nodiv = 1
|mini = 1
|relief=yes
|places =
{{location map~ |India |lat=23.83|N |long=74.25|E |label=[[Sanjeli inscriptions|Sanjeli]]|position=left |label_size=80 }}
{{location map~ |India |lat=24.09|N |long=78.16|E |label=[[Eran]] |position=right |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |India |lat=26.22|N |long=78.17|E |label=[[Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula|Gwalior]] |position=top |label_size=80 }}
{{location map~ |India |lat=24.07|N |long=75.08|E |label=[[Mandsaur|Sondani]]|position=bottom |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |India |lat=24.38|N |long=74.70|E |label=[[Choti Sadri]]|position=top |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |India |lat=32.40|N |long=72.47|E |label=[[Salt Range|Kura]]|position=top |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |India |lat=25.33|N |long=81.39|E |label=Sack of [[Kausambi]]|position=right |label_size=80|mark=Capital mark.svg}}
{{location map~ |India |lat=22.32|N |long=75.3033907|E |label=[[Rīsthal inscription|Rīsthal]]|position=bottom |label_size=80|mark=1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
}}
'''Hunas''' or '''Huna''' (Middle [[Brahmi]] script: [[File:Gupta ashoka huu.jpg|14px]][[File:Gupta allahabad nnaa.jpg|14px]] ''Hūṇā'') was the name given by the [[ancient India]]ns to a group of [[Central Asia]]n tribes who, via the [[Khyber Pass]], entered the [[Indian Subcontinent]] at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. [[Huna Kingdom]] occupied areas as far as [[Eran]] and [[Kausambi]], greatly weakening the [[Gupta Empire]].<ref>India: A History by John Keay p.158</ref> The Hunas were ultimately defeated by a coalition of Indian princes<ref name=":0" /> that possibly included the Indian king [[Yasodharman]]. He and possibly the Gupta emperor, [[Narasimhagupta]], defeated a ''Huna'' army and their ruler [[Mihirakula]] in 528 CE and drove them out of India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dani|first=Ahmad Hasan|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|year=1999|isbn=9788120815407|pages=175}}</ref> The Guptas are thought to have played only a minor role in this campaign.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Haywood|first=John|title=Historical Atlas of the Classical World 500BC-600AD|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|year=2002|isbn=0-7607-1973-X|location=New York|pages=2.23}}</ref>

The Hunas are thought to have included the [[Xionites|Xionite]] and/or [[Hephtalites|Hephthalite]], the [[Kidarites]], the [[Alchon Huns]] (also known as the Alxon, Alakhana, Walxon etc.) and the [[Nezak Huns]]. Such names, along with that of the [[Hara Huna Kingdom|Harahunas]] (also known as the Halahunas or Harahuras) mentioned in Hindu texts, have sometimes been used for the Hunas in general; while these groups (and the [[Iranian Huns]]) appear to have been a component of the Hunas, such names were not necessarily synonymous. Some authors suggest that the Hunas were Ephthalite Huns from Central Asia.<ref name=":0" /> The relationship, if any, of the Hunas to the [[Huns]], a Central Asian people who invaded Europe during the same period, is also unclear.

[[Gurjar|Gujars]] are sometimes said to have been originally a sub-tribe of the Hunas.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shah|first1=P. G.|url=https://archive.org/details/dublasofgujarat033292mbp|title=The Dublas Of Gujarat|date=NaN|publisher=Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh.|page=[https://archive.org/details/dublasofgujarat033292mbp/page/n32 5]}}</ref>

In its farthest geographical extent in India, the territories controlled by the Hunas covered the region up to [[Malwa]] in central India.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000007165/01_Text.pdf |title=The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis |last=Kurbanov |first=Aydogdy |author-link=Aydogdy Kurbanov |page=24 |year=2010 |access-date=17 January 2013 |quote=The Hūnas controlled an area that extended from Malwa in central India to Kashmir.}}</ref> Their repeated invasions and war losses were the main reason for the decline of the Gupta Empire.<ref name="larson">{{cite book|author=Gerald James Larson|title=India's Agony Over Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuT-6200wdEC |year=1995|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-1014-2 |pages=78–79 }}</ref>

==History==
{{see also|Origin of the Huns}}

Chinese sources link the [[Central Asia]]n tribes comprising the Hunas to both the [[Xiongnu]] of north east Asia and the [[Huns]] who later invaded and settled in Europe.<ref>Hyun Jin Kim, ''The Huns'', Abingdon, Routledge, ''passim''.</ref> Similarly, Gerald Larson suggests that the Hunas were a [[Turkic people|Turkic]]-[[Mongols|Mongolian]] grouping from Central Asia.<ref name="larson"/> 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 Asia]]n people.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Kitagawa|title=The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfyzAAAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-87597-7 |pages=229 }}</ref>

[[File:Hephthalite horseman on British Museum bowl 460-479 CE.jpg|thumb|[[Hephthalites|Hephthalite]] horseman on [[British Museum]] bowl, 460–479 CE.<ref>[http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=247021&partId=1 British Museum notice]</ref> According to [[Procopius|Procopius of Caesarea]], they were of the same stock as European Huns "in fact as well as in name", but sedentary and white-skinned.]]
The 6th-century [[Byzantine|Roman]] historian [[Procopius|Procopius of Caesarea]] (Book I. ch. 3), related the Huns of Europe with the [[Hephthalites]] or "White Huns" who subjugated the [[Sasanian Empire|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:<ref>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]</ref><ref>Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700, Jonathan Conant
Cambridge University Press, 2012 [https://books.google.com/books?id=wJEgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA259 p.259]</ref>
{{bquote|The Ephthalitae Huns, who are called White Huns [...] The Ephthalitae are of the stock of the Huns in fact as well as in name, however they do not mingle with any of the Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their territory lies immediately to the north of Persia [...] They are not nomads like the other Hunnic peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land... They are the only ones among the Huns who have white bodies and countenances which are not ugly. It is also true that their manner of living is unlike that of their kinsmen, nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they observe right and justice in their dealings both with one another and with their neighbours, in no degree less than the Romans and the Persians<ref>[[s:History of the Wars/Book I|Procopius, ''History of the Wars''. Book I, Ch. III, "The Persian War"]]</ref>}}

The [[Kidarites]], who invaded Bactria in the second half of the 4th century,<ref name="HCCE 119">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]</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Atreyi Biswas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohwdAAAAMAAJ|title=The Political History of the Hūṇas in India|date=1971|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers}}</ref> 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 [[Ramayana|Rāmāyaṇa]], [[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]], [[Puranas|Purāṇas]], and Kalidasa’s [[Raghuvaṃśa]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Upendra Thakur|url=https://archive.org/download/dli.ernet.429146|title=The Hūṇas in India|date=1967|publisher=Chowkhamba Prakashan|page=52-55}}</ref>

In Buddhist sources, Huna kings are described as 'rude and cruel'. They were responsible for the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and centers of learning in the Northwest regions of the country. 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 [[Mandasor Pillar Inscriptions of Yasodharman|Mandasaur]] in Central India.

The Mongolian-Tibetan historian [[:de:Sumpa Yeshe Peljor|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]].<ref>[[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..." </ref><ref>Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang (1908), I.9, Sarat Chandra Das; Ancient Kamboja, 1971, p 66, [[H. W. Bailey]].</ref>

==Religion==
The religious beliefs of the Hunas is unknown, and believed to be a combination of ancestor worship, [[Totem|totemism]] and [[animism]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mircea Eliade|author2=Charles J. Adams|title=The Encyclopedia of religion|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre06elia |url-access=registration|year=1987|publisher=Macmillan|isbn= 978-0-02-909750-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre06elia/page/530 530]–532 }}</ref>

[[Song Yun]] and [[Song Yun|Hui Zheng]], 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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/heph.shtml |title=The White Huns - The Hephthalites |publisher=Silkroad Foundation |access-date=11 January 2013}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<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]].<ref>CNG Coins [https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=156854]</ref>
File:HunaKing.JPG|[[Nezak Huns]] king [[Napki Malka]].
File:SilverBowlNFPPakistan5-6thcenturyCE.JPG|The "[[Hephthalite bowl]]", NFP [[Pakistan]], 5th or 6th century CE. [[British Museum]].<ref>Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172.</ref>
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Kushan Empire]]
* [[36 royal races]]
* [[Ancient India and Central Asia]]
* [[Huna Kingdom]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Iaroslav Lebedynsky]], "Les Nomades", Paris 2007, {{ISBN|978-2-87772-346-6}}

{{Huns}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huna People}}

[[Category:Ancient peoples of India]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Hephthalites]]
[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]]
[[Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia]]

Huna people - Revision history

ChristinTrickett: adjusted information per sources and added references per sources

>SunDawn: Reverted edits by 93.77.52.194 (talk): unexplained content removal (HG) (3.4.10)