Gupta–Hunnic Wars: Difference between revisions

Gupta–Hunnic Wars (edit)

Revision as of 12:19, 1 July 2025

9,715 bytes added , Tuesday at 12:19

no edit summary

Mr.Sanemi

1,837

edits

@@ Line 342: / Line 342: @@
 === Battle of Daśapura (515 CE) ===
 Toramana was finally defeated by the local [[India]]n rulers. The local ruler [[Bhanugupta]] is sometimes credited with vanquishing Toramana, as his 510 CE inscription in [[Eran]], recording his participation in "a great battle", is vague enough to allow for such an interpretation. The "great battle" in which Bhanagupta participated is not detailed, and it is impossible to know what it was, or which way it ended, and interpretations vary.{{sfn|Sharma|Misra|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=o0ISjDDWJwQC&pg=PA7]7}}<ref name="Bhattacherje2009">{{cite book |author=S. B. Bhattacherje |title=Encyclopaedia
+== Religious impact on the Hunas ==
+[[File:Alchon devotee, Butkara I (construction phase 4), 5th century CE.jpg|thumb|Alchon devotee, [[Butkara Stupa|Butkara I]] (construction phase 4), 5th century CE.<ref name="Vaissiere2007">{{cite journal |title=A Note on the Schøyen Copper Scroll: Bactrian or Indian? |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |year=2007 |last=de la Vaissiere |first=Etienne |volume=21 |pages=127–130 |jstor=24049366 |url=https://ja.scribd.com/document/346304237/A-Note-on-the-Schoyen-copper-scroll-Bact-pdf |format=PDF |access-date=8 July 2018}}</ref>]]
+The four Alchon kings [[Khingila]], [[Toramana]], Javukha, and [[Mehama]] are mentioned as donors to a Buddhist stupa in the [[Talagan copper scroll]] inscription dated to 492 or 493 CE, that is, at a time before the Hunnic wars in India started. 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.<ref name="Vaissiere2007" /> Numerous Alchon coins were found in the dedication compartment of the "Tope Kalān" stupa in [[Hadda, Afghanistan|Hadda]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |title=Charles Masson and the Buddhist Sites of Afghanistan: Explorations, Excavations, Collections 1832–1835 |date=2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=34 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3355036 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3355036}}</ref>
+Mural with paintings of probable Alchon devotees can be seen in the Buddhist complex of the [[Butkara Stupa]] (Butkara I, construction phase 4). Dated to the 5th century CE, they suggest that the Alchon Huns may have been participants to the local Buddhist culture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase7?language=en |title=The Countenance of the other (The Coins of the Huns and Western Turks in Central Asia and India) 2012–2013 exhibit: 7. ALKHAN: KING KHINGILA AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF HUNNIC POWER IN NORTHWEST INDIA |last1=Alram |first1=Michael |last2=Filigenzi |first2=Anna |last3=Kinberger |first3=Michaela |last4=Nell |first4=Daniel |last5=Pfisterer |first5=Matthias |last6=Vondrovec |first6=Klaus |newspaper=Pro.geo.univie.ac.at |publisher=Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna |access-date=16 July 2017 |archive-date=16 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716204739/http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase7?language=en |url-status=dead }}</ref>
+=== Persecution of Buddhists ===
+Later, however, the attitude of the Alchons towards Buddhism is reported to have been negative. Mihirakula in particular is remembered by [[Buddhist]] sources to have been a "terrible persecutor of their religion" in [[Gandhara]] in northern (modern day) [[Pakistan]].<ref name="Rene">{{cite book |author=René Grousset |title=The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou|url-access=registration |year=1970 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou/page/71 71]}}</ref> During his reign, over one thousand Buddhist monasteries throughout Gandhara are said to have been destroyed.<ref name=kurt>{{cite book |last1=Behrendt |first1=Kurt A. |title=Handbuch der Orientalistik |url=https://archive.org/details/buddhistarchitec0000behr |date=2004 |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004135956}}</ref> In particular, the writings of Chinese monk [[Xuanzang]] from 630 CE explained that Mihirakula ordered the destruction of [[Buddhism]] and the expulsion of monks.<ref name="Neelis" />{{rp|162}} Indeed, the Buddhist art of Gandhara, in particular [[Greco-Buddhist art]], becomes essentially extinct around that period. When Xuanzang visited northwestern India in {{circa|630}} CE, he reported that Buddhism had drastically declined, and that most of the monasteries were deserted and left in ruins.<ref name="HeirmanBumbacher2007">{{cite book |author1=Ann Heirman |author2=Stephan Peter Bumbacher |title=The Spread of Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuOvCQAAQBAJ |date=11 May 2007 |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-474-2006-4 |page=60}}</ref>
+Although the Guptas were traditionally a [[Hindu]] dynasty,{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=521}} around the period of the invasions of the Alchon the Gupta rulers had apparently been favouring Buddhism. According to contemporary writer [[Paramartha]], [[Mihirakula]]'s supposed nemesis [[Narasimhagupta Baladitya]] was brought up under the influence of the [[Mahayanist]] philosopher [[Vasubandhu]].{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=521}} He built a [[sangharama]] at [[Nalanda]] and a {{convert|300|feet|abbr=on}} 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 ([[Dhyāna in Buddhism|Dhyana]]).{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=521}} Xuanzang also noted that Narasimhagupta Baladitya's son Vajra, who also commissioned a sangharama, "possessed a heart firm in faith".<ref name="sankalia">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24898 |title=The University of Nālandā |publisher=B. G. Paul & co. |location=Madras |oclc=988183829 |author=Sankalia, Hasmukhlal Dhirajlal | author-link=Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia |year=1934}}</ref>{{rp|45}}<ref name="sdutt">{{cite book |author=Sukumar Dutt |title=Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture |year=1988 |orig-year=First published in 1962 |publisher=George Allen and Unwin Ltd. |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxRHYFd0fB4C |isbn=81-208-0498-8}}</ref>{{rp|330}}
+The 12th century [[Kashmir]]i historian [[Kalhana]] also painted a dreary picture of Mihirakula's cruelty, as well as his persecution of the Buddhist faith:
+{{multiple image
+ | align = right
+|direction=horizontal
+ | total_width =400
+ | title=Solar symbolism
+ | image1 = Toramana sun symbol.jpg
+ | caption1 = Solar symbol on the coinage of [[Toramana]].
+ | image2 = Alchon Huns ruler Khingila circa 440-490 CE with solar symbol.jpg
+ | caption2 = [[Khingila]] with solar symbol.
+ | image3 = Alchon Huns Uncertain king Mid-late 5th century.jpg
+ | caption3 = Alchon king with small male figure wearing solar [[Halo (religious iconography)|nimbus]].
+}}
+{{blockquote|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 [[Kashmir]]i historian [[Kalhana]]{{sfn|Eraly|2011|p=48}}}}
+=== Sun cult, Vaishnavism and Shaivism ===
+[[File:Khingila Lakshmi.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Coinage of [[Khingila]] with Hindu goddess [[Lakshmi]].]]
+The Alchons are generally described as sun worshipers, a traditional cult of [[steppe nomads]]. This stems from the appearance of sun symbols on some of their coins, combined with the probable influence they received from the worship of [[Surya]] in India.<ref name="Melton2014">{{cite book |author=J. Gordon Melton |title=Faiths Across Time: 5,000 Years of Religious History: 5,000 Years of Religious History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bI9_AwAAQBAJ |volume=1 |date=15 January 2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara |isbn=978-1-61069-026-3 |page=455}}</ref>
+The Hindu [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnavite]] goddess [[Lakshmi]], goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity and also an ancient goddess of [[Buddhism]], also appears on the coinage of some rulers, especially [[Khingila]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Göbl |first1=Robert |title=Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien |date=1967 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |page=90, Em. 91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lpNHxfbKIEC&pg=PA90 |language=de}}</ref><ref>Alram ''Alchon und Nēzak: Zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Mittelasien''</ref> and [[Toramana]].
+Mihirakula is also said to have been an ardent worshiper of [[Shiva]],<ref name="Sagar1992">{{cite book |author=Krishna Chandra Sagar |title=Foreign Influence on Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC |year=1992 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-7211-028-4 |page=270}}</ref><ref name="Joshi1987">{{cite book |author=Lal Mani Joshi |title=Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India During the Seventh and Eighth Centuries A.D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-epU7NHNCOQC |year=1987 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |isbn=978-81-208-0281-0 |page=320}}</ref> although he may have been selectively attracted to the destructive powers of the Indian deity.{{sfn|Eraly|2011|p=48}}
+Mihirakula is said to have been the founder of the [[Shankaracharya Temple]], a shrine dedicated to [[Shiva]] in [[Srinagar]],<ref>"He is credited with the building of the temple named Jyeshteswara on the Gopa (Sankaracharya) hill in Srinagar" in {{cite book |last1=Bamzai |first1=Prithivi Nath Kaul |title=Kashmir and Central Asia |date=1980 |publisher=Light & Life Publishers |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COgeAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=112}}
+{{clear left}}
 ==Notes==