HEPHTHALITES
![](Hephthalite_tamgha.jpg)
Tamga
of the Imperial Hephthalites
![](650px-Hephthalites_(map).jpg)
The
Hephthalites c. 500 CE
Hephthalites
Empire
: 440s - 560
Principalities until 710
Capital
: Kunduz (Walwalij, Drapsaka,
or Badian) and Balkh (Pakhlo)
Common languages
: Bactrian (official), Gandhari (Gandhar),
Sogdian (Sogdiana), Chorasmian, Sanskrit and
Turkic
Religion
: Buddhism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism and Nestorian Christianity
Historical
era : Late Antiquity
•
Established : Empire: 440s
•
Disestablished : 560 Principalities until 710
Preceded
by
Kidarites
Sassanid
Empire
Kangju
Alchon
Huns
Succeeded
by
Nezak
Huns
First
Turkic Khaganate
Turk
Shahis
Zunbils
Principality
of Chaghaniyan
The
Hephthalites (Bactrian: Ebodalo, Arabic: al-Hayatila), sometimes
called the White Huns, were a people who lived in Central Asia during
the 5th to 8th centuries. They existed as an Empire, the Imperial
Hephthalites, and were militarily important from 450 CE, when they
defeated the Kidarites, to 560 CE, date of their defeat to combined
First Turkic Khaganate and Sasanian Empire forces. After 560 CE,
they formed "principalities" in the area of Tokharistan,
under the suzerainty of the Western Turks (in the areas north of
the Oxus) and the Sasanian Empire (in the areas south of the Oxus),
before being taken over by the Tokhara Yabghus in 625 CE.
The
Imperial Hephthalites were based in Bactria and expanded east to
the Tarim Basin, west to Sogdia and south through Afghanistan, but
they never went beyond the Hindu-Kush, which was occupied by the
Alchon Huns, previously mistakenly considered as an extension of
the Hephthalites. They were a tribal confederation and included
both nomadic and settled urban communities.
They
were part of the four major states known collectively as Xyon (Xionites)
or Hun, being preceded by the Kidarites, and the Alkhon, and succeeded
by the Nezak Huns and the First Turkic Khaganate. All of these Hunnic
peoples have often been linked to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe
during the same period, and/or have been referred to as "Huns",
but there is no consensus among scholars about such a connection.
The
stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan on the northern slopes
of the Hindu Kush, in what is present-day southern Uzbekistan and
northern Afghanistan, and their capital was probably at Kunduz,
having come from the east, possibly from the area of Badakshan.
By 479, the Hephthalites had conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites
eastwards, and by 493 they had captured parts of present-day Dzungaria
and the Tarim Basin in what is now Northwest China. The Alchon Huns,
formerly confused with the Hephthalites, expanded into Northern
India as well.
The
sources for Hephthalite history are poor and historians' opinions
differ. There is no king-list and historians are not sure how they
arose or what language they spoke. The Svet Hun who invaded Pakistan
are probably the Hephthalites, but the exact relation is not clear.
They seem to have called themselves Ebodalo (hence Hephthal), often
abbreviated Eb, a name they wrote in the Bactrian script on some
of their coins. The origin of the name "Hephthalites"
is unknown, possibly from either a Khotanese word *Hitala meaning
"Strong" or from postulated Middle Persian *haft al "the
Seven".
Name
and ethnonyms :
![](Seal_of_a_Hephthalite_king_with_the_Bactrian_inscription_The_Lord_(Yabgu)_of_the_Hephthalites._End_5th_century_early_6th_century_CE.jpg)
Hephthalite
ruler
The Hephthalites called themselves ebodal as seen in a seal of a
Hephthalite king with the Bactrian script inscription ("The
Lord (Yabghu) of the Hephthalites"). End 5th century- early
6th century CE.
The Hephthalites called themselves ebodal in their inscriptions,
which was commonly abbreviated to nß in their coinage. An
important and unique seal, held in the private collection of Professor
Dr. Aman ur Rahman, shows an early Hepthalite ruler with a radiate
crown with a single crescent, and the inscription in Bactrian script
legend ("The Lord (Yabghu) of the Hephthalites"). It is
dated to the end 5th century- early 6th century CE.
The
name Hephthalites appears in Byzantine Greek sources, which also
referred to them as Ephthalite, Abdel or Avdel.
To
the Armenians, the Hephthalites were Haital, to the Persians and
Arabs, they were Haytal or Hayatila, while their Bactrian name was
Ebodalo.
In
Chinese chronicles, the Hephthalites are called Ye-tha-i-li-to (pinyin:
Yàndàiyílìtuó), or the more usual
abbreviated form Yada (pinyin: Yèda), or (pinyin: Huá).
The latter name has been given various Latinised renderings, including
Yeda, Ye-ta, Ye-tha; Ye-da and Yanda. The corresponding Cantonese
and Korean names Yipdaat and Yeoptal, which preserve aspects of
the Middle Chinese pronunciation (roughly yep-daht) better than
the modern Mandarin pronunciation, are more consistent with the
Greek Hephthalite. Some Chinese chroniclers suggest that the root
Hephtha- (as in Ye-ta-i-li-to or Yada) was technically a title equivalent
to "emperor", while Hua was the name of the dominant tribe.
In
Ancient India, names such as Hephthalite were unknown. The Hephthalites
were apparently part of, or offshoots of, people known in India
as Huns or Turushkas, although these names may have referred to
broader groups or neighbouring peoples. Ancient Sanskrit text Pravishyasutra
mentions a group of people named Havitaras but it is unclear whether
the term denotes Hephthalites. The Indians also used the expression
"White Huns" (Svet Hun) for the Hephthalites.
Geographical
origin and expansion :
![](hep1.jpg)
The
Hephthalites came from Badakshan or the Altai, and always had their
historical stronghold in Bactria (Tokharistan), with their capital
in Kunduz
According
to recent scholarship, the stronghold of the Hephthalites was always
Tokharistan on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, in what is
present-day southern Uzbekistan and northern Afghanistan. Their
capital was probably at Kunduz, which was known to the Al-Biruni
as War-Waliz, a possible origin of one of the names given by the
Chinese to Hephthalites: Hua (pinyin: Huá).
The
Hephthalites may have came from the East, through the Pamir Mountains,
possibly from the area of Badakshan. Alternatively, they may have
migrated from the Altai region, among the waves of invading Huns.
Following
their westward or southward expansion, the Hephthalites settled
in Bactria, and displaced the Alchon Huns, who expanded into Northern
India. The Hephthalites came into contact with the Sasanian Empire,
and were involved in helping militarily Peroz I seize the throne
from his brother Hormizd III.
Later,
in the late 5th century, the Hephthalites expanded into vast areas
of Central Asia, and occupied the Tarim Basin as far as Turfan,
taking control of the area from the Ruanruans, who had been collecting
heavy tribute from the oasis cities, but were now weakening under
the assaults of the Chinese Wei Dynasty.
Characteristics
:
![](Dilberjin_attendants.jpg)
![](Dilbergin_frescoe_royal_figure_(cleaned_up).jpg)
Murals from Dilberjin Tepe, thought to represent early Hephthalites.
The ruler wears a radiate crown
There are several theories regarding the origins of the Hephthalites,
with the Iranian, or Altaic theories being the most prominent.
According
to most specialist scholars, the Hephthalites adopted Bactrian as
their official language, just as the Kushans had done, following
their settlement in Bactria / Tokharistan. Bactrian was an Eastern
Iranian language, but was written in the Greek alphabet, a remnant
of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the 3rd–2nd century BCE.
The Bactrian, beyond being an official language, was also the language
of the local populations ruled by the Hephthalites.
The
Hephthalites inscribed their coins in Bactrian, an Iranian language
written in the Greek script, the titles they held were Bactrian,
such as XOAHO or Šao, and of probable Chinese origin, such
as Yabghu, the names of Hephthalite rulers given in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh
are Iranian, and gem inscriptions and other evidence shows that
the official language of the Hephthalite elite was East Iranian.
In 1959, Kazuo Enoki proposed that the Hephthalites were probably
Indo-European (East) Iranians as some sources indicated that they
were originally from Bactria, which is known to have been inhabited
by Indo-Iranian people in antiquity. Richard Nelson Frye cautiously
accepted Enoki's hypothesis, while at the same time stressing that
the Hephthalites "were probably a mixed horde".
According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica and Encyclopaedia of Islam,
the Hephthalites possibly originated in what is today Afghanistan.
A few scholars, such as Marquart and Grousset proposed Proto-Mongolic
origins. Yu Taishan traced the Hephthalites' origins to the Xianbei
and further to Goguryeo. Other scholars such as de la Vaissière,
based on a recent reappraisal of the Chinese sources, suggest that
the Hephthalites were initially of Turkic origin, and later adopted
the Bactrian language, first for administrative purposes, and possibly
later as a native language; according to Rezakhani (2017), this
thesis is seemingly the "most prominent at present".
![](640px-Balalyk_Tepe_banquet_scene.jpg)
The banquet scenes in the murals of Balalyk Tepe show the life of
the Hephthalite ruling class of Tokharistan
In effect, the Hephthalites may have been a confederation of various
people, speaking different languages. According to Richard Nelson
Frye:
Just
as later nomadic empires were confederations of many peoples, we
may tentatively propose that the ruling groups of these invaders
were, or at least included, Turkic-speaking tribesmen from the east
and north, although most probably the bulk of the people in the
confederation of Chionites and then Hephhtalites spoke an Iranian
language. In this case, as normal, the nomads adopted the written
language, institutions and culture of the settled folks.
Relation
to European Huns :
According to Martin Schottky, the Hephthalites apparently had no
direct connection with the European Huns, but may have been causally
related with their movement. The tribes in question deliberately
called themselves "Huns" in order to frighten their enemies.
On the contrary, de la Vaissière considers that the Hepthalites
were part of the great Hunnic migrations of the 4th century CE from
the Altai region that also reached Europe, and that these Huns "were
the political, and partly cultural, heirs of the Xiongnu".
This massive migration was apparently triggered by climate change,
with aridity affecting the moutain grazing grounds of the Altay
Mountains during the 4th century CE. According to Amanda Lomazoff
and Aaron Ralby, there is a high synchronicity between the reign
of terror of Attila in the west and the southern expansion of the
Hephthalites, with extensive territorial overlap between the Huns
and the Hephtalites in Central Asia.
The
6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (History of
the Wars, Book I. ch. 3), related them to the Huns in Europe, but
insisted on cultural and sociological differences, highlighting
the sophistication of the Hephthalites :
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.
![](Hephthalite_sponsors_at_Bamiyan_(ceiling_of_the_38_meter_Buddha,_detail_of_royal_sponsors).jpg)
![](640px-Bamiyan_38_meter_Buddha_ceiling_King_Dignitaries_and_Buddhas_around_the_Sun_God.jpg)
![](640px-Les_Antiquites_Bouddhiques_de_Bamiyan_Planche_XXVII.jpg)
Probable Hephthalite royal couple in the murals of the Buddhas of
Bamiyan circa 600 CE. Their characteristics are similar to the figures
in Balalyk Tepe, such as the right side triangular lapel, hairstyles,
faces and ornaments. The Bamiyan complex developed under Hephthalite
rule.
Chinese chronicles :
Kurbanov presents a few other theories about Hephthalites' origins
in imperial Chinese chronicles, and makes no attempt to reconcile
them.
•
They were descendants
of the Jushi from Turfan;
• They
were descendants of the Greater Yuezhi tribes who remained behind
after the rest of the people fled the Xiongnu;
• They
were descendants of the Kangju;
• They
were descendants of the Gaoche.
Chinese chronicles state that they were originally a tribe of the
Yuezhi, living to the north of the Great Wall in Dzungaria, and
subject to the Rouran (Jwen-Jwen), as were some Turkic peoples at
the time. Their original name was Hoa or Hoa-tun; subsequently they
named themselves Ye-tha-i-li-to (more briefly Ye-tha), after their
royal family, which descended from one of the five Yuezhi families
which also included the Kushan.
The
Hephthalite was a vassal state to the Rouran Khaganate until the
beginning of the 5th century. Between Hephthalites and Rourans were
also close contacts, although they had different languages and cultures,
and Hephthalites borrowed much of their political organization from
Rourans. In particular, the title "Khan", which according
to McGovern was original to the Rourans, was borrowed by the Hephthalite
rulers. The reason for the migration of the Hephthalites southeast
was to avoid a pressure of the Rourans. Further, the Hephthalites
defeated the "Smaller Yuezhi" (Kidarites) in Bactria in
460 CE, and their leader Kidara led them to the south into northwestern
India.
Recent
reappraisal of Chinese sources :
According to a recent reappraisal of the Chinese sources by de la
Vaissière, the Hephthalites were first known to the Chinese
in 456 CE, when a Hephthalite embassy arrived at the Chinese court
of the Northern Wei. The earliest Chinese source on this encounter,
the near-contemporary chronicles of the Northern Wei (Weishu) as
quoted in the later Tongdian, reports that "they originated
from the north of the Chinese frontier and came down south from
the Jinshan (Altai) mountains" circa 360 CE, and that they
originated from the Iranian-speaking Da Yuezhi or from an Oghuric-speaking
tribe of the Gaoju or Tiele confederation, who in turn were related
to the earlier Dingling, once conquered by the Xiongnu. Weishu also
mentioned the linguistic and ethnic proximity between the Gaoju
and the Xiongnu. According to de la Vaissière, the mention
of the Da Yuezhi in this and many of the later Chinese chronicles
only stems from the fact that the Hephthalites had settled in the
Da-Yuezhi territory of Bactria, and only the Turkic Gaoju origin
of the Hephthalites should be retained as indicative of their primary
ethnicity.Later Chinese sources become quite confused about the
origins of the Hephthalites, and this may be due to their progessive
assimilation of Bactrian culture and language once they settled
there. Overall, de la Vaissière considers that the Hepthalites
were part of the great Hunnic migrations of the 4th century CE from
the Altai region that also reached Europe, and that these Huns "were
the political, and partly cultural, heirs of the Xiongnu".
Appearance
:
![](569px-Termez_Shirabad_Tavka_Kurgan_(Fortress)_5th-6th_cent_CE_Wall_Painting.jpg)
Another
painting of the Tokharistan school, from Tavka Kurgan. It is closely
related to Balalyk tepe, "especially in the treatment of the
face". Termez Archaeological Museum
The Hepthalites appears in several mural paintings in the area of
Tokharistan, especially in banquet scenes at Balalyk tepe and as
donors to the Buddha in the ceiling painting of the 35 meter Buddha
at the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Several of the figures in these paintings
have a characteristic appearance, with belted jackets with a unique
lapel of their tunic being folded on the right side, the cropped
hair, the hair accessories, their distinctive physionomy and their
round beardless faces. The figures at Bamiyan must represent the
donors and potentates who supported the building of the monumental
giant Buddh. These remarkable paintings participate "to the
artistic tradition of the Hephthalite ruling classes of Tukharistan".
The
paintings related to the Hephthalites have often been grouped under
the appelation of "Tokharistan school of art", or the
"Hephthalite stage in the History of Central Asia Art".
The paintings of Tavka Kurgan, of very high quality, also belong
to this school of art, and are closely related to other paintings
of the Tokharistan school such as Balalyk tepe, in the depiction
of clothes, and especially in the treatment of the faces.
This
"Hephthalite period" in art, with the caftans with a triangular
collar folded on the right, the particular cropped hairstyle, the
crowns with crescents, have been found in many of the areas historically
occupied and ruled by the Hephthalites, in Sogdia, Bamiyan (modern
Afghanistan), or in Kucha in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China).
This points to a "political and cultural unification of Central
Asia" with similar artistic styles and iconography, under the
rule of the Hephthalites.
History
:
The Hephthalites formed in Bactria around 450, or sometime before.
They displaced the Alchon Huns, who expanded into Gandhar and Northern
India. In 442 their tribes were fighting the Persians. In 456 a
Hephthalite embassy arrived in China. By 458 they were strong enough
to intervene in Persia.
Around
466 they probably took Transoxianan lands from the Kidarites with
Persian help but soon took from Persia the area of Balkh and eastern
Kushanshahr. In the second half of the fifth century they controlled
the deserts of Turkmenistan as far as the Caspian Sea and possibly
Merv. By 500 they held the whole of Bactria and the Pamirs and parts
of Afghanistan. In 509, they captured Sogdia and they took 'Sughd'
(the capital of Sogdiana).
To
the east, they captured the Tarim Basin and went as far as Urumqi.
Around
560 CE their empire was destroyed by an alliance of the First Turkic
Khaganate and the Sasanian Empire, but some of them remained as
local rulers in the region of Tokharistan for the next 150 years,
under the suzerainty of the Western Turks, followed by the Tokhara
Yabghus. Among the principalities which remained in Hephthalite
hands even after the Turkic overcame their territory were: Chaganian,
and Khuttal in the Vakhsh Valley.
Ascendancy
over the Sasanian Empire (442 - c. 530 CE) :
![](Hephthalites_coinage_imitating_Peroz_I_Late_5th_century_CE.jpg)
Hephthalite coinage: a close imitation of a coin type of the Sasanian
Emperor Peroz I (third period coinage of Peroz I, after 474 CE).
Late 5th century CE. This coinage is typically distinguished from
Sasanian issues by dots around the border and a more or less clear
in front of the ruler, abbreviation of "EBODALO", for
"Hepthalites".
![](Hephthalites_coin._Uncertain_ruler._Late_5th_century_CE.jpg)
Hephthalite
coin with Sasanian-style bust imitating Khavadh I, whom the Hephthalites
had helped to the Sasanian throne. Hephthalite tamgha Hephthalite
tamgha.jpg before the face of the ruler. A Hephthalite prince holding
a drinking cup appears on the reverse, with probable Bactrian legend
"EBODALO" to the right.Late 5th century CE.
The Hephthalites were originally vassals of the Rouran Khaganate
but split from their overlords in the early fifth century. The next
time they were mentioned was in Persian sources as foes of Yazdegerd
II (435–457), who from 442, fought 'tribes of the Hephthalites',
according to the Armenian Elisee Vardaped.
In
453, Yazdegerd moved his court east to deal with the Hephthalites
or related groups.
In
458, a Hephthalite king called Akhshunwar helped the Sasanian Emperor
Peroz I (458–484) gain the Persian throne from his brother.
Before his accession to the throne, Peroz had been the Sasanian
for Sistan in the far east of the Empire, and therefore had been
one of the first to enter into contact with the Hepthalites and
request their help.
The
Hephthalites may have also helped the Sasanians to eliminate another
Hunnic tribe, the Kidarites: by 467, Peroz I, with Hephthalite aid,
reportedly managed to capture Balaam and put an end to Kidarite
rule in Transoxiana once and for all. The weakened Kidarites had
to take refuge in the area of Gandhar.
Victories
over the Sasanian Empire (474 - 484 CE) :
Later however, from 474 CE, Peroz I fought three wars with his former
allies the Hephthalites. In the first two he himself was captured
and ransomed. Following his second defeat, he has to offer thirty
mules loaded with silver drachms to the Hephthalites, and also had
to leave his son Kavad as a hostage. The coinage of Peroz I in effect
flooded Tokharistan, taking precedence over all other Sasanian issues.
In
the third battle, at the Battle of Herat (484), he was killed, and
for the next two years the Hephthalites plundered and controlled
the eastern part of the Sasanian Empire. Perozduxt, the daughter
of Peroz, was captured and became a lady as the Hephtalite court.
She became pregnant, and had a daughter who would later marry her
uncle Kavad I. From 474 until the middle of the 6th century, the
Sasanian Empire paid tribute to the Hephthalites.
Bactria
came under formal Hephthalite rule from that time. Taxes were levied
by the Hephthalites over the local population: a contract in the
Bactrian language from the archive of the Kingdom of Rob, has been
found, which mentions taxes from the Hephthalites, requiring the
sale of land in order to pay these taxes. It is dated to 483/484
CE.
With
the Sasanian Empire paying tribute to the Hephthalites, from 474,
the Hephthalites themselves adopted the winged, triple-crescent
crowned Peroz I as the design for their coinage. Benefiting from
the influx of Sasanian silver coins, the Hephthalites did not develop
their own coinage: they either minted coins with the same designs
as the Sasanians, or simply countermarked Sasanian coins with their
own symbols. Exceptionally, one coin type deviates from the Sasanian
design, by showing the bust of a Hepthalite prince holding a drinking
cup. Overall, the Sasanians payed "an enormous tribute"
to the Hephthalites, until the 530s and the rise of Khosrow I.
Protectors
of Kavad :
Following their victory over Peroz I, the Hepthalites became protectors
and benefactors of his son Kavad I, as Balash, a brother of Peroz
took the Sasanian throne. In 488, a Hepthalite army vanquished the
Sasaniana army of Balash, and was able to put Kavadh I (488–496,
498–531) on the throne.
In
496–498, Kavadh I was overthrown by the nobles and clergy,
escaped and restored himself with a Hephthalite army. Hephthalite
troops helped Kavadh at a siege of Edessa.
Hephthalite
conquest of Sogdiana (479 CE) :
![](Sogdiana._Samarkand_(Pre-Ikhshid),_Hephthalite_tamgha_S2_on_the_reverse.jpg)
Local
coinage of Samarkand, Sogdia, with the Hepthalite tamgha on the
reverse
The Hephthalites may have conquered Sogdiana as early as 479 CE,
as this is the date of the last known embassy of the Sogdians to
China, or possibly a bit later around 509 CE, date of the last embassy
from Samarkand. As early as 484, the name of the famous Hephthalite
ruler Akhshunwar who defeated Peroz I may be understood as the Sogdian
title "’xs’wnd’r" ("power-holder").
The Hepthalites conquered the territory of Sogdiana, beyond the
Oxus, which was incorporated into their Empire. The Hepthalites
may have built major fortified Hippodamian cities (rectangular walls
with an orthogonal network of streets) in Sogdiana, such as Bukhara
and Panjikent, as they had also in Herat, continuing the city-building
efforts of the Kidarites. The wealth of the Sasanian ransoms and
tributes may have been reinvested in Sogdia, possibly explaining
the prosperity of the region from that time. Sogdia, at the center
of a new Silk Road between China to the Sasanian Empire and the
Byzantine Empire became extremely prosperous under its nomadic elites.
The Hephthalites took on the role of major intermediary on the Silk
Road, after their great predecessor the Kushans, and contracted
local Sogdians to carry on the trade of silk and other luxury goods
between the China Empire and the Sasanian Empire.
Because
of the Hephthalite occupation of Sogdia, the original coinage of
Sogdia came to be flooded by the influx Sasanian coins received
as tribute to the Hephthalites. This coinage then spread along the
Silk Road. The symbol of the Hephthalites appears on the residual
coinage of Samarkand, probably as a consequence of the Hephthalite
control of Sogdia, and becomes prominent in Sogdian coinage from
500 to 700 CE, ending with the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana.
Hephthalites
in Tokharistan :
![](Contract_in_the_Bactrian_language_from_the_archive_of_the_kingdom_of_Rob.jpg)
A
tax receipt in Bactrian for the Hephthalites in Tokharistan, 483
/ 484 CE
Following the destruction of the Kidarites in 466, the Hepthalites
probably expanded into the previous Kidarite territory of Tokharistan.
The presence of the Hepthalites in Tokharistan (Bactria) is securely
dated to 484 CE, date of a tax receipt from the Kingdom of Rob mentioning
the need to sell some land in order to pay Hephthalite taxes.
Around
this time, an Alchon Hun ruler named Mehama is know to have to have
been based in Eastern Tokharistan, possibly indicating a partition
of the region between the Hephthalites in western Tokharistan, centered
on Balkh, and the Alchon Huns in eastern Tokharistan, who would
then go on to expand into northern India.
Mehama
appears in a letter in the Bactrian language he wrote in 461-462
CE, where he describes himself as "Meyam, King of the people
of Kadag, the governor of the famous and prosperous King of Kings
Peroz". Kadag is Kadagstan, an area in southern Bactria, in
the region of Baghlan. Significantly, he presents himself as a vassal
of the Sasanian Empire king Peroz I, but Mehama was probably later
able to wrestle autonomy or even independence as Sasanian power
waned and he moved into India, with dire consequences for the Gupta
Empire.
Tarim
Basin (circa 480 – 550 CE) :
![](567px-Sixteen_Sword_Bearers_of_Kizil_Caves_(detail).jpg)
Kizil
Caves swordsmen in Hephthalite style. This mural was carbon dated
to 432 – 538 CE
![](Kizil,_mural_in_the_Cave_of_the_Painters,_with_painter_in_caftan_in_the_lower_right_corner_(and_enlarged),_circa_500_CE.jpg)
Painter
in single-lapel caftan, Kizil Caves, circa 500 CE (enlarged detail).
The label at his feet reads: "The Painter Tutuka"
In the late 5th century CE they expanded eastward through the Pamir
Mountains, which are comparatively easy to cross, as did the Kushans
before them, due to the presence of convenient plateaus between
high peaks. They occupied the western Tarim Basin (Kashgar and Khotan),
taking control of the area from the Ruanruans, who had been collecting
heavy tribute from the oasis cities, but were now weakening under
the assaults of the Chinese Wei Dynasty. In 479 they took the east
end of the Tarim Basin, around the region of Turfan. In 497–509,
they pushed north of Turfan to the Urumchi region. In the early
years of the 6th century, they were sending embassies from their
dominions in the Tarim Basin to the Wei Dynasty. The Hephthalites
continued to occupy the Tarim Basin until the end of their Empire,
circa 560 CE.
As
the territories ruled by the Hephthalites expanded into Central
Asia and the Tarim Basin, the art of the Hephthalites, characterized
by the clothing and hairstyles of the figures being represented,
also came to be used in the areas they ruled, such as Sogdiana,
Bamiyan or Kucha in the Tarim Basin (Kizil Caves, Kumtura Caves,
Subashi reliquary). In these areas appear dignitaries with caftans
with a triangular collar on the right side, crowns with three crescents,
some crowns with wings, and a unique hairstyle. Another marker is
the two-point suspension system for swords, which seems to have
been an Hephthalite innovation, and was introduced by them in the
territories they controled. The paintings from the Kucha region,
particularly the swordmen in the Kizil Caves, appear to have been
made during Hephthalite rule in the region, circa 480–550
CE. The influence of the art of Gandhara in some of the earliest
paintings at the Kizil Caves, dated to circa 500 CE, is considered
as a consequence of the political unification of the area between
Bactria and Kucha under the Hephthalites.
The
early Turks of the First Turkic Khaganate then took control of the
Turfan and Kucha areas from around 560 CE, and, in alliance with
the Sasanian Empire, became instrumental in the fall of the Hepthalite
Empire.
End
of the Imperial Hephthalites (560 CE) :
![](524px-thumbnail.jpg)
Hephthalite
ambassadors (Baiti and Uar ethnicities) at the Chinese court of
Emperor Yuan of Liang in his capital Jingzhou in 526 – 539
CE. Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang, 11th century Song
copy.
After Kavad I, the Hephthalites seem to have shifted their attention
away from the Sasanian Empire, and Kavad's successor Khosrow I (531–579)
was able to resume an expansionist policy to the east. In 552, the
Göktürks took over Mongolia, formed the First Turkic Khaganate,
and by 558 reached the Volga.
Circa
555–567, the Turks of the First Turkic Khaganate and the Sasanians
under Khosrow I allied against the Hephthalites and defeated them
after an eight-day battle near Qarshi, the Battle of Bukhara, perhaps
in 557.These events put an end to the Hephthalite Kingdom. According
to al-Tabari, Khosrow I had managed, through his expansionsit policy,
to take control of "Sind, Bust, Al-Rukkhaj, Zabulistan, Tukharistan,
Dardistan, and Kabulistan" as he ultimately defeated the Hephthalites
with the help of the First Turkic Khaganate.
The
allies then fought each other and c. 571 drew a border along the
Oxus, with the north of the Oxus belonging to the Turks, and the
south belonging to the Sasanians. After the battle, the Hephthalites
withdrew to Bactria and replaced king Gatfar with Faghanish, the
ruler of Chaghaniyan. Small Hephthalite principalities remained
in the territory of today's Afghanistan, in the areas of Herat and
Kabul. What happened in the Tarim Basin is not clear.
By
581 or before, the western part of the First Turkic Khaganate separated
and became the Western Turkic Khaganate.
Raids
into the Sasanid Empire (7th century) :
Circa 600, the Hephthalites were raiding the Sasanian Empire as
far as Spahan in central Iran. The Hephthalites issued numerous
coins imitating the coinage of Khosrow II, adding on the obverse
a Hephthalite signature in Sogdian and a Tamgha symbol Hephthalite
tamgha.jpg. Circa 606/607 CE, Khosrow recalled Smbat IV Bagratuni
from Persian Armenia and sent him to Iran to repel the Hephthalites.
Smbat, with the aid of a Persian prince named Datoyean, repelled
the Hephthalites from Persia, and plundered their domains in eastern
Khorasan, where Smbat is said to have killed their king in single
combat. Khosrow then gave Smbat the honorific title Khosrow Shun
("the Joy or Satisfaction of Khosrow"), while his son
Varaztirots II Bagratuni received the honorific name Javitean Khosrow
("Eternal Khosrow").
Decline :
![](Panjikent_mural,_Hermitage_Museum.jpg)
The
triple-crescent crown in this Penjikent mural (top left corner),
is considered as a Hephthalite marker. 7th-early 8th century
The area around the Oxus in Bactria contained numerous Hephthalites
principalities, remnants of the great Hephthalite Empire destroyed
by the alliance of the Turks and the Sasanians. They are reported
in the Zarafshan valley, Chaghaniyan, Khuttal, Termez, Balkh, Badghis,
Herat and Kabul.
From
625 CE, the territory of the Hephthalites was taken over by the
Western Turks, forming the new entity of the Tokhara Yabghus. The
Tokhara Yabghus or "Yabghus of Tokharistan" (Chinese:
pinyin: Tuhuoluó Yèhù), were a dynasty of Western
Turk sub-kings, with the title "Yabghus", who ruled from
625 CE south of the Oxus river, in the area of Tokharistan and beyond,
with some smaller polities surviving in the area of Badakshan until
758 CE. Their legacy was extended to the southeast until the 9th
century CE, with the Turk Shahis and the Zunbils.
Circa
651, during the Arab conquest, the ruler of Badghis was involved
in the fall of the last Sassanian Shah Yazdegerd III. Circa 705,
the Hephthalite rulers of Badghis and Chaghaniyan surrendered to
the Arabs under Qutaiba ibn Muslim. Some remnants, not necessarily
dynastic, of the Hephthalite confederation would be incorporated
into the Göktürks, as an Old Tibetan document, dated to
the 8th century, mentioned the tribe Heb-dal among 12 Dru-gu tribes
ruled by Eastern Turkic khagan Bug-chor, i.e. Qapaghan Qaghan.
Religion
and culture :
![](411px-The_Hunter_King_from_Kakrak,_a_valley_next_to_Bamiyan._Wall_paintings_from_the_7th-8th_century,_Kabul_Museum.jpg)
The
Buddhist "Hunter King" from Kakrak, a valley next to Bamiyan
is often presented as a result of Hephthalite influence, especially
in reference to the "triple-crescent crown". Wall paintings
from the 7th–8th century, Kabul Museum.
They were said to practice polyandry and artificial cranial deformation.
Chinese sources said they worshiped 'foreign gods', 'demons', the
'heaven god' or the 'fire god'. The Gokturks told the Byzantines
that they had walled cities. Some Chinese sources said that they
had no cities and lived in tents. Litvinsky tries to resolve this
by saying that they were nomads who moved into the cities they had
conquered. There were some government officials but central control
was weak and local dynasties paid tribute.
According
to Song Yun, the Chinese Buddhist monk who visited the Hephthalite
territory in 540 and "provides accurate accounts of the people,
their clothing, the empresses and court procedures and traditions
of the people and he states the Hephthalites did not recognize the
Buddhist religion and they preached pseudo gods, and killed animals
for their meat." It is reported that some Hephthalites often
destroyed Buddhist monasteries but these were rebuilt by others.
According to Xuanzang, the third Chinese pilgrim who visited the
same areas as Song Yun about 100 years later, the capital of Chaghaniyan
had five monasteries.
Buddhas
of Bamiyan
![](574px-Smaller_38_m_(125_ft)__Eastern__Buddha_of_Bamiyan,_built_between_544_to_595_CE.jpg)
Smaller
38 meter "Eastern" Buddha
![](Buddha_of_Bamiyan.jpg)
Larger
55 meter "Western" Buddha
The Buddhas of Bamiyan, carbon-dated to 544-595 CE and 591-644 CE
respectively, were built under Hephthalite rule in the region. Murals
of probable Hephthalite rulers as royal sponsors appear in the paintings
of the ceiling over the smaller Buddha.
According to historian André Wink, "...in the Hephthalite
dominion Buddhism was predominant but there was also a religious
sediment of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism." Balkh had some
100 Buddhist monasteries and 30,000 monks. Outside the town was
a large Buddhist monastery, later known as Naubahar.
There
were Christians among the Hephthalites by the mid-6th century, although
nothing is known of how they were converted. In 549, they sent a
delegation to Aba I, the patriarch of the Church of the East, asking
him to consecrate a priest chosen by them as their bishop, which
the patriarch did. The new bishop then performed obeisance to both
the patriarch and the Sasanian king, Khosrow I. The seat of the
bishopric is not known, but it may have been Badghis–Qadištan,
the bishop of which, Gabriel, sent a delegate to the synod of Patriarch
Ishoyahb I in 585. It was probably placed under the metropolitan
of Herat. The church's presence among the Hephthalites enabled them
to expand their missionary work across the Oxus. In 591, some Hephthalites
serving in the army of the rebel Bahram Chobin were captured by
Khosrow II and sent to the Roman emperor Maurice as a diplomatic
gift. They had Nestorian crosses tattooed on their foreheads.
The
Alchon Huns (formerly considered as Hephthalites) in South Asia
:
![](hep.jpg)
Find
spots of epigraphic inscriptions indicating local control by the
Alchon Huns in India between 500 - 530 CE
The
Alchon Huns, who invaded northern India and were known there as
"Huns", have long been considered as a part or a sub-division
of the Hephthalites, or as their eastern branch, but now tend to
be considered as a separate entity, who may have been displaced
by the settlement of the Hephthalites in Bactria. Historians such
as Beckwith, referring to Étienne de la Vaissière,
say that the Hephthalites were not necessarily one and the same
as the Huns (Svet Hun).
According
to de la Vaissiere, the Hephthalites are not directly identified
in classical sources alongside that of the Huns. They were initially
based in the Oxus basin in Central Asia and established their control
over Gandhar 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.
In
India, these invading people were called Huns, or "Svet Hun"
(White Huns) in Sanskrit. The Huns are mentioned in several ancient
texts such as the Ramayan, Mahabharat, Purans, and Kalidas’s
Raghuvansh. The first Huns, probably Kidarites, were initially defeated
by Emperor Skandgupt of the Gupta Empire in the 5th century CE.
In
the early 6th century CE, the Alchon Hun Huns in turn overran the
part of the Gupta Empire that was to their southeast and had conquered
Central and North India. Gupta Emperor Bhanugupt defeated the Huns
under Toraman in 510, and his son Mihirkul was repulsed by Yashodharman
in 528 CE. The Huns were driven out of India by the kings Yasodharman
and Narasimhagupt, during the early 6th century.
Possible
descendants :
![](353px-Delegate_from_Chaganian_in_the_Afrasiab_murals_650_CE.jpg)
Ambassador
from Chaganian visiting king Varkhuman of Samarkand 648–651
CE. Afrasiyab murals, Samarkand. Chaganian was an "Hephthalite
buffer principality" between Denov and Termez.
A number of groups may have descended from the Hephthalites.
•
Pashtuns
:
The Hephthalites may have contributed to the ethnogenesis of Pashtuns.
Yu. V. Gankovsky, a Soviet historian on Afghanistan, stated: "Pashtun
began as a union of largely East Iranian tribes, which became the
initial ethnic stratum of the Pashtun ethnogenesis dating from the
middle of the first millennium CE, and is connected with the dissolution
of the Hephthalite confederacy."
•
Durrani
:
The Durrani Pashtuns of Afghanistan were called "Abdali"
before 1747. According to linguist Georg Morgenstierne, their
tribal name Abdali may have "something to do with" the
Hephthalite. This hypothesis was endorsed by historian Aydogdy
Kurbanov, who indicated that after the collapse of the Hephthalite
confederacy, they likely assimilated into different local populations
and that the Abdali may be one of the tribes of Hephthalite origin.
• Khalaj
: The
Khalaj people are first mentioned in the 7th–9th centuries
in the area of Ghazni, Qalati Ghilji, and Zabulistan in present-day
Afghanistan. They spoke Khalaj Turkic. Al-Khwarizmi mentioned them
as a remnant tribe of the Hephthalites. However, according to linguist
Sims-Williams, archaeological documents do not support the suggestion
that the Khalaj were the Hephthalites' successors, while according
to historian V. Minorsky, the Khalaj were "perhaps only politically
associated with the Hephthalites." Some of the Khalaj were
later Pashtunized, after which they transformed into the Pashtun
Ghilji tribe.
• Kanjina
:
a Saka tribe linked to the Indo-Iranian Kumijis and incorporated
into the Hephthalites. Kanjinas were possibly Turkicized later,
as indicated by al-Khwarizmi. However, Bosworth and Clauson contended
that al-Khwarizmi was simply using "Turks" "in the
vague and inaccurate sense".
• Karluks
:
(or Qarlughids) were reported as settled in Ghazni and Zabulistan,
present-day Afghanistan, in the thirteenth century. Many Muslim
geographers identified "Karluks" Khallukh ~ Kharlukh with
"Khalajes" Khalaj from confusion, as the two names were
similar and these two groups dwelt near each other.
• Abdal
is a name associated with the Hephthalites. It is an alternate name
for the Äynu people.
•
According to Orhan Köprülü, Abdal of Turkey might
be descended from the Hepthalites. Albert von Le Coq mentions
the relation between Abdals of Adana and Äynus of East Turkestan,
by them having some common words, and by both referring to themselves
as Abdals and speaking an exclusive language among themselves.It
also appears as a sub-tribe of the Chowdur Turkmen, Kazakhs and
Volga Bulgars.
• Rajputs
: The
Rajputs may have begun as assimilation of Hephthalites in Indian
society.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Hephthalites