| TUSHAR The kingdom of Tushar according to Ancient Indian literature, such as the epic Mahabharat was a land located beyond north-west India. In the Mahabharat, its inhabitants, known as the Tushars, are depicted as malechs ("barbarians") and fierce warriors.
Modern scholars generally see Tushar as synonymous with the historical "Tukhar", also known as Tokhar or Tokharistan – another name for Bactria. This area was the stronghold of the Kushan Empire, which dominated India between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE.
Tukhar :
This section does not cite any sources.
Its inhabitants were known later to Ancient Greek scholars as the Tokharoi and to the Ancient Romans as Tochari. Modern scholars appear to have conflated the Tukhar with the so-called Tocharians – an Indo-European people who lived in the Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China, until the 1st millennium. When the Tocharian languages of the Tarim were rediscovered in the early 20th century, most scholars accepted a hypothesis that they were linked to the Tukhar (who were known to have migrated to Central Asia from China, with the other founding Kushan peoples ). However, the subjects of the Tarim kingdoms appear to have referred to themselves by names such as Agni, Kuci and Krorän. These peoples are also known to have spoken centum languages, whereas the Tukhar of Bactria spoke a satem language.
The Tukhar were among Indo-European tribes that conquered Central Asia during the 2nd century BCE, according to both Chinese and Greek sources. Ancient Chinese sources refer to these tribes collectively as the Da Yuezhi ("Greater Yuezhi"). In subsequent centuries the Tukhar and other tribes founded the Kushan Empire, which dominated Central and South Asia.
The account in Mahabharat (Mbh) 1:85 depicts the Tushars as malechs ("barbarians") and descendants of Anu, one of the cursed sons of King Yayati. Yayati's eldest son Yadu, gave rise to the Yadavs and his youngest son Puru to the Pauravs that includes the Kurus and Panchals. Only the fifth son of Puru's line was considered to be the successors of Yayati's throne, as he cursed the other four sons and denied them kingship.
The Pauravs inherited the Yayati's original empire and stayed in the Gangetic plain who later created the Kuru and Panchal Kingdoms. They were followers of the Vedic culture. The Yadavs made central and western India their stronghold.
The descendants of Anu, known as the Anavas, are said to have migrated to Iran.
Various regional terms and proper names may have originated with, or been derived from, the Tushars including: Takhar Province in Afghanistan; the Pakistani village of Thakra; the surname Thakkar, found across India; the Bengali surname Thakur, including the Tagore family; the Marathi surname Thakere, sometimes anglicised as Thackeray; the Takhar Jat clan in Rajasthan, and; the Thakar tribe of Maharashtra. It is also possible that the Thakor (or Thakore) caste of Gujarat, the Thakar caste of Maharashtra and; the title Thakur originated with names such as Tushar/Tukhar. The Sanskrit word thakkura "administrator" may be the source of some such names, or may itself be derived from one of them.
Indian
literature :
The Tushars along with numerous other tribes from the north-west, including the Bahliks, Kirats, Pahlavs, Parads, Darads, Kambojs, Shakas, Kanks, Romaks, Yavans, Trigarts, Kshudraks, Malavs, Angs, and Vangs had joined Yudhisthir at his Rajasuya ceremony and brought him numerous gifts such as camels, horses, cows, elephants and gold.
Later the Tushars, Sakas and Yavans had joined the military division of the Kambojs and participated in the Mahabharat war on the side of the Kauravs. Karna Parv of Mahabharat describes the Tushars as very ferocious and wrathful warriors.
At one place in the Mahabharat, the Tushars are mentioned along with the Shakas and the Kanks. At another place they are in a list with the Shakas, Kanks and Pahlavs. And at other places are mentioned along with the Shakas, Yavans and the Kambojs, etc.
The Tushar kingdom is mentioned in the traves of Pandavs in the northern regions beyond the Himalayas:- Crossing the difficult Himalayan regions, and the countries of China, Tukhar, Darad and all the climes of Kulind, rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men reached the capital of Suvahu (3:176).
The Mahabharat makes clear that Vedic Hindus did not know the origins of the Malech tribes, who were highly skilled in weapons, warfare and material sciences, but never followed the Vedic rites properly. That the Vedic people were dealing with foreign tribes is evident in a passage from Mahabharat (12:35). It asks which duties that should be performed by the Yavans, the Kirats, the Gandharvs, the Chinas, the Savars, the Barbars, the Sakas, the Tushars, the Kanks, the Pathavs, the Andhras, the Madraks, the Paundras, the Pulinds, the Ramaths, the Kambojs, and several new castes of Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and the Shudras, that had sprung up in the dominions of the Arya kings.
The kings of the Pahlavs and the Darads and the various tribes of the Kirats and Yavans and Sakras and the Harahuns and Chinas and Tukhars and the Sindhavs and the Jaguds and the Ramaths and the Munds and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tangans and the Kekays and the Malavs and the inhabitants of Kasmir, were present in the Rajsuya sacrifice of Yudhishthir the king of the Pandavs (3:51). The Sakas and Tukhats and Tukhars and Kanks and Romaks and men with horns bringing with them as tribute numerous large elephants and ten thousand horses, and hundreds and hundreds of millions of gold (2:50).
The Tushars were very ferocious warriors. The Yavans and the Sakas, along with the Chulikas, stood in the right wing of the Kaurav battle-array (6:75). The Tushars, the Yavans, the Khas, the Darvabhisars, the Darads, the Sakas, the Kamaths, the Ramaths, the Tangans the Andhraks, the Pulinds, the Kirats of fierce prowess, the Malechs, the Mountaineers, and the races hailing from the sea-side, all endued with great wrath and great might, delighting in battle and armed with maces, these all—united with the Kurus and fought wrathfully for Duryodhan’s sake (8:73). A number of Saka and Tukhar and Yavan horsemen, accompanied by some of the foremost combatants among the Kambojs, quickly rushed against Arjun (8:88). F. E Pargiter writes that the Tushars, along with the Yavans, Shakas, Khas and Darads had collectively joined the Kamboj army of Sudakshin Kamboj and had fought in Kurukshetra war under latter's supreme command.
In
the Purans and other Indian texts :
Puranic literature further states that the Tushars and other tribes like the Gandhars, Shakas, Pahlavs, Kambojs, Parads, Yavans, Barbars, Khas, and Lampaks, etc., would be invaded and annihilated by Lord Kalki at the end of Kal Yug. And they were annihilated by king Pramiti at the end of Kal Yug.
According to Vayu Puran and Matsya Puran, river Chakshu (Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the countries of Tushars, Lampaks, Pahlavs, Parads and the Shakas, etc.
The Brihat-Katha-Manjari of Pt Kshemendra relates that around 400 CE, Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupt II) (r. 375-413/15 CE), had "unburdened the sacred earth by destroying the barbarians" like the Tushars, Shakas, Malechs, Kambojs, Yavans, Parasiks, Huns etc.
The Rajtarangini of Kalhan records that king Laliditya Muktapid, the 8th-century ruler of Kashmir had invaded the tribes of the north and after defeating the Kambojs, he immediately faced the Tushars. The Tushars did not give a fight but fled to the mountain ranges leaving their horses in the battlefield. This shows that during the 8th century CE, a section of the Tushars was living as neighbours of the Kambojs near the Oxus valley.
By the 6th century CE, the Brihat Samhita of Varahamihir also locates the Tushars with Barukachch (Bhroach) and Barbaricum (on the Indus Delta) near the sea in western India. The Romaks formed a colony of the Romans near the port of Barbaricum in Sindhu Delta. This shows that a section of the Tushars had also moved to western India and was living there around Vrahamihir's time.
There is also a mention of Tushar-Giri (Tushar mountain) in the Mahabharat, Harshacharit of Ban Bhat and Kavyamimansa of Rajshekhar.
Kingdom :
Tushar
:
Likewise the Atharv Ved also associates the Tushars with the Bahlikas (Bactrians), Yavans / Yonas (Greeks) and Sakas (Indo-Scythians), as following: "Saka.Yavan.Tushar. Bahlikashch". It also places the Bahliks as neighbors of the Kambojs. This may suggest suggests that the Tushars were neighbours to these peoples, possibly in Transoxiana.
Later
Chinese sources :
During the time of Xuanzang, Tukhar was divided into 27 administrative units, each having its separate chieftain.
Tibetan
chronicles :
References
in association with the Kambojs :
Before its occupation by the Tukhar, Badakshan formed a part of ancient Kamboj (Param Kamboj) but, after its occupation by the Tukhar in the 2nd century BCE, Badakshan and some other territories of the Kamboj became part of Tukhar.
Around the 4th to 5th century CE, when the fortunes of the Tukhar finally waned, the original population of Kambojs re-asserted itself, and the region again started to be called by its ancient name, i.e. "Kamboj", though northwestern parts still retained the name of Duhuoluo or Tukharistan in Chinese at least until the time of the Tang Dynasty.
There are several later references to Kamboj of the Pamirs/Badakshan. Raghuvamsh - a 5th-century Sanskrit play by Kalidas, attests their presence on river Vamkshu (Oxus) as neighbors to the Huns (Raghu: 4.68-70). As seen above, the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang mentions the Kiumito/Kumito living to the north of the Oxus, which may refer to Komedai of Ptolemy. which, as noted above, has been equated to Kamboj mentioned in Sanskrit texts.
The 8th-century king of Kashmir, King Lalitadiya, invaded the Kambojs of the "far-spreading northern region" (uttarapath) as mentioned in the Rajtarangini of Kalhan. After encountering the Kambojs, Lalitadiya's army approached the Tuhkharas who "fled to the mountain ranges leaving behind their horses." According to D. C. Sircar, the Kambojs here are bracketed with the Tukhars and are shown as living in the eastern parts of the Oxus valley as neighbors of the Tukhars who were living in the western parts of that Valley. The 10th century CE Kavyamimamsa of Rajshekhar lists the Tushars with several other tribes of the Uttarapath viz: the Shakas, Kekeys, Vokkans, Huns, Kambojs, Bahliks, Pahlavs, Limpaks, Kuluts, Tangans, Turusaks, Barbars, Ramaths etc. This mediaeval era evidence shows that the Tushars were different from the Turushaks with whom they are often confused by some writers.
Possible
connection to the Rishiks :
If the Rishiks of the Mahabharat were same as the Tukhars, then the observation from George Rawlinson is in line with the Mahabharat statement which also closely allies the Rishikas with the Param Kambojs and places them both in the Shakdvip. The Kambojs (i.e. the southern branch of the Param Kambojs), are the same as the classical Assaceni/Assacani (Aspasio/Assakenoi of Arrian) and the Asvayan and Asvakayan of Panini.
They are also mentioned by Megasthenes who refers to them as Osii (= Asii), Asoi, Aseni etc., all living on upper Indus in eastern Afghanistan. The names indicate their connection with horses and horse culture. These Osii, Asoi/Aseni clans represent earlier migration from the Param Kamboj (furthest Kamboj) land, lying between Oxus and Jaxartes, which happened prior to Achamenid rule. Per epic evidence, Param Kamboj was the land of the Loh-Kamboj-Rishiks.
The Rishiks are said by some scholars to be the same people as the Yuezhi. The Kushans are also said by some to be the same people. Kalhan (c. 1148-1149 CE) claims that the three kings he calls Huska, Juuka and Kanisk (commonly interpreted to refer to Huvishk, Vasishk and Kanishk I) were "descended from the Turuska race". Aurel Stein says that the Tukhars (Tokharoi/Tokarai) were a branch of the Yuezhi. P. C. Bagchi holds that the Yuezhi, Tocharioi and Tushar were identical. If he is correct, the Rishiks, Tushars/Tukhars (Tokharoi/Tokaroi), the Kushans and the Yuezhi, were probably either a single people, or members of a confederacy. Sabh Parv of Mahabharat states that the Param Kambojs, Lohs and the Rishiks were allied tribes. Like the "Param Kambojs", the Rishiks of the Transoxian region are similarly styled as "Param Rishiks". Based on the syntactical construction of the Mahabharat verse 5.5.15 and verse 2.27.25, Ishwa Mishra believe that the Rishiks were a section of the Kambojs i.e. Param Kambojs. V. S. Aggarwal too, relates the Param Kambojs of the Trans-Pamirs to the Rishiks of the Mahabharat and also places them in the Shakdvip (or Scythia).
According to Dr B. N. Puri and some other scholars, the Kambojs were a branch of the Tukhars. Based on the above Rishik-Kamboj connections, some scholars also claim that the Kambojs were a branch of the Yuezhi themselves. Dr Moti Chander also sees a close ethnic relationship between the Kambojs and the Yuezhi.
Modern scholars are still debating the details of these connections without coming to any firm consensus.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/ |