The Hunas in central Asia and India origin rise and early movements

Abstract

Emanating from the steppes, one equestrian horde endowed with a preternatural voracity for carnage left an indelible mark on the annals of world history. They were the Hand#363;and#7751;as. The variegated gens of the Hand#363;and#7751;as that caused veritable alterations in the political balance of the most powerful empires, all drew blood from the Xiongnus. The exodus of a branch of these Xiongnus caused ripples throughout Europe, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent during the period of Late Antiquity. Some vestiges of the Xiongnus persisted in China and Mongolia forming the empires of Ch ien Chao and Later Chao, and kingdoms of Xia and Northern Liang. The true inheritors of the spirit of Xiongnus, though, were the Juan-Juan in Mongolia and the Western (black) Huns in Europe. A defiant group of Hand#363;and#7751;as moved south from the Altai in the 350s CE, whom the Persians collectively labelled as Xionites, and at a later stage in the fifth century CE were all ruled by a new royal clan called Hephthalites (White Hand#363;and#7751;as). White Hand#363;and#7751;as, the troublers of the tranquility of Persians, were tamed by Chandragupta II Vikramand#257;ditya and Skandagupta of the Gupta empire. The Aulikara duplet of Prakand#257;and#347;adharman and Yaand#347;odharman derailed the Alchon juggernaut of the newlinefather son dyad of Toramand#257;and#7751;a and Mihirakula and ensured that north India did not come under the militant ascendancy of a notorious horde. They even persevered the martial aggression of the Maukharis and the Pushyabhand#363;tis and still managed to remain a patent force in the social and political life of Northern India during the early medieval period as is evident from their mention in a plethora of epigraphical and literary records. The Hand#363;and#7751;as, during the medieval period of Indian history, ceased to exist as a political entity and got assimilated into the Indian social system. This thesis is a modest attempt in the preparation of a sequential study of the Hand#363;and#7751;as incorporating their origin, divarication, exodus and political history of the various Hunnic tribes of continental Eurasia and the Indian subcontinent.