ancient history of central asia-kidarites kingdom.pdf

8/11/2019 Ancient History of Central Asia-Kidarites Kingdom.pdf

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Ancient History of Central AsiaKidarites Kingdom (Article No 04)

*Not a copyright material, only a study material Compiled By: Adesh Katariya

Ancient History of Central Asia

(Article no 04: Notes on Central Asian History during Kiderites Huna)

Imp.Note: Till now many researches publoished on the history ofGreat yuezhi tribe but schollers are not in position to clearify allhappinings in a series. In this article, we are trying to compile allhappinings as per their timings. We also would like to clarify that thematerial under this article is not a copyright matter and mainmotive of this article is, to attract good scholers to discuss andresearch on the great Yuezhi Tribes and its clans. We are proposingcurrent forms of Clans of Gurjars v/s Yuezhi Tribe origin Clans(described on Socond Page).

Compiled By:

Adesh Katariya

(Chemical Technologist and History Researcher)

Email: [email protected] , Contact no: +91 9540992618


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Proposed descendent Clans (Gotras) /current names of Ancient Clans of Yuezhi (Gurjars were called Yuezhi in Chineese Literature) Origin:

Clan of Gurjars Names in Old/Foreign Literature Main Rulling Area To be defined Next version

Ruling Clan of Great Yuezhi Tarim Basin, China

Kashana/Kusanna Kushana North west India, Pakistan

Khatana Kings of Khotan under Kushana Empire

Khotan ,Western China

Bokkan Xi m ( ) Walkhan ,Northeast edge of Afghanistan

Nagadi/Naggars Nagar of Kashmir under Kushana empire

Kashmir

Bhatti Bhati of Doab under Kushana Kingdom

Western UP State , India

Kataria/Kadara/Kidaria

Kidarite kingdom under kink Kidara

Afganistan

To be defined Next version Shuangmi ( )

Shughnan,Badakhshan Province, Afganistan

To be defined Next version Xidun ( )

Balkh, Northern Afghanistan.

To be defined Next version D m ( )

Termez,southernmost part of Uzbekistan

Huna White Huna/Hepthelites Central Asia

To be defined Later version Xionites

Afganistan and Pakistan

Karhana/Kara Huna Northern Huna/Ak(Black) Khazar Georgia and West Asia

Panwar /Parmar Gurjar Pratihar Northern and Central India

Chandela/Chandila Chandela Central India To be defined Next version Chalukya

West and South India

Chawda Chap West and South India

Chechi Chechi Chechenya, North West Asia To be defined Next

version

Gurja/Gurza

Georgia, Gurjistan

Bad Gujar Bad Gujar West India

Tanwar/Tomer Tanwar Delhi, india

Mavi Mavai Mavana region, Meerut , India


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Kiderites:

The Kidarites, according to V. Masson, were the Kushans. Kidara was one of the smallKushan rulers and conquered Bactria from the Sasanians, creating his own state, which issometimes named in the historical literature as the state of the Small Kushans.The name of Kidara, the founder of the dynasty, is attested in Chinese transcription asJiduoluo (in the Weishu), in Sanskrit as Kidara or Kid ra (on coin legends in Br hm script;the length of the second syllable is uncertain), and in Sogdian as ky r(on coin legends). TheBactrian form of the name is attested as Kidiro and K ddiro(Sims-Williams 2005). In Greekwe have only the ethnonym: Ounnoi KidaritaiKidarite Huns. So far no convincingetymology has been proposed. Kidariten only be understood as a dynastic name, whichderives from the name of their king kidara. Origionally they are one of the group fromancient Yuezhi tribe. The gold coins of the Kidariten are inspired by the Kushan style and

suggest that the Kidariten regarded themselves as direct descendants of the Kushan rulers.Lerkh found the monument of an ancient sovereign of the Kidarites here in the name of thecity in Khorezm, Kerder (Kurder), the king having given his name to this city. Veselovsky,complying with the opinion of Lerkh, adds that the name of Kidarites was preserved beforeour days by the Kazakhs of the smaller horde (Small Juz), who were divided into threegenerations, and in one of them, Semirodsky, one of the groups carries the name Kerderi.

Various Theories of Kidarites by Historians:

According to E. Zeimal, Kidarites were a group that were named in the sources as theChionites, Hunas, Da Yuezhi, Hon and the reason for this is the fact that they are calledKidarite Huns (or Huns who are Kidarites) by Priskus of Panium. Therefore it was theChionites (actually meaning Kidarites) who fought with Shapur II against Byzantium in thesecond part of the 4th century AD.

A. Bivar notes that the Kidarites were a dominant confederacy of Hunnish tribes anddesignating a political, rather than an ethnic grouping. It is also widely accepted that Kataria(Kadaria) Clan of Gurjar tribe in India and Pakistan are descendent of King Kidara (King ofKiderites ).

According to Harmatta the Kidarites were identical with the Chionites (Xy ns). In hisopinion this can be proved by one of the remarks of Joshua Stylite relating to the successfulfights of Peroz against the Kidarites, in that the rivals of the Sasanian king were xiyon-s,that is hun-s.


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In other studies he equates the Chionites and the Kidarites, considering that one of the rulersof the Chionites named Kidara began to mint coins declaring himself as king of the Kushans.The most precise information concerning the beginning of the Kidarites as an imperial power

is in the Weishu : The king of the Great Yuezhi called Jiduoluo, brave and fierce, eventuallydispatched his troops southwards and invaded North India, crossing the great mountains tosubjugate the five kingdoms which were located to the north of Gandh ra (transl. based onKuwayama 2002, p. 124). This information most probably reached China in 437; in any casethe invasion took place after 412, since the Chinese pilgrim Faxian who visited Gandh ra atthat time does not mention any such event. The Byzantine chronicler Priscus mentions theKidarite Huns for the first time in 456 as adversaries of the Sasanian king Yazdgird II(438-457), who had discontinued a tribute paid by his predecessors to Irans easternneighbours ( Exc. De Leg. Rom. 8, ed. Blockley 1983, pp. 336-7). Two earlier defeats of thelatter king on the border of Tukharist n are mentioned by azar Parpetsi (transl. Thomson1982, pp. 294, 302-3); his foes, though conventionally styled Kushans, are probably

already the Kidarites. They might have been already involved in the eastern wars of Wahr mV (420-438), but their name does not appear in sources pertaining to his reign.

Connection with Hepthelites:

In the opinion of Bartold, the Hephthalites were descendants of the Yuezhi. In this questionhis opinion is close to the version of Saint Marten, however, Bartold identifies theHephthalites with the Kidarites, but the Chionites are supposed to have come from Kazakhsteppes, which the Chinese referred to as the Yuebans. According to Bartold, the Yuebans

were Huns living in the 4th century - 5th centuries AD in the Kazakh steppe northward fromthe Wusuns. The Yuebans were displaced to the south by their enemy, the Rourans; under

pressure of this folk they also began to advance southwards on the Hephthalites, comingfrom the Yuezhi, and their king Kidara was leader of the Yuezhi, so the Byzantine historianof 5th century, Priskus of Panium, refers to the Hephthalites as Huns-Kidarites.52 TheYueban possession was located in the valley of the river Ili and the Yuebans were a branch ofthe Hephthalites

The most precise information concerning the beginning of the Kidarites as an imperial poweris in the Weishu : The king of the Great Yuezhi called Jiduoluo, brave and fierce, eventuallydispatched his troops southwards and invaded North India, crossing the great mountains tosubjugate the five kingdoms which were located to the north of Gandhara (transl. based onKuwayama 2002, p. 124). This information most probably reached China in 437; in any casethe invasion took place after 412, since the Chinese pilgrim Faxian who visited Gandh ra atthat time does not mention any such event. The Byzantine chronicler Priscus mentions the


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Kidarite Huns for the first time in 456 as adversaries of the Sasanian king Yazdgird II(438-457), who had discontinued a tribute paid by his predecessors to Irans easternneighbours ( Exc. De Leg. Rom. 8, ed. Blockley 1983, pp. 336-7). Two earlier defeats of thelatter king on the border of Tukharist n are mentioned by azar Parpetsi (transl. Thomson1982, pp. 294, 302-3); his foes, though conventionally styled Kushans, are probablyalready the Kidarites. They might have been already involved in the eastern wars of Wahr mV (420-438), but their name does not appear in sources pertaining to his reign.

Therefore, as far as narrative sources are concerned, all information seems to point to thesame period. On Gandh ran coin issues the ruler named Kidara assumed as his second crownthat of Yazdgird II (Gbl 1967, issues 11-14). In this perspective Kidara would have emergedin Tukharist n in the 420s or 430s and then crossed to Gandh ra via its northern valleys.

There is, nevertheless, a consensus among numismatists (Gbl 1967, Cribb 1990, Alram1996) to place the first king named Kidara in K pi as early as c. 390. This identificationrests upon the reading * kidaro on the last series of gold coins present in the hoard in TepeMaranj n near Kabul, buried at about this date. The reading is not incompatible with what isactually written on the corrupt legend ( kioooooo ), but there is some room for doubt (for analternative see Grenet 2002, p. 206).

There is less uncertainty concerning the continuation of the history of the Kidarites. From457 onwards they were challenged by a rebellion of the Hephthalites, with whom theSasanian pretender P r z took refuge and from whom he obtained military help. As soon ashe had established himself on the throne war broke out again with a new Kidarite ruler calledKunkhas. Eventually in 467 the Kidarites were expelled from their capital Balaam (=Balkh?) (Priscus, 12 and 22 = Blockley, pp. 349 and 361); the Sasanians claimed the victory,

but most probably it was the result of combined operations with the Hephthalites. A residualKidarite kingdom in the Gandh ran region (possibly in Swat: Gbl 1967, II, p. 224, issue 15)continued to send embassies to China until 477.

A Kidarite conquest of at least part of Sogdiana seems to be safely attested by coins fromSamarkand, bearing on the obverse the schematized portrait of a ruler with the Sogdianlegend ky r (Zeimal 1996). On typological and metrological grounds these coins can beassigned to the 5th century. Hypothetically this conquest can be connected with theinterruption of Sogdian embassies to China between 441 and 457, and with a piece of


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information in the Weishu (formerly dated to 437, but actually referring to 457, see de laVaissire 2005, p. 107 n. 37), mentioning an earlier capture of Samarkand by the Xiongnu,the ruler in 457 being the third of the new dynasty. This Kidarite(?) dynasty maintained itshold over Samarkand until 509, after which date embassies from Samarkand wereincorporated into Hephtalite ones.

The direct or indirect Kidarite rule over Sogdiana coincided with the building of newfortifications (Samarqand, Paykent) and the foundation of new cities such as Panjikent andKushaniya. (The name of the latter probably indicates a Kidarite royal foundation, as neitherthe Great Kushans nor the Kushano-Sasanians had exerted control over that region.) The artof Sogdiana, hitherto very provincial, began to flourish in this period, the school of paintingat Panjikent apparently branching off directly from that attested at Dilberjin near Balkh. In457 the ruler of Samarqand negotiated the liberation of Sogdian merchants who had beencaptured in China in 439 (on these various points see Grenet 2002 and de la Vaissire 2005,

pp. 107-10, with reference to earlier contributions). All this tends to indicate that therelatively short Kidarite period was one of recovery and better integration of the Bactrian-Sogdian region, with transfers of populations and skills from south to north. These tendencieswere confirmed and developed in the Hephthalite period, with a somewhat different culturalorientation.

The Kidarite kingdom

The Kidarite kingdom was created either in the second half of the 4th century, or in the

twenties of the 5th century.

The only 4th century evidence are gold coins discovered in Balkh dating from c. 380,

where 'Kidara' is usually interpreted in a legend in the Bactrian language. Most

numismatic specialists favor this idea. All the other data we currently have on the

Kidarite kingdom are from Chinese and Byzantine sources from the middle of the 5th

century.

They may have risen to power during the 420s in Northern Afghanistan beforeconquering Peshawar and part of northwest India, then turning north to

conquer Sogdiana in the 440s, before being cut from their Bactrian nomadic roots by the

rise of the Hephthalites in the 450s. Many small Kidarite kingdoms seems to have


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survived in northwest India up to the conquest by the Hephthalites during the last quarter

of the 5th century are known through their coinage.

The Kidarites are the last dynasty to regard themselves (on the legend of their coins) asthe inheritors of the Kushan empire, which had disappeared as an independent entity two

centuries earlier.

Coin of Kidara (reigned c. 360380 CE), founder of the Kidarite Kingdom Obv: King Kidara standing. Rev: Goddess Ardoksho seated.

Kidarites Kings :Kidara I fl. c. 320 CE

Kungas 330's ?

Varhran I fl. c. 340

Grumbat c. 358-c. 380

Kidara (II ?) fl. c. 360

Brahmi Buddhatala fl. c. 370

(Unknown) fl. 388/400


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Varhran (II) fl. c. 425

Goboziko fl. c. 450

Salanavira mid 400's

Vinayaditya late 400's

Kandik early 500's

The Kidarites were the first "Hunas" to bother India. Indian records note thatthe H na had established themselves in modern Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier

Province in present day Pakistan by the first half of the 5th century, and the Gupta

emperor Skandagupta had repelled a H na invasion in 455.

White Huns

As a result of "Wusun vultures" descending upon them in Transoxiana, the Kidarite

powerbase moved in 460 from southern "Red" Balkh to western "White" Khiva, wherethe Hephthalite dynasty was established by Khingila I.

The Greek envoy Rhetor often referred to the "White Huns" as "Kidarite Xionites" when

they united with the Uar under the Hepthalite clan. While in India, the Kidarite Xionites

became known as Sveta-H na meaning "White Huns". They were said to have been of

fair complexion according to Procopius, although according to the Central Asian order of

cosmic precedence, "White Huns" would simply mean "Western Huns".

Although they fought against the Sassanians, early 5th century "OIONO" coins (thought

to have been minted by Xionite rulers) imitate Sassanian drachmas (for more informationon coins see Xionites).


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The Kidarite Xionites flourished under the Hephthalites, until something forced them to

migrate from Khiva to Atil under Kandik in the mid-6th century. Not long afterwards, the

Hephthalites remaining in Central Asia submitted to Gokturk rule in 567AD.

Relation to the "Huns" of EuropeThe Huns already present on the Black Sea Steppes might not have been as closely related tothe northern Karakum Desert Kidarites and the related Xionites or Hunas as is usually

presumed. Though the Chronicles of Kiev mention how the Ki clan founded Kiev aftersubjugating the eastern Hunno-Bulgars who subsequently became known as the Kazarig. InEurope the Kidarites became known as the Avars, first mentioned in Balkan province of

Turkmenistan attacking the Sabirs in 460 AD and who the following century (in 557) enteredEurope under the leadership of Kandik. Because of their flimsy connection to the Uar dinastythe Gokturks objected to the Kidarites calling themselves "Avars" and demanded theByzantine Emperor Maurice (582-602) recognise the fact that the eastern Avars (from whichthe Dulo clan descended) who had submitted to Gokturk rule were the "true" Avars, whilethe Kidarites who had entered Europe under Kandik should be called "Pseudo-Avars".

Relation with KhazarsConcerning the Kidarites, Bernshtam indicates that Huns moved to the Orient, where they

divided into two branches, more exactly alliances of tribes: Huns-Akatirs, who played thegreater role in the forming of the Khazars, and Huns-Kidarites who were an association ofEastern-European Huns with Middle Asian nomads forming the Hephthalites.

Kidarites and China:

In 477 the Kidarites in Gandhara had sent an embassy to China, but the Chinese pilgrim SungYun, who visited Gandhara in 520, noted that the Hephthalites had conquered the countryand set up their own ruler.

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