This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:06:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Alkhan This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:06:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Companion to Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia Sources for their Origin and History Edited by Hans T. Bakker Fasc. 1 H.T. Bakker The Alkhan Fasc. 2 Ching Chao-jung The Yeda & Yueban (in prep.) This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:06:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Hans T. Bakker The Alkhan A Hunnic People in South Asia Barkhuis Groningen 2020 This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:06:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Typesetting and layout: H.T. Bakker Cover design: Anke de Kroon, ontwerpzolder.nl Research and production of this book have been made possible by: The European Research Council (ERC synergy project no. 609823) ISBN 9789493194007 Copyright c 2020 Hans T. Bakker • All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronical, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author. Althoughallcareistakentoensuretheintegrityandqualityofthispublication and the information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers nor the author for any damage to property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein. This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:06:47 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Table of Contents List of maps and figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter One The Sasanian and Gupta Empires and their Struggle against the Huns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Iran’s Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Kidara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Synchronisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The replacement of the Kidara by the Hephthal . . . . . . . . 15 India’s Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Alkhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Alkhan confederacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Two drinking vessels: the silver bowls from Swat and Chilek . . 21 The Chilek Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Swat Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Schøyen Copper Scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Conquest of India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter Two The Hu¯n.as in Early Sanskrit Sources . . . . . . . . . 37 The literary sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The R¯ajataran˙gin.¯ı . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The epigraphic sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 List of inscriptions in Sanskrit related to the Hu¯n.as . . . . . . 41 Chapter Three The Alkhan in the Northwest of the Subcontinent: Two Early Epigraphic Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The inscription on the silver bowl from Swat . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Schøyen Copper Scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The donation formula (section 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The location of Ta¯lag¯ana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The main actors and their roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 v This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:07:11 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms vi Contents The Princess of S¯arada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The concluding seven K¯avya verses (section 6) . . . . . . . . . 53 The land of S¯arada and the place of å¯ard¯ıysa . . . . . . . . . 56 å¯arad¯a Dev¯ı . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Chapter Four Toram¯an.a’s Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Khur¯a Stone Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Kuvalayam¯al¯a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The Country Parvata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Akhnu¯r and surroundings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Toram¯an.a’s headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Toram¯an.a’s chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Chapter Five The Hunnic Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The First Hunnic War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Toram¯an.a’s conquest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Toram¯an.a’s ambition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The access to the Arabian Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 A period of gloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 The iconographic evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 The remains at Devan¯ı Mor¯ı . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 The remains at å¯amal¯aj¯ı . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 A Buddhist Vision of the Kali Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Hope regained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 The P¯aúupata Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Prak¯aúadharman’s victory over Toram¯an.a . . . . . . . . . . . 90 The Second Hunnic War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Mihirakula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Mihirakula’s conversion to Saivism . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Yaúodharman’s victory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 The date of the victory pillars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 A monument of glory in Sondhni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 The Aftermath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Fifty years that changed India (ad 484 – 534) . . . . . . . . . 98 The åaiva turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 A new dawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Closing remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:07:11 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms List of maps and figures vii Appendix 2 Sondhni Pillar Inscription of Yaúodharman . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Index of sources (SB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 General index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 List of maps and figures Photos were taken by the author, unless stated otherwise Maps 1 Eurasian Steppes and the Roman, Sasanian and Gupta Empires (5th century). After Peter Palm, Berlin. Revised by Vicki Herring. . . 6 2 Central Asian Travel Routes (‘The Silk Road’). After British Library map. Revised by Vicki Herring. . . . . . . . . . 7 3 Route of the Chinese envoy Song Yun (AD 518/19–522). After Shoshin Kuwayama. Revised by Vicki Herring. . . . . . . . . 19 4 The rule of the Alkhan quadrumvirate. After Google Earth. Revised by Vicki Herring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5 The Valley of the Chenab River. After Google Earth . . . . . . . . 64 6 The theatre of the Hunnic Wars. After Google Earth . . . . . . . . 70 7 Map of the Vindhyas and the Betw¯a Valley. Adaptation of ‘Planche 2’ in Casile 2009. Courtesy Anne Casile . . . 73 Figures 1 Scyphate gold coin of King Kidara from Tepe Maranjan. 7.35g, 36mm. Kabul Museum. Present whereabout unknown. Photo courtesy Joe Cribb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2 Sealing of Lord Uglarg. AA 2.2 (Hc009). 68x70x43mm. Aman ur Rahman Collection. Photo courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien . . . . . . . . . . . 13 This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:07:11 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms List of maps and figures vii Appendix 2 Sondhni Pillar Inscription of Yaúodharman . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Index of sources (SB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 General index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 List of maps and figures Photos were taken by the author, unless stated otherwise Maps 1 Eurasian Steppes and the Roman, Sasanian and Gupta Empires (5th century). After Peter Palm, Berlin. Revised by Vicki Herring. . . 6 2 Central Asian Travel Routes (‘The Silk Road’). After British Library map. Revised by Vicki Herring. . . . . . . . . . 7 3 Route of the Chinese envoy Song Yun (AD 518/19–522). After Shoshin Kuwayama. Revised by Vicki Herring. . . . . . . . . 19 4 The rule of the Alkhan quadrumvirate. After Google Earth. Revised by Vicki Herring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5 The Valley of the Chenab River. After Google Earth . . . . . . . . 64 6 The theatre of the Hunnic Wars. After Google Earth . . . . . . . . 70 7 Map of the Vindhyas and the Betw¯a Valley. Adaptation of ‘Planche 2’ in Casile 2009. Courtesy Anne Casile . . . 73 Figures 1 Scyphate gold coin of King Kidara from Tepe Maranjan. 7.35g, 36mm. Kabul Museum. Present whereabout unknown. Photo courtesy Joe Cribb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2 Sealing of Lord Uglarg. AA 2.2 (Hc009). 68x70x43mm. Aman ur Rahman Collection. Photo courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien . . . . . . . . . . . 13 This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:07:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms viii List of maps and figures 3 a. Silver coin of an Alkhan king Khi(n˙)gila. G44, Gandh¯ara. 3.54g, 25.7mm. Aman ur Rahman Collection. Photo courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. b. Seal impression inscribed . Jonathan P. and Jeannette Rosen Collection, New York. Photo courtesy Judith Lerner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4 Common coinage of four Alkhan kings. a. G79, b. G316/1, c. G82: Photo courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. d. G81: 3.59g, diam.28mm. CoinIndia http://www.coinindia.com/ (accessed 6-12-17) . . . . . . . . . . . 20 5 Silver bowl from Swat. BM 1963,1210.1. 819.3g, diam. 15.7cm, height 5.7cm, volume 630ml. Photo courtesy British Museum. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.802158 . . . . 21 6 a. Bird decorating the inner ring of the Swat bowl (detail of Fig. 5) b. Ceiling decoration Ajanta Cave 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 7 Silver bowl from Chilek diam. 18.5cm. Samarkand, Museum of History and Culture of Uzbekistan. Present whereabout unknown. Photo courtesy Judith Lerner . . . . . 23 8 Medallion, bowl from Chilek (detail of Fig. 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 9 Medallion, bowl from Swat (detail of Fig. 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 10 The four hunters of the Swat Bowl. Details of Fig. 5. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Errington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 11 The inscription punched on the Swat Bowl. Detail of Fig. 5 . . . . . 43 12 The upper rim of the bowl di�cult to punch. Detail of Fig. 5 . . . . 44 13 Legends of silver and copper coins of Khin˙gila. a. G81 (detail of Fig. 4d) b. G54: BM 1894,0507.2006. 0.92g. Photo courtesy Britisch Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 14 å¯ardi: remains of the å¯arad¯a Dev¯ı Temple. Photo courtesy Syed Yasir Usman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 15 a. Ambaran: terracotta head. ASI. Photo courtesy of B.R. Mani. b. Akhnu¯r: terracotta head in the collection of the British Museum (1936,0114.1). Photo courtesy Britisch Museum . . . . . . 64 16 Akhnu¯r and environs. After Google Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 17 Pambarw¯an: excavation site. ASI. Photo courtesy of B.R. Mani. . . 65 18 Pambarw¯an: reliquary site. ASI. Photo courtesy of B.R. Mani. . . . 66 19 Pambarw¯an: reliquary. ASI. Photo courtesy of B.R. Mani. . . . . . 66 20 Pambarw¯an: male head. ASI. Photo courtesy of B.R. Mani. . . . . . 67 21 Pambarw¯an: coins. ASI. Photo courtesy of B.R. Mani. . . . . . . . 67 22 Akhnu¯r Fort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 This content downloaded from 132.208.244.137 on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:07:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms