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Hephthalite

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The Hephthalites or White Huns were a Central Asian nomadic confederation whose precise origins and composition remain obscure. They were called Ephthalites by the Greeks, and Hunas by the Indians. According to Chinese chronicles they were originally a tribe living to the north of the Great Wall and were known as Hoa or Hoa-tun. Elsewhere they were called White Huns or Hunas. They had no cities or system of writing, lived in felt tents, and practiced polyandry. There is no definitive evidence that they were related to the Huns - this is a term which has been used by outside observers to denote very different nomadic confederations. Furthermore, very little is known of their language.

White Huns were an agricultural people with a developed set of laws. They were first mentioned by the Chinese, who described them (AD 125) as living in Dzungaria. They displaced the Scythians and conquered Sogdiana and Khorasan before 425. They crossed (425) the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) River and invaded Persia. Held off at first by Bahram Gur, they later (483–85) succeeded in making Persia tributary. After a series of wars (503–13) they were driven out of Persia, permanently lost the offensive, and were finally (557) defeated by Khosru I. The White Huns also invaded India and succeeded in extending their domain to include the Ganges valley. They temporarily overthrew the Gupta empire but were eventually driven out of India in 528 by a Hindu coalition. Although in Persia they had little effect, in India the White Huns influenced society by altering the caste system and disrupting the hierarchy of the ruling families. Some of the White Huns remained in India as a distinct group.

Origins

The origins of the Hephthalites are uncertain. Many theories have been discussed, the "Turkic and "Indo-European theories being the most prominent ones.

For many years scholars suggested that they were possibly of Tibetan or Turkic-stock, and it seems likely that at least some groups amongst the Hephthalites were Turkic-speakers. In 1959 Kazuo Enoki put forward the hypothesis that they were probably East Iranians as some sources indicated that they were originally from Tokharestan, which is known to have been inhabited by Iranian peoples in antiquity. Richard Frye is cautiously accepting of Enoki's hypothesis, whilst at the same time stressing that the Hephthalites "were probably a mixed horde". More recently Xavier Tremblay's very detailed examination of surviving Hephthalite personal names has indicated that Enoki's hypothesis that they were East Iranian may well be correct, but the matter remains unresolved in present scholarship.

According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica and Encyclopaedia of Islam, Hephthalites possibly originated in northeastern Iran and northwestern India. They apparently had no connection with the European Huns, but may have been causally related with their movement. It is noteworthy that the tribes in question deliberately called themselves "Huns" in order to frighten their enemies.

The earliest information about the Ephthalites comes from the Chinese chronicles, in which it is stated that they were originally a tribe of the great Yue-Chi, living to the north of the Great Wall, and subject to the Jwen-Jwen (Juan Juan), as were also the Turks at one time. Their original name was Hoa or Hoa-tun; subsequently they styled themselves Ye-tha-i-li-to after the name of their royal family, or more briefly Ye-tha. There were various theories about their origins documented by the ancient Chinese chroniclers, as well as by Procopius of Caesarea:

  • They were related in some way to the Visha,
  • They were descendants of the general Pahua,
  • They were descendants of Kang Chu,
  • They were a branch of the Kao-ch`e,
  • Their origins cannot be made clear at all.

Procopius claims that the Hephthalites lived in a prosperous territory, were the only Huns with fair complexions, did not live as nomads, acknowledged a single king, observed a well-regulated constitution, and behaved justly towards neighboring states. He also describes the burial of their nobles in tumuli, accompanied by the boon-companions who had been their retainers in their lifetimes; this practice contrasts with evidence of cremation among the Chionites in Ammianus and with remains found by excavators for the European Huns and remains in some deposits ascribed to the Chionites in Central Asia. It is therefore assumed that the Hephthalites constituted a second Hunnish wave who entered Bactria early in the fifth century AD, and who seem to have driven the Kidarites into Gandhara.

Some Hephthalites may have been a prominent tribe or clan of the Chionites. 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 tribesman from the east and north, although most probably the bulk of the people in the confederation of Chionites and then Hephtalites spoke an Iranian language and this was the last time in the history of Central Asia that Iranian-speaking nomads played any role; hereafter all nomads would speak Turkic languages.

The newly-discoved ancient writings found in Afghanistan reveals that the Middle Iranian Bactrian language written in Greek script was not the native idiom of the Hephthalites but the traditional language of administration in this region from Kushan times and possibly earlier. There is also evidence of the use of a Turkic language under the Hephthalites. The Bactrian documents also attest several Turkic royal titles (such as Khaqan), indicating an important influence of Turkic peoples on the Hephthalites, although these could also be explained by later Turkic infiltration south of the Oxus.

Etymology

The term Haithalite was first used by Persian writers to refer to a 6th century empire on the northern and eastern periphery of their land. The élite Hephthal clan certainly appear to be quite distinct from the Huns who ravaged Europe in the fourth century AD. Although the Hephthalite empire was known in China, as Yanda (厌哒 or 嚈噠), Chinese chroniclers recognised that these terms actually came from only the leaders of the empire's polity - the polity which in contrast are documented as having called themselves Huá (滑) in the same sources. The name of their Hephthal ruling élite, some sources indicate originally applied to one of the 5 Yuezhi families from Kushan. India knew the Hephthalites by the Sanskrit name Sveta-Hūna (meaning White Huns). Armenian sources also mention a White Hun origin for the Parthian Arsaces. According to Simokattes, they were the Alchon, who united under the Hephthal as the "vultures descended on the people" around AD 460.

The modern Chinese variation Yanda has been given various Latinised renderings such as "Yeda", although the more archaic Korean pronunciation "Yeoptal" 엽달 is more compatible with the Greek Hephthal and is certainly a more archaic form.

The term Haital means "big" or "powerful" in the dialect of Bukhara, but might also mean "seven".

Different spellings include Ephthalite, Epthalite, Ephtalite, Eptalite, Euthalite, Hepthalite, Hephtalite, and Heptalite.

Etymology of Names

According to B.A. Litvinsky, the name of Hephtalite rulers used in the Shahnameh are Iranian.

According to Xavier Tremblay, the Heptalite rulers name Khingila has the same root as the Sogdian xnγr and Wakhi xiŋgār and its meaning is "Sword". Toramāna is derived from Tarua-manah. The name Mihirakula is derived from Miθra-kula which is Iranian for Relier upon Mithra.

According to Janos Harmatta, the name Mihirakula is Iranian for "Mithra's Begotten".

According to A.D.H. Bivar, the name Mihirakula possibly represents a Sanskritization of a Turkish designation mihr-qul "slave of Mithra," a familiar theophoric formation.

Hephthalites in South Asia

In India, the Hephthalites were not distinguished from their immediate predecessors and are known by the same name Huna. The Huna had already established themselves in Afghanistan and NWFP in present day Pakistan by the first half of the fifth century, and the Gupta emperor Skandagupta had repelled a Hūna invasion in 455 before the Hephthal clan came along.

The Hephthalites with their capital at Bamiyan continued the pressure on India's northwest frontier (present day Pakistan), and broke through into northern India by the end of the fifth century, hastening the disintegration of the Gupta empire. They made their capital at the city of Sakala (modern day Sialkot) under their Emperor Mihirakula (or MehrGul meaning sunflower).

After the end of the sixth century little is recorded in India about the Hephthalites, and what happened to them is unclear; some historians surmise that the remaining Hephthalites were assimilated into northern India's population.

Descendants

The descendants of Hephthalites re-established their dynasty from 565 to 670 AD under the name of Ratbel-Shahan or Kabul-Shahan in the current territories of Afghanistan, mainly in Kabulistan.

Scholars believe the following groups in South Asia are descended either in full or in part from the Hepthalites:

White Huns in contemporary literature

Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino makes reference to the 'White Huns' who are portrayed as a fearsome warrior race.

Eric Flint's Belisarius series makes frequent reference to Ye Tai warriors.

See also

References

External links



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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 00:07:46 PDT (GMT -0700)
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