Ancient History of Central Asia-Kidarites Kingdom.pdf

Ancient History of Central Asia‐Kidarites Kingdom (Article No 04)

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 of Great yuezhi tribe but schollers are not in position to clearify all happinings in a series.

In this article, we are trying to compile all

happinings as per their timings. We also would like to clarify that the material under this article is not a copyright matter and main motive of this article is, to attract good scholers to discuss and research on the great Yuezhi Tribes and its clans. We are proposing current forms of Clans of Gurjars v/s Yuezhi Tribe origin Clans (described on Socond Page).

Compiled By: Adesh Katariya (Chemical Technologist and History Researcher) E‐mail: [email protected], Contact no: +91 9540992618 *Not a copyright material, only a study material Compiled By: Adesh Katariya


Proposed descendent Clans (Gotras) /current names of Ancient Clans of Yuezhi (Gurjars were called Yuezhi in Chineese Literature) Origin: Clan of Gurjars To be defined Next version

Kashana/Kusanna Khatana Bokkan Nagadi/Naggars Bhatti Kataria/Kadara/Kida ria To be defined Next version To be defined Next version To be defined Next version Huna To be defined Later version Karhana/Kara‐Huna Panwar /Parmar Chandela/Chandila To be defined Next version Chawda Chechi To be defined Next version Bad‐Gujar Tanwar/Tomer Mavi

Names in Old/Foreign Literature Main Rulling Area Ruling Clan of Great Yuezhi Tarim Basin, China Kushana Kings of Khotan under Kushana Empire Xiūmì (休密) Nagar of Kashmir under Kushana empire Bhati of Doab under Kushana Kingdom Kidarite kingdom under kink Kidara Shuangmi (雙靡)

North‐west India, Pakistan Khotan ,Western China Walkhan ,Northeast edge of Afghanistan Kashmir Western UP State , India Afganistan Shughnan,Badakhshan Province, Afganistan Balkh, Northern Afghanistan.

Xidun (肸頓) Dūmì (都密) White Huna/Hepthelites

Termez,southernmost part of Uzbekistan Central Asia Afganistan and Pakistan

Xionites

Northern Huna/Ak(Black)‐Khazar Georgia and West Asia Northern and Central India Gurjar ‐Pratihar Central India Chandela West and South India Chalukya West and South India Chap Chechenya, North‐West Asia Chechi Georgia, Gurjistan Gurja/Gurza West India Bad‐Gujar Delhi, india Tanwar Mavana region, Meerut , India Mavai

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


Kiderites: The Kidarites, according to V. Masson, were the Kushans. Kidara was one of the small Kushan rulers and conquered Bactria from the Sasanians, creating his own state, which is sometimes 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 as Jiduoluo (in the Weishu), in Sanskrit as Kidara or Kidāra (on coin legends in Brāhmī script; the length of the second syllable is uncertain), and in Sogdian as kyδr(on coin legends). The Bactrian form of the name is attested as Kidiro and Kēddiro(Sims-Williams 2005). In Greek we have only the ethnonym: Ounnoi Kidaritai“Kidarite Huns.” So far no convincing etymology has been proposed. Kidariten only be understood as a dynastic name, which derives from the name of their king kidara. Origionally they are one of the group from ancient 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 the city 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 before our days by the Kazakhs of the smaller horde (Small Juz), who were divided into three generations, 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 the Chionites, Hunas, Da Yuezhi, Hon and the reason for this is the fact that they are called Kidarite Huns (or “Huns who are Kidarites”) by Priskus of Panium. Therefore it was the Chionites (actually meaning Kidarites) who fought with Shapur II against Byzantium in the second part of the 4th century AD. A. Bivar notes that the Kidarites were a dominant confederacy of Hunnish tribes and designating 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 of Kiderites ). According to Harmatta the Kidarites were identical with the Chionites (Xyōns). In his opinion this can be proved by one of the remarks of Joshua Stylite relating to the successful fights of Peroz against the Kidarites, in that the rivals of the Sasanian king were “xiyon-s, that is hun-s”.



In other studies he equates the Chionites and the Kidarites, considering that one of the rulers of 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, eventually dispatched his troops southwards and invaded North India, crossing the great mountains to subjugate the five kingdoms which were located to the north of Gandhāra” (transl. based on Kuwayama 2002, p. 124). This information most probably reached China in 437; in any case the invasion took place after 412, since the Chinese pilgrim Faxian who visited Gandhāra at that time does not mention any such event. The Byzantine chronicler Priscus mentions the “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 Iran’s eastern neighbours (Exc. De Leg. Rom. 8, ed. Blockley 1983, pp. 336-7). Two earlier defeats of the latter king on the border of Tukharistān are mentioned by Łazar P’arpets’i (transl. Thomson 1982, 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 Wahrām V (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 question his opinion is close to the version of Saint Marten, however, Bartold identifies the Hephthalites with the Kidarites, but the Chionites are supposed to have come from Kazakh steppes, 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 from the 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, coming from the Yuezhi, and their king Kidara was leader of the Yuezhi, so the Byzantine historian of 5th century, Priskus of Panium, refers to the Hephthalites as “Huns-Kidarites”.52 The Yueban possession was located in the valley of the river Ili and the Yuebans were a branch of the Hephthalites 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, eventually dispatched his troops southwards and invaded North India, crossing the great mountains to subjugate the five kingdoms which were located to the north of Gandhara” (transl. based on Kuwayama 2002, p. 124). This information most probably reached China in 437; in any case the invasion took place after 412, since the Chinese pilgrim Faxian who visited Gandhāra at that time does not mention any such event. The Byzantine chronicler Priscus mentions the *Not a copyright material, only a study material Compiled By: Adesh Katariya


“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 Iran’s eastern neighbours (Exc. De Leg. Rom. 8, ed. Blockley 1983, pp. 336-7). Two earlier defeats of the latter king on the border of Tukharistān are mentioned by Łazar P’arpets’i (transl. Thomson 1982, 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 Wahrām V (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 the same period. On Gandhāran coin issues the ruler named Kidara assumed as his second crown that of Yazdgird II (Göbl 1967, issues 11-14). In this perspective Kidara would have emerged in Tukharistān in the 420’s or 430’s and then crossed to Gandhāra via its northern valleys. There is, nevertheless, a consensus among numismatists (Göbl 1967, Cribb 1990, Alram 1996) to place the first king named Kidara in Kāpiśā as early as c. 390. This identification rests upon the reading *kidaro on the last series of gold coins present in the hoard in Tepe Maranjān near Kabul, buried at about this date. The reading is not incompatible with what is actually written on the corrupt legend (kioooooo), but there is some room for doubt (for an alternative see Grenet 2002, p. 206). There is less uncertainty concerning the continuation of the history of the Kidarites. From 457 onwards they were challenged by a rebellion of the Hephthalites, with whom the Sasanian pretender Pērōz took refuge and from whom he obtained military help. As soon as he had established himself on the throne war broke out again with a new Kidarite ruler called Kunkhas. 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 residual Kidarite kingdom in the Gandhāran region (possibly in Swat: Göbl 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 from Samarkand, bearing on the obverse the schematized portrait of a ruler with the Sogdian legend kyδr (Zeimal 1996). On typological and metrological grounds these coins can be assigned to the 5th century. Hypothetically this conquest can be connected with the interruption of Sogdian embassies to China between 441 and 457, and with a piece of *Not a copyright material, only a study material Compiled By: Adesh Katariya


information in the Weishu (formerly dated to 437, but actually referring to 457, see de la Vaissière 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 its hold over Samarkand until 509, after which date embassies from Samarkand were incorporated into Hephtalite ones. The direct or indirect Kidarite rule over Sogdiana coincided with the building of new fortifications (Samarqand, Paykent) and the foundation of new cities such as Panjikent and Kushaniya. (The name of the latter probably indicates a Kidarite royal foundation, as neither the Great Kushans nor the Kushano-Sasanians had exerted control over that region.) The art of Sogdiana, hitherto very provincial, began to flourish in this period, the school of painting at Panjikent apparently branching off directly from that attested at Dil’berjin near Balkh. In 457 the ruler of Samarqand negotiated the liberation of Sogdian merchants who had been captured in China in 439 (on these various points see Grenet 2002 and de la Vaissière 2005, pp. 107-10, with reference to earlier contributions). All this tends to indicate that the relatively short Kidarite period was one of recovery and better integration of the BactrianSogdian region, with transfers of populations and skills from south to north. These tendencies were confirmed and developed in the Hephthalite period, with a somewhat different cultural orientation.

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


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) as the inheritors of the Kushan empire, which had disappeared as an independent entity two centuries earlier.

Coin of Kidara (reigned c. 360–380 CE), founder of theKidarite 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



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 that the Hūna 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 Hūna 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, where the 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-Hūna 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 information on coins see Xionites).



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 Europe The Huns already present on the Black Sea Steppes might not have been as closely related to the 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 after subjugating the eastern Hunno-Bulgars who subsequently became known as the Kazarig. In Europe 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) entered Europe under the leadership of Kandik. Because of their flimsy connection to the Uar dinasty the Gokturks objected to the Kidarites calling themselves "Avars" and demanded the Byzantine Emperor Maurice (582-602) recognise the fact that the eastern Avars (from which the Dulo clan descended) who had submitted to Gokturk rule were the "true" Avars, while the Kidarites who had entered Europe under Kandik should be called "Pseudo-Avars".

Relation with Khazars Concerning 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 the greater role in the forming of the Khazars, and Huns-Kidarites who were an association of Eastern-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 Sung Yun, who visited Gandhara in 520, noted that the Hephthalites had conquered the country and set up their own ruler.


Ancient History of Central Asia-Kidarites Kingdom.pdf

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