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Kidarites

January 05, 2024

The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns,[1] were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Europe as the Chionites (from the Iranian names Xwn/Xyon), and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites.[2] The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites".[3][4] The Huna/Xionite tribes are often linked, albeit controversially, to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period. They are entirely different from the Hephthalites, who replaced them about a century later.[4]

Kidarites
320–467
Tamga of the Kidarites
Territory of the Kidarite kingdom, and main Asian polities c. 400
Territory of the Kidarites, c. 400
CapitalBactria, Peshawar, Taxila
Common languagesBactrian (written)
Religion
Buddhism
Hinduism
GovernmentMonarchy
Kushanshah 
• fl. 320
Kidara
• fl. 425
Varhran I
• fl. 500
Kandik
Historical eraLate Antiquity
• Established
320
• Disestablished
467

The Kidarites were named after Kidara (Chinese: 寄多羅 Jiduoluo, ancient pronunciation: Kjie-ta-la)[5][6] one of their main rulers. The Kidarites appear to have been a part of a Huna horde known in Latin sources as the "Kermichiones" (from the Iranian Karmir Xyon) or "Red Huna". The Kidarites established the first of four major Xionite/Huna states in Central Asia, followed by the Alchon, the Hephthalites and the Nezak.

In 360–370 CE, a Kidarite kingdom was established in Central Asian regions previously ruled by the Sasanian Empire, replacing the Kushano-Sasanians in Bactria.[7][8] Thereafter, the Sasanian Empire roughly stopped at Merv.[8] Next, circa 390-410 CE, the Kidarites invaded northwestern India, where they replaced the remnants of the Kushan Empire in the area of Punjab.

Origins edit

See also: Origins of the Huns
 
Portrait of Kidara, king of the Kidarites, circa 350–386. The coinage of the Kidarites imitated Sasanian imperial coinage, with the exception that they displayed clean-shaven faces, instead of the beards of the Sasanians, a feature relating them to Altaic rather than Iranian lineage.[8][9]

A nomadic people, the Kidarites appear to have originated in the Altai Mountains region. On Kidarite coins their rulers are depicted as beardless or clean-shaven – a feature of Altaic cultures at the time (as opposed, for example, to the Iranian cultures of South Central Asia).[9] They may have been Oghuric speakers originally, as may have been the Chionites and the Hephthalites, before adopting the Bactrian language.[10] The Kidarites were depicted as mounted archers on the reverse of coins.[11] They were also known to practice artificial cranial deformation.[12]

The Kidarites appear to have been synonymous with the Karmir Xyon ("Red Xionites" or, more controversially, "Red Huns"),[13][14] – a major subdivision of the Chionites (Xionites), alongside the Spet Xyon ("White Xionites"). In a recently discovered seal with the image of a ruler similar to those of the Kidarite coins, the ruler named himself in Bactrian "King of the Huns and Great Kushan Shah" (uonano shao o(a)zarko (k)oshanoshao). The discovery was reportedly made in Swat.[15][16]

 
Fire attendants with the kaftan tunic worn over trousers tucked into knee-high boots, and holding swords, on the coinage of Kidara

The name of their eponymous ruler Kidara (fl. 350–385) may be cognate with the Turkic word Kidirti meaning "west", suggesting that the Kidarites were originally the westernmost of the Xionites, and the first to migrate from Inner Asia.[17] Chinese sources suggest that when the Uar (滑 Huá) were driven westward by the Later Zhao state, circa 320, from the area around Pingyang (平陽; modern Linfen, Shanxi), it put pressure on Xionite-affiliated peoples, such as the Kidarites, to migrate. Another theory is that climate change in the Altai during the 4th century caused various tribes to migrate westward and southward.[17]

Contemporary Chinese and Roman sources suggest that, during the 4th century, the Kidarites began to encroach on the territory of Greater Khorasan and the Kushan Empire – migrating through Transoxiana into Bactria,[18] where they were initially vassals of the Kushans and adopted many elements of Kushano-Bactrian culture. The Kidarites also initially put pressure on the Sasanian Empire, but later served as mercenaries in the Sassanian army, under which they fought the Romans in Mesopotamia, led by a chief named Grumbates (fl. 353–358 CE). Some of the Kidarites apparently became a ruling dynasty of the Kushan Empire, leading to the epithet "Little Kushans".[19][20]

Kidarite kingdom edit

First appearance in literary sources edit

Inclusion of the Kidarite tamgha
 
 
Coin in the name of Kushano-Sasanian king Varahran, struck under Kidarite ruler Kirada, circa 340-345. The Kidarite tamga symbol ( ) appears to the right of the standing king. Balkh mint.

The first evidence are gold coins discovered in Balkh dating from the mid-4th century. The Kushano-Sasanian ruler Varahran during the second phase of his reign, had to introduce the Kidarite tamga ( ) in his coinage minted at Balkh in Bactria, circa 340-345.[21] The tamgha replaced the nandipada symbol which had been in use since Vasudeva I,[21] suggesting that the Kidarites had now taken control, first under their ruler Kirada.[22] Then ram horns were added to the effigy of Varahran on his coinage for a brief period under the Kidarite ruler Peroz, and raised ribbons were added around the crown ball under the Kidarite ruler Kidara.[23][24][21][22] In effect, Varahran has been described as a "puppet" of the Kidarites.[25] By 365, the Kidarite ruler Kidara I was placing his name on the coinage of the region, and assumed the title of Kushanshah.[22] In Gandhara too, the Kidarites minted silver coins in the name of Varahran, until Kidara also introduced his own name there.[22]

Archaeological, numismatic, and sigillographic evidence demonstrates the Kidarites ruled a realm just as refined as that of the Sasanians. They swiftly adopted Iranian imperial symbolism and titulature, as demonstrated by a seal; "Lord Ularg, the king of the Huns, the great Kushan-shah, the Samarkandian, of the Afrigan (?) family."[26]

Most other data we currently have on the Kidarite kingdom are from Chinese and Byzantine sources from the middle of the 5th century. The Kidarites were the first Huna to bother India. Indian records note that the Hūna had established themselves in modern Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province by the first half of the 5th century, and the Gupta emperor Skandagupta had repelled a Hūna invasion in 455. 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.[original research?]

Migration into Bactria edit

 
Kidara, circa 425–457. AR Drachm (29mm, 3.76 g, 3h). Mint C in Gandhara. Crowned bust facing slightly right. Brahmi legend around the head:         Ki-da-ra Ku-ṣa-ṇa-ṣa/ Fire altar flanked by attendants.[27] The use of the 3/4 portrait is sometimes attributed to the influence of the coinage of Byzantine Empire ruler Arcadius (377–408 CE).[28]
class=notpageimage|
South Asian polities circa 350 CE, and location of the Kidarites in Bactria, on the eve of their expansion into the Indian subcontinent.[29]

Around 350, the Sasanian Emperor Shapur II (ruled 309 to 379) had to interrupt his conflict with the Romans, and abandon the siege of Nisibis,[17] in order to face nomadic threats in the east: he was attacked in the east by Scythian Massagetae and other Central Asian tribes.[30] Around this time, Xionite/Huna tribes, most likely the Kidarites, whose king was Grumbates, make an appearance as an encroaching threat upon Sasanian territory as well as a menace to the Gupta Empire (320–500).[6]

After a prolonged struggle (353–358) they were forced to conclude an alliance, and their king Grumbates accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans, agreeing to enlist his light cavalrymen into the Persian army and accompanying Shapur II. The presence of "Grumbates, king of the Chionitae" and his Xionites with Shapur II during campaigns in the Western Caspian lands, in the area of Corduene, is described by the contemporary eyewitness Ammianus Marcellinus:[31]

Grumbates Chionitarum rex novus aetate quidem media rugosisque membris sed mente quadam grandifica multisque victoriarum insignibus nobilis.
"Grumbates, the new king of the Xionites, while he was middle aged, and his limbs were wrinkled, he was endowed with a mind that acted grandly, and was famous for his many, significant victories."

— Ammianus Marcellinus, 18.6.22.[32]

The presence of Grumbates alongside Shapur II is also recorded at the successful Siege of Amida in 359, in which Grumbates lost his son:[17]

"Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, went boldly up to the walls to effect that mission, with a brave body of guards; and when a skilful reconnoitrer had noticed him coming within shot, he let fly his balista, and struck down his son in the flower of his youth, who was at his father's side, piercing through his breastplate, breast and all; and he was a prince who in stature and beauty was superior to all his comrades. "

— Ammianus Marcellinus, 19.1.7.[33]

Later the alliance fell apart, and by the time of Bahram IV (388–399) the Sasanians had lost numerous battles against the Kidarites.[17] The migrating Kidarites then settled in Bactria, where they replaced the Kushano-Sasanids, a branch of the Sasanids that had displaced the weakening Kushans in the area two centuries before.[7] It is thought that they were in firm possession of the region of Bactria by 360.[17] Since this area corresponds roughly to Kushanshahr, the former western territories of the Kushans, Kidarite ruler Kidara called himself "Kidara King of the Kushans" on his coins.[34]

According to Priscus, the Sasanian Empire was forced to pay tribute to the Kidarites, until the rule of Yazdgird II (ruled 438–457), who refused payment.[35]

The Kidarites based their capital in Samarkand, where they were at the center of Central Asian trade networks, in close relation with the Sogdians.[8] The Kidarites had a powerful administration and raised taxes, rather efficiently managing their territories, in contrast to the image of barbarians bent on destruction given by Persian accounts.[8]

Fortresses edit

 
Fortress of Kafir-kala (Uzbekistan).[36]

Kafir-kala is an ancient fortress 12 kilometers south of the city center of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, protecting the southern border of the Samarkand oasis.[37] It consists in a central citadel built in mud-bricks and measuring 75 × 75 meters at its base has six towers and is surrounded by a moat, still visible today.[37] Living quarters were located outside the citadel.[37] The citadel was first occupied by the Kidarites in the 4th-5th century, whose coinage and bullae have been found.[38][39]

Expansion to northwest India edit

 
Kidara gold coin, circa 350–385, derived from the Kushans. Vertical Brahmi legends from right to left: Kushana (    Ku-shā-ṇa) Kidara (    Ki-da-ra) Kushana (    Ku-shā-ṇa). Enthroned goddess Ardoxsho on the back.

The Kidarites consolidated their power in Northern Afghanistan before conquering Peshawar and parts of northwest India including Gandhara probably sometime between 390 and 410,[40] around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I.[41] It is probably the rise of the Hephthalites and the defeats against the Sasanians which pushed the Kidarites into northern India.

Economy edit

The Kidarites issued gold coins on the model of Kushan coinage, inscribing their own names but still claiming the Kushan heritage by using the title "Kushan".[42] The volume of Kidarite gold coinage was nevertheless much smaller than that of the Great Kushans, probably owing to a decline of commerce and the loss of major international trade routes.[43]

Coins with the title or name Gadahara seem to be the first coins issued by the invading Kidarites in the Kushan realm in India.[44][45] The additional presence of the names of foreign rulers such as the Kushano-Sassanian Piroz or the Gupta Empire Samudragupta on the coins may suggest some kind of suzerainty at a time when the remnants of Kushan power were torn between these two powers.[44][45] The "Gadahara" issues seem to come chronologically just before the issues of the famous Kidarite ruler Kidara.[46][45][42]

Religion edit

 
The Miracle of Sravasti from Paitava, possibly belongs to the Kidarite period.[47]

It seems Buddhism was rather unaffected by Kidarite rule, as the religion continued to prosper.[43] The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien visited the region c. 400 CE, and described a wealthy Buddhist culture.[43] Some aspects of the Buddhist art of Gandhara seem to have incorporated Zoroastrian elements conveyed by the Kidarites at that time, such as the depiction of fire altars on the bases of numerous Buddhist sculptures.[43]

It has been argued that the spread of Indian culture and religions as far as Sogdia corresponded to the rule of the Kidarites over the regions from Sogdia to Gandhara.[5]

Some Buddhist works of art, in a style marking some evolution compared to the art of Gandhara, have been suggested as belonging to the Kidarite period, such as the sculptures of Paitava.[48]

 
Devotees around Maitreya, the Buddha of the future (center). Paitava. The sculptures of Paitava may belong to the period of the Kidarites.[49]

Conflicts with the Gupta Empire edit

 
The Buddhist paintings of Ajanta, dated to c. 460–480, are contemporary of the end of the Kidarite invasion of northwestern India, and some scenes probably received the influence of the Kidarites or the Hephthalites after them.[50][51]

The Kidarites may have confronted the Gupta Empire during the rule of Kumaragupta I (414–c. 455) as the latter recounts some conflicts, although very vaguely, in his Mandsaur inscription.[52] The Bhitari pillar inscription of Skandagupta, inscribed by his son Skandagupta (c. 455 – c. 467), recalls much more dramatically the near-annihilation of the Gupta Empire, and recovery though military victories against the attacks of the Pushyamitras and the Hunas.[17] The Kidarites are the only Hunas who could have attacked India at the time, as the Hephthalites were still trying to set foot in Bactria in the middle of the 5th century.[18] In the Bhitari inscription, Skandagupta clearly mentions conflagrations with the Hunas, even though some portions of the inscription have disappeared:

"(Skandagupta), by whose two arms the earth was shaken, when he, the creator (of a disturbance like that) of a terrible whirlpool, joined in close conflict with the Hûnas; . . . . . . among enemies . . . . . . arrows . . . . . . . . . . . . proclaimed . . . . . . . . . . . . just as if it were the roaring of (the river) Ganga, making itself noticed in (their) ears."

— Bhitari pillar inscription of Skandagupta L.15

Even after these encounters, the Kidarites seem to have retained the western part of the Gupta Empire, particularly central and western Punjab, until they were displaced by the invasion of the Alchon Huns at the end of the 5th century.[53][17] While they still ruled in Gandhara, the Kidarites are known to have sent an embassy to China in 477.[54]

The Huna invasion are said to have seriously damaged Indo-Roman trade relations, which the Gupta Empire had greatly benefited from. The Guptas had been exporting numerous luxury products such as silk, leather goods, fur, iron products, ivory, pearl or pepper from centers such as Nasik, Paithan, Pataliputra or Benares etc. The Huna invasion probably disrupted these trade relations and the tax revenues that came with it.[55] These conflicts exhausted the Gupta Empire: the gold coinage of Skandagupta is much fewer and of a lesser quality than that of his predecessors.[53]

The Kidarites were cut from their Bactrian nomadic roots by the rise of the Hephthalites in the 450s. The Kidarites also seem to have been defeated by the Sasanian emperor Peroz in 467 CE, with Peroz reconquering Balkh and issuing coinage there as "Peroz King of Kings".[8]

Conflict with Sasanian emperor Peroz I and the Hephthalites edit

 
Seal of "lord Uglarg, the King of the Huns, the great Kushanshah, the Afshiyan of Samarkand" (Bactrian: βαγο ογλαρ(γ)ο – υονανο þ(α)ο οα(ζ)-αρκο κο(þανοþ)[αοσαµαρ] /-κανδο – αφþιιανο). This ruler has "characteristic features identifying him as a Kidarite".[56] Private collection of Aman ur Rahman.[57][58][59]
 
Kidarites ruler "King B", late 4th–early 5th century. A vase has been placed to the right of the Zoroastrian fire altar, the Indian/Hindu purnaghata, or "Vase of plenty".[60]

Since the foundation of the Sasanian Empire, its rulers had demonstrated the sovereignty and power of their realm through collection of tribute, particularly from the Romans.[61] However, the Sasanian efforts were disrupted in the early 5th-century by the Kidarites, who forced Yazdegerd I (r. 399–420), Bahram V (r. 420–438), and/or Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457) to pay them tribute.[61][62] Although this did not trouble the Sasanian treasury, it was nevertheless humiliating.[63] Yazdegerd II eventually refused to pay tribute, which would later be used as the casus belli of the Kidarites, who declared war against the ruling Sasanian king Peroz I in c. 464.[64][62] Peroz lacked manpower to fight, and therefore asked for financial aid by the Byzantine Empire, who declined his request.[65] He then offered peace to the king of the Kidarites, Kunkhas, and offered him his sister in marriage, but sent a woman of low status instead. After some time Kunkhas found about Peroz's false promise, and then in turn tried to trick him, by requesting him to send military experts to strengthen his army.[65]

When a group of 300 military experts arrived to the court of Kunkhas at Balaam (possibly Balkh), they were either killed or disfigured and sent back to Iran, with the information that Kunkhas did this due to Peroz's false promise.[65] Around this time, Peroz allied himself with the Hephthalites or the Alchon Huns of Mehama, the ruler of Kadag in eastern Bactria.[66] With their help, he finally vanquished Kidarites in 466, and brought Bactria briefly under Sasanian control, where he issued gold coins of himself at Balkh.[67][26] The style of the gold coin was largely based on the Kidarite coins, and displayed Peroz wearing his second crown.[22][68] The following year (467), a Sasanian embassy arrived to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, where the victory over the Kidarites was announced. The Sasanian embassy sent to the Northern Wei in 468 may have likewise done the same.[69]

 
A coin of the late ruler Goboziko, imitating Sasanian king Bahram IV, in the Bactrian script. Crowned bust right; tamgha before. Fire altar with attendants. Circa mid 5th century CE.

Although the Kidarites still controlled some places such as Gandhara and Punjab, they would never be an issue for the Sasanians again.[7] But in India itself, the Kidarites may also have been losing territory to the Gupta Empire, following the 455 victories of Skandagupta.[70] This created a power vacuum, which the Alchon Huns were able to fill, allowing them to reclaim the lost territories of the Kidarites.[70]

Continental synchronism of Hunnic wars edit

There is an astounding synchronism between, on the one hand, the conflicts between the Kidarite Huns and the Sasanian Empire and the Gupta Empire, and, on the other hand, the campaigns of the Huns under Attila in Europe, leading to their defeat at the Catalaunian Plains in 451.[71] It is almost as if the imperialist empire in the east and west had combined their response to a simultaneous Hunnic threat across Eurasia.[71] In the end, Europe succeeded in repelling the Huns, and their power there quickly vanished, but in the east, both the Sasanian Empire and the Gupta Empire were left much weakened.[71]

A few gold coins of the Kidarites were also found as far as Hungary and Poland in Europe, as a result of Asiatic migrations.[68]

Kidarite successors edit

 
Coin of king Yinayaditya (also Vinayaditya), one of the "Kidarite successors", late 5th century, Jammu and Kashmir.

Many small Kidarite kingdoms seem to have survived in northwest India, and are known through their coinage. They were particularly present in Jammu and Kashmir, such as king Vinayaditya, but their coinage was much debased. They were then conquered by the Alchon Huns, sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites, during the last quarter of the 5th century.[72][31] The Alchon Huns followed the Kidarites into India circa 500, invading Indian territory as far as Eran and Kausambi.

The numismatic evidence as well as the so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from Gandhara, now in the British Museum, suggests a period of peaceful coexistence between the Kidarites and the Alchons, as it features two Kidarite noble hunters wearing their characteristic crowns, together with two Alchon hunters and one of the Alchons inside a medallion.[73] At one point, the Kidarites withdrew from Gandhara, and the Alchons took over their mints from the time of Khingila.[73] By 520, Gandhara was definitely under Hephthalite (Alchon Huns) control, according to Chinese pilgrims.[17]

 
Silver bowl, showing an Alchon horseman
 
Two Kidarite princes on the bowl
The so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from Gandhara, features two Kidarite royal hunters wearing their characteristic horned crowns (right), similar to those in Kidarite coins (see Peroz), as well as two Alchon hunters (one of them shown here (left), with skull deformation), suggesting a period of peaceful coexistence between the two entities.[73] Swat District, Pakistan, 460–479. British Museum.[74][75][76]

Anania Shirakatsi states in his Ashkharatsuyts, written in 7th century, that one of the Bulgar tribes, known as the Kidar were part of the Kidarites. The Kidar took part in Bulgar migrations across the Volga into Europe.[77]

Ushrushana edit

 
Portrait of ruler Rakhanch of the Principality of Ushrusana, from his coinage, 7th century CE
Main article: Principality of Ushrusana

Remnants of the Kidarites in Eastern Sogdiana may have been associated with the Principality of Ushrusana.[78][79] The Kidarites may have survived and possibly established a Kidarite kingdom in Usrushana.[78] This connection may be apparent from the analysis of the coinage,[78] and in the names of some Ushrusana rulers such as Khaydhar ibn Kawus al-Afshin, whose personal name is attested as "Khydhar", and was sometimes written wrongly as "Haydar" in Arabic. In effect, the name "Kydr" was quite popular in Usrushana, and is attested in many contemporary sources.[79] The title Afshin used by the rulers of Usrushana is also attested in the Kidarite ruler of Samarkand of the 5th century named Ularg, who bore the similar title "Afshiyan" (Bactrian script: αφϸιιανο).[80]

Main Kidarite rulers edit

Yosada c.335 CE[25]
Kirada c.335-345[25]
Peroz c.345-350[25]
Kidara c.350-390[25]
Grumbates c.359
Kungas ?
Brahmi Buddhatala fl. c. 370
(Unknown) fl. 388/400
Varhran (II) fl. c. 425
Goboziko fl. c. 450
Salanavira mid 400s
Vinayaditya late 400s
Kandik early 500s

See also edit

  • Uar (tribe)
  • "Iranian Huns"

    • References and notes edit

    1. ^ Bakker, Hans T. (12 March 2020). The Alkhan: A Hunnic People in South Asia. Barkhuis. p. 17. ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
    2. ^ Bakker, Hans T. (12 March 2020). The Alkhan: A Hunnic People in South Asia. Barkhuis. p. 10. ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
    3. ^ Cribb 2010, p. 91.
    4. ^ a b Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. pp. 119–120. ISBN 9789231032110.
    5. ^ a b Cribb 2010, pp. 95–96.
    6. ^ a b Daryaee 2014, p. 17.
    7. ^ a b c Sasanian Seals and Sealings, Rika Gyselen, Peeters Publishers, 2007, p.1
    8. ^ a b c d e f The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas, Cambridge University Press, 2014 p.284sq
    9. ^ a b Encyclopaedia Iranica, article Kidarites: "On Gandhāran coins bearing their name the ruler is always clean-shaven, a fashion more typical of Altaic people than of Iranians" in "KIDARITES – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.
    10. ^ DE LA VAISSIÈRE, ÉTIENNE (2003). "Is There a "Nationality of the Hephtalites"?". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 17: 124. ISSN 0890-4464. JSTOR 24049310.
    11. ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A.; Unesco (1 January 1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
    12. ^ Maas, Michael (2015). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila. p. 185. ISBN 9781107021754.
    13. ^ Mitterwallner, Gritli von (1986). Kuṣāṇa Coins and Kuṣāṇa Sculptures from Mathurā. Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of U.P., Lucknow.
    14. ^ Ancient Coin Collecting VI: Non-Classical Cultures, Wayne G. Sayles, p. 79, https://books.google.com/books?id=YTGRcVLMg6MC&pg=PA78
    15. ^ Grenet, Frantz (2006). "A Hunnish Kushanshah". Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology: 125–131.
    16. ^ Cribb 2010, p. 97.
    17. ^ a b c d e f g h i The Huns, Hyun Jin Kim, Routledge, 2015 p.50 sq
    18. ^ a b History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Ahmad Hasan Dani, B. A. Litvinsky, Unesco p.119 sq
    19. ^ Cunningham, A. (1889). "Coins of the Tochari, Kushâns, or Yue-Ti". The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society. 9: 268–311. JSTOR 42680025.
    20. ^ Samolin, William (1956). "A Note on Kidara and the Kidarites". Central Asiatic Journal. 2 (4): 295–297. JSTOR 41926398. The Yueh-chih origin of Kidara is clearly established...
    21. ^ a b c Cribb 2010, p. 99.
    22. ^ a b c d e Cribb 2018, p. 23.
    23. ^ Cribb 2010, p. 109.
    24. ^ Cribb 2010, p. 123.
    25. ^ a b c d e Cribb & Donovan 2014, p. 4.
    26. ^ a b Payne 2015, p. 285.
    27. ^ A similar coin with reading of the legend
    28. ^ Lerner, Judith A. (210). Observations on the Typology and Style of Seals and Sealings from Bactria and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, in Coins, Art and Chronology II. The First Millennium CE in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands. Vienna: ÖAW. p. 246, note 7.
    29. ^ Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 25, 145. ISBN 0226742210.
    30. ^ Daryaee 2009.
    31. ^ a b History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Ahmad Hasan Dani, B. A. Litvinsky, Unesco p.38 sq
    32. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus 18.6.22
    33. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus 18.6.22
    34. ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas p.286
    35. ^ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas p.287
    36. ^ "Antiquities of Samarkand. Kurgan in the Vicinity of Samarkand. Location of Kafir Kala". www.wdl.org. 1868.
    37. ^ a b c Mantellini, Simone (2012). "Change and Continuity in the Samarkand Oasis: Evidence for the Islamic Conquest from the Citadel of Kafir Kala". Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology. 7: 227–253. doi:10.1484/J.JIAAA.4.2017012. hdl:11585/572547.
    38. ^ . Universitetet i Bergen (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
    39. ^ "The Kidarites in Bactria". pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.
    40. ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 122. ISBN 9789231032110.
    41. ^ "The entry of the Kidarites into India may firmly be placed some time round about the end of rule of Candragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I (circa 410-420 a.d.)" in Gupta, Parmeshwari Lal; Kulashreshtha, Sarojini (1994). Kuṣāṇa Coins and History. D.K. Printworld. p. 122. ISBN 9788124600177.
    42. ^ a b Tandon, Pankaj (2009). "An Important New Copper Coin of Gadahara". Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society (200): 19.
    43. ^ a b c d Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 167. ISBN 9789231032110.
    44. ^ a b Agrawal, Ashvini (1989). Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 128. ISBN 9788120805927.
    45. ^ a b c "Gadahara. The last branch, in course of time, yielded to Samudragupta, as is borne out by certain coins of this branch having the name Samudra. There is a good deal of similarity between the coins of the Gadaharas and the Kidara Kushanas." in Bajpai, K. D. (2004). Indian Numismatic Studies. Abhinav Publications. p. 112. ISBN 9788170170358.
    46. ^ A Comprehensive History of India. Orient Longmans. 1957. p. 253.
    47. ^ Cambon, Pierre (1996). Fouilles anciennes en Afghanistan (1924-1925). Païtāvā, Karratcha. p. 20.
    48. ^ Cambon, Pierre (1996). Fouilles anciennes en Afghanistan (1924-1925). Païtāvā, Karratcha. p. 20.
    49. ^ Cambon, Pierre (1996). Fouilles anciennes en Afghanistan (1924-1925). Païtāvā, Karratcha. p. 20.
    50. ^ "The figures represented here, although given a Buddhist significance, are probably modelled on the Hephthalites or earlier Kidarites who had conquered India's northwest provinces" Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques (1974). Hommage universel: actes du congrès de Shiraz 1971, et autres études rédigées à l'occasion du 2500e anniversaire de la fondation de l'empire perse. Bibliothèque Pahlavi. ISBN 9789004039025.
    51. ^ Brancaccio, Pia (2010). The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad: Transformations in Art and Religion. BRILL. ISBN 9789004185258.
    52. ^ Malwa Through the Ages, from the Earliest Times to 1305 A.D by Kailash Chand Jain p.242
    53. ^ a b Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. pp. 123–126. ISBN 9789231032110.
    54. ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 141. ISBN 9789231032110.
    55. ^ Longman History & Civics ICSE 9 by Singh p.81
    56. ^ ALRAM, MICHAEL (2014). "From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush". The Numismatic Chronicle. 174: 270. ISSN 0078-2696. JSTOR 44710198.
    57. ^ Lerner, Judith A.; Sims-Williams, Nicholas (2011). Seals, sealings and tokens from Bactria to Gandhara : 4th to 8th century CE. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 72–75. ISBN 978-3700168973.
    58. ^ Bakker, Hans (21 January 2021). Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia: Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-78969-648-6.
    59. ^ Rezakhani, Khodadad (15 March 2017b). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4744-0030-5.
    60. ^ Alram 2014, p. 272.
    61. ^ a b Payne 2016, p. 18.
    62. ^ a b Payne 2015, p. 287.
    63. ^ Bonner 2020, p. 100.
    64. ^ Potts 2018, pp. 291, 294.
    65. ^ a b c Zeimal 1996, p. 130.
    66. ^ Rezakhani 2017, pp. 102, 121.
    67. ^ Rezakhani 2017, pp. 102, 121, 127.
    68. ^ a b Alram 2014, p. 271.
    69. ^ Bonner 2020, p. 126.
    70. ^ a b Bakker, Hans T. (12 March 2020). The Alkhan: A Hunnic People in South Asia. Barkhuis. p. 18. ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
    71. ^ a b c Bakker, Hans T. (12 March 2020). The Alkhan: A Hunnic People in South Asia. Barkhuis. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-94-93194-00-7.
    72. ^ Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. pp. 68–69. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.
    73. ^ a b c Alram 2014, pp. 274–275.
    74. ^ Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172.
    75. ^ British Museum notice
    76. ^ Sims, Vice-President Eleanor G.; Sims, Eleanor; Marshak, Boris Ilʹich; Grube, Ernst J.; I, Boris Marshak (January 2002). Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources. Yale University Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-0-300-09038-3.
    77. ^ Lang, David Marshall (1976). The Bulgarians: From Pagan Times to the Ottoman Conquest. pp. 31 and 204. ISBN 9780891585305. Armenian geographer states that the principal tribes of Bulgars were called Kuphi-Bulgars, Duchi-Bulgars, Oghkhundur-Bulgars, and Kidar-Bulgars, by the last-named of which he meant the Kidarites, a branch of the Huns.
    78. ^ a b c Rezakhani, Khodadad (15 March 2017b). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4744-0031-2. Apart from Gandhara, however, a Kidarite kingdom may have survived in Sogdiana, possibly in the area of Ustrushana.
    79. ^ a b Rezakhani, Khodadad (15 March 2017b). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-4744-0031-2. However, we should not assume that the Kidarite presence in eastern Sogdiana disappeared quickly after their demise in Tokharistan. Indeed, centuries later, in the early ninth century, the local king of Ustrushana and the Abbasid general Al-Afshin bore the personal name of Khydhar...
    80. ^ Rezakhani, Khodadad (15 March 2017b). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4744-0031-2.

    Sources edit

    • Alram, Michael (2014). "From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush". The Numismatic Chronicle. 174: 261–291. JSTOR 44710198. (registration required)
    • Bonner, Michael (2020). The Last Empire of Iran. New York: Gorgias Press. pp. 1–406. ISBN 978-1463206161.
    • Cribb, Joe (2018). Rienjang, Wannaporn; Stewart, Peter (eds.). Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017. University of Oxford The Classical Art Research Centre Archaeopress. ISBN 978-1-78491-855-2.  
    • Cribb, Joe (2010). Alram, M. (ed.). "The Kidarites, the numismatic evidence.pdf". Coins, Art and Chronology Ii, Edited by M. Alram et al. Coins, Art and Chronology II: 91–146.  
    • Cribb, Joe; Donovan, Peter (2014). Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society by David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan. p. 4.
    • Daryaee, Touraj (2009). "Šāpur II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
    • Daryaee, Touraj (2014). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240. ISBN 978-0857716668.
    • Payne, Richard (2015). "The Reinvention of Iran: The Sasanian Empire and the Huns". In Maas, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila. Cambridge University Press. pp. 282–299. ISBN 978-1-107-63388-9.
    • Payne, Richard (2016). "The Making of Turan: The Fall and Transformation of the Iranian East in Late Antiquity". Journal of Late Antiquity. Johns Hopkins University Press. 9: 4–41. doi:10.1353/jla.2016.0011. S2CID 156673274.
    • Potts, Daniel T. (2018). "Sasanian Iran and its northeastern frontier". In Mass, Michael; Di Cosmo, Nicola (eds.). Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–538. ISBN 9781316146040.
    • Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 1–256. ISBN 9781474400305.
    • Zeimal, E. V. (1996). "The Kidarite kingdom in Central Asia". History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 119–135. ISBN 92-3-103211-9.
    • ENOKI, K., « On the Date of the Kidarites (I) », Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko, 27, 1969, p. 1–26.
    • GRENET, F. « Regional Interaction in Central Asia and North-West India in the Kidarite and Hephtalite Period », in SIMS-WILLIAMS, N. (ed.), Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples, (Proceedings of the British Academy), London, 2002, p. 203–224.

    Further reading edit

    January 05, 2024
    kidarites, kidara, huns, were, dynasty, that, ruled, bactria, adjoining, parts, central, asia, south, asia, centuries, belonged, complex, peoples, known, collectively, india, huna, europe, chionites, from, iranian, names, xyon, even, considered, identical, chi. The Kidarites or Kidara Huns 1 were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna and in Europe as the Chionites from the Iranian names Xwn Xyon and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites 2 The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns or Huns who are Kidarites 3 4 The Huna Xionite tribes are often linked albeit controversially to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period They are entirely different from the Hephthalites who replaced them about a century later 4 Kidarites320 467Tamga of the Kidarites400ROURAN KHAGANATEKyrgyzsKokelGaojuTurksCHAM PAFUNANSargatKhotanHYMYAREASTERNJINNORTHERNWEIGOGU RYEOWESTERNSATRAPSVAKA TAKASGUPTAEMPIREKIDARITESXIONITESAFRIGHIDSSASANIANEMPIREBYZANTINEEMPIREHUNSJushiTOCHARIANSTUYUHUNN LIANGPaleo SiberiansSamoyedsTungusMEROEAKSUM Territory of the Kidarite kingdom and main Asian polities c 400GUPTAEMPIREXIONITESSASANIANHINDAFRIGHIDSSASANIANEMPIRETOCHARIANSTerritory of the Kidarites c 400CapitalBactria Peshawar TaxilaCommon languagesBactrian written ReligionBuddhismHinduismGovernmentMonarchyKushanshah fl 320Kidara fl 425Varhran I fl 500KandikHistorical eraLate Antiquity Established320 Disestablished467Preceded by Succeeded byKushano Sasanian KingdomKushan Empire Alchon HunsHephthalitesThe Kidarites were named after Kidara Chinese 寄多羅 Jiduoluo ancient pronunciation Kjie ta la 5 6 one of their main rulers The Kidarites appear to have been a part of a Huna horde known in Latin sources as the Kermichiones from the Iranian Karmir Xyon or Red Huna The Kidarites established the first of four major Xionite Huna states in Central Asia followed by the Alchon the Hephthalites and the Nezak In 360 370 CE a Kidarite kingdom was established in Central Asian regions previously ruled by the Sasanian Empire replacing the Kushano Sasanians in Bactria 7 8 Thereafter the Sasanian Empire roughly stopped at Merv 8 Next circa 390 410 CE the Kidarites invaded northwestern India where they replaced the remnants of the Kushan Empire in the area of Punjab Contents 1 Origins 2 Kidarite kingdom 2 1 First appearance in literary sources 2 2 Migration into Bactria 2 2 1 Fortresses 2 3 Expansion to northwest India 2 3 1 Economy 2 3 2 Religion 2 3 3 Conflicts with the Gupta Empire 2 3 4 Conflict with Sasanian emperor Peroz I and the Hephthalites 2 3 5 Continental synchronism of Hunnic wars 2 4 Kidarite successors 2 4 1 Ushrushana 3 Main Kidarite rulers 4 See also 5 References and notes 6 Sources 7 Further readingOrigins editSee also Origins of the Huns nbsp Portrait of Kidara king of the Kidarites circa 350 386 The coinage of the Kidarites imitated Sasanian imperial coinage with the exception that they displayed clean shaven faces instead of the beards of the Sasanians a feature relating them to Altaic rather than Iranian lineage 8 9 A nomadic people the Kidarites appear to have originated in the Altai Mountains region On Kidarite coins their rulers are depicted as beardless or clean shaven a feature of Altaic cultures at the time as opposed for example to the Iranian cultures of South Central Asia 9 They may have been Oghuric speakers originally as may have been the Chionites and the Hephthalites before adopting the Bactrian language 10 The Kidarites were depicted as mounted archers on the reverse of coins 11 They were also known to practice artificial cranial deformation 12 The Kidarites appear to have been synonymous with the Karmir Xyon Red Xionites or more controversially Red Huns 13 14 a major subdivision of the Chionites Xionites alongside the Spet Xyon White Xionites In a recently discovered seal with the image of a ruler similar to those of the Kidarite coins the ruler named himself in Bactrian King of the Huns and Great Kushan Shah uonano shao o a zarko k oshanoshao The discovery was reportedly made in Swat 15 16 nbsp Fire attendants with the kaftan tunic worn over trousers tucked into knee high boots and holding swords on the coinage of KidaraThe name of their eponymous ruler Kidara fl 350 385 may be cognate with the Turkic word Kidirti meaning west suggesting that the Kidarites were originally the westernmost of the Xionites and the first to migrate from Inner Asia 17 Chinese sources suggest that when the Uar 滑 Hua were driven westward by the Later Zhao state circa 320 from the area around Pingyang 平陽 modern Linfen Shanxi it put pressure on Xionite affiliated peoples such as the Kidarites to migrate Another theory is that climate change in the Altai during the 4th century caused various tribes to migrate westward and southward 17 Contemporary Chinese and Roman sources suggest that during the 4th century the Kidarites began to encroach on the territory of Greater Khorasan and the Kushan Empire migrating through Transoxiana into Bactria 18 where they were initially vassals of the Kushans and adopted many elements of Kushano Bactrian culture The Kidarites also initially put pressure on the Sasanian Empire but later served as mercenaries in the Sassanian army under which they fought the Romans in Mesopotamia led by a chief named Grumbates fl 353 358 CE Some of the Kidarites apparently became a ruling dynasty of the Kushan Empire leading to the epithet Little Kushans 19 20 Kidarite kingdom editFirst appearance in literary sources edit Inclusion of the Kidarite tamgha nbsp nbsp Coin in the name of Kushano Sasanian king Varahran struck under Kidarite ruler Kirada circa 340 345 The Kidarite tamga symbol nbsp appears to the right of the standing king Balkh mint The first evidence are gold coins discovered in Balkh dating from the mid 4th century The Kushano Sasanian ruler Varahran during the second phase of his reign had to introduce the Kidarite tamga nbsp in his coinage minted at Balkh in Bactria circa 340 345 21 The tamgha replaced the nandipada symbol which had been in use since Vasudeva I 21 suggesting that the Kidarites had now taken control first under their ruler Kirada 22 Then ram horns were added to the effigy of Varahran on his coinage for a brief period under the Kidarite ruler Peroz and raised ribbons were added around the crown ball under the Kidarite ruler Kidara 23 24 21 22 In effect Varahran has been described as a puppet of the Kidarites 25 By 365 the Kidarite ruler Kidara I was placing his name on the coinage of the region and assumed the title of Kushanshah 22 In Gandhara too the Kidarites minted silver coins in the name of Varahran until Kidara also introduced his own name there 22 Archaeological numismatic and sigillographic evidence demonstrates the Kidarites ruled a realm just as refined as that of the Sasanians They swiftly adopted Iranian imperial symbolism and titulature as demonstrated by a seal Lord Ularg the king of the Huns the great Kushan shah the Samarkandian of the Afrigan family 26 Most other data we currently have on the Kidarite kingdom are from Chinese and Byzantine sources from the middle of the 5th century The Kidarites were the first Huna to bother India Indian records note that the Huna had established themselves in modern Afghanistan and the North West Frontier Province by the first half of the 5th century and the Gupta emperor Skandagupta had repelled a Huna invasion in 455 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 original research Migration into Bactria edit nbsp Kidara circa 425 457 AR Drachm 29mm 3 76 g 3h Mint C in Gandhara Crowned bust facing slightly right Brahmi legend around the head nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Ki da ra Ku ṣa ṇa ṣa Fire altar flanked by attendants 27 The use of the 3 4 portrait is sometimes attributed to the influence of the coinage of Byzantine Empire ruler Arcadius 377 408 CE 28 nbsp South Asia350 CE nbsp YAUDHEYASARJUNAYANASMADRAKASMALAVASIKSHVAKUSKALABHRASWESTERNGANGASTOCHARIANSKADAMBASPALLAVASLITTLEKUSHANSLICCHAVISWESTERNSATRAPSSASANIANHINDMAHAMEGHA VAHANASKAMARUPAGAUDASAMATATASDAVAKAKIDARITESABHIRASVAKATAKASGUPTAEMPIREKUSHANO SASANIANSSAKASTANTURANMAKRANSASANIANEMPIRE class notpageimage South Asian polities circa 350 CE and location of the Kidarites in Bactria on the eve of their expansion into the Indian subcontinent 29 Around 350 the Sasanian Emperor Shapur II ruled 309 to 379 had to interrupt his conflict with the Romans and abandon the siege of Nisibis 17 in order to face nomadic threats in the east he was attacked in the east by Scythian Massagetae and other Central Asian tribes 30 Around this time Xionite Huna tribes most likely the Kidarites whose king was Grumbates make an appearance as an encroaching threat upon Sasanian territory as well as a menace to the Gupta Empire 320 500 6 After a prolonged struggle 353 358 they were forced to conclude an alliance and their king Grumbates accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans agreeing to enlist his light cavalrymen into the Persian army and accompanying Shapur II The presence of Grumbates king of the Chionitae and his Xionites with Shapur II during campaigns in the Western Caspian lands in the area of Corduene is described by the contemporary eyewitness Ammianus Marcellinus 31 Grumbates Chionitarum rex novus aetate quidem media rugosisque membris sed mente quadam grandifica multisque victoriarum insignibus nobilis Grumbates the new king of the Xionites while he was middle aged and his limbs were wrinkled he was endowed with a mind that acted grandly and was famous for his many significant victories Ammianus Marcellinus 18 6 22 32 The presence of Grumbates alongside Shapur II is also recorded at the successful Siege of Amida in 359 in which Grumbates lost his son 17 Grumbates king of the Chionitae went boldly up to the walls to effect that mission with a brave body of guards and when a skilful reconnoitrer had noticed him coming within shot he let fly his balista and struck down his son in the flower of his youth who was at his father s side piercing through his breastplate breast and all and he was a prince who in stature and beauty was superior to all his comrades Ammianus Marcellinus 19 1 7 33 Later the alliance fell apart and by the time of Bahram IV 388 399 the Sasanians had lost numerous battles against the Kidarites 17 The migrating Kidarites then settled in Bactria where they replaced the Kushano Sasanids a branch of the Sasanids that had displaced the weakening Kushans in the area two centuries before 7 It is thought that they were in firm possession of the region of Bactria by 360 17 Since this area corresponds roughly to Kushanshahr the former western territories of the Kushans Kidarite ruler Kidara called himself Kidara King of the Kushans on his coins 34 According to Priscus the Sasanian Empire was forced to pay tribute to the Kidarites until the rule of Yazdgird II ruled 438 457 who refused payment 35 The Kidarites based their capital in Samarkand where they were at the center of Central Asian trade networks in close relation with the Sogdians 8 The Kidarites had a powerful administration and raised taxes rather efficiently managing their territories in contrast to the image of barbarians bent on destruction given by Persian accounts 8 Fortresses edit nbsp Fortress of Kafir kala Uzbekistan 36 Kafir kala is an ancient fortress 12 kilometers south of the city center of Samarkand in Uzbekistan protecting the southern border of the Samarkand oasis 37 It consists in a central citadel built in mud bricks and measuring 75 75 meters at its base has six towers and is surrounded by a moat still visible today 37 Living quarters were located outside the citadel 37 The citadel was first occupied by the Kidarites in the 4th 5th century whose coinage and bullae have been found 38 39 Expansion to northwest India edit nbsp Kidara gold coin circa 350 385 derived from the Kushans Vertical Brahmi legends from right to left Kushana nbsp nbsp nbsp Ku sha ṇa Kidara nbsp nbsp nbsp Ki da ra Kushana nbsp nbsp nbsp Ku sha ṇa Enthroned goddess Ardoxsho on the back The Kidarites consolidated their power in Northern Afghanistan before conquering Peshawar and parts of northwest India including Gandhara probably sometime between 390 and 410 40 around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I 41 It is probably the rise of the Hephthalites and the defeats against the Sasanians which pushed the Kidarites into northern India Economy edit The Kidarites issued gold coins on the model of Kushan coinage inscribing their own names but still claiming the Kushan heritage by using the title Kushan 42 The volume of Kidarite gold coinage was nevertheless much smaller than that of the Great Kushans probably owing to a decline of commerce and the loss of major international trade routes 43 Coins with the title or name Gadahara seem to be the first coins issued by the invading Kidarites in the Kushan realm in India 44 45 The additional presence of the names of foreign rulers such as the Kushano Sassanian Piroz or the Gupta Empire Samudragupta on the coins may suggest some kind of suzerainty at a time when the remnants of Kushan power were torn between these two powers 44 45 The Gadahara issues seem to come chronologically just before the issues of the famous Kidarite ruler Kidara 46 45 42 Religion edit nbsp The Miracle of Sravasti from Paitava possibly belongs to the Kidarite period 47 It seems Buddhism was rather unaffected by Kidarite rule as the religion continued to prosper 43 The Chinese pilgrim Fa hsien visited the region c 400 CE and described a wealthy Buddhist culture 43 Some aspects of the Buddhist art of Gandhara seem to have incorporated Zoroastrian elements conveyed by the Kidarites at that time such as the depiction of fire altars on the bases of numerous Buddhist sculptures 43 It has been argued that the spread of Indian culture and religions as far as Sogdia corresponded to the rule of the Kidarites over the regions from Sogdia to Gandhara 5 Some Buddhist works of art in a style marking some evolution compared to the art of Gandhara have been suggested as belonging to the Kidarite period such as the sculptures of Paitava 48 nbsp Devotees around Maitreya the Buddha of the future center Paitava The sculptures of Paitava may belong to the period of the Kidarites 49 Conflicts with the Gupta Empire edit nbsp The Buddhist paintings of Ajanta dated to c 460 480 are contemporary of the end of the Kidarite invasion of northwestern India and some scenes probably received the influence of the Kidarites or the Hephthalites after them 50 51 The Kidarites may have confronted the Gupta Empire during the rule of Kumaragupta I 414 c 455 as the latter recounts some conflicts although very vaguely in his Mandsaur inscription 52 The Bhitari pillar inscription of Skandagupta inscribed by his son Skandagupta c 455 c 467 recalls much more dramatically the near annihilation of the Gupta Empire and recovery though military victories against the attacks of the Pushyamitras and the Hunas 17 The Kidarites are the only Hunas who could have attacked India at the time as the Hephthalites were still trying to set foot in Bactria in the middle of the 5th century 18 In the Bhitari inscription Skandagupta clearly mentions conflagrations with the Hunas even though some portions of the inscription have disappeared Skandagupta by whose two arms the earth was shaken when he the creator of a disturbance like that of a terrible whirlpool joined in close conflict with the Hunas among enemies arrows proclaimed just as if it were the roaring of the river Ganga making itself noticed in their ears Bhitari pillar inscription of Skandagupta L 15 Even after these encounters the Kidarites seem to have retained the western part of the Gupta Empire particularly central and western Punjab until they were displaced by the invasion of the Alchon Huns at the end of the 5th century 53 17 While they still ruled in Gandhara the Kidarites are known to have sent an embassy to China in 477 54 The Huna invasion are said to have seriously damaged Indo Roman trade relations which the Gupta Empire had greatly benefited from The Guptas had been exporting numerous luxury products such as silk leather goods fur iron products ivory pearl or pepper from centers such as Nasik Paithan Pataliputra or Benares etc The Huna invasion probably disrupted these trade relations and the tax revenues that came with it 55 These conflicts exhausted the Gupta Empire the gold coinage of Skandagupta is much fewer and of a lesser quality than that of his predecessors 53 The Kidarites were cut from their Bactrian nomadic roots by the rise of the Hephthalites in the 450s The Kidarites also seem to have been defeated by the Sasanian emperor Peroz in 467 CE with Peroz reconquering Balkh and issuing coinage there as Peroz King of Kings 8 Conflict with Sasanian emperor Peroz I and the Hephthalites edit nbsp Seal of lord Uglarg the King of the Huns the great Kushanshah the Afshiyan of Samarkand Bactrian bago oglar g o yonano th a o oa z arko ko thanoth aosaµar kando afthiiano This ruler has characteristic features identifying him as a Kidarite 56 Private collection of Aman ur Rahman 57 58 59 nbsp Kidarites ruler King B late 4th early 5th century A vase has been placed to the right of the Zoroastrian fire altar the Indian Hindu purnaghata or Vase of plenty 60 Since the foundation of the Sasanian Empire its rulers had demonstrated the sovereignty and power of their realm through collection of tribute particularly from the Romans 61 However the Sasanian efforts were disrupted in the early 5th century by the Kidarites who forced Yazdegerd I r 399 420 Bahram V r 420 438 and or Yazdegerd II r 438 457 to pay them tribute 61 62 Although this did not trouble the Sasanian treasury it was nevertheless humiliating 63 Yazdegerd II eventually refused to pay tribute which would later be used as the casus belli of the Kidarites who declared war against the ruling Sasanian king Peroz I in c 464 64 62 Peroz lacked manpower to fight and therefore asked for financial aid by the Byzantine Empire who declined his request 65 He then offered peace to the king of the Kidarites Kunkhas and offered him his sister in marriage but sent a woman of low status instead After some time Kunkhas found about Peroz s false promise and then in turn tried to trick him by requesting him to send military experts to strengthen his army 65 When a group of 300 military experts arrived to the court of Kunkhas at Balaam possibly Balkh they were either killed or disfigured and sent back to Iran with the information that Kunkhas did this due to Peroz s false promise 65 Around this time Peroz allied himself with the Hephthalites or the Alchon Huns of Mehama the ruler of Kadag in eastern Bactria 66 With their help he finally vanquished Kidarites in 466 and brought Bactria briefly under Sasanian control where he issued gold coins of himself at Balkh 67 26 The style of the gold coin was largely based on the Kidarite coins and displayed Peroz wearing his second crown 22 68 The following year 467 a Sasanian embassy arrived to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople where the victory over the Kidarites was announced The Sasanian embassy sent to the Northern Wei in 468 may have likewise done the same 69 nbsp A coin of the late ruler Goboziko imitating Sasanian king Bahram IV in the Bactrian script Crowned bust right tamgha before Fire altar with attendants Circa mid 5th century CE Although the Kidarites still controlled some places such as Gandhara and Punjab they would never be an issue for the Sasanians again 7 But in India itself the Kidarites may also have been losing territory to the Gupta Empire following the 455 victories of Skandagupta 70 This created a power vacuum which the Alchon Huns were able to fill allowing them to reclaim the lost territories of the Kidarites 70 Continental synchronism of Hunnic wars edit There is an astounding synchronism between on the one hand the conflicts between the Kidarite Huns and the Sasanian Empire and the Gupta Empire and on the other hand the campaigns of the Huns under Attila in Europe leading to their defeat at the Catalaunian Plains in 451 71 It is almost as if the imperialist empire in the east and west had combined their response to a simultaneous Hunnic threat across Eurasia 71 In the end Europe succeeded in repelling the Huns and their power there quickly vanished but in the east both the Sasanian Empire and the Gupta Empire were left much weakened 71 A few gold coins of the Kidarites were also found as far as Hungary and Poland in Europe as a result of Asiatic migrations 68 Kidarite successors edit nbsp Coin of king Yinayaditya also Vinayaditya one of the Kidarite successors late 5th century Jammu and Kashmir Many small Kidarite kingdoms seem to have survived in northwest India and are known through their coinage They were particularly present in Jammu and Kashmir such as king Vinayaditya but their coinage was much debased They were then conquered by the Alchon Huns sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites during the last quarter of the 5th century 72 31 The Alchon Huns followed the Kidarites into India circa 500 invading Indian territory as far as Eran and Kausambi The numismatic evidence as well as the so called Hephthalite bowl from Gandhara now in the British Museum suggests a period of peaceful coexistence between the Kidarites and the Alchons as it features two Kidarite noble hunters wearing their characteristic crowns together with two Alchon hunters and one of the Alchons inside a medallion 73 At one point the Kidarites withdrew from Gandhara and the Alchons took over their mints from the time of Khingila 73 By 520 Gandhara was definitely under Hephthalite Alchon Huns control according to Chinese pilgrims 17 nbsp Silver bowl showing an Alchon horseman nbsp Two Kidarite princes on the bowlThe so called Hephthalite bowl from Gandhara features two Kidarite royal hunters wearing their characteristic horned crowns right similar to those in Kidarite coins see Peroz as well as two Alchon hunters one of them shown here left with skull deformation suggesting a period of peaceful coexistence between the two entities 73 Swat District Pakistan 460 479 British Museum 74 75 76 Anania Shirakatsi states in his Ashkharatsuyts written in 7th century that one of the Bulgar tribes known as the Kidar were part of the Kidarites The Kidar took part in Bulgar migrations across the Volga into Europe 77 Ushrushana edit nbsp Portrait of ruler Rakhanch of the Principality of Ushrusana from his coinage 7th century CEMain article Principality of Ushrusana Remnants of the Kidarites in Eastern Sogdiana may have been associated with the Principality of Ushrusana 78 79 The Kidarites may have survived and possibly established a Kidarite kingdom in Usrushana 78 This connection may be apparent from the analysis of the coinage 78 and in the names of some Ushrusana rulers such as Khaydhar ibn Kawus al Afshin whose personal name is attested as Khydhar and was sometimes written wrongly as Haydar in Arabic In effect the name Kydr was quite popular in Usrushana and is attested in many contemporary sources 79 The title Afshin used by the rulers of Usrushana is also attested in the Kidarite ruler of Samarkand of the 5th century named Ularg who bore the similar title Afshiyan Bactrian script afϸiiano 80 Main Kidarite rulers editYosada c 335 CE 25 Kirada c 335 345 25 Peroz c 345 350 25 Kidara c 350 390 25 Grumbates c 359Kungas Brahmi Buddhatala fl c 370 Unknown fl 388 400Varhran II fl c 425Goboziko fl c 450Salanavira mid 400sVinayaditya late 400sKandik early 500sSee also editUar tribe Iranian Huns References and notes edit Bakker Hans T 12 March 2020 The Alkhan A Hunnic People in South Asia Barkhuis p 17 ISBN 978 94 93194 00 7 Bakker Hans T 12 March 2020 The Alkhan A Hunnic People in South Asia Barkhuis p 10 ISBN 978 94 93194 00 7 Cribb 2010 p 91 a b Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky B A 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 UNESCO pp 119 120 ISBN 9789231032110 a b Cribb 2010 pp 95 96 a b Daryaee 2014 p 17 a b c Sasanian Seals and Sealings Rika Gyselen Peeters Publishers 2007 p 1 a b c d e f The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila Michael Maas Cambridge University Press 2014 p 284sq a b Encyclopaedia Iranica article Kidarites On Gandharan coins bearing their name the ruler is always clean shaven a fashion more typical of Altaic people than of Iranians in KIDARITES Encyclopaedia Iranica www iranicaonline org DE LA VAISSIERE ETIENNE 2003 Is There a Nationality of the Hephtalites Bulletin of the Asia Institute 17 124 ISSN 0890 4464 JSTOR 24049310 Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky B A Unesco 1 January 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 UNESCO ISBN 978 92 3 103211 0 Maas Michael 2015 The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila p 185 ISBN 9781107021754 Mitterwallner Gritli von 1986 Kuṣaṇa Coins and Kuṣaṇa Sculptures from Mathura Department of Cultural Affairs Government of U P Lucknow Ancient Coin Collecting VI Non Classical Cultures Wayne G Sayles p 79 https books google com books id YTGRcVLMg6MC amp pg PA78 Grenet Frantz 2006 A Hunnish Kushanshah Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology 125 131 Cribb 2010 p 97 a b c d e f g h i The Huns Hyun Jin Kim Routledge 2015 p 50 sq a b History of Civilizations of Central Asia Ahmad Hasan Dani B A Litvinsky Unesco p 119 sq Cunningham A 1889 Coins of the Tochari Kushans or Yue Ti The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society 9 268 311 JSTOR 42680025 Samolin William 1956 A Note on Kidara and the Kidarites Central Asiatic Journal 2 4 295 297 JSTOR 41926398 The Yueh chih origin of Kidara is clearly established a b c Cribb 2010 p 99 a b c d e Cribb 2018 p 23 Cribb 2010 p 109 Cribb 2010 p 123 a b c d e Cribb amp Donovan 2014 p 4 a b Payne 2015 p 285 A similar coin with reading of the legend Lerner Judith A 210 Observations on the Typology and Style of Seals and Sealings from Bactria and the Indo Iranian Borderlands in Coins Art and Chronology II The First Millennium CE in the Indo Iranian Borderlands Vienna OAW p 246 note 7 Schwartzberg Joseph E 1978 A Historical atlas of South Asia Chicago University of Chicago Press pp 25 145 ISBN 0226742210 Daryaee 2009 a b History of Civilizations of Central Asia Ahmad Hasan Dani B A Litvinsky Unesco p 38 sq Ammianus Marcellinus 18 6 22 Ammianus Marcellinus 18 6 22 The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila Michael Maas p 286 The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila Michael Maas p 287 Antiquities of Samarkand Kurgan in the Vicinity of Samarkand Location of Kafir Kala www wdl org 1868 a b c Mantellini Simone 2012 Change and Continuity in the Samarkand Oasis Evidence for the Islamic Conquest from the Citadel of Kafir Kala Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology 7 227 253 doi 10 1484 J JIAAA 4 2017012 hdl 11585 572547 Administration law and urban organization in the Late Antique and Early Medieval period Universitetet i Bergen in Norwegian Bokmal Archived from the original on 18 October 2020 Retrieved 18 October 2020 The Kidarites in Bactria pro geo univie ac at Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky B A 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 UNESCO p 122 ISBN 9789231032110 The entry of the Kidarites into India may firmly be placed some time round about the end of rule of Candragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I circa 410 420 a d in Gupta Parmeshwari Lal Kulashreshtha Sarojini 1994 Kuṣaṇa Coins and History D K Printworld p 122 ISBN 9788124600177 a b Tandon Pankaj 2009 An Important New Copper Coin of Gadahara Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 200 19 a b c d Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky B A 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 UNESCO p 167 ISBN 9789231032110 a b Agrawal Ashvini 1989 Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas Motilal Banarsidass Publ p 128 ISBN 9788120805927 a b c Gadahara The last branch in course of time yielded to Samudragupta as is borne out by certain coins of this branch having the name Samudra There is a good deal of similarity between the coins of the Gadaharas and the Kidara Kushanas in Bajpai K D 2004 Indian Numismatic Studies Abhinav Publications p 112 ISBN 9788170170358 A Comprehensive History of India Orient Longmans 1957 p 253 Cambon Pierre 1996 Fouilles anciennes en Afghanistan 1924 1925 Paitava Karratcha p 20 Cambon Pierre 1996 Fouilles anciennes en Afghanistan 1924 1925 Paitava Karratcha p 20 Cambon Pierre 1996 Fouilles anciennes en Afghanistan 1924 1925 Paitava Karratcha p 20 The figures represented here although given a Buddhist significance are probably modelled on the Hephthalites or earlier Kidarites who had conquered India s northwest provinces Duchesne Guillemin Jacques 1974 Hommage universel actes du congres de Shiraz 1971 et autres etudes redigees a l occasion du 2500e anniversaire de la fondation de l empire perse Bibliotheque Pahlavi ISBN 9789004039025 Brancaccio Pia 2010 The Buddhist Caves at Aurangabad Transformations in Art and Religion BRILL ISBN 9789004185258 Malwa Through the Ages from the Earliest Times to 1305 A D by Kailash Chand Jain p 242 a b Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky B A 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 UNESCO pp 123 126 ISBN 9789231032110 Dani Ahmad Hasan Litvinsky B A 1996 History of Civilizations of Central Asia The crossroads of civilizations A D 250 to 750 UNESCO p 141 ISBN 9789231032110 Longman History amp Civics ICSE 9 by Singh p 81 ALRAM MICHAEL 2014 From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush The Numismatic Chronicle 174 270 ISSN 0078 2696 JSTOR 44710198 Lerner Judith A Sims Williams Nicholas 2011 Seals sealings and tokens from Bactria to Gandhara 4th to 8th century CE Wien Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften pp 72 75 ISBN 978 3700168973 Bakker Hans 21 January 2021 Masters of the Steppe The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum 27 29 October 2017 Archaeopress Publishing Ltd p 18 ISBN 978 1 78969 648 6 Rezakhani Khodadad 15 March 2017b ReOrienting the Sasanians East Iran in Late Antiquity Edinburgh University Press p 100 ISBN 978 1 4744 0030 5 Alram 2014 p 272 a b Payne 2016 p 18 a b Payne 2015 p 287 Bonner 2020 p 100 Potts 2018 pp 291 294 a b c Zeimal 1996 p 130 Rezakhani 2017 pp 102 121 Rezakhani 2017 pp 102 121 127 a b Alram 2014 p 271 Bonner 2020 p 126 a b Bakker Hans T 12 March 2020 The Alkhan A Hunnic People in South Asia Barkhuis p 18 ISBN 978 94 93194 00 7 a b c Bakker Hans T 12 March 2020 The Alkhan A Hunnic People in South Asia Barkhuis pp 14 15 ISBN 978 94 93194 00 7 Grousset Rene 1970 The Empire of the Steppes Rutgers University Press pp 68 69 ISBN 0 8135 1304 9 a b c Alram 2014 pp 274 275 Iaroslav Lebedynsky Les Nomades p172 British Museum notice Sims Vice President Eleanor G Sims Eleanor Marshak Boris Ilʹich Grube Ernst J I Boris Marshak January 2002 Peerless Images Persian Painting and Its Sources Yale University Press pp 13 14 ISBN 978 0 300 09038 3 Lang David Marshall 1976 The Bulgarians From Pagan Times to the Ottoman Conquest pp 31 and 204 ISBN 9780891585305 Armenian geographer states that the principal tribes of Bulgars were called Kuphi Bulgars Duchi Bulgars Oghkhundur Bulgars and Kidar Bulgars by the last named of which he meant the Kidarites a branch of the Huns a b c Rezakhani Khodadad 15 March 2017b ReOrienting the Sasanians East Iran in Late Antiquity Edinburgh University Press p 100 ISBN 978 1 4744 0031 2 Apart from Gandhara however a Kidarite kingdom may have survived in Sogdiana possibly in the area of Ustrushana a b Rezakhani Khodadad 15 March 2017b ReOrienting the Sasanians East Iran in Late Antiquity Edinburgh University Press p 101 ISBN 978 1 4744 0031 2 However we should not assume that the Kidarite presence in eastern Sogdiana disappeared quickly after their demise in Tokharistan Indeed centuries later in the early ninth century the local king of Ustrushana and the Abbasid general Al Afshin bore the personal name of Khydhar Rezakhani Khodadad 15 March 2017b ReOrienting the Sasanians East Iran in Late Antiquity Edinburgh University Press p 100 ISBN 978 1 4744 0031 2 Sources editAlram Michael 2014 From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush The Numismatic Chronicle 174 261 291 JSTOR 44710198 registration required Bonner Michael 2020 The Last Empire of Iran New York Gorgias Press pp 1 406 ISBN 978 1463206161 Cribb Joe 2018 Rienjang Wannaporn Stewart Peter eds Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project University of Oxford 23rd 24th March 2017 University of Oxford The Classical Art Research Centre Archaeopress ISBN 978 1 78491 855 2 nbsp Cribb Joe 2010 Alram M ed The Kidarites the numismatic evidence pdf Coins Art and Chronology Ii Edited by M Alram et al Coins Art and Chronology II 91 146 nbsp Cribb Joe Donovan Peter 2014 Kushan Kushano Sasanian and Kidarite Coins A Catalogue of Coins From the American Numismatic Society by David Jongeward and Joe Cribb with Peter Donovan p 4 Daryaee Touraj 2009 Sapur II Encyclopaedia Iranica Daryaee Touraj 2014 Sasanian Persia The Rise and Fall of an Empire I B Tauris pp 1 240 ISBN 978 0857716668 Payne Richard 2015 The Reinvention of Iran The Sasanian Empire and the Huns In Maas Michael ed The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila Cambridge University Press pp 282 299 ISBN 978 1 107 63388 9 Payne Richard 2016 The Making of Turan The Fall and Transformation of the Iranian East in Late Antiquity Journal of Late Antiquity Johns Hopkins University Press 9 4 41 doi 10 1353 jla 2016 0011 S2CID 156673274 Potts Daniel T 2018 Sasanian Iran and its northeastern frontier In Mass Michael Di Cosmo Nicola eds Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity Cambridge University Press pp 1 538 ISBN 9781316146040 Rezakhani Khodadad 2017 ReOrienting the Sasanians East Iran in Late Antiquity Edinburgh University Press pp 1 256 ISBN 9781474400305 Zeimal E V 1996 The Kidarite kingdom in Central Asia History of Civilizations of Central Asia Volume III The Crossroads of Civilizations A D 250 to 750 Paris UNESCO pp 119 135 ISBN 92 3 103211 9 ENOKI K On the Date of the Kidarites I Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 27 1969 p 1 26 GRENET F Regional Interaction in Central Asia and North West India in the Kidarite and Hephtalite Period in SIMS WILLIAMS N ed Indo Iranian Languages and Peoples Proceedings of the British Academy London 2002 p 203 224 Further reading editAngelov Alexander 2018 Kidarites In Nicholson Oliver ed The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 866277 8 Wan Xiang 寄多罗人年代与族属考 On the dates and the nationality of the Kidarites in Chinese a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kidarites amp oldid 1186251869, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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