Kidara | |
---|---|
Kidarites | |
Reign | c. 350–390 CE |
Predecessor | Peroz |
Successor | Uncertain |
Kidara I (Late Brahmi script: Ki-da-ra) fl. 350-390 CE) was the first major ruler of the Kidarite Kingdom, which replaced the Indo-Sasanians in northwestern India, in the areas of Kushanshahr, Gandhara, Kashmir and Punjab. [4]
Kidara himself was a nomadic ruler who invaded the areas of Tukharistan and Gandhara hitherto ruled by the Indo-Sasanians. It is thought the Kidarites had initially invaded Sogdiana and Bactria from the north circa 300 CE. [5] His people may have been pushed out from the northern areas of Bactria by migrating Hephthalites. [4]
Kidara's ethnicity is unclear, but he may himself have been a Chionite, and he belongs to the general category of the Huns or Huna. [5] Already during the 4th century Sasanian Emperor Shapur II had fought against Chionite invaders led by king Grumbates, and ultimately passed an alliance with them, using their military in the campaign against the Romans in the siege of the fortress of Amida (now Diyarbakır, Turkey). [4] Chinese sources explain however that the Kidarites are the Lesser Yuezhi, which would make them relatives of the Yuezhi, themselves ancestors of the Kushans. [5]
Kidara having established himself in Tukharistan and Gandara, took the title of Kushanshah which until that time had been used by the rulers of the Indo-Sasanian kingdom. [4] He thus founded the eponymous new dynasty of the Kidarites in northwestern India. [5] The Kidarites also claimed to have been successors of the Kushans, possibly due to their ethnic proximity. [5]
Kidara struck both Sasanian-style gold and silver coins (imitating his immediate predecessor in the region Varahran I) and Kushan-style gold coins, before issuing coins in his own name. [6] [7]
The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of modern-day territory of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India, at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great.
Kanishka II was one of the emperors of the Kushan Empire from around 225–245 CE. He succeeded Vasudeva I who is considered to be the last great Kushan emperor.
Vāsudeva I was a Kushan emperor, last of the "Great Kushans." Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least 191 to 232 CE. He ruled in Northern India and Central Asia, where he minted coins in the city of Balkh (Bactria). He probably had to deal with the rise of the Sasanians and the first incursions of the Kushano-Sasanians in the northwest of his territory.
The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, 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, and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites. The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites". 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.
Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in Bactria during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE at the expense of the declining Kushans. They captured the provinces of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara from the Kushans in 225 CE. The Sasanians established governors for the Sasanian Empire, who minted their own coinage and took the title of Kushanshas, i.e. "Kings of the Kushans". They are sometimes considered as forming a "sub-kingdom" inside the Sasanian Empire. This administration continued until 360-370 CE, when the Kushano-Sasanians lost much of its domains to the invading Kidarite Huns, whilst the rest was incorporated into the imperial Sasanian Empire. Later, the Kidarites were in turn displaced by the Hephthalites. The Sasanians were able to re-establish some authority after they destroyed the Hephthalites with the help of the Turks in 565, but their rule collapsed under Arab attacks in the mid 7th century.
Kipunada, also Kipanadha, was probably the last ruler of the Kushan Empire around 335-350 CE. He is known for his gold coinage. He succeeded Shaka I. Kipunada was probably only a local ruler in the area of Taxila, in western Punjab, and he may have been a subject of Gupta Emperor Samudragupta.
Dilberjin Tepe, also Dilberjin or Delbarjin, is the modern name for the remains of an ancient town in modern (northern) Afghanistan. The town was perhaps founded in the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Under the Kushan Empire it became a major local centre. After the Kushano-Sassanids the town was abandoned.
Kushanshah was the title of the rulers of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom, the parts of the former Kushan Empire in the areas of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara, named Kushanshahr and held by the Sasanian Empire, during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. They are collectively known as Kushano-Sasanians, or Indo-Sasanians.
Peroz I Kushanshah was Kushanshah of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom from 245 to 275. He was the successor of Ardashir I Kushanshah. He was an energetic ruler, who minted coins in Balkh, Herat, and Gandhara. Under him, the Kushano-Sasanians further expanded their domains into the west, pushing the weakened Kushan Empire to Mathura in North India.
The Alchon Huns, also known as the Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus, and later expanded south-east, into the Punjab and central India, as far as Eran and Kausambi. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire, in a sense bringing an end to Classical India.
Hormizd I Kushanshah was Kushanshah of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom from 275 to 300. His reign was marked by his rebellion against his brother and suzerain the Sasanian King of Kings Bahram II.
BahramKushanshah, was the last Kushanshah of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom from 330 to 365. He was the successor of Peroz II Kushanshah.
The term Iranian Huns is sometimes used for a group of different tribes that lived in Afghanistan and neighboring areas between the fourth and seventh centuries and expanded into northwest India. They are roughly equivalent to the Hunas. They also threatened the northeast borders of Sasanian Persia and forced the Shahs to lead many ill-documented campaigns against them.
Peroz II Kushanshah was the penultimate Kushanshah of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom from 303 to 330. He was the successor of Hormizd II Kushanshah.
Peroz, was according to modern scholarship an early Kidarite ruler in Gandhara, right after the end of Kushano-Sasanians.
Gadahara, sometimes Gadakhara, is a name appearing on numerous coins at the end of the Kushan Empire or the beginning of the rule of the Kidarite Huns in the area of Central and Western Punjab in India, in the period circa 350-375 CE.
Kirada, is considered by modern scholarship as the first known ruler of the Kidarite Huns in the area of Gandhara in northwestern India, possibly at the same time as another Kidarite ruler named Yosada.
Mahi was a Kushan ruler, whose reign is dated to circa 300-305 CE. He probably succeeded Vasudeva II, and his successor was Shaka. Mahi was among the last Kushan Emperors, before they were overrun by the Kidarites.
The Sasanian coinage of Sindh refers to a series of Sasanian-style issues, minted from 325 to 480 CE in Sindh, in the southern part of modern Pakistan, with the coin type of successive Sasanian Empire rulers, from Shapur II to Peroz I. Together with the coinage of the Kushano-Sasanians, these coins are often described as "Indo-Sasanian". They form an important part of Sasanian coinage.
Hind was the name of a southeastern Sasanian province lying near the Indus River. The boundaries of the province are obscure. The Austrian historian and numismatist Nikolaus Schindel has suggested that the province may have corresponded to the Sindh region, where the Sasanians notably minted unique gold coins of themselves. According to the modern historian C. J. Brunner, the province possibly included—whenever jurisdiction was established—the areas of the Indus River, including the southern part of Punjab.