Toramana of Kashmir

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Toramana of Kashmir
Ruler of Kashmir
Alchon Huns Toramana II Circa AD 540-570.jpg
Coin of Toramana of Kashmir.
South Asia non political, with rivers.jpg
Brown circle 50%25.svg
Approximate location of Toramana II's territory
Reign6-7th century CE

Toramana of Kashmir (Gupta script: Gupta allahabad shrii.jpg Gupta allahabad to.jpg Gupta allahabad r.svg Gupta allahabad maa2.jpg Gupta allahabad nn.svg Śrī Toramāṇa, "Lord Toramana"), was a ruler of Kashmir in the 6-7th century CE. This ruler has often been called "Toramana II" in numismatic studies, but this name now tends to be used for an earlier Alchon Hun ruler of Kabulistan: Toramana II. [1] [2]

Contents

Descendants of the Alchon Huns

The copper coinage of Toramana of Kashmir is found extensively in the region of Kashmir, together with the similarly styled coinage of other rulers such as Sri Pravarasena, Sri Megavah, and Sri Tuisyna. [3] These coins are generally dated to the 6th-7th century CE, with the coins of Toramana coming last in the chronology and being copied for several centuries thereafter. [3] [4] Other rulers by the name of Toramana are known, such as the famous Alchon Hun rulers Toramana and Toramana II. [2]

Given the time period and the geographical location of these Kashmiri rulers, and the fact that their names are identical or similar to the names of the 5-6th century Hunnish Alchon Hun rulers of northwestern India, it is "very likely" that they were themselves descendants of the Alchon Huns in the Kashmir area. [5] The Alchon Huns are known to have resettled in the area of Gandhara and Kashmir following their defeats in northwestern India. [6] [7]

Coinage

The known coinage of Toramana of Kashmir is in copper only. These coins follow the coins types of the later Kushans and Kidarites, with king standing on the obverse and a goddess holding a lotus on the reverse. The name Toramama appears on the obverse legend in 5-6th century Brahmi script. The reverse has the legend "Ki-dd-ra" written vertically, which might refer to the former occupation of Kashmir by the Kidarites. The word Kidara would remain on Kashmir coinage as late as the Karkota dynasty. [8] [9]

Coins of Toramana of Kashmir, Shanghai Museum. Coins of Toramana from Kashmir.jpg
Coins of Toramana of Kashmir, Shanghai Museum.

Appearance in the Rajatarangini

Several rulers with Alchon names appear in Kalhana's Rajatarangini (composed in the 12th century CE). [11]

Although the chronology of the Rajatarangini is largely deficient, several of the names of these rulers, especially those belonging to the so-called Gonanda dynasty (II), have been confirmed by these coin finds in Kashmir and dated to the 6-7th century CE. [5] According to Raj Kumar, "the connection of this coinage with Kalhana's notice cannot be doubted." [11]

According to the Rajatarangini, Toramana of Kashmir was son of Shreshtasena (Pravarasena I) and grandson of Megavahana, and was sub-king to his brother Hiranya. According to the account, Hiranya imprisoned Toramana when the latter stuck royal coins in his own name. The discovery of the coinage of Toramana of Kashmir lends some credence to this story. [12] According to the Rajatarangini, the son of Toramana was Pravarasena II, and again coinage in his name has been found. [13] [3]

According to the Rajatarangini, this line of rulers was dethroned by Pratapaditya, son of the founder of the Kashmiri Karkoṭa Empire, Durlabhavardhana. [14] [15] [16]

Later imitations of the coinage of Toramana of Kashmir

The coins of Toramana of Kashmir remained in use and were copied for several centuries thereafter, until the end of Hindu rule in Kashmir (Lohara dynasty, 1003-1320 CE). [3] [17]

Sources

Related Research Articles

<i>Rajatarangini</i> Book by Kalhana

Rājataraṅgiṇī is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western part of Indian sub-continent, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xionites</span> 4th–6th-century Bactrian-speaking nomadic people of Central Asia

Xionites, Chionites, or Chionitae were a nomadic people in the Central Asian regions of Transoxiana and Bactria.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kashmir Smast</span>

The Kashmir Smast caves, also called Kashmir Smats, are a series of natural limestone caves, artificially expanded from the Kushan to the Shahi periods, situated in the Babuzai Sakrah mountains in the Katlang Valley Mardan in Northern Pakistan. According to recent scholarship based on a rare series of bronze coins and artifacts found in the region, the caves and their adjacent valley probably comprised a sovereign kingdom in Gandhara which maintained at least partial independence for almost 500 years, from c. 4th century AD to the 9th century AD. For most of its history, it was ruled by White Hun governors or princes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mihirakula</span> Ruler of the Alchon Huns

Mihirakula, sometimes referred to as Mihiragula or Mahiragula, was the second and last Alchon Hun king of northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent between 502 and 530 CE. He was a son of and successor to Toramana of Huna heritage. His father ruled the Indian part of the Hephthalite Empire. Mihirakula ruled from his capital of Sagala.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meghavahana</span> Ancient Kashmiri king

Meghavahana was ruler and founder of second Gonanda dynasty of Kashmir during middle of first millennium CE. Meghavahana was 80th ruler of the Gonanda line of rulers, he was followed by 81st ruler Pravarasena.

The Karkota dynasty ruled over the Kashmir valley and some northern parts of the Indian subcontinent during 7th and 8th centuries. Their rule saw a period of political expansion, economic prosperity and emergence of Kashmir as a centre of culture and scholarship.

The Nezak Huns, also Nezak Shahs, was a significant principality in the south of the Hindu Kush region of South Asia from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the Hunnic states, their ethnicity remains disputed and speculative. The dynasty is primarily evidenced by coinage inscribing a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alchon Huns</span> 370–670 CE nomadic people who invaded India

The Alchon Huns, also known as the Alkhan, Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kidara I</span> Kidarites

Kidara I 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Varahran Kushanshah</span> Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom Kushanshah from 330 to 365

BahramKushanshah, was the last Kushanshah of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom from 330 to 365. He was the successor of Peroz II Kushanshah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehama</span> Ruler of the Alchon Huns

Mehama, ruled c.461-493, was a king of Alchon Huns dynasty. He is little known, but the Talagan copper scroll mentions him as an active ruler making a donation to a Buddhist stupa in 492/93. At that time, it is considered that the Alchon Huns were firmly in charge of the Buddhist region around Taxila, but had not yet started to conquer the Indian mainland.

The Second Gonanda dynasty, was a Kashmiri Hindu dynasty. According to Kalhana, this dynasty ruled Kashmir just before the Karkotas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iranian Huns</span> Term roughly equivalent to Huna people

The term Iranian Huns is sometimes used for a group of different tribes that lived in Central Asia, in the historical regions of Transoxiana, Bactria, Tokharistan, Kabul Valley, and Gandhara, overlapping with the modern-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzebekistan, Eastern Iran, Pakistan, and Northwest India, between the fourth and seventh centuries. They also threatened the Northeast borders of Sasanian Iran and forced the Shahs to lead many ill-documented campaigns against them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gadahara</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Pravarasena</span> Alchon Huns King

Sri Pravarasena, also sometimes Pravarasena II based on the regnal lists of the Rajatarangini, was a 6th-century Huna king of the Alchon Huns in the area of Gandhara and Kashmir in northwestern India. His reign probably lasted about 60 years from about the year 530 CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirada</span> King of the Kidarites

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.

Yudhishthira has been proposed as the last Alchon Hun ruler of Kashmir, according to a reconstruction made by Atreyi Biswas. The tentative identification has been made from the lists of Huna kings given in the Puranas and the Rajatarangini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toramana II</span> Huna King

Toramana II was a ruler of the Alchon Huns in the 6th century CE.

The rise of the Great Kushans in Bactria and Northwestern India during the first century CE significantly altered the geopolitical landscape, impacting trade routes, international relations, and regional power dynamics. Acting as intermediaries in trade, they controlled key sections of the Silk Road, redirecting commerce between China, India, and the East away from Parthian territory, challenging Parthian economic dominance.

References

  1. Cribb 2017, p. 87.
  2. 1 2 Alram 2014, p. 278.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Cribb 2017, pp. 86–110.
  4. Chandra Ray 1969, p. 45, "A large number of copper coins with the legend Toramana are found in the valley. Though these coins were current up to the end of the Hindu rule, their first circulation might date as far back as the middle of the sixth century".
  5. 1 2 Cribb 2017, p. 99, "It seems very likely therefore that the rulers of Kashmir at this period were descendents of the Hun kings who ruled large parts of northwestern India from the mid-4th to the 6th century".
  6. Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 169. ISBN   9789231032110.
  7. Kim, Hyun Jin (2015). The Huns. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN   9781317340911.
  8. Chandra Ray 1969, p. 234.
  9. Cunningham, Alexander (1894). Coins Of Mediaeval India From The Seventh Century. p. 42.
  10. "Toramana coin (Kashmir) British Museum". The British Museum.
  11. 1 2 Kumar, Raj (2008). History Of The Chamar Dynasty : (From 6th Century A.D. To 12th Century A.D.). Gyan Publishing House. pp. 318–319. ISBN   978-81-7835-635-8. But the name of Toramana is found on a species of Kashmir copper coins of which remarkably large quantities have been preserved to this day . The connection of this coinage with Kalhana's notice cannot be doubted.
  12. Chandra Ray 1969, p. 45, "The striking of copper coins by Toramana, brother of Hiranya may also have some truth behind. A large number of copper coins with the legend Toramana are found in the valley. Though these coins were current up to the end of the Hindu rule, their first circulation might date as far back as the middle of the sixth century It is not unlikely that they were struck by Hiranya's brother.".
  13. Chandra Ray 1969, p. 45, "Pravarasena II, son of Toramana, is undoubtedly a historical figure. The city of Pravarapura owes its name to him. To him can also be attributed some gold and silver coins which bear unmistakable influence of the Kidara Kusana coins..
  14. Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 170. ISBN   9789231032110.
  15. PAL, PRATAPADITYA (1973). "Bronzes of Kashmir: Their Sources and Influences". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 121 (5207): 727. ISSN   0035-9114. JSTOR   41371150. Before the Karkotas came to the throne, Kashmir may have been occupied by a long succession of foreign rulers or tribes. Certainly both the Kushänas and the Huns were present in the area for centuries. Indeed, the history of Kashmir begins to take shape only with the foundation of the Karkota dynasty around AD 625. The immediate predecessors of the Karkotas appear to have been Huns...
  16. Kim, Hyun Jin (19 November 2015). "THE HUNS OF CENTRAL ASIA AND SOUTH ASIA: THE KIDARITE AND HEPHTHALITE WHITE HUNS". The Huns. Routledge. p. 58. doi:10.4324/9781315661704. ISBN   978-1-317-34090-4.
  17. Chandra Ray 1969, pp. 45, 234 note 10, "A large number of copper coins with the legend Toramana are found in the valley. Though these coins were current up to the end of the Hindu rule, their first circulation might date as far back as the middle of the sixth century".