The kingdom of Tushara, according to ancient Indian literature, such as the epic Mahabharata , was a land located beyond north-west India. In the Mahabharata, its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as mlechchas ("barbarians") and fierce warriors.
Modern scholars generally see Tushara as synonymous with the historical "Tukhara", also known as Tokhara or Tokharistan – another name for Bactria. This area was the stronghold of the Kushan Empire, which dominated India between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE.
The historical Tukhara appears to be synonymous with the land known by Ancient Chinese scholars as Daxia , from the 3rd century BCE onwards.
Its inhabitants were known later to Ancient Greek scholars as the Tokharoi and to the Ancient Romans as Tochari. Modern scholars appear to have conflated the Tukhara with the so-called Tocharians – an Indo-European people who lived in the Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China, until the 1st millennium. When the Tocharian languages of the Tarim were rediscovered in the early 20th century, most scholars accepted a hypothesis that they were linked to the Tukhara (who were known to have migrated to Central Asia from China, with the other founding Kushan peoples). However, the subjects of the Tarim kingdoms appear to have referred to themselves by names such as Agni , Kuči and Krorän . These peoples are also known to have spoken centum languages, whereas the Tukhara of Bactria spoke a satem language.
The Tukhara were among Indo-European tribes that conquered Central Asia during the 2nd century BCE, according to both Chinese and Greek sources. Ancient Chinese sources refer to these tribes collectively as the Da Yuezhi ("Greater Yuezhi"). In subsequent centuries the Tukhara and other tribes founded the Kushan Empire, which dominated Central and South Asia.
The account in Mahabharata (Mbh) 1:85 depicts the Tusharas as mlechchas ("barbarians") and descendants of Anu, one of the cursed sons of King Yayati. Yayati's eldest son Yadu, gave rise to the Yadavas and his youngest son Puru to the Pauravas that includes the Kurus and Panchalas. Only the fifth son of Puru's line was considered to be the successors of Yayati's throne, as he cursed the other four sons and denied them kingship. The Pauravas inherited the Yayati's original empire and stayed in the Gangetic plain who later created the Kuru and Panchala Kingdoms. They were followers of the Vedic culture. The Yadavas made central and western India their stronghold. The descendants of Anu, known as the Anavas, are said to have migrated to Iran.
Various regional terms and proper names may have originated with, or been derived from, the Tusharas including: Takhar Province in Afghanistan; the Pakistani village of Thakra; the surname Thakkar, found across India; the Marathi surname Thakere, sometimes anglicised as Thackeray; the Takhar Jat clan in Rajasthan, and the Thakar tribe of Maharashtra. It is also possible that the Thakor (or Thakore) caste of Gujarat, the Thakar caste of Maharashtra and the title Thakur originated with names such as Tushara/Tukhara. The Sanskrit word thakkura "lord" may be related to such terms or may itself be derived from one of them.
The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata associates the Tusharas with the Yavanas, Kiratas, Chinas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Kankas, Sabaras, Barbaras, Ramathas etc., and brands them all as barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha, leading lives of Dasyus. [1]
The Tusharas along with numerous other tribes from the north-west, including the Bahlikas, Kiratas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Daradas, Kambojas, Shakas, Kankas, Romakas, Yavanas, Trigartas, Kshudrakas, Malavas, Angas, and Vangas had joined Yudhishtra at his Rajasuya ceremony and brought him numerous gifts such as camels, horses, cows, elephants and gold [2]
Later the Tusharas, Sakas and Yavanas had joined the military division of the Kambojas and participated in the Mahabharata war on the side of the Kauravas. [3] Karna Parva of Mahabharata describes the Tusharas as very ferocious and wrathful warriors.
At one place in the Mahabharata, the Tusharas are mentioned along with the Shakas and the Kankas. [4] At another place they are in a list with the Shakas, Kankas and Pahlavas. [5] And at other places are mentioned along with the Shakas, Yavanas and the Kambojas [6] etc.
The Tushara kingdom is mentioned in the travels of the Pandavas in the northern regions beyond the Himalayas:- Crossing the difficult Himalayan regions, and the countries of China, Tukhara, Darada and all the climes of Kulinda, rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men reached the capital of Suvahu (3:176).
The Mahabharata makes clear that Vedic Hindus did not know the origins of the Mlechcha tribes, who were highly skilled in weapons, warfare and material sciences, but never followed the Vedic rites properly. That the Vedic people were dealing with foreign tribes is evident in a passage from Mahabharata (12:35). It asks which duties that should be performed by the Yavanas, the Kiratas, the Gandharvas, the Chinas, the Savaras, the Barbaras, the Sakas, the Tusharas, the Kankas, the Pathavas, the Andhras, the Madrakas, the Paundras, the Pulindas, the Ramathas, the Kambojas, and several new castes of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and the Shudras, that had sprung up in the dominions of the Arya kings.
The kings of the Pahlavas and the Daradas and the various tribes of the Kiratas and Yavanas and Sakras and the Harahunas and Chinas and Tukharas and the Sindhavas and the Jagudas and the Ramathas and the Mundas and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tanganas and the Kekayas and the Malavas and the inhabitants of Kasmira, were present in the Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhishthira the king of the Pandavas (3:51). The Sakas and Tukhatas and Tukharas and Kankas and Romakas and men with horns bringing with them as tribute numerous large elephants and ten thousand horses, and hundreds and hundreds of millions of golds (2:50).
The Tusharas were very ferocious warriors. The Yavanas and the Sakas, along with the Chulikas, stood in the right wing of the Kaurava battle-array (6:75). The Tusharas, the Yavanas, the Khasas, the Darvabhisaras, the Daradas, the Sakas, the Kamathas, the Ramathas, the Tanganas the Andhrakas, the Pulindas, the Kiratas of fierce prowess, the Mlecchas, the Mountaineers, and the races hailing from the sea-side, all endued with great wrath and great might, delighting in battle and armed with maces, these all—united with the Kurus and fought wrathfully for Duryodhana’s sake (8:73). A number of Saka and Tukhara and Yavana horsemen, accompanied by some of the foremost combatants among the Kambojas, quickly rushed against Arjuna (8:88). F. E Pargiter writes that the Tusharas, along with the Yavanas, Shakas, Khasas and Daradas had collectively joined the Kamboja army of Sudakshina Kamboj and had fought in Kurukshetra war under latter's supreme command. [7]
Puranic texts like Vayu Purana, Brahmanda Purana and Vamana Purana, etc., associate the Tusharas with the Shakas, Barbaras, Kambojas, Daradas, Viprendras, Anglaukas, Yavanas, Pahlavas etc and refer to them all as the tribes of Udichya i.e. north or north-west. [8] The Kambojas, Daradas, Barbaras, Harsavardhanas, Cinas and the Tusharas are described as the populous races of men outside. [9]
Puranic literature further states that the Tusharas and other tribes like the Gandharas, Shakas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas, Yavanas, Barbaras, Khasa, and Lampakas, etc., would be invaded and annihilated by Lord Kalki at the end of Kali Yuga . And they were annihilated by king Pramiti at the end of Kali Yuga. [10]
According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, river Chakshu (Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the countries of Tusharas, Lampakas, Pahlavas, Paradas and the Shakas, etc. [11]
The Brihat-Katha-Manjari [12] of Pt Kshemendra relates that around 400 CE, Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) (r. 375-413/15 CE), had "unburdened the sacred earth by destroying the barbarians" like the Tusharas, Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Parasikas, Hunas etc.
The Rajatarangini of Kalhana records that king Laliditya Muktapida, the 8th-century ruler of Kashmir had invaded the tribes of the north and after defeating the Kambojas, he immediately faced the Tusharas. The Tusharas did not give a fight but fled to the mountain ranges leaving their horses in the battlefield. [13] This shows that during the 8th century CE, a section of the Tusharas was living as neighbours of the Kambojas near the Oxus valley.
By the 6th century CE, the Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira also locates the Tusharas with Barukachcha (Bhroach) and Barbaricum (on the Indus Delta) near the sea in western India. [14] The Romakas formed a colony of the Romans near the port of Barbaricum in Sindhu Delta. [15] This shows that a section of the Tusharas had also moved to western India and was living there around Vrahamihira's time.
There is also a mention of Tushara-Giri (Tushara mountain) in the Mahabharata, Harshacharita of Bana Bhata and Kavyamimansa of Rajshekhar. ÷
Kingdom
Tushara | |
---|---|
Common languages | Sanskrit, Vedic Languages |
Religion | Hinduism and Vedic folk Religion |
Rajas |
Little is known of the Tukhara before they conquered the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in the 2nd century BCE. They are known, in subsequent centuries, to have spoken Bactrian, an Eastern Iranian language. The Yuezhi are generally believed to have had their ethnogenesis in Gansu, China. However, Ancient Chinese sources use the term Daxia (Tukhara) for a state in Central Asia, two centuries before the Yuezhi entered the area. Hence the Tukhara may have been recruited by the Yuezhi, from a people neighbouring or subject to the Greco-Bactrians.
Likewise the Atharvaveda also associates the Tusharas with the Bahlikas (Bactrians), Yavanas/Yonas (Greeks) and Sakas (Indo-Scythians), as following: "Saka.Yavana.Tushara.Bahlikashcha". [16] It also places the Bahlikas as neighbors of the Kambojas. [17] This may suggest suggests that the Tusharas were neighbours to these peoples, possibly in Transoxiana.
In the 7th century CE, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, by way of the "Iron Pass" entered Tukhara (覩貨羅 Pinyin Duhuoluo; W-G Tu-huo-luo). Xuanzang stated that it lay south of the Iron Pass, north of the "great snow mountains" (Hindukush), and east of Persia, with the Oxus "flowing westward through the middle of it." [18]
During the time of Xuanzang, Tukhāra was divided into 27 administrative units, each having its separate chieftain. [19] [20]
The Tukharas (Tho-gar) are mentioned in the Tibetan chronicle Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah (The Excellent Kalpa-Vrksa), along with people like the Yavanas, Kambojas, Daradas, Hunas, Khasas etc. [21]
The Komedai of Ptolemy, [22] the Kiumito or Kumituo of Xuanzang's accounts, Kiumizhi of Wu'kong, [23] Kumi of the Tang Annals , [24] Kumed or Kumadh of some Muslim writers, Cambothi, Kambuson and Komedon of the Greek writers (or the Kumijis of Al-Maqidisi, Al-Baihaki, Nasir Khusau etc.) [25] [26] who lived in Buttamen Mountains (now in Tajikistan) in the upper Oxus [27] are believed by many scholars to be the Kambojas who were living neighbors to the Tukhara/Tusharas north of the Hindukush in the Oxus valley. [28] The region was also known as Kumudadvipa of the Puranic texts, which the scholars identify with Sanskrit Kamboja. [29]
Before its occupation by the Tukhara, Badakshan formed a part of ancient Kamboja (Parama Kamboja) but, after its occupation by the Tukhara in the 2nd century BCE, Badakshan and some other territories of the Kamboja became part of Tukhara. [30]
Around the 4th to 5th century CE, when the fortunes of the Tukhara finally waned, the original population of Kambojas re-asserted itself, and the region again started to be called by its ancient name, i.e., "Kamboja", [31] though northwestern parts still retained the name of Duhuoluo or Tukharistan in Chinese at least until the time of the Tang dynasty. [32]
There are several later references to Kamboja of the Pamirs/Badakshan. Raghuvamsha - a 5th-century Sanskrit play by Kalidasa, attests their presence on river Vamkshu (Oxus) as neighbors to the Hunas (Raghu: 4.68-70). As seen above, the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang mentions the Kiumito/Kumito living to the north of the Oxus, [33] which may refer to Komedai of Ptolemy. [34] which, as noted above, has been equated to Kamboja mentioned in Sanskrit texts.
The 8th-century king of Kashmir, King Lalitadiya, invaded the Kambojas of the "far-spreading northern region" (uttarāpatha) as mentioned in the Rajatarangini of Kalhana. After encountering the Kambojas, Lalitadiya's army approached the Tuhkhāras who "fled to the mountain ranges leaving behind their horses." [35] According to D. C. Sircar, the Kambojas here are bracketed with the Tukharas and are shown as living in the eastern parts of the Oxus valley as neighbors of the Tukharas who were living in the western parts of that Valley. [36] [37] [38]
The 10th century CE Kavyamimamsa of Rajshekhar lists the Tusharas with several other tribes of the Uttarapatha viz: the Shakas, Kekeyas, Vokkanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Limpakas, Kulutas, Tanganas, Turusakas, Barbaras, Ramathas etc. [39] This mediaeval era evidence shows that the Tusharas were different from the Turushakas with whom they are often confused by some writers.
Pompeius Trogus remarks that the Asii were lords of the Tochari. It is generally believed that they are same as the Rishikas of the Mahabharata which people are equivalent to Asii (in Prakrit). [40] V. S. Aggarwala also equates the Rishikas with the Asii or Asioi. [41] In 1870, George Rawlinson commented that "The Asii or Asiani were closely connected with the Tochari and the Sakarauli (Saracucse?) who are found connected with both the Tochari and the Asiani". [42]
If the Rishikas of the Mahabharata were same as the Tukharas, then the observation from George Rawlinson is in line with the Mahabharata [43] statement which also closely allies the Rishikas with the Parama Kambojas [44] and places them both in the Sakadvipa. [45] The Kambojas (i.e. the southern branch of the Parama Kambojas), are the same as the classical Assaceni/Assacani (Aspasio/Assakenoi of Arrian) and the Aśvayana and Aśvakayana of Panini. [46] They are also mentioned by Megasthenes who refers to them as Osii (= Asii), Asoi, Aseni etc., [47] all living on upper Indus in eastern Afghanistan. The names indicate their connection with horses and horse culture. [48] [49] These Osii, Asoi/Aseni clans represent earlier migration from the Parama Kamboja (furthest Kamboja) land, lying between Oxus and Jaxartes, which happened prior to Achaemenid rule. Per epic evidence, Parama Kamboja was the land of the Loha-Kamboja-Rishikas. [50]
The Rishikas are said by some scholars to be the same people as the Yuezhi. [51] The Kushanas are also said by some to be the same people. [52] Kalhana (c. 1148-1149 CE) claims that the three kings he calls Huṣka, Juṣka and Kaniṣka (commonly interpreted to refer to Huvishka, Vāsishka and Kanishka I) were "descended from the Turuṣka race". [53] Aurel Stein says that the Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokarai) were a branch of the Yuezhi. [54] P. C. Bagchi holds that the Yuezhi, Tocharioi and Tushara were identical. [55] If he is correct, the Rishikas, Tusharas/Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokaroi), the Kushanas and the Yuezhi, were probably either a single people, or members of a confederacy.
Sabha Parva of Mahabharata states that the Parama Kambojas, Lohas and the Rishikas were allied tribes. [56] Like the "Parama Kambojas", the Rishikas of the Transoxian region are similarly styled as "Parama Rishikas". [57] Based on the syntactical construction of the Mahabharata verse 5.5.15 [58] and verse 2.27.25, [59] Ishwa Mishra believe that the Rishikas were a section of the Kambojas i.e. Parama Kambojas. V. S. Aggarwala too, relates the Parama Kambojas of the Trans-Pamirs to the Rishikas of the Mahabharata [60] and also places them in the Sakadvipa (or Scythia). [61] According to Dr B. N. Puri and some other scholars, the Kambojas were a branch of the Tukharas. [62] [63] Based on the above Rishika-Kamboja connections, some scholars also claim that the Kambojas were a branch of the Yuezhi themselves. [64] Dr Moti Chander also sees a close ethnic relationship between the Kambojas and the Yuezhi . [65] [66]
Modern scholars are still debating the details of these connections without coming to any firm consensus. [67] [68]
According to the Nihon Shoki , the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history, in 1654 two men and two women of the Tushara Kingdom, along with one woman from Shravasti, were drive by a storm to take refuge at the former Hyūga Province in southern Kyushu. They remained for several years before setting off for home. [69] : 75 That is the first recorded visit of people from India to Japan.
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians", who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India.
The Indo-Scythians were a group of nomadic people of Iranic Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the northwestern Indian subcontinent: the present-day South Asian regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Eastern Iran and northern India. The migrations persisted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE.
The Mahājanapadas were sixteen kingdoms and aristocratic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the second urbanisation period.
The Rishikas was an ancient Kingdom of Central Asia and South Asia, who are mentioned in Hindu and Sanskrit literary texts, including the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Brhat-Samhita, the Markendeya Purana and Patanjali's Mahabhashya.
Daradas were an ancient people who lived north and north-west to the Kashmir Valley. This kingdom is identified to be the Gilgit region, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region along the river Sindhu or Indus. They are often spoken along with the Kambojas. The Pandava hero Arjuna had visited this country of Daradas during his northern military campaign to collect tribute for Yudhishthira's Rajasuya sacrifice.
The Chinas are a people mentioned in ancient Indian literature, such as the Mahabharata, Manusmriti, and the Puranic literature.
Madra kingdom was a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. Its capital was Sagala in the Madra region. The Kuru king Pandu's (Pāṇḍu) second wife was from Madra kingdom and was called Madri. The Pandava twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were her sons. Madri's brother Shalya was the king of Madra. Though affectionate to the Pandavas, he was tricked to give support to Duryodhana and fought against the Pandavas during the Kurukshetra War. He was killed by Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava. Other than the Madra kingdom with Sagala as its capital, it is believed that there was a Western Madra and a Northern Madra.
The Pahlava kingdom is identified to be a kingdom of an Iranian tribe. The kingdom was well known, even during the campaign of Alexander. It was also mentioned in the epic Mahabharata.
Sakas are described in Sanskrit sources as a Mleccha tribe grouped along with the Yavanas, Tusharas and Barbaras. There were a group of Sakas called Apa Sakas meaning water dwelling Sakas, probably living around some lake in central Asian steppes. Sakas took part in Kurukshetra War.
Khasas were a north western tribe mentioned in the epic Mahabharata.
Kasmira or Kashmira was a kingdom identified as the Kashmir Valley along the Jhelum River of modern Jammu and Kashmir. During the epic ages this was one among the territories of the Naga race. The Kasmiras were allies of the Kuru king Duryodhana.
Hara-Huna was an ancient kingdom and inhabited by the Hara Hunas tribe close to the Himalayas who had limited interaction with the Indian kingdoms, thus they were identified in the epic Mahabharata.
Kirata kingdom in Sanskrit literature and Hindu mythology refers to any kingdom of the Kiratis, who were dwellers mostly in the Himalayas. They took part in the Kurukshetra War along with Parvatas (mountaineers) and other Himalayan tribes.
Parvata Kingdom refers to the territory of a tribe known as Parvatas (Mountaineers), mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. Most of the descriptions of Parvata kingdom in the epic refer to a mountainous country in the Himalayas. Tribes belonging to other mountainous regions in the north west, west and the east of the Indo-Gangetic Plain were also known as Parvatas, when used as a collective name. Parvatas took part in the Kurukshetra War. The epic also mentions a sage named Parvata who was a companion of sage Narada.
The Pahlavas are a people mentioned in ancient Indian texts. According to Patrick Carnegy, a Raj-era ethnographer, the 4th-century BCE Vartika of Katyayana mentions the Sakah-Parthavah, demonstrating an awareness of these Saka-Parthians, probably by way of commerce. Knowledge of the Pahlavas is distilled from the literary references in texts like the Manu Smriti, various Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bṛhat Saṃhitā.
The Bahlikas were the inhabitants of a location called Bahlika, mentioned in the Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha, and other ancient inscriptions. Other variations of Bahlika include Bahli, Balhika, Vahlika, Valhika, Bahlava, Bahlam/Bahlim, Bahlayana, and Bahluva.
Komedes is the ethnonym of an ancient people in Central Asia. They were mentioned by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy in Geography. Traditional Hindu and Indian spellings included Kumuda, Kumuda-dvipa, and Parama Kambojas; and ancient Greek and Roman spellings included Komedes, Komedei, Traumeda, Caumedae, Homodotes, Homodoti, or Homodontes.B
Central Asia and Ancient India have long traditions of social-cultural, religious, political and economic contact since remote antiquity. The two regions have common and contiguous borders, climatic continuity, similar geographical features and geo-cultural affinity. For millennia, there has been a flow of people, material and ideas between the two.
The Kingdom of Kapisa was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium CE. Its capital was the city of Kapisa. The kingdom stretched from the Hindu Kush in the north to Bamiyan and Kandahar in the south and west, out as far as the modern Jalalabad District in the east.