SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The history of the Hunas before their invasion of India, when they came in relation with China, Europe and Persia, is an extremely controversial and elaborate subject, and is not examined in full detail in this thesis, which is mainly related to the Hunas in India. We have given a short sketch of their origin and earlier history as our Introduction, in order to provide background knowledge. As the Huns in general comprised several nomadic hordes, apparently of divergent ethnic stocks, we need to decide which particular clan of the Great Hunnish tribe invaded India. The first chapter contains our attempt to solve this problem. We start the Huna invasion on India not with Toramana, but with his fore fathers, who made preliminary raids on the Indian borders and who suffered defeat at the hands of Skanda Gupta, In this second chapter we include the study of Toramapa's father Tunjima, who was given the title Pravarasena I, by Kalhana. The third and fourth chapters deal with the history of Toramana and Mihirakula respectively. We refute in these chapters the theory of their being indigenous kings, as some scholars believe. The fifth and sixth chapters comprise the history of the later Hunas, who were probably the descendants of Mihirakula, and who ruled in some parts of Kashmir and its adjacent provinces till the mediaeval period, when they gradually lost their identity. The sixth chapter also discusses the references to the Hunas in the inscriptions of the Rajput period. The seventh chapter studies the Hindu social laws which permitted the amalgamation of foreigners in Indian society. In this last chapter we discuss the problem of the origin of the Rajputs and try to establish how large a contribution was made by the Hunas and other foreign tribes like the Gurjaras to Rajput society. Finally we attempt to show some possible vestiges of the Hunas in Modern India. The work contains three appendices. Appendix I, is a study of the coins of the Huna kings. The Appendix II gives the background of northern Indian politics, in the 6th and 7th centuries, which may help the readers to understand better the history of the later Hunas. Appendix III consists of a discussion on the Yasovarman coins of Kashmir, which have long created much controversy. We conclude with a bibliography, which includes a select list of books and articles we have consulted in writing this thesis.