Mihirakula

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Mihirakula coin

Mihirakula (died approx. 540/50) was an important ruler of the Alchon , who played an important role in the history of India in the first half of the 6th century .

Life

Indian sources report attacks by the Hunas ("Huns") on the northwestern Gupta Empire in the early 6th century. The general name Hunas refers to groups of the so-called Iranian Huns , who in the late 4th and 5th centuries advanced in several waves of attacks to Bactria , Sogdia and Gandhara . The identification of the Hunas with the Iranian Huns (which should not be confused with the "Western Huns " that advanced into Eastern Europe around 375 and to which they were probably not related) has been undisputed in historical research for a long time. The problem is which of these groups invaded northern India around 500.

In recent research, the Alchon group is equated with these attackers. The problem is that the Indian sources do not differentiate much and report only generalized about Hunas . Another group of Iranian Huns (the Hephthalites ) is often associated with the Hunas in research. However, there seems to have been a difference between the Alchon group and the "actual" Hephthalites, who ruled Bactria and Sogdia around 500. Both groups had coins minted, which are an important source for the history of the Iranian Huns. The numismatic findings, in turn, clearly indicate that the Hunas are to be understood as the Alchon.

The Hunas (Alchon) came under their rulers Toramana in the early 6th century by the Punjab from the northwest of the Gupta empire before, with disastrous consequences. The Hunas were apparently able to record several successes and penetrate quite far into the Gupta empire as far as central India.

Toramana's son Mihirakula succeeded his father as ruler of the Alchon in India around 515. In Indian and Chinese sources, Mihirakula is described extremely negatively; he is also mentioned by Kosmas Indicopleustes in the 11th book of his description of the world as Gollas . Mihirakula's name is in the Sanskrit form a reference to Mithra , the Iranian sun god, but Mihirakula was also a follower of Shiva . This is proven by written sources and its coinage. A Buddhist persecution initiated by him resulted in numerous deaths; allegedly it should have been his goal to wipe out Buddhism in India completely.

In any case, in Indian sources Mihirakula is portrayed as a pure tyrant, even in modern research he is considered by some to be the " Attila of India". The report by the Chinese pilgrim Song Yun also suggests Mihirakula's determination to fight Buddhism. Song Yun traveled to Kashmir around 520 and met a ruler of the Hunas there who is usually identified with Mihirakula; he was hostile to Buddhism and ordered several massacres. Mihirakula has also often been blamed for the decline of Buddhism in northwest India in research, but other factors appear to have played a role.

The capital of Mihirakulas was Sakala in the Punjab. An inscription commissioned by him in Gwalior , India, dates back to the 15th year of his reign and documents the great advance of the Hunas as far as Madhya Pradesh . Mihirakula's goal was apparently the conquest of all of northern India and he was initially very successful. However, there was also serious resistance. Yasodharman, the ruler of Malwa from the Aulikaras dynasty, faced Mihirakula and defeated him in a battle in 528 (but certainly before 532). The role of the gupta ruler Baladitya of Magadha , who also claimed a victory, is not entirely clear ; probably both were able to strike mihirakula. According to a Chinese source, Mihirakula is said to have been a prisoner of Baladitya for some time.

In any case, Mihirakula's defeat must have been devastating, because he withdrew to Kashmir. He seems to have ruled Kashmir and Gandhara for a few more years. His further fate is not exactly known; allegedly he was killed by his own war elephant. The year of death is assumed to be around 542 or around 550. Yasodharman in turn achieved several other successes, as evidenced by the inscriptions he commissioned in Mandasor. It seems that around the middle of the 6th century the rule of the Hunas was broken, although they fought bitterly against Indian princes for some time and the weakened Gupta empire also fell.

literature

  • Hermann Kulke , Dietmar Rothermund : History of India. From the Indus culture to today. Updated new edition. Beck, Munich 2006, p. 121f.
  • Matthias Pfisterer: Huns in India. The coins of the Kidarites and Alkhan from the Bern Historical Museum and the Jean-Pierre Righetti Collection. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2014.
  • Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967.
  • Klaus Vondrovec: The Anonymous Clan Chiefs. The beginning of the Alchon coinage. In: Numismatic Journal 113/114, 2005, pp. 176–191.
  • Klaus Vondrovec: Numismatic Evidence of the Alchon Huns reconsidered. In: Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe 50, 2008, pp. 25–56.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See for an overview Martin Schottky: Huns . In: Encyclopædia Iranica . Vol. 12, 2004, pp. 575-577.
  2. ↑ Michael Alram: The history of Eastern Iran from the Greek kings in Bactria and India to the Iranian Huns (250 BC-700 AD). In: Wilfried Seipel (Hrsg.): Weihrauch und Silk. Ancient cultures on the Silk Road. Vienna 1996, pp. 119–140, here p. 138.
  3. ^ Robert Göbl: Documents on the history of the Iranian Huns in Bactria and India. 4 volumes. Wiesbaden 1967.
  4. ↑ Cf. Matthias Pfisterer: Huns in India. Vienna 2014, p. 29ff. (who refers to the Alkhon as Alkhan ); Klaus Vondrovec: Numismatic Evidence of the Alchon Huns reconsidered. In: Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe 50, 2008, pp. 25–56, here pp. 30f.
  5. ↑ Cf. Matthias Pfisterer: Huns in India. Vienna 2014, pp. 145ff.
  6. ↑ See Boris A. Litvinsky: The Hephthalite Empire. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Ed.): The crossroads of civilizations. AD 250 to 750. Paris 1996, p. 135ff., Here p. 141f.
  7. ↑ See also Matthias Pfisterer: Huns in India. Vienna 2014, p. 160ff.
  8. ^ Overview at Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967, p. 132ff.
  9. ↑ Cf. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Anant Sadashiv Altekar: Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 AD Delhi 1986, p. 198.
  10. ↑ See Helmut Humbach: Mitra in India and the Hinduized Magi. In: Acta Iranica 17 (1978), pp. 229-253, here pp. 239f.
  11. ^ AH Dani, BA Litvinsky, MH Zamir Safi: Eastern Kushans, Kidarites in Gandhara and Kashmir, and Later Hephthalites. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Ed.): The crossroads of civilizations. AD 250 to 750. Paris 1996, pp. 163ff., Here pp. 174-176.
  12. ↑ See Lal Mani Joshi: Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India. 2nd edition Delhi 1977, p. 320f.
  13. ^ Robert Göbl: Documents on the history of the Iranian Huns in Bactria and India. Volume 2. Wiesbaden 1967, p. 68; Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967, p. 132.
  14. ↑ John Siudmak: The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and Its Influences. Leiden / Boston 2013, p. 15.
  15. ↑ John Siudmak: The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and Its Influences. Leiden / Boston 2013, p. 16.
  16. ^ Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund: History of India. From the Indus culture to today. Updated new edition. Munich 2006, p. 121.
  17. ^ John F. Fleet: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum : Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta 1888, p. 163f. ( English translation online ( Memento of March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )).
  18. ^ Boris A. Litvinsky: The Hephthalite Empire. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Ed.): The crossroads of civilizations. AD 250 to 750. Paris 1996, pp. 135ff., Here p. 143.
  19. ^ Cf. AH Dani, BA Litvinsky, MH Zamir Safi: Eastern Kushans, Kidarites in Gandhara and Kashmir, and Later Hephthalites. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Ed.): The crossroads of civilizations. AD 250 to 750. Paris 1996, p. 163ff., Here p. 175; Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund: History of India. From the Indus culture to today. Updated new edition. Munich 2006, p. 122.
  20. ↑ Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, Anant Sadashiv Altekar: Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 AD Delhi 1986, pp. 200f.
  21. ↑ See Boris A. Litvinsky: The Hephthalite Empire. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Ed.): The crossroads of civilizations. AD 250 to 750. Paris 1996, pp. 135ff., Here p. 142.
  22. ↑ See Boris A. Litvinsky: The Hephthalite Empire. In: Boris A. Litvinsky (Ed.): The crossroads of civilizations. AD 250 to 750. Paris 1996, p. 135ff., Here p. 142f.
  23. ^ Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967, pp. 183f.
  24. ↑ See for example Robert Göbl: Documents on the history of the Iranian Huns in Bactria and India. Volume 2. Wiesbaden 1967, p. 68; Romila Thapar: The Penguin History of Early India. From the Origins to AD 1300. New York et al. a. 2002, p. 287.
  25. ↑ See Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967, p. 132.
  26. ↑ Radhakumud Mookerji: The Gupta Empire. Delhi 1989, p. 121.
  27. ^ Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967, p. 186ff.
personal data
SURNAME Mihirakula
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ruler of the Alchon
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century or 6th century
DATE OF DEATH at 540