Hephthalite

The Hephthalites, also known as White Huns, were a nomadic people who lived across northern China, Central Asia, and northern India in the fourth through sixth centuries. The term Hephthalite derives from Greek, supposedly a rendering of Hayathelite (from the term Haital = "Big/Powerful" in the dialect of Bukhara), the name used by Persian writers to refer to a 6th century empire on the northern and eastern periphery of their land. As a group they appear to be distinct from the Huns who migrated to Europe in the F ...

Including:

• Hephthalite - Name
• Hephthalite - Expansion
• Hephthalite - Hephthalites in India
• Hephthalite - Origin Theories

Read more here: » Hephthalite: Encyclopedia - Hephthalite

Throughout the 5th century, it was the Huer who managed to succeed to the Central Eurasian Hun heritage in a campaign which spread from the Tian Shan to the Carpathians. After the failure of Xiong's Zhou County (352) the influence of the Huer Dragon Tribe started to expand. The influence of the northern deer-people (Elunchun) retreated north up the Yenisei River as the Huer chased a western portion of the Choni into Uzbekistan (Late 4thC Alchoni) while the eastern branch founded the Xiong's last eastern dynasty Tiefu Xia (407-431). By ...

See also:

Hephthalite, Hephthalite - Name, Hephthalite - Expansion, Hephthalite - Hephthalites in India, Hephthalite - Origin Theories

Read more here: » Hephthalite: Encyclopedia II - Hephthalite - Expansion

Yuezhi (Chinese:月氏, also 月支, Wade-Giles: Yüeh-Chih) or Da Yuezhi (Chinese:大月氏, also 大月支, "Great Yuezhi") is the Chinese name for an ancient Central Asian people. They are believed to have been the same as or closely related to the people named Tocharians (τόχαροι) by ancient Greeks. They were originally settled in the Tarim Basin area, in what is today Gansu and Xinjiang, in China, before they migrated to Transoxiana, Bactria and then northern India, where they formed the Kushan Empire. Including:

• Yuezhi - Origins
• Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus
• Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana
• Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria
• Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush
• Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire
• Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia - Yuezhi

The Tarim mummies suggest that precursors of these easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language may have lived in the region of the Tarim Basin from around 1800 BCE until finally they were assimilated by Uighur Turks in the 8th century CE. There is evidence both from the mummies and Chinese writings that many of them had blonde or red hair and blue eyes, characteristics also found in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, due to the populations' high genetic diversity. This suggests the possibility that t ...

See also:

Tocharians, Tocharians - Archaeology, Tocharians - Language, Tocharians - Historic role, Tocharians - Naming

Read more here: » Tocharians: Encyclopedia II - Tocharians - Archaeology

The first known reference to the Yuezhi was made in 645 BCE by the Chinese economist Guan Zhong. He described the Yuezhi, or Niuzhi, as a people from the Tarim Basin who supplied jade to the Chinese. The supply of jade from the Tarim Basin from ancient times is indeed well documented archeologically: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BCE the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural ...

See also:

Yuezhi, Yuezhi - Origins, Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus, Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana, Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria, Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush, Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire, Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - Origins

The Yuezhi were visited by a Chinese mission, led by Zhang Qian in 126 BCE, that was seeking an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi to counter the Xiongnu threat to the north. Although the request for an alliance was denied by the son of the slain Yuezhi king, who preferred to maintain peace in Transoxiana rather than to seek revenge, Zhang Qian made a detailed account, reported in the Shiji, that gives a lot of insi ...

See also:

Yuezhi, Yuezhi - Origins, Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus, Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana, Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria, Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush, Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire, Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana

The Yuezhi sometimes practiced the exchange of hostages with the Xiongnu, and at one time were hosts to Maodun (Ch:冒頓), son of the Xiongnu leader. Maodun stole a horse and escaped when the Yuezhi tried to kill him in retaliation for an attack by his father. Maodun subsequently became ruler of the Xiongnu after killing his father. Around 177 BCE, led by one of Maodun's tribal chiefs, the Xiongnu invaded Yuezhi territory in the Gansu region and achieved a crushing victory. Maodun boasted in a letter to the Han emperor that due to "t ...

See also:

Yuezhi, Yuezhi - Origins, Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus, Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana, Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria, Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush, Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire, Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus

The area of the Hindu-Kush (Paropamisadae) was ruled by the western Indo-Greek king until the reign of Hermaeus (reigned c. 90–70 BCE). After that date, no Indo-Greek kings are known in the area, which was probably overtaken by the neighbouring Yuezhi, who had been in relation with the Greeks for a long time. According to Bopearachchi, no trace of Indo-Scythians occupation (nor coins of major Indo-Scythian rulers such as Maues or Azes I) ha ...

See also:

Yuezhi, Yuezhi - Origins, Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus, Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana, Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria, Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush, Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire, Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush

For the Indian Hunas see Hephthalite Huna is the name that Max Freedom Long gave his version of Hawaiian spiritualism. He claimed to have learned a secret tradition from Hawaiian friends while working as a school teacher in Hawai'i. He founded the Huna Fellowship in 1945 and, starting in 1948, published a series of books on Huna that are still in print. Victor Anderson, the founder of the Feri Wicca or Vicia tradition of Wicca also claimed to know Huna, to be a kahuna, and to speak Hawaiian [1]. He was activ ...

Read more here: » Huna: Encyclopedia - Huna

The term Tocharians has a somewhat complicated history. It is based on the ethnonym Tokharoi (Greek Τόχαροι) used by Greek historians (e.g. Ptolemy VI, 11, 6). The first mention of the Tocharians appeared in the 1st century BCE, when Strabo presented them as a Scythian tribe, and explained that the Tokharians — together with the Assianis, Passianis and Sakaraulis — took part in the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the second half of the 2nd century BCE: "Most of the Scythians, beginning fr ...

See also:

Tocharians, Tocharians - Archaeology, Tocharians - Language, Tocharians - Historic role, Tocharians - Naming

Read more here: » Tocharians: Encyclopedia II - Tocharians - Naming

By the end of the 1st century BCE, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the Kui-Shan (Ch: 貴霜, Guishang, origin of name Kushan adopted in the West), managed to take control of the Yuezhi confederation. From that point, the Yuezhi extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries. The Yuezhi came to be known as Kushan among Western civilizations, however the Chinese kept calling them Yuezhi throughout thei ...

See also:

Yuezhi, Yuezhi - Origins, Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus, Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana, Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria, Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush, Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire, Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire

Some time after 126 BCE, possibly disturbed by further incursions of rivals from the north, and apparently vanquished by the Parthian king Mithridates II, the Yuezhi moved south to Bactria. Bactria had been conquered by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great in 330 BCE, and since settled by the Hellenistic civilization of the Seleucids and the Greco-Bactrians for two centuries. This event is recorded in Classical Greek sources, when Strabo presented them as a Scythian tribe, and explained that the Tokharians -- together with the As ...

See also:

Yuezhi, Yuezhi - Origins, Yuezhi - The Yuezhi exodus, Yuezhi - Settlement in Transoxiana, Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria, Yuezhi - Expansion into the Hindu-Kush, Yuezhi - Founders of the Kushan empire, Yuezhi - Yuezhi monarchs

Read more here: » Yuezhi: Encyclopedia II - Yuezhi - Invasion of Bactria

Main article: Tocharian languages The Tocharians appear to have originally spoken two distinct languages of the Indo-European Tocharian family, an Eastern ("A") form and a Western ("B") form. According to some, only the Eastern ("A") form can be properly called "Tocharian", as the native name for the Western form is referred to as Kuchean (see below). Commonalities between the Tocharian languages and various other Indo-European language families (as with Germanic, Balto-Slavic, even Italic or Greek) have been suggested, but the ...

See also:

Tocharians, Tocharians - Archaeology, Tocharians - Language, Tocharians - Historic role, Tocharians - Naming

Read more here: » Tocharians: Encyclopedia II - Tocharians - Language

The Tocharians, living along the Silk Road, had contacts with the Chinese and Persians, and Turkic, Indian and Iranian tribes. They may have been the same as, or were related to, the Indo-European Yuezhi who fled from their settlements in the eastern Tarim Basin under attacks from the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BCE (Shiji Chinese historical Chronicals, Chap. 123) and expanded south to Bactria and northern India to form the Kushan Empire. The Tocharians who remained in the Tarim Bassin adopted Buddhism, which, like their alphabet, came ...

See also:

Tocharians, Tocharians - Archaeology, Tocharians - Language, Tocharians - Historic role, Tocharians - Naming

Read more here: » Tocharians: Encyclopedia II - Tocharians - Historic role

Zahir-ud-din Mohammad Babur of Kabul, a descendant of the Mongol conqueror Timur made several incursions into India before finally overthrowing Sultan Ibrahim Lodi with his 12,000-man army, including the Gakhars, equipped with Cannon against Ibrahim Lodis 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants at the First battle of Panipat, April 21, 1526. In 1519 during one of these incursions Bahur decided to make a surprise attack on the Gakhar stronghold of Pharwala Fort near Rawalpindi. Pharwala Fort covers about 175 acres and is si ...

See also:

Gakhars, Gakhars - Earliest history of the Gakhars, Gakhars - Mahmud of Ghazni and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Muhammad of Ghor and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Early Delhi Sultanate and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Timur and Sheikha Gakhar, Gakhars - The Later Delhi Sutanate and Jasrat Gakhar, Gakhars - The Emperor Babur and Hati Gakhar, Gakhars - Sher Shah Suri and Sultan Sarang Khan, Gakhars - The Later Mughals and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Sikh and British Conquests, Gakhars - Today, Gakhars - Reference

Read more here: » Gakhars: Encyclopedia II - Gakhars - The Emperor Babur and Hati Gakhar

The opening of the Tang dynasty, in 618, saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635 the Tang Annals report an embassy from the king of Kashgar. In 639 there was a second embassy bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission. Xuan Zang passed through Kashgar (which he calls Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuan Zang records that they flat ...

See also:

Kashgar, Kashgar - Geography, Kashgar - History of the Site, Kashgar - Name, Kashgar - Early History, Kashgar - The Kushans, Kashgar - Three Kingdoms to the Sui, Kashgar - The Tang Dynasty, Kashgar - The Arab Invasions, Kashgar - The Uighurs, Kashgar - The Mongols, Kashgar - Chinese Garrison, Kashgar - The 1862 Revolt, Kashgar - Sights, Kashgar - Demographics, Kashgar - Economics & Society

Read more here: » Kashgar: Encyclopedia II - Kashgar - The Tang Dynasty

The Gakhars were in a state of constant war with the successors of Muhammad Ghori the Delhi Sultanate. According to Ferishta; 'Meanwhile news had arrived that the Mongols of Genghis Khan had invaded Lahore, on Monday the 16th of Jumad-ool-Akhir, in the year AH 639 (November 22, AD 1241); that Mullik Kurragooz, the Viceroy, finding his troops mutinous, had been obliged to fly in the night, and was on his way to Delhi, and that Lahore was plundere ...

See also:

Gakhars, Gakhars - Earliest history of the Gakhars, Gakhars - Mahmud of Ghazni and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Muhammad of Ghor and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Early Delhi Sultanate and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Timur and Sheikha Gakhar, Gakhars - The Later Delhi Sutanate and Jasrat Gakhar, Gakhars - The Emperor Babur and Hati Gakhar, Gakhars - Sher Shah Suri and Sultan Sarang Khan, Gakhars - The Later Mughals and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Sikh and British Conquests, Gakhars - Today, Gakhars - Reference

Read more here: » Gakhars: Encyclopedia II - Gakhars - The Early Delhi Sultanate and the Gakhars

The Ghaznavid Empire ended in 1149 with the capture of Ghazna or Ghazni by Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori. Ghaznavid power in northern India continued until the conquest of Lahore in 1187. According to Ansari in "The Encylopedia of Islam"; "In 1204-5 they (Gakhars) rose up against the rule of Muhammad Ghori, who took strong measures against them and quelled the rebellion with an iron hand. After this crushing defeat they were so demoralised that their chief simply because a Muslim capitive had initiated him into the tenents of Islam, will ...

See also:

Gakhars, Gakhars - Earliest history of the Gakhars, Gakhars - Mahmud of Ghazni and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Muhammad of Ghor and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Early Delhi Sultanate and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Timur and Sheikha Gakhar, Gakhars - The Later Delhi Sutanate and Jasrat Gakhar, Gakhars - The Emperor Babur and Hati Gakhar, Gakhars - Sher Shah Suri and Sultan Sarang Khan, Gakhars - The Later Mughals and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Sikh and British Conquests, Gakhars - Today, Gakhars - Reference

Read more here: » Gakhars: Encyclopedia II - Gakhars - Muhammad of Ghor and the Gakhars

The Gakhar clans apical ancestor is Kaid of Isfahan, who was a son of Bahram V of Persia (also called "Bahram Gur"). In the Sassanid era, Isfahan was governed by "Espoohrans" or the members of seven noble Iranian families who had important royal positions. According to the Gakhar legends, these families went into exile, under the leadership of Feroozshah, in China, serving as an Imperial Guard to the emperor, then Tibet then Kashmir then Kabul wher ...

See also:

Gakhars, Gakhars - Earliest history of the Gakhars, Gakhars - Mahmud of Ghazni and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Muhammad of Ghor and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Early Delhi Sultanate and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Timur and Sheikha Gakhar, Gakhars - The Later Delhi Sutanate and Jasrat Gakhar, Gakhars - The Emperor Babur and Hati Gakhar, Gakhars - Sher Shah Suri and Sultan Sarang Khan, Gakhars - The Later Mughals and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Sikh and British Conquests, Gakhars - Today, Gakhars - Reference

Read more here: » Gakhars: Encyclopedia II - Gakhars - Earliest history of the Gakhars

The Shahi dynasty were descendants of the Indo-Sassanians and Indo-Hephthalites and ruled portions of eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and northwestern India. The Hindu Shahi replaced the Turk Shahi from the mid-ninth century to the early eleventh century but was destroyed by Sabuktigin, founder of the Ghaznavid Empire, and his son Mahmud of Ghazni. According to Ferishta; 'Mahmud of Ghazni having thus settled his affairs in India, returned, in the autumn, to Ghazni; where he remained during the winter. In the spring of the year ...

See also:

Gakhars, Gakhars - Earliest history of the Gakhars, Gakhars - Mahmud of Ghazni and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Muhammad of Ghor and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Early Delhi Sultanate and the Gakhars, Gakhars - Timur and Sheikha Gakhar, Gakhars - The Later Delhi Sutanate and Jasrat Gakhar, Gakhars - The Emperor Babur and Hati Gakhar, Gakhars - Sher Shah Suri and Sultan Sarang Khan, Gakhars - The Later Mughals and the Gakhars, Gakhars - The Sikh and British Conquests, Gakhars - Today, Gakhars - Reference

Read more here: » Gakhars: Encyclopedia II - Gakhars - Mahmud of Ghazni and the Gakhars