>पाटलिपुत्र at 08:11, 6 April 2021

2021-04-06T08:11:37Z

New page

{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Battle of Sondani
|partof=[[Alchon Huns#Second Hunnic War: to Malwa and retreat|Hunnic wars]]
|image=The defeat of the Ephalites, or White Huns A.D. 528.jpg
|caption = The defeat of the [[Alchon Huns|Huna emperor]] [[Mihirakula]] by King [[Yashodharman]] at [[Sondani]] in 528 CE (early 20th century illustration).
|date=528
|place=[[Mandsaur|Sondani]]
|result=Victory of the Indian rulers
|combatant1=[[Alchon Huns]]
|combatant2=*Indian kingdoms
*[[Aulikara dynasty|Aulikaras]]
*[[Gupta Empire]]
|commander1=[[Mihirakula]]{{POW}}
| commander2 = *[[Yashodharman]]
*[[Narasimhagupta]]
*[[Adityavardhana]]?
|strength1=Unknown
|strength2 = Unknown
|casualties1=Heavy
|casualties2=Unknown
}}

The '''Battle of Sondani''' was a large military encounter fought in 528 CE, between the [[Alchon Huns|Alchon Hun emperor]] [[Mihirakula]] and a confederation of Indian rulers led by king [[Yashodharman]] of [[Malwa]].

==Background==
The [[Alchon Huns]] under their able leader [[Toramana]] invaded the mainland of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The Huns extensively weakened the [[Gupta Empire]] by their devastating raids. Toramana was finally vanquished with certainty by an Indian ruler of the [[Aulikara dynasty]] of [[Malwa]], after nearly 20 years in India. According to the [[Rīsthal inscription|Rīsthal stone-slab inscription]], discovered in 1983, [[Aulikara dynasty#Prakashadharma|King Prakashadharma]] defeated Toramana in 515 CE.<ref name="Bakker"/><ref name="Bakker2014">{{cite book|author=Hans Bakker|title=The World of the Skandapurāṇa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p2XCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34|date=16 July 2014|publisher=BRILL|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-27714-4|pages=34}}</ref> <ref name="Ojha2001">{{cite book|author=N. K. Ojha|title=The Aulikaras of Central India: history and inscriptions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qlZuAAAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Arun Pub. House|location=Chandigarh|isbn=978-81-85212-78-4|pages=48–50}}</ref> The First Hunnic War thus ended with a Hunnic defeat, and Hunnic troops apparently retreated to the area of [[Punjab]].<ref name="Bakker">{{cite document |title=Monuments of Hope, Gloom, and Glory in the Age of the Hunnic Wars: 50 years that changed India (484 - 534) |author=[[Hans T. Bakker]] |date=26 November 2016 |location=Amsterdam |event=24th Gonda Lecture |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2016/11/monuments-of-hope-gloom-and-glory |doi=10.5281/zenodo.377032 |access-date=8 July 2018}}</ref>

[[Mihirakula]], the eldest son and successor of Toramana, again invaded India. He was even crueler and caused more destruction than his predecessor. [[Yashodharman]], the ruler of [[Malwa]] and the son of [[Aulikara dynasty#Prakashadharma|King Prakashadharma]], created an alliance with the other Indian rulers to defeat the Huns.

==Result==
A confederacy of Indian rulers led by [[Yashodharman]], and possibly even supported by the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta emperor]] [[Narasimhagupta]], decisively defeated the Hunnic armies at [[Mandsaur|Sondani]] in 528 CE.

This resulted in the loss of Alchon possessions in the Punjab and north India by 542. The [[Sondani inscription]] in [[Sondani]], near [[Mandsaur]], records the submission by the Hunas, and claims that Yasodharman had rescued the earth from rude and cruel kings,<ref name="PM">{{cite news |url=http://www.punjabmonitor.com/2013/04/sondhni-pillars-where-punjabis-met-with.html |title=Sondhni pillars: where Punjabis met with their Waterloo 1500 years ago |work=Punjab Monitor |location=Amritsar |publisher=Bhai Nand Lal Foundation |date=27 April 2013 |access-date=8 July 2018}}</ref><ref group="Note">"The earth betook itself (for succour), when it was afflicted by kings of the present age, who manifested pride; who were cruel through want of proper training; who,from delusion, transgressed the path of good conduct; (and) who were destitute of virtuous delights " from {{cite news |url=http://www.punjabmonitor.com/2013/04/sondhni-pillars-where-punjabis-met-with.html |title=Sondhni pillars: where Punjabis met with their Waterloo 1500 years ago |work=Punjab Monitor |location=Amritsar |publisher=Bhai Nand Lal Foundation |date=27 April 2013 |access-date=8 July 2018}}</ref> and that he "had bent the head of Mihirakula".<ref name="Bakker"/> In a part of the Sondani inscription [[Yasodharman]] thus praises himself for having defeated king [[Mihirakula]]:<ref name="pro.geo.univie.ac.at">[http://pro.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/khm/showcases/showcase9?language=en Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna]</ref>

{{quote|He (Yasodharman) to whose two feet respect was paid, with complimentary presents of the flowers from the lock of hair on the top of (his) head, by even that (famous) king [[Mihirakula]], whose forehead was pained through being bent low down by the strength of (his) arm in (the act of compelling) obeisance|[[Sondani inscription|Sondani pillar inscription]]<ref name="PM"/><ref name="Fleet1888">{{cite book|author=John Faithfull Fleet|editor=John Faithfull Fleet|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the early Gupta kings and their successors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HON9OAAACAAJ|volume=3|year=1888|oclc=69001098|publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Print|location=Calcutta|pages=147–148|archive-url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.108395/2015.108395.Corpus-Inscriptionum-Indicarum-Vol3-inscriptions-Of-The-Early-Gupta-Kings_djvu.txt|archive-date=2015-07-01}}</ref>}}

The [[Gupta Empire]] emperor [[Narasimhagupta]] is also credited in helping repulse Mihirakula, after the latter had conquered most of India, according to the reports of Chinese monk [[Xuanzang]].<ref name="Kailash">{{cite book|author=Kailash Chand Jain|title=Malwa Through The Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3O7q7cU7k0C&pg=PA249|date=31 December 1972|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Dewlhi|isbn=978-81-208-0824-9|page=249}}</ref><ref name="Eraly">{{cite book|author=Abraham Eraly|title=The First Spring: The Golden Age of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te1sqTzTxD8C|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Books India|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-0-670-08478-4|page=48}}</ref>

In a fanciful account, [[Xuanzang]], who wrote a century later in 630 CE, reported that Mihirakula had conquered all India except for an island where the king of [[Magadha]] named Baladitya (who could be Gupta ruler [[Narasimhagupta Baladitya]]) took refuge, but that was finally captured by the Indian king. He later spared Mihirakula's life on the intercession of his mother, as she perceived the Hun ruler "as a man of remarkable beauty and vast wisdom".<ref name="Eraly"/> Mihirakula is then said to have returned to [[Kashmir]] to retake the throne.<ref name="Agrawal1989">{{cite book|author=Ashvini Agrawal|title=Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRjC5IaJ2zcC&pg=PA245|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-208-0592-7|pages=245}}</ref><ref name="Neelis">{{cite book|author=Jason Neelis|title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC|date=19 November 2010|publisher=BRILL|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-18159-5}}</ref>{{rp|168}} [[File:Sondani victory pillar of Yashodharman.jpg|thumb|Victory pillar of Yashodharman at Sondani, [[Mandsaur]].]]

==Aftermath==
{{Main|Aulikara Empire}}
After the war was over, [[Yashodharman]] conquered vast territories and established a [[Aulikara Empire|short-lived empire]].

In the Mandsaur pillar inscription, Yashodharman claims he vanquished his enemies and now controls the territory from the neighbourhood of the (river) Lauhitya ([[Brahmaputra River]]) to the "Western Ocean" (Western [[Indian Ocean]]), and from the [[Himalayas]] to mountain [[Mahendragiri (Odisha)|Mahendra]].<ref name="p.145">Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol 3 [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.358795 p.145]</ref><ref name="Sagar">Foreign Influence on Ancient India by Krishna Chandra Sagar [https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC&pg=PA216 p.216]</ref>

Yashodharman thus conquered vast territories from the Hunas and the Guptas,<ref>Tribal Culture, Faith, History And Literature, Narayan Singh Rao, Mittal Publications, 2006 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Pplg_F0VyVEC&pg=PA18 p.18]</ref> although his short-lived empire would ultimately disintegrate between c. 530-540 CE.<ref name="Sagar"/>

==References==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Malwa]]

Battle of Sondani - Revision history

>पाटलिपुत्र at 08:11, 6 April 2021