ChristinTrickett at 17:23, 20 January 2026

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{{Short description|5th–6th-century Central Asian tribes that invaded India}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{use Indian English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Hunas
| region = [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Punjab]], [[Rajasthan]], [[Gujarat]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Haryana]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[Bihar]], [[Sindh]], [[Gilgit-Baltistan]], [[Nuristan]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], [[Balochistan]], [[Maharashtra]], [[Delhi]]
| languages =
| religions =
| image =
{{Location map+
|South Asia
|float = center
|width = 300
|border = none
|caption = Approximate extent of the [[Alchon Huns]], and [[find spot]]s of inscriptions related to their local control (map of the [[Indian subcontinent]])<ref>[[Hans Bakker]] [https://zenodo.org/record/377032/files/Bakker%202016.pdf 24th Gonda lecture]</ref>
|nodiv = 1
|mini = 1
|relief=yes
|places =
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=26|N |long=76|E |label=|position= |label_size=0|mark=Alchon border.png|marksize=170 }}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=23.83|N |long=74.25|E |label=[[Sanjeli inscriptions|Sanjeli]]|position=left |label_size=80 }}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=24.09|N |long=78.16|E |label=[[Eran]] |position=right |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=26.22|N |long=78.17|E |label=[[Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula|Gwalior]] |position=top |label_size=80 }}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=24.07|N |long=75.08|E |label=[[Mandsaur|Sondani]]|position=bottom |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=24.38|N |long=74.70|E |label=[[Choti Sadri]]|position=top |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=32.40|N |long=72.47|E |label=[[Salt Range|Kura]]|position=top |label_size=80}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=25.33|N |long=81.39|E |label=Sack of [[Kausambi]]|position=right |label_size=80|mark=Capital mark.svg}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=22.32|N |long=75.3033907|E |label=[[Rīsthal inscription|Rīsthal]]|position=bottom |label_size=80|mark=1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
}}
}}
'''Hunas''' or '''Huna''' (Middle [[Brahmi]] script: [[File:Gupta ashoka huu.jpg|14px]][[File:Gupta allahabad nnaa.jpg|14px]] ''Hūṇā'') was the name given by the [[ancient India]]ns to a group of [[Central Asia]]n tribes who, via the [[Khyber Pass]], entered the [[Indian subcontinent]] at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. The Hunas occupied areas as far south as [[Eran]] and [[Kausambi]], greatly weakening the [[Gupta Empire]].<ref>India: A History by John Keay p.158</ref> The Hunas were ultimately defeated by a coalition of Indian princes<ref name=":0" /> that included an Indian king Yasodharman and the Gupta emperor, [[Narasimhagupta]]. They defeated a Huna army and their ruler [[Mihirakula]] in 528 CE and drove them out of India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dani|first=Ahmad Hasan|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|year=1999|isbn=9788120815407|pages=175}}</ref> The Guptas are thought to have played only a minor role in this campaign.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Haywood|first=John|title=Historical Atlas of the Classical World 500BC-600AD|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|year=2002|isbn=0-7607-1973-X|location=New York|pages=2.23}}</ref>

The Hunas are thought to have included the [[Xionite]] and/or [[Hephthalite]], the [[Kidarites]], the [[Alchon Huns]] (also known as the Alxon, Alakhana, Walxon etc.) and the [[Nezak Huns]]. Such names, along with that of the [[Harahunas]] (also known as the Halahunas or Harahuras) mentioned in Hindu texts, have sometimes been used for the Hunas in general; while these groups (and the [[Iranian Huns]]) appear to have been a component of the Hunas, such names were not necessarily synonymous. Some authors suggest that the Hunas were [[Hephthalite Huns]] from Central Asia.<ref name=":0" /> The relationship, of the Hunas to the [[Huns]], a Central Asian people who invaded Europe during the same period, is under research.

In its farthest geographical extent in India, the territories controlled by the Hunas covered the region up to [[Malwa]] in [[central India]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000007165/01_Text.pdf |title=The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis |last=Kurbanov |first=Aydogdy |author-link=Aydogdy Kurbanov |page=24 |year=2010 |access-date=17 January 2013 |quote=The Hūnas controlled an area that extended from Malwa in central India to Kashmir.}}</ref> Their repeated invasions and war losses were the main reason for the decline of the Gupta Empire.<ref name="larson">{{cite book|author=Gerald James Larson|title=India's Agony Over Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuT-6200wdEC |year=1995|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-1014-2 |pages=78–79 }}</ref>

==History==
{{see also|Origin of the Huns}}
[[File:Risthal inscription line 12 Huunnaa.jpg|thumb|The Indian word "Huna" ([[File:Gupta ashoka huu.jpg|14px]][[File:Gupta allahabad nnaa.jpg|14px]] ''Hūṇā'') in line 12 (Verse 16) of the [[Rīsthal inscription]], 6th century CE.<ref name="SPR">{{cite book |last1=Tewari |first1=S.P. |last2=Ramesh |first2=K.V. |title=JOURNAL OF THE EPIGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA VOL 10 |date=1983 |publisher=THE EPIGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA, DHARWAR |pages=[https://archive.org/details/journaloftheepig014921mbp/page/n105 98]-99 |url=https://archive.org/details/journaloftheepig014921mbp}}</ref>]]


Chinese sources link the [[Central Asia]]n tribes comprising the Hunas to both the [[Xiongnu]] of north east Asia and the [[Huns]] who later invaded and settled in Europe.<ref>[[Hyun Jin Kim]], ''The Huns'', Abingdon, Routledge, ''passim''.</ref> Similarly, Gerald Larson suggests that the Hunas were a [[Turkic people|Turkic]]-[[Mongolic peoples|Mongolic]] grouping from Central Asia.<ref name="larson"/> The works of [[Ptolemy]] (2nd century) are among the first European texts to mention the Huns, followed by the texts by Marcellinus and Priscus. They too suggest that the Huns were an [[inner Asia]]n people.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Kitagawa|title=The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfyzAAAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-87597-7 |pages=229 }}</ref>

[[File:Hephthalite horseman on British Museum bowl 460-479 CE.jpg|thumb|[[Hephthalites|Hephthalite]] horseman on [[British Museum]] bowl, 460–479 CE.<ref>[http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=247021&partId=1 British Museum notice]</ref> According to [[Procopius of Caesarea]], they were of the same stock as European Huns "in fact as well as in name", but sedentary and white-skinned.]]
The 6th-century [[Byzantine|Roman]] historian [[Procopius of Caesarea]] (Book I. ch. 3), related the Huns of Europe with the [[Hephthalites]] or "White Huns" who subjugated the [[Sassanids]] and invaded northwestern [[India]], stating that they were of the same stock, "in fact as well as in name", although he contrasted the Huns with the Hephthalites, in that the Hephthalites were sedentary, white-skinned, and possessed "not ugly" features:<ref>Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity, Anthony Kaldellis, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ag0mUQiLb7kC&pg=PA70 p.70]</ref><ref>Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700, Jonathan Conant
Cambridge University Press, 2012 [https://books.google.com/books?id=wJEgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA259 p.259]</ref>
{{blockquote|The Ephthalitae Huns, who are called White Huns [...] The Ephthalitae are of the stock of the Huns in fact as well as in name, however they do not mingle with any of the Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their territory lies immediately to the north of Persia [...] They are not nomads like the other Hunnic peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land... They are the only ones among the Huns who have white bodies and countenances which are not ugly. It is also true that their manner of living is unlike that of their kinsmen, nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they observe right and justice in their dealings both with one another and with their neighbours, in no degree less than the Romans and the Persians<ref>[[s:History of the Wars/Book I|Procopius, ''History of the Wars''. Book I, Ch. III, "The Persian War"]]</ref>}}

The [[Kidarites]], who invaded Bactria in the second half of the 4th century,<ref name="HCCE 119">History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Ahmad Hasan Dani, B. A. Litvinsky, [[Unesco]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA119 p.119 sq]</ref> are generally regarded as the first wave of Hunas to enter Indian Subcontinent.

The Gupta empire under [[Skandagupta]] in the 5th century had successfully repulsed one Hun attack in the northwest in 460 CE. However, over the period of the next several years, the Hunas under successive kings were able to make inroads into the subcontinent.

They were initially based in the [[Oxus]] basin in Central Asia and established their control over Gandhara in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent by about 465 CE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Atreyi Biswas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohwdAAAAMAAJ|title=The Political History of the Hūṇas in India|date=1971|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers|isbn = 9780883863015}}</ref> From there, they fanned out into various parts of northern, western, and central [[India]]. The Hūṇas are mentioned in several ancient texts such as the [[Rāmāyaṇa]], [[Mahābhārata]], [[Purāṇas]], and Kalidasa's [[Raghuvaṃśa]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Upendra Thakur|url=https://archive.org/download/dli.ernet.429146|title=The Hūṇas in India|date=1967|publisher=Chowkhamba Prakashan|pages=52–55}}</ref>

In 528 CE, another campaign led by a coalition of Indian kings finally defeated king [[Mihirakula]] and his Huna army. The victory was inscribed on a stone pillar and erected in honor of (and in praise for) one of the leaders of the coalition, king Yashodharman, in [[Mandasor Pillar Inscriptions of Yasodharman|Mandasaur]] in Central India. Huna kings in this inscription are described as 'rude and cruel'. They were also responsible for the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and centers of learning in the Northwest regions of the country.

The Mongolian-Tibetan historian [[:de:Sumpa Yeshe Peljor|Sumpa Yeshe Peljor]] (writing in the 18th century) lists the Hunas alongside other peoples found in Central Asia since antiquity, including the [[Yavanas]] (Greeks), [[Kambojas]], [[Tukharas]], [[Khasas]] and [[Daradas]].<ref>[[Sumpa Yeshe Peljor]]'s 18th century work ''Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah'' (Tibetan title) may be translated as "The Excellent [[Kalpavriksha]]"): "Tho-gar yul dań yabana dań Kambodza dań Khasa [sic] dań Huna dań Darta dań..."</ref><ref>Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang (1908), I.9, Sarat Chandra Das; Ancient Kamboja, 1971, p 66, [[H. W. Bailey]].</ref>

===Gurjara-Pratiharas===
[[File:Pratihara_bhoja.JPG|thumb|[[Gurjara-Pratihara]] coinage of [[Mihira Bhoja]], King of [[Kanauj]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Vincent Arthur |last2=Edwardes |first2=Stephen Meredyth |authorlink2=Stephen Edwardes |title=The early history of India : from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan conquest, including the invasion of Alexander the Great |date=1924 |publisher=Oxford : Clarendon Press |page=Plate 2 |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofi00smit/page/76}}</ref><ref name="HPR164">{{cite book |last1=Ray |first1=Himanshu Prabha |title=Negotiating Cultural Identity: Landscapes in Early Medieval South Asian History |date=2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781000227932 |pages=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkyfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT162 |language=en}}</ref>]]
The [[Gurjara-Pratiharas]] suddenly emerged as a political power in north India around sixth century CE, shortly after the [[Hunas]] invasion of that region.{{sfn|Puri|1957|p=2}} The Gujara-Pratihara were "likely" formed from a fusion of the [[Alchon Huns]] ("White Huns") and native Indian elements, and can probably be considered as a [[Huns|Hunnic]] state, although its precise origins remain unclear.<ref name="HJK">{{cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Hyun Jin |author-link=Hyun Jin Kim|title=The Huns |date=19 November 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34091-1 |pages=62–64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnv4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 |language=en|quote="Although it is not certain, it also seems likely that the formidable Gurjara Pratihara regime (ruled from the seventh-eleventh centuries AD) of northern India, had a powerful [[Hephthalite|White Hunnic]] element. The Gurjara Pratiharas who were likely created from a fusion of White Hunnic and native Indian elements, ruled a vast Empire in northern India, and they also halted Arab Muslim expansion in India through Sind for centuries..."}}</ref><ref name="BRILL">{{cite book |last1=Wink |first1=André |title=Al-hind: The Making of the Indo-islamic World |date=1991 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09249-5 |page=279 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCVyhH5VDjAC&pg=PA279 |language=en}}</ref> In [[Banabhatta|Bana]]'s ''[[Harshacharita]]'' (7th century CE), the [[Gurjar]]as are associated with the Hunas.<ref name="BRILL"/>

Some of the Hunas may also have contributed to the formation of the warlike [[Rajputs]].<ref name="HJK"/>

==Religion==
The religious beliefs of the Hunas are unknown, and believed to be a combination of ancestor worship, [[totem]]ism and [[animism]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mircea Eliade|author2=Charles J. Adams|title=The Encyclopedia of religion|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre06elia |url-access=registration|year=1987|publisher=Macmillan|isbn= 978-0-02-909750-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre06elia/page/530 530]–532 }}</ref>

[[Songyun (monk)|Songyun]] and [[Huisheng (monk)|Huisheng]], who visited the chief of the [[Hephthalite]] nomads at his summer residence in [[Badakshan]] and later in [[Gandhara]], observed that they had no belief in the [[Buddhist]] law and served a large number of divinities."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/heph.shtml |title=The White Huns – The Hephthalites |publisher=Silkroad Foundation |access-date=11 January 2013}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Sondani.jpg|Victory pillar of [[Yashodharman]] at Sondani, [[Mandsaur]] claiming victory over the Huns.
File:Asia 500ad.jpg|Asia in 500 CE, showing the Huna domain at its greatest extent.
File:HunCoinDerivedFromSassanianDesign5thCE.JPG|[[Alchon Huns]] king [[Khingila]].<ref>[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=156854 CNG Coins]</ref>
File:HunaKing.JPG|[[Nezak Huns]] king [[Napki Malka]].
File:SilverBowlNFPPakistan5-6thcenturyCE.JPG|The "[[Hephthalite bowl]]", NFP [[Pakistan]], 5th or 6th century CE. [[British Museum]].<ref>Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172.</ref>
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Kushan Empire]]
* [[Gurjar]]as
* [[Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty|Gurjara pratihara dynasty]]
* [[36 royal races]]
* [[Ancient India and Central Asia]]
* [[Alchon Huns]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Iaroslav Lebedynsky]], "Les Nomades", Paris 2007, {{ISBN|978-2-87772-346-6}}
* {{citation |first=Baij Nath |last=Puri |author-link=Baij Nath Puri |title=The history of the Gurjara-Pratihāras |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szkhAAAAMAAJ |year=1957 |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal}}

{{Huns}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huna People}}
[[Category:Ancient peoples of India]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Huns]]
[[Category:Historical Iranian peoples]]
[[Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia]]

Huna people - Revision history

ChristinTrickett at 17:23, 20 January 2026