AncientHistoryofCentralAsiaKidaritesKingdom(ArticleNo04)

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AncientHistoryof
CentralAsia
(Articleno04:NotesonCentralAsianHistoryduringKiderites
Huna)

Imp.Note: Till now many researches publoished on the history of

Great yuezhi tribe but schollers are not in position to clearify all
happinings in a series. In this article, we are trying to compile all
happinings as per their timings. We also would like to clarify that the
material under this article is not a copyright matter and main
motive of this article is, to attract good scholers to discuss and
research on the great Yuezhi Tribes and its clans. We are proposing
current forms of Clans of Gurjars v/s Yuezhi Tribe origin Clans
(described on Socond Page).

CompiledBy:
AdeshKatariya
(ChemicalTechnologistandHistoryResearcher)
Email:plast.adesh@gmail.com,Contactno:+919540992618
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ProposeddescendentClans(Gotras)/currentnamesofAncientClansof
Yuezhi(GurjarswerecalledYuezhiinChineeseLiterature)Origin:
ClanofGurjars NamesinOld/ForeignLiterature MainRullingArea
TobedefinedNext
version
RulingClanofGreatYuezhi TarimBasin,China
Kashana/Kusanna Kushana NorthwestIndia,Pakistan
Khatana Kings of Khotan under Kushana
Empire
Khotan,WesternChina
Bokkan Xim() Walkhan,NortheastedgeofAfghanistan
Nagadi/Naggars NagarofKashmirunderKushana
empire
Kashmir
Bhatti Bhati of Doab under Kushana
Kingdom
WesternUPState,India
Kataria/Kadara/Kida
ria
Kidarite kingdom under kink
Kidara
Afganistan
TobedefinedNext
version Shuangmi()
Shughnan,BadakhshanProvince,
Afganistan
TobedefinedNext
version Xidun()
Balkh,NorthernAfghanistan.
TobedefinedNext
version Dm()
Termez,southernmostpartof
Uzbekistan
Huna WhiteHuna/Hepthelites
CentralAsia
TobedefinedLater
version Xionites
AfganistanandPakistan
Karhana/KaraHuna NorthernHuna/Ak(Black)Khazar
GeorgiaandWestAsia
Panwar/Parmar GurjarPratihar
NorthernandCentralIndia
Chandela/Chandila Chandela
CentralIndia
TobedefinedNext
version Chalukya
WestandSouthIndia
Chawda Chap
WestandSouthIndia
Chechi Chechi
Chechenya,NorthWestAsia
TobedefinedNext
version Gurja/Gurza
Georgia,Gurjistan
BadGujar BadGujar
WestIndia
Tanwar/Tomer Tanwar
Delhi,india
Mavi Mavai
Mavanaregion,Meerut,India

AncientHistoryofCentralAsiaKidaritesKingdom(ArticleNo04)

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Kiderites:
The Kidarites, according to V. Masson, were the Kushans. Kidara was one of the small
Kushan rulers and conquered Bactria from the Sasanians, creating his own state, which is
sometimes named in the historical literature as the state of the Small Kushans.
The name of Kidara, the founder of the dynasty, is attested in Chinese transcription as
Jiduoluo (in the Weishu), in Sanskrit as Kidara or Kidra (on coin legends in Brhm script;
the length of the second syllable is uncertain), and in Sogdian as kyr(on coin legends). The
Bactrian form of the name is attested as Kidiro and Kddiro(Sims-Williams 2005). In Greek
we have only the ethnonym: Ounnoi KidaritaiKidarite Huns. So far no convincing
etymology has been proposed. Kidariten only be understood as a dynastic name, which
derives from the name of their king kidara. Origionally they are one of the group from
ancient Yuezhi tribe. The gold coins of the Kidariten are inspired by the Kushan style and
suggest that the Kidariten regarded themselves as direct descendants of the Kushan rulers.
Lerkh found the monument of an ancient sovereign of the Kidarites here in the name of the
city in Khorezm, Kerder (Kurder), the king having given his name to this city. Veselovsky,
complying with the opinion of Lerkh, adds that the name of Kidarites was preserved before
our days by the Kazakhs of the smaller horde (Small Juz), who were divided into three
generations, and in one of them, Semirodsky, one of the groups carries the name Kerderi.

Various Theories of Kidarites by Historians:

According to E. Zeimal, Kidarites were a group that were named in the sources as the
Chionites, Hunas, Da Yuezhi, Hon and the reason for this is the fact that they are called
Kidarite Huns (or Huns who are Kidarites) by Priskus of Panium. Therefore it was the
Chionites (actually meaning Kidarites) who fought with Shapur II against Byzantium in the
second part of the 4th century AD.

A. Bivar notes that the Kidarites were a dominant confederacy of Hunnish tribes and
designating a political, rather than an ethnic grouping. It is also widely accepted that Kataria
(Kadaria) Clan of Gurjar tribe in India and Pakistan are descendent of King Kidara (King of
Kiderites ).

According to Harmatta the Kidarites were identical with the Chionites (Xyns). In his
opinion this can be proved by one of the remarks of Joshua Stylite relating to the successful
fights of Peroz against the Kidarites, in that the rivals of the Sasanian king were xiyon-s,
that is hun-s.

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In other studies he equates the Chionites and the Kidarites, considering that one of the rulers
of the Chionites named Kidara began to mint coins declaring himself as king of the Kushans.
The most precise information concerning the beginning of the Kidarites as an imperial power
is in the Weishu : The king of the Great Yuezhi called Jiduoluo, brave and fierce, eventually
dispatched his troops southwards and invaded North India, crossing the great mountains to
subjugate the five kingdoms which were located to the north of Gandhra (transl. based on
Kuwayama 2002, p. 124). This information most probably reached China in 437; in any case
the invasion took place after 412, since the Chinese pilgrim Faxian who visited Gandhra at
that time does not mention any such event. The Byzantine chronicler Priscus mentions the
Kidarite Huns for the first time in 456 as adversaries of the Sasanian king Yazdgird II
(438-457), who had discontinued a tribute paid by his predecessors to Irans eastern
neighbours (Exc. De Leg. Rom. 8, ed. Blockley 1983, pp. 336-7). Two earlier defeats of the
latter king on the border of Tukharistn are mentioned by azar Parpetsi (transl. Thomson
1982, pp. 294, 302-3); his foes, though conventionally styled Kushans, are probably
already the Kidarites. They might have been already involved in the eastern wars of Wahrm
V (420-438), but their name does not appear in sources pertaining to his reign.


Connection with Hepthelites:

In the opinion of Bartold, the Hephthalites were descendants of the Yuezhi. In this question
his opinion is close to the version of Saint Marten, however, Bartold identifies the
Hephthalites with the Kidarites, but the Chionites are supposed to have come from Kazakh
steppes, which the Chinese referred to as the Yuebans. According to Bartold, the Yuebans
were Huns living in the 4th century - 5th centuries AD in the Kazakh steppe northward from
the Wusuns. The Yuebans were displaced to the south by their enemy, the Rourans; under
pressure of this folk they also began to advance southwards on the Hephthalites, coming
from the Yuezhi, and their king Kidara was leader of the Yuezhi, so the Byzantine historian
of 5th century, Priskus of Panium, refers to the Hephthalites as Huns-Kidarites.52 The
Yueban possession was located in the valley of the river Ili and the Yuebans were a branch of
the Hephthalites

The most precise information concerning the beginning of the Kidarites as an imperial power
is in the Weishu : The king of the Great Yuezhi called Jiduoluo, brave and fierce, eventually
dispatched his troops southwards and invaded North India, crossing the great mountains to
subjugate the five kingdoms which were located to the north of Gandhara (transl. based on
Kuwayama 2002, p. 124). This information most probably reached China in 437; in any case
the invasion took place after 412, since the Chinese pilgrim Faxian who visited Gandhra at
that time does not mention any such event. The Byzantine chronicler Priscus mentions the
AncientHistoryofCentralAsiaKidaritesKingdom(ArticleNo04)

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Kidarite Huns for the first time in 456 as adversaries of the Sasanian king Yazdgird II
(438-457), who had discontinued a tribute paid by his predecessors to Irans eastern
neighbours (Exc. De Leg. Rom. 8, ed. Blockley 1983, pp. 336-7). Two earlier defeats of the
latter king on the border of Tukharistn are mentioned by azar Parpetsi (transl. Thomson
1982, pp. 294, 302-3); his foes, though conventionally styled Kushans, are probably
already the Kidarites. They might have been already involved in the eastern wars of Wahrm
V (420-438), but their name does not appear in sources pertaining to his reign.
Therefore, as far as narrative sources are concerned, all information seems to point to the
same period. On Gandhran coin issues the ruler named Kidara assumed as his second crown
that of Yazdgird II (Gbl 1967, issues 11-14). In this perspective Kidara would have emerged
in Tukharistn in the 420s or 430s and then crossed to Gandhra via its northern valleys.
There is, nevertheless, a consensus among numismatists (Gbl 1967, Cribb 1990, Alram
1996) to place the first king named Kidara in Kpi as early as c. 390. This identification
rests upon the reading *kidaro on the last series of gold coins present in the hoard in Tepe
Maranjn near Kabul, buried at about this date. The reading is not incompatible with what is
actually written on the corrupt legend (kioooooo), but there is some room for doubt (for an
alternative see Grenet 2002, p. 206).
There is less uncertainty concerning the continuation of the history of the Kidarites. From
457 onwards they were challenged by a rebellion of the Hephthalites, with whom the
Sasanian pretender Prz took refuge and from whom he obtained military help. As soon as
he had established himself on the throne war broke out again with a new Kidarite ruler called
Kunkhas. Eventually in 467 the Kidarites were expelled from their capital Balaam (=
Balkh?) (Priscus, 12 and 22 = Blockley, pp. 349 and 361); the Sasanians claimed the victory,
but most probably it was the result of combined operations with the Hephthalites. A residual
Kidarite kingdom in the Gandhran region (possibly in Swat: Gbl 1967, II, p. 224, issue 15)
continued to send embassies to China until 477.
A Kidarite conquest of at least part of Sogdiana seems to be safely attested by coins from
Samarkand, bearing on the obverse the schematized portrait of a ruler with the Sogdian
legend kyr (Zeimal 1996). On typological and metrological grounds these coins can be
assigned to the 5th century. Hypothetically this conquest can be connected with the
interruption of Sogdian embassies to China between 441 and 457, and with a piece of
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information in the Weishu (formerly dated to 437, but actually referring to 457, see de la
Vaissire 2005, p. 107 n. 37), mentioning an earlier capture of Samarkand by the Xiongnu,
the ruler in 457 being the third of the new dynasty. This Kidarite(?) dynasty maintained its
hold over Samarkand until 509, after which date embassies from Samarkand were
incorporated into Hephtalite ones.
The direct or indirect Kidarite rule over Sogdiana coincided with the building of new
fortifications (Samarqand, Paykent) and the foundation of new cities such as Panjikent and
Kushaniya. (The name of the latter probably indicates a Kidarite royal foundation, as neither
the Great Kushans nor the Kushano-Sasanians had exerted control over that region.) The art
of Sogdiana, hitherto very provincial, began to flourish in this period, the school of painting
at Panjikent apparently branching off directly from that attested at Dilberjin near Balkh. In
457 the ruler of Samarqand negotiated the liberation of Sogdian merchants who had been
captured in China in 439 (on these various points see Grenet 2002 and de la Vaissire 2005,
pp. 107-10, with reference to earlier contributions). All this tends to indicate that the
relatively short Kidarite period was one of recovery and better integration of the Bactrian-
Sogdian region, with transfers of populations and skills from south to north. These tendencies
were confirmed and developed in the Hephthalite period, with a somewhat different cultural
orientation.
The Kidarite kingdom
The Kidarite kingdom was created either in the second half of the 4th century, or in the
twenties of the 5th century.
The only 4th century evidence are gold coins discovered in Balkh dating from c. 380,
where 'Kidara' is usually interpreted in a legend in the Bactrian language. Most
numismatic specialists favor this idea. All the other data we currently have on the
Kidarite kingdom are from Chinese and Byzantine sources from the middle of the 5th
century.
They may have risen to power during the 420s in Northern Afghanistan before
conquering Peshawar and part of northwest India, then turning north to
conquer Sogdiana in the 440s, before being cut from their Bactrian nomadic roots by the
rise of the Hephthalites in the 450s. Many small Kidarite kingdoms seems to have
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survived in northwest India up to the conquest by the Hephthalites during the last quarter
of the 5th century are known through their coinage.
The Kidarites are the last dynasty to regard themselves (on the legend of their coins) as
the inheritors of the Kushan empire, which had disappeared as an independent entity two
centuries earlier.

Coin of Kidara (reigned c. 360380 CE), founder of theKidarite Kingdom
Obv: King Kidara standing. Rev: Goddess Ardoksho seated.

Kidarites Kings :
Kidara I fl. c. 320 CE
Kungas 330's ?
Varhran I fl. c. 340
Grumbat c. 358-c. 380
Kidara (II ?) fl. c. 360
Brahmi Buddhatala fl. c. 370
(Unknown) fl. 388/400
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Varhran (II) fl. c. 425

Goboziko fl. c. 450
Salanavira mid 400's
Vinayaditya late 400's
Kandik early 500's

The Kidarites were the first "Hunas" to bother India. Indian records note that
the Hna had established themselves in modern Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier
Province in present day Pakistan by the first half of the 5th century, and the Gupta
emperor Skandagupta had repelled a Hna invasion in 455.

White Huns
As a result of "Wusun vultures" descending upon them in Transoxiana, the Kidarite
powerbase moved in 460 from southern "Red" Balkh to western "White" Khiva, where
the Hephthalite dynasty was established by Khingila I.
The Greek envoy Rhetor often referred to the "White Huns" as "Kidarite Xionites" when
they united with the Uar under the Hepthalite clan. While in India, the Kidarite Xionites
became known as Sveta-Hna meaning "White Huns". They were said to have been of
fair complexion according to Procopius, although according to the Central Asian order of
cosmic precedence, "White Huns" would simply mean "Western Huns".
Although they fought against the Sassanians, early 5th century "OIONO" coins (thought
to have been minted by Xionite rulers) imitate Sassanian drachmas (for more information
on coins see Xionites).
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The Kidarite Xionites flourished under the Hephthalites, until something forced them to
migrate from Khiva to Atil under Kandik in the mid-6th century. Not long afterwards, the
Hephthalites remaining in Central Asia submitted to Gokturk rule in 567AD.


Relation to the "Huns" of Europe
The Huns already present on the Black Sea Steppes might not have been as closely related to
the northern Karakum Desert Kidarites and the related Xionites or Hunas as is usually
presumed. Though the Chronicles of Kiev mention how the Ki clan founded Kiev after
subjugating the eastern Hunno-Bulgars who subsequently became known as the Kazarig. In
Europe the Kidarites became known as the Avars, first mentioned in Balkan province of
Turkmenistan attacking the Sabirs in 460 AD and who the following century (in 557) entered
Europe under the leadership of Kandik. Because of their flimsy connection to the Uar dinasty
the Gokturks objected to the Kidarites calling themselves "Avars" and demanded the
Byzantine Emperor Maurice (582-602) recognise the fact that the eastern Avars (from which
the Dulo clan descended) who had submitted to Gokturk rule were the "true" Avars, while
the Kidarites who had entered Europe under Kandik should be called "Pseudo-Avars".
Relation with Khazars
Concerning the Kidarites, Bernshtam indicates that Huns moved to the Orient, where they
divided into two branches, more exactly alliances of tribes: Huns-Akatirs, who played the
greater role in the forming of the Khazars, and Huns-Kidarites who were an association of
Eastern-European Huns with Middle Asian nomads forming the Hephthalites.

Kidarites and China:

In 477 the Kidarites in Gandhara had sent an embassy to China, but the Chinese pilgrim Sung
Yun, who visited Gandhara in 520, noted that the Hephthalites had conquered the country
and set up their own ruler.