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120-658: The Turks initially occupied the area of north of the Oxus ( Transoxonia , Sogdiana ) following their destruction of the Hephthalites in 557–565 CE through an alliance with the Sasanian Empire . The Sasanians, on the other hand, took control of the area south of the Oxus, with Chaganiyan , Sind , Bust, Rukhkhaj , Zabulistan , Tokharistan , Turistan and Balistan being transformed into vassal kingdoms and principalities. After this time,

240-624: A $ 720 million four-year investment deal with the Taliban government of Afghanistan for extraction on its side of the Amu Darya basin. The deal will see a 15% royalty given to the Afghan government over the course of its 25-year term. The Chinese see this basin as the third-largest potential gas field in the world. The clashing noise of battle reached the sky The blood of the Bengalees flowed like

360-586: A 6th-century CE Buddhist work, the Manjusri-mula-kalpa , Bhanugupta lost Malwa to the " Shudra " Toramana , who continued his conquest to Magadha , forcing Narasimhagupta Baladitya to make a retreat to Bengal . Toramana "possessed of great prowess and armies" then conquered the city of Tirtha in the Gauda country (modern Bengal ). Toramana is said to have crowned a new king in Benares , named Prakataditya, who

480-459: A Hunnic tamgha to the design. These little-known coins are usually described as the result of the invasions of the " Hephthalites ". The quality of the coins also becomes very much degraded by that time, and the actual gold content becomes quite low compared to the previous Sasanian-style coinage. The Hūṇas were precisely ruling the area of Malwa , at the doorstep of the Western Deccan , at

600-511: A Hunnic defeat, and Hunnic troops apparently retreated to the area of Punjab . The Manjusri-mula-kalpa simply states that Toramana died in Benares as he was returning westward from his battles with Narasimhagupta. The Second Hunnic War started in 520, when the Alchon king Mihirakula , son of Toramana, is recorded in his military encampment on the borders of the Jhelum by Chinese monk Song Yun . At

720-642: A hostage. From 719 CE, Tegin Shah was the king of the Turk Shahis. He then abdicated in 739 CE in favour of his son Fromo Kesaro , probable phonetic transcription of "Caesar of Rome" in honor of "Caesar", the title of the then East Roman Emperor Leo III the Isaurian who had defeated their common enemy the Arabs in 717 CE, and sent an embassy through Central Asia in 719 CE. Fromo Kesaro appears to have fought vigorously against

840-464: A league The shorn and parcelled Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles — Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere , A foiled circuitous wanderer: — till at last The longed-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon

960-509: A local Gupta ruler, probably a governor, named Bhanugupta was in charge. In the Bhanugupta Eran inscription, this local ruler reports that his army participated in a great battle in 510 CE at Eran , where it suffered severe casualties. Bhanugupta was probably vanquished by Toramana at this battle, so that the western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas. According to

1080-475: A mean discharge of around 97.4 cubic kilometres (23.4 cu mi) of water per year. The river is navigable for over 1,450 kilometres (900 mi). All of the water comes from the high mountains in the south where annual precipitation can be over 1,000 mm (39 in). Even before large-scale irrigation began, high summer evaporation meant that not all of this discharge reached the Aral Sea – though there

1200-632: A number of commemorative inscriptions throughout the Indian subcontinent . The Alchons have long been considered as a part or a sub-division of the Hephthalites , or as their eastern branch, but now tend to be considered as a separate entity. The etymology of "Alchon" is disputed. It is only attested on the script of their coins and seals, where it appears as alkhon(n)o or alkhan(n)o in Bactrian script or lakhāna in Sanskrit. Frantz Grenet, pointing to

1320-472: A palace scandal when Tardu's firstborn son Ishbara Tegin fallen in love with his new step-mother (also aunt) and poisoned Tardu in 630. Ishbara Yabgu ( Chinese : 阿史那沙钵罗 ; pinyin : Ashina Shaboluo ) was the son of Tardu Shad, and took over as Tokharistan Yabgu. He was the first Tokharistan Yabghu to mint coins. In these coins, in Sasanian style, his effigy represents him bearing a crown decorated with

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1440-579: A separate entity from the Hephthalites . To contemporaneous observers in India, the Alchon were one of the Hūṇa peoples (or Hunas). A seal from Kausambi associated with Toramana , bears the title Hūnarāja ("Huna King"), although the authenticity of this seal is questionable. Toramana is also described as a Huna ( [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Hūṇā ) in the Rīsthal inscription . The Hunas appear to have been

1560-812: A sophistication and cosmopolitanism comparable to other works of art of the Silk Road such as those of Kizil , are attributable to the sponsorship of the Turks. Buddhism in Tokharistan is said to have enjoyed a revival under the Turks. Several monasteries of Tokharistan dated to the 7th–8th centuries display beautiful Buddhist works of art, such as Kalai Kafirnigan , Ajina Tepe , Khisht Tepe or Kafyr Kala , around which Turkic nobility and populations followed Hinayana Buddhism. The Turks were apparently quite tolerant of other religions. The mural paintings of Bamiyan display male devotees in double-lapel caftans, also attributable to

1680-577: A tense Turco-Persian border existed along the Oxus , which lasted several decades. The area south of the Oxus contained numerous Hephthalites principalities, remnants of the great Hephthalite Empire destroyed by the alliance of the Turks and the Sasanians. In 569–570, the Turks launched an offensive against the Sasanian Empire, and conquered the Hephthalite principalities south of the Oxus belonging to

1800-575: A vast area circa 718 CE, formed of the territories north and south of the Hindu Kush , including the areas of Kabul and Zabul. The territory of Guzgan was also mentioned among the territories controlled by the Yabghus. Part of the Chinese entry for this account by Puluo is: 六年十一月丁未阿史特勒僕羅上書訴曰：僕羅克吐火羅葉護部下管諸國王都督刺史總二百一十二人謝芄王統領兵馬二十萬眾潯齬王統領兵馬二十萬眾骨吐國王石汗那國王解蘇國王石匿國王悒達國王護密國王護時健國王範延國王久越德建國王勃特山王各領五萬眾。僕羅祖父已來並是上件諸國之王蕃望尊重。 On

1920-408: Is also credited in helping repulse Mihirakula, after the latter had conquered most of India, according to the reports of Chinese monk Xuanzang . 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

2040-551: Is also known among other peoples of the steppes, particularly the Huns , and as far as Europe, where it was introduced by the Huns themselves. In another ethnic custom, the Alchons were represented beardless, often wearing a moustache , in clear contrast with the Sasanian Empire prototype which was generally bearded. The emblematic look of the Alchons seems to have become rather fashionable in

2160-519: Is also presented as a son of Narasimha Gupta. Having conquered the territory of Malwa from the Guptas, Toramana was mentioned in a famous inscription in Eran , confirming his rule on the region. The Eran boar inscription of Toramana (in Eran , Malwa, 540 km south of New Delhi , state of Madhya Pradesh ) of his first regnal year indicates that eastern Malwa was included in his dominion. The inscription

2280-458: Is said to have come from the medieval city of Āmul (later Chahar Joy/Charjunow, and now known as Türkmenabat ) in modern Turkmenistan , with Daryā being the Persian word for 'lake' or 'sea'. Medieval Arabic and Islamic sources call the river Jeyhoun ( Arabic : جَـيْـحُـوْن , romanized :  Jayḥūn ), which is derived from Gihon , the biblical name for one of the four rivers of

2400-642: Is some evidence the large Pamir glaciers provided enough meltwater for the Aral to overflow during the 13th and 14th centuries. Since the end of the 19th century, there have been four different claimants as the true source of the Oxus: A glacier turns into the Wakhan River and joins the Pamir River about 50 kilometres (31 mi) downstream. Bill Colegrave's expedition to Wakhan in 2007 found that both claimants 2 and 3 had

2520-496: Is thought that the Kanishka stupa , one of the most famous and tallest buildings in antiquity, was destroyed by them during their invasion of the area in the 460s CE. The Mankiala stupa was also vandalized during their invasions. The rest of the 5th century marks a period of territorial expansion and eponymous kings, several of which appear to have overlapped and ruled jointly. The Alchon Huns invaded parts of northwestern India from

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2640-410: Is vague enough to allow for such an interpretation. The "great battle" in which Bhanagupta participated is not detailed, and it is impossible to know what it was, or which way it ended, and interpretations vary. Mookerji and others consider, in view of the inscription as well as the Manjusri-mula-kalpa , that Bhanugupta was, on the contrary, vanquished by Toramana at the 510 CE Eran battle, so that

2760-662: Is written under the neck of the boar, in 8 lines of Sanskrit in the Brahmi script . The first line of the inscription, in which Toramana is introduced as Mahararajadhidaja (The Great King of Kings), reads: In year one of the reign of the King of Kings Sri- Toramana , who rules the world with splendor and radiance... On his gold coins minted in India in the style of the Gupta Emperors, Toramana presented himself confidently as: Avanipati Torama(no) vijitya vasudham divam jayati The lord of

2880-628: The Aral Sea . ~ Matthew Arnold , Sohrab and Rustum Alchon Hun The Alchon Huns , ( Bactrian : αλχον(ν)ο Alkhon(n)o or αλχαν(ν)ο Alkhan(n)o ) also known as the Alkhan , Alchono , Alxon , Alkhon , Alakhana , and Walxon , were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus , and later expanded south-east, into

3000-695: The Basmachi movement and killed Ibrahim Bek . A large refugee population of Central Asians, including Turkmen, Tajiks, and Uzbeks, fled to northern Afghanistan. In the 1960s and 1970s the Soviets started using the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya to irrigate extensive cotton fields in the Central Asian plain. Before this time, water from the rivers was already being used for agriculture, but not on this massive scale. The Qaraqum Canal , Karshi Canal, and Bukhara Canal were among

3120-619: The First Hunnic War (496–515), the Alchon reached their maximum territorial extent, with King Toramana pushing deep into Indian territory, reaching Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in Central India , and ultimately contributing to the downfall of the Gupta Empire . To the south, the Sanjeli inscriptions indicate that Toramana penetrated at least as far as northern Gujarat , and possibly to

3240-623: The Garden of Eden . The Amu Darya passes through one of the world's highest deserts. Western travelers in the 19th century mentioned that one of the names by which the river was known in Afghanistan was Gozan , and that this name was used by Greek, Mongol, Chinese, Persian, Jewish, and Afghan historians. However, this name is no longer used. The river's total length is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) and its drainage basin totals 534,739 square kilometres (206,464 sq mi) in area, providing

3360-611: The Hephthalite ruler of Badghis and the Arab rebel Musa ibn Abd Allah ibn Khazim, son of the Zubayrid governor of Khurasan Abd Allah ibn Khazim al-Sulami , allied against the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate . The Hepthalites and their allies captured Termez in 689, repelled the Arabs, and occupied the whole region of Khorasan for a brief period, with Termez as they capital, described by

3480-455: The Huna people who invaded northern India; 3) a vague term for Hun-like people. The Alchon have also been labelled "Huns", with essentially the second meaning, as well as elements of the third. The Alchons are generally recognized by their elongated skull, a result of artificial skull deformation , which may have represented their "corporate identity". The elongated skulls appear clearly in most of

3600-604: The Levant through Persia to Afghanistan , with the Oxus as his stated goal, "to see certain famous monuments, chiefly the Gonbad-e Qabus , a tower built as a mausoleum for an ancient king." George MacDonald Fraser 's Flashman at the Charge (1973), places Flashman on the Amu Darya and the Aral Sea during the (fictitious) Russian advance on India during The Great Game period. But

3720-674: The Maukharis also fought against the Hunas in the areas of the Gangetic Doab and Magadha . The Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena mentions the military successes of kings of the Later Gupta dynasty against the Maukharis, and explains that the Maukharis were past victors of the Hunas: "The son of that king ( Kumaragupta ) was the illustrious Dâmôdaragupta , by whom (his) enemies were slain, just like

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3840-468: The Middle Persian apocalyptic book Zand-i Wahman yasn , argued that a name attested there, Karmīr Xyōn ("red Chionites") could represent a translation of Alkhonno , with the first element, al being a Turkic word for red and the second element representing the ethnic name "Hun". An older suggestion, by H. Humbach, also connects the second element to "Hun", but argues that al- comes from

3960-628: The Pamir Mountains , north of the Hindu Kush , the Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, in the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan , and flows from there north-westwards into the southern remnants of the Aral Sea . In its upper course, the river forms part of Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan , and Turkmenistan . In ancient history ,

4080-676: The Pamirs passing the Tajikistan–Afghanistan Friendship Bridge . It subsequently forms the border of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan for about 200 kilometres (120 mi), passing Termez and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge . It delineates the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan for another 100 kilometres (62 mi) before it flows into Turkmenistan at Atamurat . It flows across Turkmenistan south to north, passing Türkmenabat , and forms

4200-507: The Punjab and Central India , as far as Eran and Kausambi . The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire , in a sense bringing an end to Classical India . The invasion of India by the Huna peoples follows invasions of the subcontinent in the preceding centuries by

4320-533: The Transcaspian Canal . The 534,769 square kilometres (206,475 sq mi) of the Amu Darya drainage basin include most of Tajikistan, the southwest corner of Kyrgyzstan , the northeast corner of Afghanistan, a narrow portion of eastern Turkmenistan and the western half of Uzbekistan. Part of the Amu Darya basin divide in Tajikistan forms that country's border with China (in the east) and Pakistan (to

4440-613: The Turk Shahi (665–850 CE), a probable political extension and vassals of the neighbouring Yabghus of Tokharistan, remained an obstacle to the eastward expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate . c.  650 CE , the Arabs attacked Shahi territory from the west, and captured Kabul . But the Turk Shahi were able to mount a counter-offensive and repulsed the Arabs, taking back the areas of Kabul and Zabulistan (around Ghazni ), as well as

4560-734: The 7th century CE. They were "very likely" descendants of the Alchon Huns in the Kashmir area. Around the end of the 6th century CE, the Alchons withdrew to Kashmir and, pulling back from Punjab and Gandhara , moved west across the Khyber Pass where they resettled in Kabulistan under the leadership of Toramana II . There, their coinage suggests that they merged with the Nezak – as coins in Nezak style now bear

4680-735: The Alchon Tamgha [REDACTED] and the name "Alchono" (αλχοννο) in Bactrian script (a slight adaptation of the Greek script which had been introduced in the region by the Greco-Bactrians in the 3rd century BCE) on the obverse, and with attendants to a fire altar , a standard Sasanian design, on the reverse. It is thought the Alchons took over the Sasanian mints in Kabulistan after 385 CE, reusing dies of Shapur II and Shapur III , to which they added

4800-479: The Alchon presence in this area around 450-500 CE. Khingila seems to have been a contemporary of the Sassanian ruler Bahram V . As the Alchons took control, diplomatic missions were established in 457 with China . Khingila, under the name Shengil , was called "King of India" in the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi . Alchon ruler Mehama (r.461-493) was elevated to the position of Governor for Sasanian Emperor Peroz I (r. 459–484), and described himself as "King of

4920-422: The Amu Darya basin. During the Soviet era, a resource-sharing system was instated in which Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan shared water originating from the Amu and Syr Daryas with Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan in summer. In return, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan received Kazakh, Turkmen, and Uzbek coal, gas, and electricity in winter. After the fall of the Soviet Union this system disintegrated and

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5040-409: The Amu Darya would not exist—because it rarely rains in the lowlands through which most of the river flows. Of the total drainage area, only about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi) actively contribute water to the river. This is because many of the river's major tributaries (especially the Zeravshan River ) have been diverted, and much of the river's drainage is arid. Throughout most of

5160-475: The Arabs as "the headquarters of the Hephthalites" ( dār mamlakat al-Hayāṭela ). The Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate under Yazid ibn al-Muhallab re-captured Termez in 704. Nezak Tarkan , the ruler of the Hephthalites of Badghis, led a new revolt in 709 with the support of other principalities as well as his nominal ruler, the Yabghu of Tokharistan. In 710, Qutaiba ibn Muslim was able to re-establish Muslim control over Tokharistan and captured Nizak Tarkan who

5280-408: The Arabs, and his victories may have forged the Tibetan epic legend of King Phrom Ge-sar . The Turk Shahis eventually weakened against the Arabs in the late 9th century CE. Kandahar , Kabul and Zabul were lost to the Arabs, while in Gandhara the Hindu Shahi took over. The last Shahi ruler of Kabul, Lagaturman, was deposed by a Brahmin minister, possibly named Vakkadeva, in c. 850, signaling

5400-707: The Byzantine Empire. In 625, Tong Yabgu invaded Tokharistan and forced the Hephtalite principalities to submit. He went as far as the Indus river and took control of all the intervening principalities, replacing Hepthalite rulers by Turk ones. The Turks were victorious, partly because the Sasanian Empire was into a difficult war with the Byzantine Empire , the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 . According to Cefu Yuangui , these principalities were Zabulistan , Kapisa - Gandhara , Khuttal , Chaghaniyan , Shignan , Shuman , Badhgis , Wakhan , Guzgan , Bamiyan , Kobadiyan and Badakhshan . The areas of Khuttal and Kapisa - Gandhara had remained independent kingdoms under

5520-430: The Central Asian nations have failed to reinstate it. Inadequate infrastructure, poor water management, and outdated irrigation methods all exacerbate the issue. The Caspian tiger used to occur along the river's banks. After its extirpation, the Darya's delta was suggested as a potential site for the introduction of its closest surviving relative, the Siberian tiger . A feasibility study was initiated to investigate if

5640-415: The Dingwei day of the eleventh month in the sixth year [of the Kaiyuan era (713–741 CE)], Ashi Tegin Puluo writes to the emperor: the Kings of States, Commander-in-chiefs (都督 Dudu ) and Regional Inspectors (刺史 Cishi ) under the Yabghu of Tokharistan, the elder brother of Puluo, number two hundred and twelve, in all. The king of Zabul is in charge of infantry and cavalry numbering two hundred thousand, and

5760-470: The Earth, Toramana, having conquered the Earth, wins Heaven The fact that the Alchon Huns issued gold coins, such as the Toramana issue, in addition to their silver and copper coins, suggest that their empire in India was quite rich and powerful. Toramana was finally defeated by local Indian rulers. The local ruler Bhanugupta is sometimes credited with vanquishing Toramana, as his 510 CE inscription in Eran , recording his participation in "a great battle",

5880-407: The Empire of Russia, which at the time wielded great influence over the Oxus area, would overcome these obstacles and find a suitable route through which to invade British India – but this never came to pass. The area was taken over by Russia during the Russian conquest of Turkestan . The Soviet Union became the ruling power in the early 1920s and expelled Mohammed Alim Khan . It later put down

6000-487: The Gelani, "the most warlike and indefatigable of all tribes", in 358 CE. After concluding this alliance, the Chionites (probably of the Kidarites tribe) under their King Grumbates accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans, especially at the siege of Amida in 359 CE. Victories of the Xionites during their campaigns in the Eastern Caspian lands were also witnessed and described by Ammianus Marcellinus . The Alchon Huns occupied Bactria circa 370 CE, chasing

6120-840: The Kidarites in the direction of India, and started minting coins in the style of Shapur II but bearing their name "Alchono". Around 380-385 CE, the Alchons emerged in Kapisa , taking over Kabulistan from the Sassanian Persians, while at the same time the Kidarites (Red Huns) ruled in Gandhara . The Alchons are known to have reused the mint and the coin dies of Shapur II south of the Hindu Kush, again simply adding their name "Alchono" to Sasanian coinage. The Alchon Huns are sometimes said to have taken control of Kabul in 388. The Alchon Huns initially issued anonymous coins based on Sasanian designs. Several types of these coins are known, usually minted in Bactria , using Sasanian coinage designs with busts imitating Sasanian kings Shapur II (r.309 to 379 CE) and Shapur III (r.383 to 388 CE), adding

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6240-431: The Mongols came to the area, they used the water of the Amu Darya to flood Konye-Urgench . One southern route of the Silk Road ran along part of the Amu Darya northwestward from Termez before going westwards to the Caspian Sea . According to the Quaternary International, it is possible that the Amu Darya's course across the Karakum Desert has gone through several major shifts in the past few thousand years. Much of

6360-440: The Oxus, where they attacked and routed the Sasanian soldiers stationed in Balkh , and then proceeded to conquer the city along with Talaqan , Badghis , and Herat . But the Turks were defeated by the Sasanians under Bahram Chobin , who entered the area north of the Oxus and killed the Turkish Khagan. A war broke out between the Sassanians and the Hephthalites in 606–607 or 616–617 CE, the Second Perso-Turkic War . At that time,

6480-404: The Sasanian Empire. At that time the Sasanian Empire was embroiled in a war in the west, with the Byzantine Empire . It seems the Turks reached the Kabul – Gandhara area in 570. The principalities of the Hephthalites, formerly vassals of the Sasanian Empire, accepted Turk supremacy and became vassals of the Western Turk qaghan, and the Alchon Huns continued to rule in Kabul and Gandhara , but

6600-456: The Tang Empire, and organized into regional commanderies. Kunduz became the site of the Yuezhi Commandery (月氏都督府, Yuèzhī Dūdùfû ) under administration of the Anxi Protectorate . During the rule of the Umayyad caliph Ali (656–661), the Arabs were expulsed from eastern Iran, as far as Nishapur and the Sasanian Peroz III was able to establish some level of control with the help of the yabghu of Tokharistan in Seistan . In 705, P’an-tu-ni-li,

6720-416: The Tibetans in 749 CE, and received this help from the Chinese, and in 758 CE Wu-na-to (Udita?) visited in person the Chinese court and participated in the fight against the rebel An Lu-shan . In the Nestorian Stele of Xi'an , erected in 781 CE, the Nestorian monk Jingjing mentioned in Syriac that his grandfather was a missionary-priest from Balkh in Tokharistan. In the area of Kapisa - Gandhara ,

6840-477: The Turk Empire. Tong Yabghu Qaghan then installed his son Tardush Shad ( Chinese : 達頭设 ; pinyin : Dátóu Shè ), as the first yabgu (sub-king) of Tokharistan , controlling all the new Turk realm south of the Oxus, from his capital at Kunduz . Tardush Shad ( Chinese : 達頭设 ; pinyin : Dátóu Shè ) was installed in Tokharistan, and ruled in Kunduz with title of Tokharistan Yabgu ( Chinese : 吐火羅葉護 ; pinyin : Tǔhuǒluó Yèhù ). He

6960-442: The Turkic Khagan sent an army to help the Hephthalites, and was able to bring a great defeat upon the Sasanians, advancing his troops as far as Ray and Isfahan , but Sheguy Kaghan recalled his armies without pressing his advantage. The Turks definitely intended to take control of the territories south of the Oxus, but were only ready sometime later, and took the opportunity when the Sasanian Empire again entered into conflict with

7080-418: The Turks apparently did not permanently occupy the territory south of the Oxus. The Hephthalites aspired to independence from the Turks, and in 581 or 582 CE, they revolted in alliance with the Sasanians against the Turk Kaghan Tardu . In 588–589, the Turks under Bagha Qaghan entered into a direct conflict with the Sasanians, in the First Perso-Turkic War . The Turks invaded the Sasanian territories south of

7200-442: The Yavana ( Indo-Greeks ), the Saka ( Indo-Scythians ), the Pahlava ( Indo-Parthians ), and the Kushana ( Yuezhi ). The Alchon Empire was the second of four major Huna states established in Central and South Asia. The Alchon were preceded by the Kidarites and succeeded by the Hephthalites in Bactria and the Nezak Huns in the Hindu Kush . The names of the Alchon kings are known from their extensive coinage, Buddhist accounts, and

7320-408: The area is suitable and if such an initiative would receive support from relevant decision makers. A viable tiger population of about 100 animals would require at least 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi) of large tracts of contiguous habitat with rich prey populations. Such habitat is not available at this stage and cannot be provided in the short term. The proposed region is therefore unsuitable for

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7440-428: The area of Gandhara and Kashmir in northwestern India under the rule of Sri Pravarasena (c.530-590 CE), thought to be the son of Toramana. His reign probably lasted about 60 years from circa 530 CE. According to Kalhana 's 12th century text Rajatarangini , Pravarasena established a new capital named Pravarapura (also known as Pravarasena-pura). Based on topographical details, Pravarapura appears to be same as

7560-413: The area, as shown by the depiction of the Iranian hero Rostam , mythical king of Zabulistan , with an elongated skull in his 7th century CE mural at Panjikent . Another way for the Alchon Huns to affirm their identity and to differentiate themselves from their predecessors the Kidarites , was the use of a specific symbol, or tamgha , which regularly appears on their coinage and seals. During

7680-403: The border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from Halkabat. It is then split by the Tuyamuyun Hydro Complex into many waterways that used to form the river delta joining the Aral Sea, passing Urgench , Daşoguz , and other cities, but it does not reach what is left of the sea any more and is lost in the desert. Use of water from the Amu Darya for irrigation has been a major contributing factor to

7800-526: The bull's head and two wings. In one of the issues, the legend is: šb’lk’ yyp MLK’ ( Išbara Jeb ˇ [= yabghu] šah , on the obverse) and pnˇcdh. h. wsp’ ("[minted in his] 15th [regnal year at] Khusp", on the reverse). This would date the coin to 645 CE, with a location for the mint at Khusp , Kuhistan . Other known mints are Herat and Shuburgan . After 650 however, the power of the Yabghus of Tokharistan fragmented, as they came, as least partially, under Tang suzerainty. A Türk yabghu of Tokharistan recorded under

7920-407: The canal with the Taliban. The Taliban has made the canal a priority, with images supplied by Planet Labs demonstrate that from April 2022 to February 2023, more than 100 km of canal was excavated. According to the Taliban, the initiative is expected to convert 550,000 hectares of desert into farmland. In January 2023, the Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company (aka CAPEIC) signed

8040-411: The communities of "the vassal Khanates of Maimene, Khulm, Kunduz, and even the Badakshan and Wahkran." An Englishman, William Moorcroft , visited the Oxus around 1824 during the Great Game period. Another Englishman, a naval officer called John Wood , came with an expedition to find the source of the river in 1839. He found modern-day Lake Zorkul , called it Lake Victoria, and proclaimed he had found

8160-505: The control of the Kidarites , while the Gupta Empire remained further east. The Alkhon Huns may simply have filled the power vacuum created by the decline of the Kidarites, following their defeat in India against the Gupta Empire of Skandagupta in 455 CE, and their subsequent defeat in 467 CE against the Sasanian Empire of Peroz I , with Hephthalite and Alchon aid under Mehama , which put an end to Kidarite rule in Transoxiana once and for all. The numismatic evidence as well as

8280-428: The demons by (the god) Dâmôdara . Breaking up the proudly stepping array of mighty elephants, belonging to the Maukhari, which had thrown aloft in battle the troops of the Hûnas (in order to trample them to death), he became unconscious (and expired in the fight)." The Maukharis led by their king Ishanavarman , rather than any of the Guptas , were therefore pivotal in repelling the Hunas. The Alchon Huns resettled in

8400-460: The east and lives in Badakhshan . Now Balkh belongs to the Arabs' domain. (...) The King, the nobles and the people revere the Three Jewels (Buddhism). There are many monasteries and monks; they practice the Hinayana teachings. Chinese sources mention a few years later yabghus who sent missions to the Tang court: Ku-tu-lu Tun Ta-tu (Qutluγ Ton Tardu) asked for help against the Arabs in 729 CE, Shih-li-mang-kia-lo (Sri Mangala) asked for help against

8520-412: The easternmost "Hephthalites" (actually Alchon Hun ) under kings such as Narendra , before being taken over as vassals by the Western Turks. The appearance of the "crown with a bull's head" on the coin portraits of the last rulers of Kapisa-Gandhara Narendra II, can be considered as a sign of recognition of Turk sovereignty, since the title buqa (bull) had been in use from 599, when Khagan Tardu united

8640-525: The end of the Buddhist Turk Shahi dynasty, and the beginning of the Hindu Shahi dynasty of Kabul. These was a relatively high level of artistic activity in the areas controlled by the Yabghus of Tokharistan during 7th–8th centuries CE, either as a result of the Sasanian cultural heritage, or as a result of the continued development of Buddhist art . The works of art of this period in Afghanistan, with

8760-463: The ethnic name Alan . Hans Bakker argues that the second spelling -khan- makes it unlikely that the term contains the ethnic name "Hun", as the Bactrian word for "Hun" is * uono (plural uonono ). Likewise, Khodadad Rezakhani argues that the name Alkhana is attested for a ruler in Western Kashmir , meaning it was probably initially a personal name. Bakker instead argues that

8880-399: The ethnic name has been used as a personal name. Furthermore, the “Red Huns” theory requires that the Alchon spoke a Turkic language, which is highly disputed. Agustí Alemanny similarly disputes Humbach's etymology as relying on insufficient evidence of an Alan-Hun ethnic group. Because the name "Alchon" is only attested on coins and seals, there is some debate about whether the Alchon were

9000-529: The first month of the seventh year of the period Kaiyuan [719 CE] their Lord [拂菻王, "the King of Fulin "] sent the Ta-shou-ling [an officer of high rank] of T'u-huo-lo [吐火羅, Tokhara] (...) to offer lions and ling-yang [antelopes], two of each. A few months after, he further sent Ta-te-seng ["priests of great virtue"] to our court with tribute." Turk ( "T’u-chüeh" ) kingdoms were in the territories of Gandhara, Kapisa and Zabulistan around 723–729 CE, according to

9120-538: The head of Mihirakula". In a part of the Sondani inscription Yasodharman thus praises himself for having defeated king Mihirakula : 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 The Gupta Empire emperor Narasimhagupta

9240-564: The head of the Alchon, Mihirakula is then recorded in Gwalior , Central India as "Lord of the Earth" in the Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula . According to some accounts, Mihirakula invaded India as far as the Gupta capital Pataliputra , which was sacked and left in ruins. There was a king called Mo-hi-lo-kiu-lo (Mihirakula), who established his authority in this town ( Sagala ) and ruled over India. He

9360-559: The king of Kabul is also in charge of two hundred thousand infantry and cavalry. The Kings of the States of Khuttal , Chaghanian , Jiesu , Shughnan , Yeda , Humi , Guzganan , Bamiyan , Quwādhiyān , and Badakhshan each lead fifty thousand troops. Since the grandfather of Puluo, the Yehu Tuhuolo [Yabghu of Tokharistan] has become king of the above-mentioned states: he is greatly respected." Puluo, writing in 718 CE, finally reaffirmed

9480-562: The largest of the irrigation diversions built. However, the Main Turkmen Canal , which would have diverted water along the dry Uzboy River bed into central Turkmenistan, was never built. In the course of the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1970s, Soviet forces used the valley to invade Afghanistan through Termez . The Soviet Union fell in the 1990s and Central Asia split up into the many smaller countries that lie within or partially within

9600-521: The local sponsorship of the Western Turks. Seleucid Empire : Seleucus I Antiochus I Antiochus II Oxus The Amu Darya ( / ˌ ɑː m uː ˈ d ɑːr j ə / AH-moo DAR-yə ), ( Persian : آمو دریا ) also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( / ˈ ɒ k s ə s / OK -səss ), is a major river in Central Asia , which flows through Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan and Afghanistan . Rising in

9720-645: The loyalty of the Tokhara Yabghus towards the Tang dynasty, probably since the time of the fall of the Western Turks to China (657), confirming at least nominal control of the Chinese administration over the region for the last sixty years: 然火羅葉護積代已來，於大唐忠赤，朝貢不絕。 The Yabghus of Tokharistan, for several generations until now, have been sincerely devoted to the great Tang dynasty , they have without interruption paid their respects and brought tribute. c.  689 CE ,

9840-504: The main stem and the Uzboy. But in the 18th century, the river again turned north, flowing into the Aral Sea, a path it has taken since. Less and less water flowed down the Uzboy. When Russian explorer Bekovich-Cherkasski surveyed the region in 1720, the Amu Darya did not flow into the Caspian Sea anymore. By the 1800s, the ethnographic makeup of the region was described by Peter Kropotkin as

9960-442: The majestic River floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty starlight, and there moved, Rejoicing, through the hushed Chorasmian waste, Under the solitary moon: — he flowed Right for the polar star, past Orgunjè, Brimming, and bright, and large: then sands begin To hem his watery march, and dam his streams, And split his currents; that for many

10080-573: The military forces in the Tokharistan region. Puluo described the power of "the Kings of Tokharistan", explaining that "Two hundred and twelve kingdoms, governors and prefects" recognize the authority of the Yabghus, and that it has been so since the time of his grandfather, that is, probably since the time of the establishment of the Yabghus of Tokharistan. This account also shows that the Yabghu of Tokharistan ruled

10200-506: The modern city of Srinagar . He also built a temple named "Pravaresha". Pravarasena was probably succeeded by a king named Gokarna , a follower of Shiva , and then by his son king Narendraditya Khinkhila . The son of Narendraditya was Yudhishthira , who succeeded him as king, and was the last known king of the Alchon Huns. According to the Rajatarangini Yudhishthira ruled 40 years, probably until circa 625 CE, but he

10320-519: The name "Alchono". Around 430 King Khingila , the most notable Alchon ruler, and the first one to be named and represented on his coins with the legend "χιγγιλο" ( Chiggilo ) in Bactrian , emerged and took control of the routes across the Hindu Kush from the Kidarites. Coins of the Alchons rulers Khingila and Mehama were found at the Buddhist monastery of Mes Aynak , southeast of Kabul , confirming

10440-625: The name of "Wu-shih-po of the A-shih-na dynasty" was the first yabghu to be confirmed by the Chinese Emperor. In 652–653 CE, the Arabs under Abdallah ibn Amir conquered the whole of Tokharistan and captured the city of Balkh , as part of the Muslim conquests of Afghanistan . The Western Turkic Khaganate itself was destroyed by the Tang dynasty in 657 CE, and most of his territories became protectorates of

10560-609: The nomadic hordes from Central Asia called the " Chionites " were described by Ammianus Marcellinus : he reports that in 356 CE, Shapur II was taking his winter quarters on his eastern borders, "repelling the hostilities of the bordering tribes" of the Chionites and the Euseni ("Euseni" is usually amended to "Cuseni", meaning the Kushans ), finally making a treaty of alliance with the Chionites and

10680-467: The official seal of the monastery, and the other bearing the title Hūnarāja ("King of the Huns"), together with debris and arrowheads. Another seal, this time by Mihirakula, is reported from Kausambi. These territories may have been taken from Gupta Emperor Budhagupta . Alternatively, they may have been captured during the rule of his successor Narasimhagupta . A decisive battle occurred in Malwa , where

10800-482: The people of Kadag and governor of the famous and prosperous King of Kings Peroz" in a 462-463 letter . He allied with Peroz I in his victory over the Kidarites in 466 CE, and may also have helped him take the throne against his brother Hormizd III . But he was later able to wrestle autonomy or even independence. Between 460 and 470 CE, the Alchons took over Gandhara and the Punjab which also had remained under

10920-408: The peoples known in contemporaneous Iranian sources as Xwn , Xiyon and similar names, which were later Romanised as Xionites or Chionites. The Hunas are often linked to the Huns that invaded Europe from Central Asia during the same period. Consequently, the word Hun has three slightly different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used: 1) the Huns of Europe; 2) groups associated with

11040-525: The port of Bharukaccha . To the east, far into Central India , the city of Kausambi , where seals with Toramana's name were found, was probably sacked by the Alkhons in 497–500, before they moved to occupy Malwa . In particular, it is thought that the monastery of Ghoshitarama in Kausambi was destroyed by Toramana, as several of his seals were found there, one of them bearing the name Toramana impressed over

11160-508: The portraits of rulers in the coinage of the Alkhon Huns, and most visibly on the coinage of Khingila . These elongated skulls, which they obviously displayed with pride, distinguished them from other peoples, such as their predecessors the Kidarites . On their coins, the spectacular skulls came to replace the Sasanian -type crowns which had been current in the coinage of the region. This practice

11280-524: The region of Arachosia as far as Kandahar . The Arabs again failed to capture Kabul and Zabulistan in 697–698 CE, and their general Yazid ibn Ziyad was killed in the action. A few years later however the Arabs defeated and killed the Kabul Shah and conquered Kabul under Umayyad general Qutayba ibn Muslim . Nezak Tarkhan, the ruler of the Hephthalites of Badghis, led a revolt against the Arabs in 709 with

11400-486: The reign of Shapur II , the Sasanian Empire and the Kushano-Sasanians gradually lost the control of Bactria to these invaders from Central Asia , first the Kidarites from around 335 CE, then the Alchon Huns from around 370 CE, who would follow up with the invasion of India a century later, and lastly the Hephthalites from around 450 CE. Early confrontations between the Sasanian Empire of Shapur II with

11520-402: The reintroduction, at least at this stage. Since March 2022, the building of the 285 km Qosh Tepa Canal has been underway in northern Afghanistan to divert water from the Amu Darya. Uzbekistan has expressed concern that the canal will have an adverse effect on its agriculture. The canal is also expected to make the Aral Sea disaster worse, and in 2023 Uzbek officials held talks on

11640-640: The river Jaihun . ~ Mirza Nathan describing a battle between the Mughals and Musa Khan of Bengal (translated by M. I. Borah) The Oxus river, and Arnold's poem, fire the imaginations of the children who adventure with ponies over the moors of the West Country in the 1930s children's book The Far-Distant Oxus . There were two sequels, Escape to Persia and Oxus in Summer . Robert Byron 's 1937 travelogue, The Road to Oxiana , describes its author's journey from

11760-476: The river is also referred to as Vakṣu ( वक्षु ). The Brahmanda Purana refers to the river as Chaksu which means 'an eye'. The Avestan texts too refer to the river as Yakhsha/Vakhsha (and Yakhsha Arta ('Upper Yakhsha'), referring to the Jaxartes / Syr Darya twin river to Amu Darya). In Middle Persian sources of the Sasanian period the river is known as Wehrōd (lit. 'good river'). The name Amu

11880-466: The river was regarded as the boundary of Greater Iran with Turan , which roughly corresponded to present-day Central Asia. The Amu Darya has a flow of about 70 cubic kilometres per year on average. In classical antiquity , the river was known as the Ōxus in Latin and Ὦξος ( Ôxos ) in Greek — a clear derivative of Vakhsh , the name of the largest tributary of the river. In Sanskrit texts ,

12000-609: The same source, the Chelab stream, which bifurcates on the watershed of the Little Pamir, half flowing into Lake Chamaktin and half into the parent stream of the Little Pamir/Sarhad River. Therefore, the Chelab stream may be properly considered the true source or parent stream of the Oxus. The Panj River forms the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan . It flows west to Ishkashim where it turns north and then north-west through

12120-508: The second half of the 5th century. According to the Bhitari pillar inscription , the Gupta ruler Skandagupta already confronted and defeated an unnamed Huna ruler c.  456-457 CE . From circa 480 CE, there are also suggestion of Hunnic occupation of Sindh , between Multan and the mouth of the Indus River , as the local Sasanian coinage of Sindh starts to incorporate sun symbols or

12240-568: The shrinking of the Aral Sea since the late 1950s. Historical records state that in different periods, the river flowed into the Aral Sea (from the south), into the Caspian Sea (from the east), or both, similar to the Syr Darya (Jaxartes, in Ancient Greek ). Partly based on such records, first Tsarist and later Soviet engineers proposed to divert the Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea by constructing

12360-468: The so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from Gandhara , now in the British Museum , suggests a period of peaceful coexistence between the Kidarites and the Alchons, as it features two Kidarite noble hunters wearing their characteristic crowns, together with two Alchon hunters and one of the Alchons inside a medallion. At one point, the Kidarites withdrew from Gandhara, and the Alchons took over their mints from

12480-501: The source. Then, the French explorer and geographer Thibaut Viné collected a lot of information about this area during five expeditions between 1856 and 1862. The question of finding a route between the Oxus valley and India has been of concern historically. A direct route crosses extremely high mountain passes in the Hindu Kush and isolated areas like Kafiristan . Some in Britain feared that

12600-411: The south). About 61% of the drainage lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while 39% is in Afghanistan. The abundant water flowing in the Amu Darya comes almost entirely from glaciers in the Pamir Mountains and Tian Shan , which, standing above the surrounding arid plain, collect atmospheric moisture which otherwise would probably escape elsewhere. Without its mountain water sources,

12720-456: The steppe, the annual rainfall is about 300 millimetres (12 in). The ancient Greeks called the Amu Darya the Oxus . In ancient times, the river was regarded as the boundary between Greater Iran and Ṫūrān ( Persian : تُوران ). The river's drainage lies in the area between the former empires of Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great , although they occurred at very different times. When

12840-503: The support of other principalities as well as his nominal ruler, the Yabghu of Tokharistan . In 710, the Umayyad general Qutayba ibn Muslim was able to re-establish Muslim control over Tokharistan and captured Nizak Tarkhan, who was executed on the orders of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf , while the Yabghus, who had ruled parts of Tokharistan as well as Badakhshan, was exiled to Damascus and kept there as

12960-454: The testimony the Korean pilgrim Hui Chao . Huei-chao also mentioned that in 726 CE, the Arabs occupied Balkh , and the Turks were forced to flee to Badakshan : I arrived in Tokharistan (吐火羅國 Tuhuoluo-guo ). The home city of the king is called Balkh (縛底那). At this time the troops of the Arabs (大寔國) are there and they occupy it. Its King, Wives and Court was forced to flee one month's journey to

13080-424: The time of Khingila . The Alchons apparently undertook the mass destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila , a high center of learning, which never recovered from the destruction. Virtually all of the Alchon coins found in the area of Taxila were found in the ruins of burned down monasteries, where apparently some of the invaders died alongside local defenders during the wave of destructions. It

13200-593: The time the famous Ajanta Caves were made by ruler Harisena of the Vakataka Empire. Through their control of vast areas of northwestern India, the Huns may actually have acted as a cultural bridge between the area of Gandhara and the Western Deccan, at the time when the Ajanta or Pitalkhora caves were being decorated with designs of Gandharan inspiration, such as Buddhas dressed in robes with abundant folds. In

13320-509: The time – most recently from the 13th century to the late 16th century – the Amu Darya emptied into both the Aral and the Caspian Seas, reaching the latter via a large distributary called the Uzboy River . The Uzboy splits off from the main channel just south of the river's delta. Sometimes the flow through the two branches was more or less equal, but often most of the Amu Darya's flow split to

13440-487: The west and flowed into the Caspian. People began to settle along the lower Amu Darya and the Uzboy in the 5th century, establishing a thriving chain of agricultural lands, towns, and cities. In about AD 985, the massive Gurganj Dam at the bifurcation of the forks started to divert water to the Aral. Genghis Khan 's troops destroyed the dam in 1221, and the Amu Darya shifted to distributing its flow more or less equally between

13560-535: The western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas at that point, so that Toramana could be mentioned in the Eran boar inscription, as the ruler of the region. 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 stone-slab inscription , discovered in 1983, King Prakashadharma defeated Toramana in 515 CE. The First Hunnic War thus ended with

13680-499: The yabghu of Tokharistan, is recorded as having sent a mission to the Chinese court. He ruled from Badakshan , as the area of Balkh and the central areas of his territory were occupied by the Arabs, including Shuburgan, Khusp and Herat. According to the chronicles of the Chinese Cefu Yuangui , a young brother of Pantu Nili named Puluo (僕羅 púluó in Chinese sources) again visited the Tang court in 718 and gave an account of

13800-597: Was defeated in 528 by an alliance of Indian principalities led by Yasodharman , the Aulikara king of Malwa , in the Battle of Sondani in Central India , which 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 force of the Hunas, and claims that Yasodharman had rescued the earth from rude and cruel kings, and that he "had bent

13920-567: Was dethroned by Pratapaditya, son of the founder of the Karkoṭa Empire , Durlabhavardhana . Several rulers with Alchon names appear in Kalhana 's Rajatarangini . Although the chronology of the Rajatarangini is largely deficient, several of the names of these rulers, especially those belonging to the so-called Gonanda dynasty (II) , have been confirmed by coin finds in Kashmir and dated to

14040-669: Was executed on al-Hajjaj 's orders, despite promises of pardon, while the Yabghu was exiled to Damascus and kept there as a hostage. The Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian who had defeated their common enemy the Arabs in 717 CE, sent an embassy to China through Central Asia in 719 CE which probably met with the Tokhara Yabghus and the Turk Shahis , who in honour of the Byzantine Emperor even named one of their own rulers "Caesar of Rome" (which they rendered phonetically as King " Fromo Kesaro "). The Chinese annals record that "In

14160-626: 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". Mihirakula is then said to have returned to Kashmir to retake the throne. This ended the Second Hunnic War in c. 534, after an occupation which lasted nearly 15 years. According to the Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena ,

14280-409: Was married two times – both a daughter of Qu Boya (麴伯雅) – ruler of Qocho . When Xuanzang visited Kunduz , he also brought a letter from his brother-in-law and ruler of Qocho Qu Wentai (麴文泰) to Tardu. Yabgu received him despite being in ill condition. It was Tardu to advise him to make a trip westward to Balkh (modern Afghanistan ), to see the Buddhist sites and relics. Xuanzang also witnessed

14400-504: Was of quick talent, and naturally brave. He subdued all the neighbouring provinces without exception. The destructions of Mihirakula are also recorded in the Rajatarangini : Mihirakula, a man of violent acts and resembling Kāla (Death) ruled in the land which was overrun by hordes of Mlecchas ... the people knew his approach by noticing the vultures, crows, and other [birds], which were flying ahead to feed on those who were being slain within his army's [reach] Finally however, Mihirakula

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