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62-537: Modern scholars generally see Tushara as synonymous with the historical " Tukhara ", also known as Tokhara or Tokharistan – another name for Bactria . This area was the stronghold of the Kushan Empire , which dominated India between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE. The historical Tukhara appears to be synonymous with the land known by Ancient Chinese scholars as Daxia , from the 3rd century BCE onwards. Its inhabitants were known later to Ancient Greek scholars as

124-670: A colony of the Romans near the port of Barbaricum in Sindhu Delta. This shows that a section of the Tusharas had also moved to western India and was living there around Vrahamihira's time. There is also a mention of Tushara-Giri ( Tushara mountain) in the Mahabharata , Harshacharita of Bana Bhata and Kavyamimansa of Rajshekhar. ÷ Kingdom Little is known of the Tukhara before they conquered

186-632: Is also good archaeological evidence of Roman trade (1 CE to 200 CE) coming into Gandhara/Kamboja and Bactria region in Uttarapatha through the Gujarati peninsula. The Roman gold coins imported from Rome into Gandhara were usually melted into bullion in these regions. Corresponding to Uttarapatha, the Dakshinapatha was the name of southern high road which originated from Varanasi , followed through Ujjaini and Narmada valley to Pratisthana ( Paithan ) in

248-580: Is the first recorded visit of people from India to Japan. Tokharistan Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix -stan meaning "place of" in Persian) is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources. By the 6th century CE Tokharistan came under rule of the First Turkic Khaganate , and in the 7th and 8th centuries it

310-587: The Buddha . Some merchants from northern India had settled in Myanmar, in the ports and towns located at the mouths of Irrawaddy , Citranga ( Sittang ) and Salavana ( Salween ) rivers. The case in point is of two merchant brothers Tapassu and Bhalluka or Bhalluka from Pokkharavati (= Pushkalavati , present Carasadda) in the Gandhara-Kamboja region who also had their trade settlement in Myanmar. The name Irrawaddy for

372-645: The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in the 2nd century BCE. They are known, in subsequent centuries, to have spoken Bactrian , an Eastern Iranian language . The Yuezhi are generally believed to have had their ethnogenesis in Gansu , China. However, Ancient Chinese sources use the term Daxia ( Tukhara ) for a state in Central Asia, two centuries before the Yuezhi entered the area. Hence the Tukhara may have been recruited by

434-840: The Kumijis of Al-Maqidisi, Al-Baihaki, Nasir Khusau etc.) who lived in Buttamen Mountains (now in Tajikistan) in the upper Oxus are believed by many scholars to be the Kambojas who were living neighbors to the Tukhara/Tusharas north of the Hindukush in the Oxus valley. The region was also known as Kumudadvipa of the Puranic texts, which the scholars identify with Sanskrit Kamboja. Before its occupation by

496-652: The Kuru and Panchala kingdoms . They were followers of the Vedic culture . The Yadavas made central and western India their stronghold. The descendants of Anu, known as the Anavas , are said to have migrated to Iran . Various regional terms and proper names may have originated with, or been derived from, the Tusharas including: Takhar Province in Afghanistan; the Pakistani village of Thakra;

558-745: The Kurus and fought wrathfully for Duryodhana ’s sake (8:73). A number of Saka and Tukhara and Yavana horsemen, accompanied by some of the foremost combatants among the Kambojas , quickly rushed against Arjuna (8:88). F. E Pargiter writes that the Tusharas, along with the Yavanas, Shakas, Khasas and Daradas had collectively joined the Kamboja army of Sudakshina Kamboj and had fought in Kurukshetra war under latter's supreme command. Puranic texts like Vayu Purana , Brahmanda Purana and Vamana Purana , etc., associate

620-694: The Mahabharata associates the Tusharas with the Yavanas, Kiratas , Chinas , Kambojas , Pahlavas , Kankas, Sabaras, Barbaras, Ramathas etc., and brands them all as barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha , leading lives of Dasyus . The Tusharas along with numerous other tribes from the north-west, including the Bahlikas, Kiratas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Daradas, Kambojas, Shakas, Kankas, Romakas, Yavanas, Trigartas, Kshudrakas, Malavas, Angas, and Vangas had joined Yudhishtra at his Rajasuya ceremony and brought him numerous gifts such as camels, horses, cows, elephants and gold Later

682-609: The Oxus . The region used the East Iranian Bactrian language , which was current from the 2nd to the 9th century CE. The most important city of Tokharistan was Balkh , which was at the center of the trade between Iran (the Sasanian Empire ) and India. The region of Tokharistan had been outside of Sasanian control for the three centuries preceding the Muslim conquest of Persia in 633–651 CE. During that time, Tokharistan

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744-657: The Parama Kamboja ( furthest Kamboja ) land, lying between Oxus and Jaxartes , which happened prior to Achaemenid rule. Per epic evidence, Parama Kamboja was the land of the Loha-Kamboja-Rishikas . The Rishikas are said by some scholars to be the same people as the Yuezhi . The Kushanas are also said by some to be the same people. Kalhana (c. 1148-1149 CE) claims that the three kings he calls Huṣka , Juṣka and Kaniṣka (commonly interpreted to refer to Huvishka , Vāsishka and Kanishka I) were "descended from

806-699: The Rishikas of the Mahabharata and also places them in the Sakadvipa (or Scythia ). According to Dr B. N. Puri and some other scholars, the Kambojas were a branch of the Tukharas. Based on the above Rishika-Kamboja connections, some scholars also claim that the Kambojas were a branch of the Yuezhi themselves. Dr Moti Chander also sees a close ethnic relationship between the Kambojas and the Yuezhi . Modern scholars are still debating

868-1189: The Sakas , along with the Chulikas, stood in the right wing of the Kaurava battle-array (6:75). The Tusharas, the Yavanas , the Khasas , the Darvabhisaras, the Daradas , the Sakas , the Kamathas, the Ramathas, the Tanganas the Andhrakas , the Pulindas, the Kiratas of fierce prowess, the Mlecchas , the Mountaineers , and the races hailing from the sea-side, all endued with great wrath and great might, delighting in battle and armed with maces, these all—united with

930-914: The Sindhavas and the Jagudas and the Ramathas and the Mundas and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tanganas and the Kekayas and the Malavas and the inhabitants of Kasmira , were present in the Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhishthira the king of the Pandavas (3:51). The Sakas and Tukhatas and Tukharas and Kankas and Romakas and men with horns bringing with them as tribute numerous large elephants and ten thousand horses, and hundreds and hundreds of millions of golds (2:50). The Tusharas were very ferocious warriors. The Yavanas and

992-581: The Southeast Asia . When the Chinese envoy Chiang Kien was in Gandhara (circa c 127 BCE), he found to his great surprise that bamboos and textiles from south-western China were sold in the local markets. On personal enquiry, he learnt that these goods were brought to eastern India ( Bengal ) through Yunnan , Burma and then carried all the way from eastern India to Bactria across India and Afghanistan along

1054-598: The Tibetan chronicle Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah ( The Excellent Kalpa-Vrksa ), along with people like the Yavanas , Kambojas , Daradas , Hunas , Khasas etc. The Komedai of Ptolemy , the Kiumito or Kumituo of Xuanzang's accounts, Kiumizhi of Wu'kong, Kumi of the Tang Annals , Kumed or Kumadh of some Muslim writers, Cambothi, Kambuson and Komedon of the Greek writers (or

1116-720: The Tokharoi and to the Ancient Romans as Tochari . Modern scholars appear to have conflated the Tukhara with the so-called Tocharians – an Indo-European people who lived in the Tarim Basin , in present-day Xinjiang, China, until the 1st millennium. When the Tocharian languages of the Tarim were rediscovered in the early 20th century, most scholars accepted a hypothesis that they were linked to

1178-459: The Tukhara (who were known to have migrated to Central Asia from China, with the other founding Kushan peoples). However, the subjects of the Tarim kingdoms appear to have referred to themselves by names such as Agni , Kuči and Krorän . These peoples are also known to have spoken centum languages , whereas the Tukhara of Bactria spoke a satem language . The Tukhara were among Indo-European tribes that conquered Central Asia during

1240-663: The 10th to 12th century CE. Uttarapatha Ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts use Uttarapatha as the name of the Northern part of Jambudvipa (equivalent of present-day North India ), one of the " continents " in Hindu mythology . In modern times, the Sanskrit word uttarapatha is sometimes used to denote the geographical regions of North India , Western India , Central India , Eastern India , Northeast India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , and Nepal in just one term. The pronunciation of

1302-518: The 2nd century BCE, according to both Chinese and Greek sources. Ancient Chinese sources refer to these tribes collectively as the Da Yuezhi ("Greater Yuezhi "). In subsequent centuries the Tukhara and other tribes founded the Kushan Empire , which dominated Central and South Asia. The account in Mahabharata (Mbh) 1:85 depicts the Tusharas as mlechchas ("barbarians") and descendants of Anu, one of

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1364-688: The 7th century CE, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang , by way of the " Iron Pass " entered Tukhara (覩貨羅 Pinyin Duhuoluo ; W-G Tu-huo-luo ). Xuanzang stated that it lay south of the Iron Pass, north of the "great snow mountains" ( Hindukush ), and east of Persia , with the Oxus "flowing westward through the middle of it." During the time of Xuanzang, Tukhāra was divided into 27 administrative units, each having its separate chieftain. The Tukharas ( Tho-gar ) are mentioned in

1426-481: The Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Sakas, Paradas, Ramathas, Kambojas, Daradas, Tushars, Chinas, Barbaras, Keikayas, Abhiras, Sindhus, Soviras and others as the tribes of Uttarapatha ( Kirfel list of the Uttarapatha countries of the Bhuvanakosa ). Uttarapatha was famous from very early times for its fine breed of horses and the horse-dealers. There are ancient references to an ongoing trade between the nations of Uttarapatha and

1488-676: The Buddhist or any other ancient source. According to some writers, the Uttarapatha included the whole of Northern India, from Anga in the east to Gandhara in the north-west, and from the Himalaya in the north to the Vindhya in the south. The Jambudvipa region to the south of Uttarapatha was known as Majjhimadesa (or the Middle Country) in Buddhist texts and Madhyadesa in Puranic texts. According to Buddhist texts, Kamboja and Gandhara , two of

1550-622: The Mahajanapada of Ashmaka (in modern Maharashtra ), onwards to the western coast of India and running in the southern direction. According to Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography by Sanjeev Sanyal , the crossing of the two highways made Sarnath (just outside Varanasi) a major place of exchange of goods and ideas in ancient India. Sanyal argues that this is why the Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath. Later, Dakshinapatha

1612-553: The Parama Kambojas ), are the same as the classical Assaceni / Assacani ( Aspasio / Assakenoi of Arrian ) and the Aśvayana and Aśvakayana of Panini. They are also mentioned by Megasthenes who refers to them as Osii (= Asii ), Asoi , Aseni etc., all living on upper Indus in eastern Afghanistan . The names indicate their connection with horses and horse culture. These Osii, Asoi/Aseni clans represent earlier migration from

1674-412: The Rishikas were allied tribes . Like the "Parama Kambojas", the Rishikas of the Transoxian region are similarly styled as "Parama Rishikas". Based on the syntactical construction of the Mahabharata verse 5.5.15 and verse 2.27.25 , Ishwa Mishra believe that the Rishikas were a section of the Kambojas i.e. Parama Kambojas . V. S. Aggarwala too, relates the Parama Kambojas of the Trans-Pamirs to

1736-426: The Shakas, Yavanas and the Kambojas etc. The Tushara kingdom is mentioned in the travels of the Pandavas in the northern regions beyond the Himalayas :- Crossing the difficult Himalayan regions, and the countries of China , Tukhara, Darada and all the climes of Kulinda , rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men reached the capital of Suvahu (3:176). The Mahabharata makes clear that Vedic Hindus did not know

1798-409: The Tochari and the Sakarauli (Saracucse?) who are found connected with both the Tochari and the Asiani" . If the Rishikas of the Mahabharata were same as the Tukharas, then the observation from George Rawlinson is in line with the Mahabharata statement which also closely allies the Rishikas with the Parama Kambojas and places them both in the Sakadvipa. The Kambojas (i.e. the southern branch of

1860-476: The Tukhara, Badakshan formed a part of ancient Kamboja (Parama Kamboja) but, after its occupation by the Tukhara in the 2nd century BCE, Badakshan and some other territories of the Kamboja became part of Tukhara. Around the 4th to 5th century CE, when the fortunes of the Tukhara finally waned, the original population of Kambojas re-asserted itself, and the region again started to be called by its ancient name, i.e., "Kamboja", though northwestern parts still retained

1922-420: The Turuṣka race". Aurel Stein says that the Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokarai) were a branch of the Yuezhi. P. C. Bagchi holds that the Yuezhi, Tocharioi and Tushara were identical. If he is correct, the Rishikas, Tusharas/Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokaroi), the Kushanas and the Yuezhi, were probably either a single people, or members of a confederacy. Sabha Parva of Mahabharata states that the Parama Kambojas, Lohas and

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1984-462: The Tusharas were different from the Turushakas with whom they are often confused by some writers. Pompeius Trogus remarks that the Asii were lords of the Tochari. It is generally believed that they are same as the Rishikas of the Mahabharata which people are equivalent to Asii (in Prakrit). V. S. Aggarwala also equates the Rishikas with the Asii or Asioi. In 1870, George Rawlinson commented that "The Asii or Asiani were closely connected with

2046-534: The Tusharas with the Shakas, Barbaras, Kambojas, Daradas , Viprendras, Anglaukas, Yavanas, Pahlavas etc and refer to them all as the tribes of Udichya i.e. north or north-west. The Kambojas, Daradas, Barbaras, Harsavardhanas, Cinas and the Tusharas are described as the populous races of men outside. Puranic literature further states that the Tusharas and other tribes like the Gandharas, Shakas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas, Yavanas, Barbaras, Khasa , and Lampakas, etc., would be invaded and annihilated by Lord Kalki at

2108-459: The Tusharas, Sakas and Yavanas had joined the military division of the Kambojas and participated in the Mahabharata war on the side of the Kauravas. Karna Parva of Mahabharata describes the Tusharas as very ferocious and wrathful warriors. At one place in the Mahabharata, the Tusharas are mentioned along with the Shakas and the Kankas. At another place they are in a list with the Shakas, Kankas and Pahlavas. And at other places are mentioned along with

2170-434: The Tusharas, the Kankas, the Pathavas, the Andhras , the Madrakas , the Paundras , the Pulindas, the Ramathas, the Kambojas, and several new castes of Brahmanas , Kshatriyas , Vaishyas , and the Shudras , that had sprung up in the dominions of the Arya kings. The kings of the Pahlavas and the Daradas and the various tribes of the Kiratas and Yavanas and Sakras and the Harahunas and Chinas and Tukharas and

2232-606: The Uttarapatha or the northern high road . The ancient Pali literature says that merchants from the nations of Uttarapatha were engaged in international trade following the well-known Kamboja-Dvaravati Caravan Route . Merchants from Kamboja, Gandhara, Sovira, Sindhu and other places used to sail from ports of Bharukaccha (modern Bharuch ) and Supparaka Pattana (modern Nalla- Sopara , near Mumbai ) for trade with Southern India, Sri Lanka and nations of Southeast Asia. Huge trade ships sailed from there directly to south Myanmar. This trade had been going on for hundreds of years before

2294-439: The Uttarapatha was Tamraliptika or Tamluk located at the mouth of Ganges in West Bengal . This route became increasingly important due to increasing maritime contacts with the seaports on the eastern coast of India during the Maurya rule. Later, Uttarapatha was the name lent to the vast expanse of region which the northern high road traversed. The boundaries of Uttarapatha, as a region, are nowhere precisely defined in

2356-445: The Yuezhi, from a people neighbouring or subject to the Greco-Bactrians. Likewise the Atharvaveda also associates the Tusharas with the Bahlikas (Bactrians), Yavanas / Yonas (Greeks) and Sakas (Indo-Scythians), as following: " Saka.Yavana.Tushara.Bahlikashcha ". It also places the Bahlikas as neighbors of the Kambojas . This may suggest suggests that the Tusharas were neighbours to these peoples, possibly in Transoxiana . In

2418-587: The ancient Sinhalese forms of the Uttarapatha Kamboja. A Pali text Sihalavatthu of the fourth century specifically attests to a group of people known as Kambojas living in Rohana in Sri Lanka. A regular horse trade between the nations of Uttarapatha and those of eastern, western and southern India is attested to have been going on as late as the medieval ages. King Devapala (810-850 CE) of Bengal, King Vishnuvardhana Hoysala (1106–1152 CE) of Mysore and King Valabhi Deva of Valbhi/ Saurashtra (1185 CE) had powerful fleets of Kamboja horses in their cavalries . There

2480-418: The arrival of the Turks . In painting, there is "Tokharistan school of art" (see Northern Buddhist art ) with examples from Kalai Kafirnigan , Kafyr Kala or Ajina Tepe , as Buddhism and Buddhist art enjoyed a renaissance, possibly owing to the sponsorships and religious tolerance of the Western Turks ( Tokhara Yabghus ). Islamic art developed with the Samanid Empire and the Ghaznavids from

2542-435: The chief river of Burma (Myanmar) was copied from river Irrawati ( Ravi ) of the north Panjab . There is also a tradition in Ceylon ( recorded in the Pūjāvaliya ) that Tapassu and Bhalluka visited the east coast of Ceylon and built a Cetiya, there. An inscription also makes a similar record. Evidence exists that horse-dealers from Kamboja in the Uttarapatha were trading horses as far as Sri Lanka. Dr Don Martino notes that

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2604-431: The cursed sons of King Yayati . Yayati's eldest son Yadu , gave rise to the Yadavas and his youngest son Puru to the Pauravas that includes the Kurus and Panchalas . Only the fifth son of Puru's line was considered to be the successors of Yayati's throne, as he cursed the other four sons and denied them kingship. The Pauravas inherited the Yayati's original empire and stayed in the Gangetic plain who later created

2666-412: The details of these connections without coming to any firm consensus. According to the Nihon Shoki , the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history , in 1654 two men and two women of the Tushara Kingdom, along with one woman from Shravasti , were drive by a storm to take refuge at the former Hyūga Province in southern Kyushu . They remained for several years before setting off for home. That

2728-425: The end of Kali Yuga . And they were annihilated by king Pramiti at the end of Kali Yuga . According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana , river Chakshu ( Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the countries of Tusharas, Lampakas, Pahlavas, Paradas and the Shakas, etc. The Brihat-Katha-Manjari of Pt Kshemendra relates that around 400 CE, Gupta king Vikramaditya ( Chandragupta II ) (r. 375-413/15 CE), had "unburdened

2790-407: The figures in the Dilberjin Tepe or Balalyk Tepe paintings are characteristic of the Hephthalites (450–570 CE). In this context, parallels have been drawn with the figures from Kizil Caves in Chinese Turkestan , which seem to wear broadly similar clothing. The paintings of Balalyk Tepe would be characteristic of the court life of the Hephthalites in the first half of the 6th century CE, before

2852-449: The merchants from northwest Kamboja had been conducting horse trade with Sri Lanka following the west coast of India since remote antiquity ( Epigraphia Zeylanka, Vol II, No 13, p 76 ). Several ancient cave inscriptions found in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka attest the existence of a Kamboja Goshatha or Samgha ( Gote Kabojhiana ) and a Grand Kamboja Trade Guild ( Kabojiya Mahapughyanam ) in ancient Sinhala . The terms Kaboja and Kabojiya are

2914-567: The mountain ranges leaving behind their horses." According to D. C. Sircar, the Kambojas here are bracketed with the Tukharas and are shown as living in the eastern parts of the Oxus valley as neighbors of the Tukharas who were living in the western parts of that Valley. The 10th century CE Kavyamimamsa of Rajshekhar lists the Tusharas with several other tribes of the Uttarapatha viz: the Shakas, Kekeyas, Vokkanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Limpakas, Kulutas, Tanganas, Turusakas, Barbaras, Ramathas etc. This mediaeval era evidence shows that

2976-399: The mountain ranges leaving their horses in the battlefield. This shows that during the 8th century CE, a section of the Tusharas was living as neighbours of the Kambojas near the Oxus valley. By the 6th century CE, the Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira also locates the Tusharas with Barukachcha (Bhroach) and Barbaricum (on the Indus Delta) near the sea in western India. The Romakas formed

3038-416: The name of Duhuoluo or Tukharistan in Chinese at least until the time of the Tang dynasty . There are several later references to Kamboja of the Pamirs/Badakshan. Raghuvamsha - a 5th-century Sanskrit play by Kalidasa , attests their presence on river Vamkshu ( Oxus ) as neighbors to the Hunas (Raghu: 4.68-70). As seen above, the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang mentions the Kiumito/Kumito living to

3100-414: The north of the Oxus , which may refer to Komedai of Ptolemy . which, as noted above, has been equated to Kamboja mentioned in Sanskrit texts. The 8th-century king of Kashmir , King Lalitadiya, invaded the Kambojas of the "far-spreading northern region" ( uttarāpatha ) as mentioned in the Rajatarangini of Kalhana . After encountering the Kambojas, Lalitadiya's army approached the Tuhkhāras who "fled to

3162-405: The origins of the Mlechcha tribes, who were highly skilled in weapons, warfare and material sciences, but never followed the Vedic rites properly. That the Vedic people were dealing with foreign tribes is evident in a passage from Mahabharata (12:35). It asks which duties that should be performed by the Yavanas , the Kiratas , the Gandharvas , the Chinas , the Savaras, the Barbaras, the Sakas ,

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3224-413: The overlordship of the Hephthalites , who led the embassies to the Southern Liang court in the early 6th century CE. The name of " Tocharians " was mistakenly applied by early 20th century authors to the Indo-European people of the Tarim Basin , from the areas of Kucha and Agni . These scholars erroneously believed that these Indo-Europeans had originated in Tokharistan ( Bactria ), and hence applied

3286-400: The sacred earth by destroying the barbarians" like the Tusharas, Shakas , Mlecchas, Kambojas , Yavanas , Parasikas , Hunas etc. The Rajatarangini of Kalhana records that king Laliditya Muktapida , the 8th-century ruler of Kashmir had invaded the tribes of the north and after defeating the Kambojas , he immediately faced the Tusharas. The Tusharas did not give a fight but fled to

3348-451: The sixteen Mahajanapadas or great nations referred to in the Anguttara Nikaya and Chulla-Niddesa belonged to the Uttarapatha . The Buddhist texts include the remaining fourteen of the Mahajanapadas, namely Kasi , Kosala , Anga , Magadha , Vajji , Malla , Chedi , Vamsa (or Vatsa), Kuru , Panchala , Matsya (or Maccha), Surasena , Avanti and Assaka in the Majjhimadesa division. Numerous Puranic literature terms refer to

3410-432: The states of East India . Buddhist and Puranic sources attest that the merchants and horse-dealers from Uttarapatha would bring horses and other goods for sale down to eastern Indian places like Savatthi ( Kosala ), Benares ( Kasi ), Pataliputra ( Magadha ) and Pragjyotisha ( Assam ). The great Indian epic, Mahabharata gives an account of the ancient roadways. It refers to Uttarapatha (northern highway) which linked

3472-490: The surname Thakkar , found across India; the Marathi surname Thakere , sometimes anglicised as Thackeray; the Takhar Jat clan in Rajasthan, and the Thakar tribe of Maharashtra. It is also possible that the Thakor (or Thakore) caste of Gujarat, the Thakar caste of Maharashtra and the title Thakur originated with names such as Tushara/Tukhara. The Sanskrit word thakkura "lord" may be related to such terms or may itself be derived from one of them. The Shanti Parva of

3534-531: The term "Tocharians" to them. This appellation remains in common usage although the Indo-European people of the Tarim Basin probably referred to themselves as Agni , Kuči and Krorän . In the Xi'an Stele , erected in 781 CE, the Church of the East monk Adam , author of the stele, mentioned in Syriac that his grandfather was a missionary-priest from Balkh ( Classical Syriac : ܒܠܚ , romanized:  Balḥ ) in Tokharistan ( ܬܚܘܪܝܣܬܢ Taḥuristan ). Geographically, Tokharistan corresponds to

3596-477: The territories of Kirata (perhaps of Magadha ), Kamboja , Gandhara and Yavana countries ( Shanti Parva , 207.43; Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India, 2003, p 107, Prakash Chandra Prasad) Documentation exists that the nations from the Uttarapatha like Kamboja, Gandhara and Kashmira were actively engaged in commercial intercourse not only with the states of Gangetic valley but also with Brahmadesh , Suvarnabhumi , south-west China and other nations in

3658-406: The upper Oxus valley, between the mountain ranges of the Hindu-Kush to the south and the Pamir-Alay to the north. The area reaches west as far as the Badakshan mountains, south as far as Bamiyan . Arab sources considered Kabul as part of the southern border of Tokharistan, and Shaganiyan as part of its northern border. In a narrow sense, Tokharistan may only refer to the region south of

3720-466: The word varies depending on the regional language of the speaker. The name is derived from the Sanskrit terms uttara , for north, and patha , for road. Initially, the term Uttarapatha referred to the northern high road , the main trade route that followed along the river Ganges , crossed the Indo-Gangetic watershed, ran through the Punjab to Taxila (Gandhara) and further to Zariaspa or Balkh ( Bactria ) in Central Asia . The eastern terminus of

3782-475: Was incorporated into the Tang dynasty , administered by the Protectorate General to Pacify the West . Today, Tokharistan is fragmented between Afghanistan , Uzbekistan and Tajikistan . Several languages have used variations of the word "Tokhara" to designate the region: Several portraits of ambassadors from the region of Tokharistan are known from the Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang , originally painted in 526–539 CE. They were at that time under

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3844-421: Was under the rule of dynasties of Hunnish or Turkic origin, such as the Kidarites , the Alchon Huns and the Hephthalites . At the time of the Arab conquest, Tokharistan was under the control of the Western Turks , through the Tokhara Yabghus . Numerous artefacts exist from the art of early medieval Tokharistan, which shows influence from the Buddhist art of Gandhara. Many authors have suggested that

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