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MEMOIR No. 8

The Original Home of the Tukharians 

M.   ROHI   UIGHUR

PAKISTAN     HISTORICAL     SOCIETY

30 NEW KAUACHI HOUSING SOCIETY

KARACHI-5

1965 

Pakistan Historical Society Publication No. 45

Copyright owned by

Pakistan Historical Society

Karachi-5

Price : Rs.10.00

CONTENTS

                                                                                                                         page

The Original Home of the Tukharians                 ...              ...    1

Early mention of Tukhara                    ...               ...               ...    2

The people or the tribe of Tukhari      ...               ...               ...    5

Tukharistan or country of the TukMra proper     ...               ...    6

The original home of Tukharians and Andere ruins of Khotan      9

A new theory which has not been accepted           ...               ...  16

The Tukharian Language   ...                ...               ...              ...  17

Bacteria and coming in of Tukharians                  ...               ...  20

The Scythians of Sakas, the Historical relation between them

    and Tukharians and Yueh-chih        ...               ...               ... 23

Scythians in North India   ...               ...               ...               ... 26

Sakas and Tukhari            ...               ...               ...               ... 27

Ephthalites in Tukharistan                  ...               ...               ... 31

The power of Yetha (Ephthalites) extended to Daybul           ... 34

Haital (Ephthalites) in the Muslim sources           ...               ... 34

The role of Haitals in spreading Buddhism in Central Asia    ... 35

Alliance between Ephthalites and Celestial Empire and the

   Arab conquest of Central Asia         ...               ...              ... 36

Karluks in Tukharistan                       ...               ...               ... 39

Tukharistan after Islam upto the eighteenth century              ... 41

THE ORIGINAL  HOME OF THE JUKHARIANS•

Among the many striking discoveries of historical importance by the well-known archeologist, Sir Aurel Stein, during his three successful expeditions in Eastern Turkistan in the beginning of this century, was the excavation of the site at Endere, an ancient town in east of Khutan, The significance of this discovery lies in the identification of the site, which was probably the original homeland of the Tukhariams. The celebrated Chinese pilgrim, Hsuan-tsang, who visited it on his way back from his itenarary in the subcontinent in 644 A.C. has referred to it as the "Old Tu-huo-lo" country. He found this country covered with wastes, and called it by the same name "Tu-huo-lo (Tukhara)" which was borne by the early conquerors of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, and which survived down to mediasval times[1].

Hsuan-tsang's reference to the site as "Tu-huo-lo," has given rise to a great deal of speculation and discussions regarding the ethnic origin of the Tukharians and the relation between them and conquering hordes from Central Asia, such as the Scythians and Yueh-chihs. However it is now established beyond doubt that the Jukjiarians were an ancient people who had settled and lived not only in Endere (Khutan) and other parts of Eastern Turkistan, but had spread all over Central Asia, viz: right from the neibour-hood of Kansu and Issyk-Kul upto the valley of Hindu-kush in the south ; they were mentioned in the Chinese chronicles in the second century B. C,, as a nomadic horde living around Kansu, and were known to the Tibetans. They were also known to the Indians, Greeks, the Persians and the Arabs[2]. We would like to assess the important role played by them in the early history of Central Asia and Bactria along with the Sakas (Scythians) and Yueh-chih.

Early mention  of Tukhara

Tukhara is first mentioned by the Greek author S<rabo along with the nomadic hordes which wrested Bactria from the Greeks in the second century B. C.[3] ; their name however occurs in different forms. Even they themselves pronounced their name in different ways[4].

Ptolemy has given five notices of the Tochari belonging to different times and places and with different spellings, representing unaspirared Hellenistic forms, for example : "Thogouroi" in Kansu, "Tokoraioi" in north Imaos, "Taghourio" in Sogdiana, "Tocharoi" in Bactria. However as Tarn suggests, it is not clear whether Ptolemy knew that he was recording the odyssey of one and the same people. It would be interesting to know that this odyssey, according to Tarn, is that of Yueh-chih as given by the Chinese sources, and it makes the identification of Tochari and the Yueh-chih certain ; Pliny also knew the Tochari as "Tagorae", or "Ta-kor (aioi)", or "Tagour (aooi)"[5],

This form occurs again, as Tiaugaru and Ttaudagara in two Khotan-Saca documents of c. A. C. 800, along with the names of some Turkish tribes who lived in the neighbourhood of Kan­su[6]. It is said, Apollodorus (c. 100/B. C.) has mentioned it as Tocharoi (Tokharoi) and it is believed that this was the form which was popularised by Strabo and has passed into common use as the name of this tribe in Bactria and also the form (T'akhoroi)—T'achoroi, in connection with Sogdiana[7].

We have also the form, "Tokhari" or "Togari"—"Tojari" which is found later in Central Asia (Turfan) in fragments of Ephthalite coins as the name of the Saca speech of the Kushans of Tocharistan (Tu-huo-lo) of Hsuan-tsang[8]. In Tibetan docu­ments the people who lived in and around Kan-Su occurs in the form of "Thod-kar", "Phod-Kar" in the east and "Tho-gar", "Tho-dkar", "Tho-kar" in the West[9]. In Sogdiana the name occured as "Tgw'r'k" also. In Armenian "T'uchari-k" , "To'c-haraston"[10]. It is also said, that the name "Tochar" was also applied to the Turks of Eastern Turkistan by the Tibetans,[11] The "Tokhar" or "Tochar" figures in Sanskrit literature since the time of Mahabharata in the form of Tuhkhara, Tukhara, and also Tushara,[12] and is repeatedly mentioned in the Rajataran-gini[13].

In Turkish and Manechian and Buddhist texts of Central Asia it occured in the form "Twchry", (Twgry) and "Twqry",[14] but this has been a subject of controversy[15].

"The term "Tukhar", according to Walters and Lesson means frost, snow, cold, and mist or vapour,[16] in which, should it be correct, we can easily trace the origin of the Turkish word "kar"-qar-(snow) the first element "To" or "Ta" might represent "Tagh" meaning mountain, the letter "g" of "Tagh" and "k" of "Kar", both being aspirated letters, have been amalgamated into one. It may also be noticed in the name of another Turkish tribe, Karluq, the successors or the remnant of the Tukharians, who lived in the territories of the old Tukharistan (Kattaghan and Badakhshan of today). The legend of Oghuz also attests this theory, according to which the name Qarluq was given by him, when they lived in the mountains[17]. In the light of these assertions we can safely conclude that these people might have been cal led so, when they still were living in mountainous regions as nomads.

The name "Tochari" was known to the Chinese, with different transcriptions or wording; in the second century B. C. it was applied to the remnant of a people who lived in Kan-su[18]. But the name in the form "Tu-huo-lo" also in slightly different transcription, appears prominently in the annals and records of the T'ang period[19]. However, in the time of Hsuang-tsang it was properly not the name of a country, but of a great tribe or people occupying an extensive territory[20] in Bactria and on the banks of Oxus. It seems to have lasted almost upto the conquest of Khurasan and Central Asia by the Arabs who knew the territory which they occupied as Tukhari (طخارى) and Tukharistan (طخارستان) also Jukhayristan  (طخيرستان)or Mamalik- al-Tukhar ( ممالك الطخار)[21].

The people or the tribe of Tukhdn.

The Tukharis were a people or tribe widely spread all over Central Asia right from Kansu up to Rha (Volga) in the west and from Issyk-Kul to the valley of Hindukush in the south, a fact established by both, the early Chinese and Greek sources. We notice in Pliny and Ptolemy as saying that a people called Togarae crossed the Tanais-Don (Jaxartes) from east to west with other "Scyths"[22]; they even knew the sojourn of Tochari in the lake Issyk-kul and of their crossing the Jaxartes southward.[23] The Chinese knew, the remnant of a people in second century B.C. who lived in a city on the 'Silk Route' with the same name in and around Kan-su and had moved to the west[24], and, according to Tibetan documents, there lived a people called Thod-kar, or Phod-kar, identified by F. W. Thomas and others with the same 'Tukhari'[25]. The occurance of the one name in the form "Ttaugara", "Tho-kar" in the east and of "Tokhara" or "Tochara" in the west used by one people, would suffice to prove that they were a widely spread people and they carried the name with themselves wherever they went. As the name is found in places too remote for it to be possible of a foreign origin, it was evidently their native name brought from their original home (Eastern Turkistan)[26].

However, the form "To-huo-Io" meaning Tukharistan appears in the Chinese annals first in the fifth century A.C. In the History of the T'ang we read about the country of Tukhari that it was situated of the Ts'ng-ling mountains (Pamir), south of the r’ver wu-hu (Wakhan-Oxus). The Ch’nese also ‘dentify it with the country of Ta-Hia-Da-Hae (Great Hia) of the time of the Han period. In the seventh and eight centuries the kingdom of Tu-huo-lo repeatedly sent embassies to the Chinese Court[27]. St. Martin and Julien identify Tukhara of the later period with Ephtahalites (Haital), the Chinese Yatha,[28] a branch of Yue-ti (Yueh-chih); according to "Shu" and "Sui-shu" Tukharas have been the small Yue-ti and the Yatha and Tukharians lived together, but the former were nomads, while the later town dewellers[29].

The country of Tukhhari to which the Chinese records, as well as Hsuang-tsang give the remarkable name "Tu-huo-lo," either by the name of lukhara or Tukharistan, or by that of Haitals continued for centuries as fragments of an extinct kingdom, the former name surviving the later upto the Muslim periods; it became almost obsolete about the the time of the Mongol dominion in the thirteenth century[30].

Tukharistan or country of the Tukhara Proper

The country of Tukhara proper or Tufch.aristan had no significance in the Muslim period, but it occupies a prominant place in the early history of Bactria. The people of Tukhar have to their credit a share in the overthrow of the Greek's power in Bactria, in association with the Scythians. When Hsuan-tsang visited the country it consisted of 27 principalities under a Turkish Khaqan[31].

It was an extensive region which extended at certain times from Kabul to Bukhara upto Talas, and from the Iron Gate in the west to the mountains of Pamir in the east[32]. For a long period Tukharistan was the east of the Ephtahlites who established there a great empire which lasted upto the sixth century A.C.[33] to which, according to the Chinese pilgrim, Sung-yun, who passed through it. forty countries were tributary.[34] It figured prominently with its Yabghu ruler among the countries which were conquered by the Arabs, on the upper and the lower banks of the Oxus, and Khurasan, consisting of Juzjan, Taliqan, Faryab, Chaghanian, Siminjan and Merw-rudh[35]. It was called Madinatal-Tukhara ( UjUtUfjLoJw )[36] and was at one time the capital of Tukharian empire and has been mentioned as such even in the Tibetan and Khotanese texts[37].

Tukharistan was first conqured by Ahnaf bin Qays in 23 A.H. in the time of Hadrat 'Umar, on peace term from its Turkish ruler Yabghu[38]. Some celebrated Arab commanders like Ribi b. Amir[39], Bukayir b. Wishah, Nasr b. Sayyar and, lastly, Abu Muslim Khurasani have ruled over it[40].

Tukharistan which served as a stronghold of the Arabs during the conquest of Transoxiana[41], was the scene of a severe battle fought by the Arab commander As 'ad b. 'Abd Allah in 737 A.C. against the Turkish Khaqan and his allies, among whom were Harth and the ruler of Khuttal.[42]

According to Yaqut it included all the lands in Khurasan and consisted of two parts i.e al-'Ulya (the upper) and al-Sufla (the lower) part, the former being on the east of Balkh and west of the Oxus. It was 10 farsakhs from Balkh. The lower part was also situated on the west of the Oxus near to Balkh. Taliqan, Khulm. Siminjan, Baghlan, Saklakand, Wazwalin (Warwaliz in some sources) and Andarab were among the important towns of Tukh.aris-tan. Taliqan. according to Istakljri, was the largest of these towns.[43] This description of the country's frontiers by Yaqut has not been generally accepted as correct[44]. Barthold, for instance, defines Tufcharishtan of the Muslim period as a larger country and includes in it all the highlands dependents on Balkh, to the right and left of the Amu Darya[45].

According to Ibn Rustah, the high-lands on both sides of the upper Amu Darya farmed part of upper Tukharistan along with Badakhshan and Shughnan,[46] but Tabari includes the lands of Shuman and Akhrun (north of Amu Darya on the Upper Kafir Nihan) in Tukharistan.[47] Ya'qubi include the town of Bamyan in the first and nearst and westernmost districts (l^i*-) of Tukharistan[48].

Khurdadbih assumes that Tukharistan extends far to the north­west, including Zuman, the modern Kerki, as well as to the south where the frontier lands (jj**) of Tukharistan are said to be Zabulistan and Kabul[49]. According to Hsuan-tsang, there was a likeness in the language, population, institutions and currency of the people of Fan-yen-na (Bamyan) country and ofTukhara[50]. In some Chinese records, for instance T'ang-shu and Ta'ng-chien-Kang-mu) etc., it differs from those given by the famous pilgrim and represented by a larger territory corresponding partly to the Ta-Hsia or Hia-(Great Hia) country of the early Chiness records which included Bukhara and Badakhshan[51].

The extent of the boundries of Tukhara, in Hsuan-tsang narra­tives had reached on the east to Tsung-ling, on the west to Persia, on the south to the Hindu Kush, and on the north to the Iron Pass[52]. He found the former empire of Haithals in the land of "Tu-huo-lo," on the Amu Darya, broken up into 27 principalites or small states, all acknowleding the supremacy of the Turkish KhjSqan, with separate chiefs,[53] and we see that this state of affairs has continued till late in the eighth century ; when the pilgrim Wou-k'-ong passed through this county in 780 A.C., it was still divided into 27 principalities[54].

Furthermore, late in fifteenth century Tukharistan was still known to be a large territory, ^mir wall who wrote his encyclo­paedic work, Bahrul-Asrar, in 1140 A.H. defines Tukharistan thus : "it represents Badakhshan in true sense and includes Darrah, Darwaz, Sarak-Choban, Rustak, Qal'ah-i-Shahnazar, Baghi-Idris, Dashtquala, Shahr-Rawan, Arlank-Sarai, Bagh-i-Habash, Sultan-Bayazid, Aybak, Baghlan. Ghuri, Khust, Walyan, Ashkamish, Narin and mountains and steppes around and near to Kashgar[55].

The original home ofTukharians and Andere ruins of Kkotan.

Husan-tsang's reference to Ender as Tu-huo-lo country has caused much speculation and raised the question whether it is a conclusive evidence of the view that the site was the early home of the Tukharis in this particular locality before their conquest of Bectria.

Sir H. Yule (as quoted by Sir Aurel Stein) dealing for  the first time, with the  passage in   Hsuan-tsang's  record referring  to  the question  of the ethnic origin of Tukharis, in his "Notes on Hsuan-tsang's account of the principalities of Tukharistan"  (J.R.A.S.,NS. VI,   1892),   cautiously refers to   his journey home-ward,  using the name of Tukhara  in connection with the original  seats of the  Yueh-chih  beside  the  Gobi  Desert[56].     Discussing  the early location  of the Tukhara between Nia and Charchan, (both within the territory of Khotan). previous to their appearance in the  Oxus region, Baron Von  Rich-thofen,  as  well  as   Herzfeld  and  some other  writers  endeavour to show that the designation of Tukhara and  Yueh-chih applied  to one  and the  same  people,  who  had their  original  home to the east of Khotan[57].    The certainty of this identification is proved by the occurence of the name "Tochari"; it has been  identified with the  "Thagowroi" of Ptolemy on  the Silk-Route,  which had  a city "Thogara".[58]    It is already   men­tioned  that  the  Chinese knew of the Toghara in  Kan-Su in the second  century  B.C., when   they   moved   _to    the   west[59].    We have also  seen  that the  name occurs in the Tibetan texts, as well as in  the so-called  Khotanese-Saca  document  as  late  as   A. C. 800.[60] From the Greek  historian  Apollodorus,  we learn  that the Tochari  came to  Bactria  in the second century  B.C   It  is signi­ficant that  the  Chinese    historians  indicate  that  the Yueh-chih moved  from Kan-Su to   Bactria exactly at the  same time ; never­theless they called  the horde which  migrated from Kan-Su by the name. Yueh-chih, and not Tochari,  which means that there  had already taken place an combination of Yueh-chih, Asii and Tochari into one horde[61]. Again, we knew from both Apollodarus and Pliny that there were no Tochari in the Tarim Basin in the reign of Euthydemus, in Farghana, (died c. 190 B.C.), but at a later date there are some references in Pliny. The Chinese historians also mention the Little Yueh-chih coming and settling there at some time not much later than 174 B.C[62].

According to Von L. Leeuw, this early migration of the Yueh-chih, mentioned in both the Chihese and Greek sources, took place in two stages : (a) the expedition from their original dwelling place from which they were driven out by the Huns to the North (T'ien-Shan, ; (b) (he march from the North of Tien-Shan to Bactria after the attack by the Wu-Sun. The Japanese scholars, Kuwobara, Yasuma, and Fujita, think that the first March of the Yueh-chih, namely, from Kan-Su to Upper Hi, must have taken place in 171-161 B.C., the second stage, from the Upper Hi to the Amu Derya territory, between 133 and 129, B.C. The Chinese Envoy Ch'ang Ch'ien who remained with the Yueh-chih from 129-128, describes them as if they were already masters of Bactria. This date of the conquest of Bactria by the Yue-chih in about 129 B.C. also agrees with the Western sources[63].

According to Levi (as quoted by Tarn) the Indian writers called both the great and little Yueh-chih by the same name (Tochari) : one modern theory assigns Kanishka to the Little Yueh-chih[64]. Finally, we have seen that Ptolemy locates Tochara (Tukhara) in several places, where the Yueh-chih are known to have been on their journey[65]. In fact, wherever, we meet the Yueh-chih from the Chinese side, we also meet Tochari, in the evidences provided by the Greek, Chinese, Indian or Saca, sources etc.[66]

Tarn concludes that the Yueh-chih horde, therefore, was composed of two different peoples, who appears in Greek Sources as Asii and Tochari : he quotes as his argument Trogus as saying, "The Asii are lords of the Tochari-Reges Thocarorum Asiani", It means that, at the time of the conquest of Bactria the Asii, according to Muller, were the dominant or ruling people[67].

Justinus says that the Soraucae and Asiani and  the  Sogdians were among those who conquered Bactria from the  Greeks.    And Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw supporting this  view  says ;  For, though for some time discord has existed about the identity of the different Scythian races, there is now, in any case, unanimity that the Yueh-chih are Tocharians and that  the  Asiani,  alias  Asii,  who  spoke Toxari (Tocharian) are the Yueh-chih, or at least their dominating stratum, rejecting the view expressed by Tarn, who made a distinc­tion between the invasion of Parthia by the Sakas in 128 B.C.  and the conquest of Bactria by the Yueh-chih, and supposing the  Saka conquest of Greek Bactria proper a myth[68].   He  says :  "Originally and in essence they are indeed two different branchs  of the  Great Scythian family of the people of Central Asia, but in the long  run they were partly merged into one by subjugation and later by joint plundering expeditions ; he a'so quotes Herodotus whose reference on this point is supported by the old  Persian  rock  inscription  of Darius, in which different kinds  of the  Scythians  are  mentioned as Sakas, e.g. the Haumavarga Saka, Tigra Kauda Saka, and Saka Taradraya[69].

Prof. Marquart in his "Eransahr" (as quoted by Sir Aurel Stein), is of the opinion that the Tochari or Tukhara (Tu-huo-lo) who took Bactria from the last Greek rulers on the Oxus, were identical with the Ta-Hsia (Ta-hia), whose territory, as seen from the Former Han Annals, must subsequently have been occupied by the Yueh-chih some time after 126 B.C. He assumes that these Tochari (Ta-Hsia) had emigrated into Bactria in the latter half of the second century B.C. from the tract where  Hsuan-tsang eight centuries later still found the ruins of "the Old Tu-huo-lo kingdom" and he lays  special  stress on   Hsuan-tsang's reference to deserted places as "Towns".    He  interprets  this as  an indication  of the high stage of civilization which had already  been  attained  by the Tochari, before their movement westwards to the Oxus[70].  But Prof. Frank, in his "Turkvolker" (also cited by Sir Aurel Stein) does not accept the identification of the Tochari  and  Ta-Hsia,  he  assumes that the Tochari, originally settled in Hsuan-tsang's '"Old Tu-huo-lo-country," attached themselves to the Yueh-chih. when the latter fleeing before Hsiung-nu or  Huns, about   170  B.C.  passed  from their old   seats in  the  extreme  north  west of Kan-su   to    the T'ien Shan region through the Taklamakan.   He thinks the Tochari at that time were nomads[71].    But Sir  Aural  Stein  holds  the  view that it is impossible,  and  says :   "In  the  same  way geographical considerations completely preclude  the  idea that  the migration towards the Tien-Shan of a large nomadic tribes,  such as  Chang Ch'ien's record shows the great Yueh-chich to  have  been   before their defeat by the   Huns,  could  have  taken   place  through  the Taklamakan or along the southern edge of it, that the Tarim  Basin with its barren wastes of sand or grave), broken only  by a  narrow fringe of cultivated oases, was throughout historical times, a region utterly unsuited to nomadic emigration, is a geographical fact which deserves to be reckoned with in historical  speculations more  than hitherto has been the case"[72].

In the opinion of Sir Aurel Stein the Endere ruins are later than the appearance of the Tochari on the Oxus ; he thinks that the town walls, etc., which Husan-tsang saw in ruins about A.C. 645, must have been the sites of inhabited towns to the third or fourth century. It follows that the abandonment of the site could have nothing to do with the supposed migration of the Tochari to Bactria some eight centuries before the time of Hsuan-tsang's visit. And in view of this it must appear doubtful whether it is justifiable to put upon Hsuan-tsang's brief reference to  the "Old Tu-Huo-lo" country that it was formerly inhabited by those very Tuo-huo-lo whose extensive territories on the middle Oxus, the pilgrim had previously visited and described. He also argues that there is   noth­ing in the words used by Hsuan-tsang to imply that the name "Tu-huo-lo" is recorded by him as a quasi-antiquarian designation of the tract, but as in the case of the  names  of other adjoining territories, like Che-mo-To-na (Char-Chan) and Na-fu-po (Lop) ; he gives the name of Tu-huo-lo, as he heard actually in current local use.    But the fact that he  does not quote  here  an  earlier historical  name  for  the locality is also  significant[73].

Sir Aurel Stein dealing with the problem of probable origin of Hsuan-tsang's designation, asserts that,  in the  absence  of other historical references to the Ender Site any opinion as to the  origin and character  of the  name heard  by  Hsuan-tsang must remain purely conjectural.    But with this necessary  reservation,  he gives expression here to a surmise  which  repeated  personal experience under conditions  rather  similiar  to  those of  Hsuan-tsang's own passage over this ground, has suggested to him ;  this was his hear­ing on the spot, that the ruins of all sorts were referred to by practi-cular local names which may or may not have been  attached to them, but by terms which vaguely associated them with former in­vaders or rulers of the country. Thus the general designations, such as Kalmak Oilar, "the Kalmak's  houses"   Kohne  Khitai Shahri" (Township of the old Khitais-Chinese), Kohne Khitai Tarn "walls of the old Chinese", are as common for  ancient remains of any period as the "Kafir-Kots" and Kafir Killa on the North West Frontier (of Pakistan),   The popular historical   tradtion being everywhere in Central Asia very limited in  its range, it is only natural that such names should be borrowed from the latest races whose rule over the country is still remembered[74].

However, H.W. Baily does not agree with Stein in identifying the Endere Site with the "Old Tu-huo-lo" country, but his argu­ments as to the incorrectness of this identification, that is, only a variant reading of Chinese character of the same name, seems to be not so strong[75].

Nevertheless, according to Sir Aurel Stein, the power of the earlier rulers of Tukharistan had for the first time made itself felt in the Tarim Basin, especially after the weakening of Chinese authority towards the close of the third Century A.C., as he sees direct indications of this influence in the repeated references which the Chinese Records (excavated by him at Nia and Lou-Ian sites), make to the Great Yueh-chih people[76].

Sir Aurel Stein in the light of these excavations and their rela­tion with the Endere Site asserts that the ruins of the earlier Enderi settlements are, as it has been seen, approximately contemporary with those sites, and thus a popular tradition connecting them with Tukhara predominance might well prove in the end to have some historical foundation. But even if this approximation in time is treated as a mere matter of chance, it is credible enough that Hsuan-tsang should have heard the name of Tu-huo-lo mentioned in connection with the ruined settlement by the Endere River. As at this time Tukhara (i.e. Ephalite) dominion was the last of those still likely to be remembered by the people.

Sir Aurel Stein in conclusion says that there could be nothing to cause surprise in -his guides attaching this name to the ruins, the real origin of which had probably been long forgotten[77].

A new theory which has not been accepted.

It is also said that the Tochari who came from Eastern Turkistan conquered Bactria before the Yueh-chih, and they were the Ta-Hia whom they (Yueh-chih) subsequently conquered ; some scholars have considered Ta-Hia as possible phonetic equivalent of Tochari. But this theory is rejected on the ground that, firstly, this was not possible in the pronunciation of the Second Century B.C. ; secondly, apoflodorus. in whose life time the conquest of Bactria (between 141, 130, or 28) took place, said that the Tochari at that time were nomads, Aurel Stein is not in the favour of this assertion. Chang Ch'ien, who saw the Tochari in 128 B.C., said that the Ta-Hia were communities of peace loving traders living in walled towns ; thirdly, the name of the Ta-Hia occurs in Chinese texts long before the time of Chang-Ch'ien[78].

There is another explanation of' ‘Ta-Hia’, that Hia is the first syllable of Yavanas and that Ta-Hia means "Greeks". It is however curious, says Prof. Tarn, that we do not come across any mention by Chang Ch'ien of the Greeks in Bactria and Ta-Hia[79].

Samuel Beal suggests that Tu-huo-lo might phonetically represent Tur and so indicate the origin of Turan, the region to which Prof. Wilfred assigned the Tukharas[80]. Henning in his note on Tugre (Tokhan) language is of the opinion that Tur and Turan are developed form of Tugr which appears in the Parthian inscription of Shahpur I and Uighur colosphsus.[81] Even he supports the Ttau-gura of iho so called Khotanese-saka text published by Baily (BSOS, Vol. VIII, op. cit.,') as being a Turkish tribe, and says that perhaps it was designated as a Tardus tribe[82].

However, we have clear evidence that the Ttaugru or Ttauda-gara of Khotanese text were of Turki origin[83]. The same is mentioned in a Sogdian text "List of Nations" (in possession of the Pressische Akademie der wissenschaften in Barlin) among the Turk Tribes, in this list Tukjjaristan mentions ('TGW'R'K)[84].

The fukharian Language

Hsuan-Tsang informs us that the Tukharians-Tu-huo-Io-had a peculiar spoken language and an alphabet of 25 letters ; their writing was horizontal from left to right, and their records gra­dually increased until they exceeded those of Su-li (Kashgar ?) in number[85]. According to Baily this was probably Greek script, some specimens of the language in this script was found from Turfan region in Eastern Turkistan along with Ephthalite coins in the same script[86]. Dr. Hoernle was the first scholar who published some texts in Tukjjarian language, which were followed by many other fragments found and collected by Sir Aurel Stein and Peliot, Count Otani and Tuchibani of Japan and Berezouski of Russia and German Scholars Sieg and Siegling[87]. The language has been critically studied by F. K. Muller, H. W. Baily, W. B. Henning, G. Haloun, and Msnchenhelfen, etc. According to these scholars, the Tukharian language being an Indo-European tongue, belongs to an ancient language group which is said to have been spoken by the Yueh-chih, probably about the second century B. C., in at least the western oasis of Eastern Turkistan[88]. It has played a great role in spreading the Buddhist religion in Bactria and Central Asia, a fact which is attested by a Budhist Pratimoksa. A fragment of this was found at Jigdalik and Kaya near Kucha in Tufchari language and in slanting Gupta characters[89] and was in use throughout the Buddhist period in that country[90]. It is believed that many important Buddhist religious works were translated originally from Tukhari into Turkish and' other languages of Central Asia[91] as for example, we, have a colophon of Turkish version of the "Maitrayatsamiti" (in Perussische Akademie der Wissenchaften in Berlin), which was translated from an Indian language (Sanskrit or Prakrit) into "TWGRY" (Tukhari) and from Tukhari into Turkish[92] (Uighuri), but this theory has become a subject of controversy among'some scholars.

W. B. Henning contradicting the explanation by Baily and others as to effect that the (TWGRY) of Uighur Colophons and Ttaugaru and Ttaudagara of Khotanese-Saka text all represent "Tuchara, argued that the colophons were translated from Kuchaian into Sogdian and from Sogdian into (TWGRY), the language of "FOUR TWGRY Country" between Bishbaliq, and Kucha, which is, according to him, the name of separate Turkish tribe in Kara-Shar and not in Nagaradisa (Jalalabad). He explains Nagaradisa to which the author of colophons belongs, as to have been ("NKNYDYS), ("KNYDYS), which represent, according to him, Agnidesa the landofAgni (Kara-Shar)[93]. This theory was supported by Dr. Z. Velidi Togan, according to him the people to whom the name Tukhari applied in Tukharistan proper were of Iranian stock and their language was purely of Iranian origin[94].

A good deal of fragments of inscriptions found in this langu­age from different parts of Eastern Turkistan proves that it was a widely spread language of a good literary standard and well flourished one, as on the basis of these rare fragments the scholars who critically studied the Tucjjarian language divided it into A. B. and C. dialects; the A. and B. dialects represent the Centum dialects with unaspirated words and can not represent, according to Tarn, the language of historical Tochari; the first was used in Agni-Karashar and around Turfan, and the second in Kucfaa, while the C dialect existed, according to T. Burnow in the Shan-Shan Kingdom near Khotan in the third century A.D.[95] However, A. and B. dialects, according to Baily can be related closely. to the language of Tukhari, as he assumes that ihe dialect A might have been imported for study from Bactria for which the Greek script was used and also this script of Jukhari was known in Turfan region[96].

Opinions differ regarding the introduction of these Tukharian dialects along with interestingly Greek script in those remote region, Tarn is of the opinion that the Tochari elements in the little Yueh-chih who after 174 B.C. moved into Eastern Turkistan have brought them from Europe, and spoke the famous Centum language with Italo-Celtic affinities, discovered in Eastern Tur­kistan, it was used to be called Tocharian. and to-day this language called dialects A and B which were the languages of two States in the northern part of Eastern Turkistan, A in Agni-Kara-Shar (with Turfan), and B in Kucha which was in use in 7th century A.D.[97], and according to him before introduction of these dialects there from elsewhere by the Tukharis in Kansu, they spoke Turki, and that in this case, the language with Centum was brought by Bactrian Greeks who had trekked from Europe to farthing cities of Eastern Turkistan, along the road of northern Tien-Shan and consquently represented by the blue eyed people of Turfan[98]. And Baily suggest the possibility that the Tochari in their wandering had changed their language[99], however, what we call Tochari, language should be confined to the literature written in Saka Speach and Greek letters, of the true Tochari (the Great Yueh-chih) who had setiled in Tukharistan, the later name for Bactria[100]. Tarn argues that Bactria at some period after the conquest, adopted the Saka speach of their Kushan overlards and Bactria after the fourth century A.D. bore the name Tukharistan. And that the language called (T°chri), (Tokhari) or Togari in Central Asian documents was the Saka speach of the Kushans of Tukha­ristan and nothing else[101]. Surendranath Majumdar Sastri in his notes on J.W. McCrindle's "Ancient India of Ptolemy," says; "the discovery of these dialects which exhibit the peculiarities of both the Asiatic and European branches of the now lost primitive Indo-European language, had given a rude shock to the theory of European origin of the primative Indo-Europeans whose cradle is now again being located in Central Asia[102]. And Dr. Zaki Velidi Togan on the basis of some Tukharian words which he quoted from Al-Biruni's "Saydana (MS in the Library of Kursunlu Jami, Bursa) is of the opinion that the Tukharian language of Tukha­ristan proper is purely of Iranian origin, with no connection with the so called Tukharian dialects A and B which found in Eastern Turkistan, this theory supported by Baily and Henning according to them it is the language of a people called "Four Tukhri" spoken by them before coming in of Turks there in Karashar, Kucha, Bashbaliq etc., and represented by the general name of Arswn (Ars), or Wu-sun and spoken in Tien-Shan valley[103].

Bactria and coming in of Tukharians.

The ancient Bactria which figures very  early  in history,  and takes consequently the name Tukharistan,  corresponded partially to the territory of modem Afghanistan and Sogdiana situated in a region blonging geographically to the Aralo-Caspian basin, it was a prosperous country. Its fertile valleys watered by the great river Oxus, it had a rich agricultural and postoral land. It produced vine, millet and other profitable trees, productions of which were carried into China in Han period- According to Strabo in the early third century B.C. Indian goods were passed through it towards the Caspian and BJack Sea. A net work of routes passed through the country on the west to Parsia and Mesopotamia and on the north to steppes between Caspian and Altai,[104] etc. Bactria was rich in mineral product of which the balas ruby and lapis lazuli ( (lajuward) which extracted from the mines of Badakhshan. were famous, as well as it was always famous with its wild fauna like camel, the lion, the bee, fox, boar, etc., particularly for its horses, its cavalry served in all the Persian armies, and wanted by Chinese[105].

Bactria was the scene of Zoroaster's most active years, as well asof Masdaism. Its capital the ancient Baktra (Balkh), the "mother of cities", is one of the oldest cities of the world, which mentioned in the inscription of Darius and in Avesta, in the time of Darius it was a strapy of Persian empire, and was the centre of political, religious, and commercial life, enjoying a reputation unequalled by that of any other city east of Babylon or Susa[106].

Bactria was the scene of military activities of Alexander the Great, from where he marched to conquer Marakanda (Samar­kand), and on return from here he started to invade India[107]. After the death of Alexander and after an interval of uncertain allegiance it passed to Selucus, and remained a province of his empire, whose successors were termed "Governor of thousand cities", and continued until 256 and 250 B.C. when Arsaces revolted against its governor who had already declared himself king of Bactria, and laid there the foundation of the Parthian monarchy.[108]

The Greco-Bactrian dominion which founded by Theodotus, was extended at one time not only over Bactria, but over Sogdiana upto Jaxartes and beyond to the confines of Seres (China), as well as over the countries of Gedrosia (Kalat), Arachosia (Qandhar), Aria, and Paropamisadae, in them included Herat, Segistan, Afghani* tui and Iran, besides, some substantial part of north­western India, and the valley of the Indus, to coasts of the Delta as far as the mouth of the Narmada and Gujrat,[109] and subsisted for about two and half centuries,[110] after which it was first over­whelmed by Parthian encrochment, and in about 126 B.C. finally overthrown by Scythians and Yueh-chih who invaded from the East, the latter according to Chinese Annals, in third century B.C. occupied pastures along the north-western boundry of China, between Sha-chu and the montains on Tibetan frontier, and driven out of their settlement, in about 162 B.C. by the Hiung-nu (Huns) who were then in great predominance on the whole region of the northern frontier of China. Under this pressure of Huns they reached the Hi valley dislodging in turn a people called Szu or Sze (Sai) who moved onward to the steppes bordering the Jaxar­tes. And soon after another tribe, this time Wu-sun alighted on the Hi valley also driven before the resistless Hiung-nu. Thus, the Yueh-chih and Sze or Sai were precipitated upon Sogdiana, an event which agrees well with what assigned by Greek chronologists to the destruction of Greco-Bactrian dominion[111]. For example, Strabo names as the nations which achieved this destruction of Bactria about 162 B.C. the Asii, Pasiani, Toshjiri. and Sakarauli; Trogus Pompeius, refers to them as the Asii, Sarauci and Tochari.   Justin also mentioned JochSri in connection with these events[112].

It is said that, later on in about the Christian era a prince named Kuei-Shwang (Chinese Kyut-Syukho) subdued all the principalities which were under the dominion of Yueh-chih and extended his conquest over the countries south of the Hindu-Rush including Sind,'thus establishing a great dominion of which Greek writers mention as that of the Indo-Scythians[113].

The  Scythians or  Sakas. the  Historical relation between them and Tukharians and Yueh-chih.

The Scythians lived in a country which was spread over a vast area in the east of Europe and in western and Central Asia, including beyond ancient Imao of Ptolemy i.e. Eastern Turkistan. The knowledge of the Scythians by. the Greeks dates from the earliest period of their literature, for in Homer's Iliad they mentioned as the milk-eaters (Gala-Ktophagoi) and mare-milkers (Hippemologoi)[114].

In general, the name of Scyths appears in seventh century B.C., when later in this century, one party of them passed south of Caucasus and westward into Russia[115]. They, according to Herodotus, in about 637 B.C. invaded all Syria from the north under their king Bartuta (Partatua) and his son Medyes dominat­ed western Asia for 28 years, and diminished the Assyrian kingdom west of Euphrates and pushed as far as Egypt and old Philestine, where they built Scythopolis-the Beisan-which is tracable to-day under the name of Beth-Shan[116]. Though in the sixth century they were politically subjected to rule of Medes and Persians, but in the fifth century they could emerged from the north-west of Lake  Balkhash (Balqysh), and  their dominion in Asia lasted in one name or other upto seventh centuryi A.D[117].

According to a legend narrated by Herodotus, the Scythians came into existance in the country called after them and were the descendents of three sons of the so-called first inhabitant of Scy­thian desert, Targitaus son of Jupiter, the God of Heaven, from a daughter of Borysthenes or the half-women, half-serpent daughter of the river Denicper. They were generally called "Scoloto" from a surname of their king, but the Greeks called them Scythians, and the Persians called them Sacoe (Sakoe). In about one thousand year after this Targitaus their first king, they were invaded by Darious[118].

Darius used to apply the name both to Scythians beyond the sea and called them "Saka Taradarya'*, probably for the Sakas beyond the Caspian and Euxina and Scyths of South Russia; and "Saka Tigre-Khauda" Sakas with pointed caps ; and ''Saka Haumavarka", for his eastern subjects[119].

The general terms Scyth, Saka, also Caka were used to denote the groups of nomadic tribes holding the steppes of Central Asia and Southern Russia from the borders of China to the Carpa­thians[120]. And it is generally supposed that the well known forceful pressure of Scythians from the north towards Bactria mentioned in Polylious record of Euthydomus of Bactria's plea in the days of Antiochus the Great's eastern expedition has taken place shortly after 212 B.C.[121]. However, the Scythians of Russia were of the longest duration, they were overthrown in the fourth and third centuries B. C[122]. In the parts of Armenia and Eastern Anatolia they represented an important element in the population for a considrable time[123]. And it is supposed that a later and lesser successors of these Scythians who invaded Bactria long survived in Seistan in the reign of Sasanians, through which the Scythians originally made their way to India, and gave the Country the name of Sakastan which eventually took the form of Sijistan and Sistan[124].

In the view of Minns the modern survivals of the Scythian group are Ossetes in the Caucasus, last remnants of Sarmatians, and Galcha with kindred dialects in the Pamirs and to some degree Afghans[125], the fact that there found slightly Turanian blood in the ethnological features of Afghans and the nomadic life of tradationally old nature found among them upto date might bear witness to this effect[126].

Because the Scythians generally spoke supposedly an Iranian dialect, probably influenced by their culture in the course of long contact[127], scholars differ about their ethnological origin, but we have some clear description by Herodotus (op. cit.} and Hippocrates in his (PERIAERON), of their physical character­istics and custums which certainly suggest their Mongolian affini­ties[128], and Altaic origin, this is supported by Russian and Hunga­rian scholars on the basis of excavations at Parizik in Altai[129].

The Scythians were not only great conquerors but they were also great patronisers of most remarkable and homogeneously flourished arts and culture, diifused over the whole vast area from the Dobruja and Carpathians to the Yenisei and Siberia, Altai, etc., of which abundant and strikingly worked examples were dicovered in metal, bronze and gold, as well as in carved bone and wood[130]. It is said that the cultural foundation created by the classical civilization in regions such as Gul or Scythi is the basis on which modern life has been built up, in Russia as much in the west, but the effects of Scythi's intercourse with classical world were still more far-reaching; they spread to the east across the Ural to Altai and even right into Mongolia, [P1] according to G. Brovko, we encounter them as fundamental elements in the art of ancient China in pre-Christian times and their echoes are still vibrating to-day throughout the Far East².

Scythians in North India :

The conquest of north India by the Scythians is of particular interest and forms a separate and curiously critical part of their history, they after over-throwing the Parthian empire and then the Greco-Bactrian power, in North India, extended their own rule there. This event occured, according to Konow in 150 B.C. and in 84/83 B.C. according to some other scholars, and from 128/129 or 138 A.D. the Great Kanishka era of Scythians begins, he himself ascended the throne between 71 A.D. and 86 A.D3. and in 125 A.D. according to V.A. Smith.

The era that thus constituted by Kanishka was called Saka Era, for example, the Indian considered Kujula Kadphises and Wima Kadphisis the Saka kings, and Samudragupta calls their successors Saka Murunda in his well known inscription on the

'    1   Daltoo, p. lvii.

2    G. Brovki, Scythian Art, 1928, N. York ed, 1960, p. 16.

3    J. E. Van Lohuizen-De Leeuw, op. cit., p. II, also see pp. 40, 64. sqq. and 324. A critical discussion of Kanishka will be found in R.D. Banarji, Indian Antiquary, Vol. 37, 1908 and V.A. Smith, JRAS, 1903, pp. 1-64.

I

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARlANS

27

Iron Pillar of Allahabad, giving them at the same, time, the typical Kushana title "Daivaputra Sahi Suhanusahi Saka Murunqlai¹." In Kalkhana's Kavya (poem) Huska, Juska and Kanishka were called Truska kings². Also in Sanskirt literature the first mention of Saka as Truska is to be found in the Kathasarit-Sagara and Rajatarangini³, a reference which clearly bears witness to prove that the Scythians were known to Indians as of Turkish origin, as well as to early popularity of Turks.

Sakas and Tukhari

The great people who mixed and assimiliated by subjuga­tion, counter subjugations and to whom the name Saka applied consisted according to Leuw, of a numerous tribes, like Wu-sun who lived in Hi region of Eastern Turkistan, and Sai identified as same Saka of Persian and Saka of Indian sources, and Yueh-chih of Chinese sources. They were called by Greek authors Tukhari also and Indians called them Tukhara and Tusara. They and Asii or Asiani of Greek authors were identified with Ta-Yueh-chih of Chinese sources, whom the Chinese envoy Chang Ch'ien found in 128 B.C. as masters of Bactria⁴. This group of peoples about whose amalgamation of numerous tribes the Early Han Annalls (Ch'ien Han-Shu) bear witness^ lived originally, under the name of Yueh-chih in the south-west part of Gobi desert—south-west of Kansu and the plains of north Nan-Shan and were subjects to the Huns who forced them to leave their original home. A small group sepearated themselves and went to mountains of north-east Tibet, where they became known as the Little Yueh-chih*. The greater mass known to Chinese as Ta-Yueh-chih. (The Great Yueh-chih) marched to the west and defeated the people of the Sai in north

1    J. E. Van L. dc Leeuw, op, cit., p. 46 ;   R. D. Banarji, p. 42.

2    C. H. Philips, Historian of India, Pakistan and Cylon, p. 65.

3    Banarji. op. cit.

4    Van L. de Leeuw, op. cit., pp. 31-46.

5    Ibid., & Fitzgerald, China, p. 179.

6    Van L. de Leeuw. op. cit., pp. 29-30.

28

THE ORIGINAL HOME Of THE TUKHARIANS

Tien Shan on the upper Hi—Chu aod Naryn, but they did not enjoy a peaceful life for long, for another horde .the Wu-Sun fell upon them in turn, and again drove a part of them forward,  while another part was subjugated by Wu-Sun themselves together with assimilated Sai (read Se or Sok in some sources)¹.   Those of the Ta-Yueh-chih who marched again further westwards came in the neighbourhood of Ta-Hsia (Bactria) and made themselves masters of it, upon which Sai-Wang (king of Sai) went southwards and made himself master of Chi-Pin (Kabul),  the domination of the Great Yueh-chih over the whole region consisting of Sogdiana and Middle Oxus, the ancient Bactria or later Turkjjaristan continued until the advent of the white Huns or Ephthalites, early in the fifth century A.D.   They under the name of Kushan dynasty extended their rule from their main seat, south of the  Hindu-Rush,  and into north-west of India (Pakistan to-day)².

It is said that the Sai was the General name for the Scythian people consisted of several tribes who were either   driven   to   the south, or were assimilated, according to  "Ch'ien  Han-Shu",  with the Ta-Yueh-chih, their Kings in the Later Han time, according to "Hou-Han Shu" were designated as Kwei-Shuang modified  in the course of time  to  Kushan^.   These Kushans  in the first century A. D.    forced their   way  southward   and   were   able   to build an empire in India ranging from Oxus to  Gangas,  endured for at least,  five generations and   witnessed  the formation  of the Bodhist canon and  creation of Bodhist, Brahmin and  Jainism. Thus they created for the first time a new  patern   in   Indian history, which followed by the white Huns in the fifth century and "Western Turks" in the seventh!

In the same time, some western authors identified these Yueh-chih with Tukjjari also, and this was supported by the   fact that

1   Van L. de Leeuw, & Banarji, op. cit.

1   Van L. de ;,eeuw, op. cit. p. 31. & Sir A. St^in, Senndia. Vol. I, p 411.

3    Lceuw, op. cit., p. 30.  «q.-notc 115, KH. Skrine & E.E. rom, TLe heart

of Asia, p. 19.

4    K. De B. Codrington, The Geographical Journal, Vol. C. IV, pp. 79. 83.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

29

Kumarajiva glosses Tu-k'ia-lo Tukhara—as Little Yueh-chih. Besides this, they were also identified as Asii, or Asiani, which is said, to have remained known outside their boundries as Tukhari (TukJiara) also. But some western authors make a distinction between the Asii and the Tochari. Tarn and Sieg on the basis of a latter documents dating from 7th century A.D., are of the opinion that the name of Asii was the same as the name Arsi, which according to Van Windeken means "white" and that it was used to indicate the rulers of the Tochari and subsequently for the people over whom they ruled, and according to Couvreeur, they were Wu-Sun¹. and Baily explains Arsi as Sanskrit Aria² and according to one theory the Asii as a people related to Ossets or As in south Russia, which is believed to be, of main Scythain stock³. It is characteristic that the Ossatic language, it is said, have been connected with Khotanese another Eastern Iranian group of languages⁴.

The Sakas and Tusaras also continually mentioned together in the Indian epic peotry and Puranic text, like Utkala Mekala, Yavana Phlava, Suhma Pundra, Anga-Vanga, etc.⁵ From this it seems that in reality there was not much difference to be made between Tusaras and Sakas, as acccrding to Van L. De Leeuw, the greater part of Sakas were, assimilated in the Yueh-chih— Tukhari, and also the last nomade people spoke a Saka language⁶.

From the above arguments we can definitely conclude that the Tukhari and Sakas were already greatly intermingled before they invaded india and probably became even more unified after

1     Leeuw, op. cit., p. 44.

2    Baily, BSOS, Vol. VIII, p. 894 sqq.

3    Leeuw. p. 44.

4    Baily, op. cit, Vol XII, p. 329.

5    Leeuw, op. cit,, quoted from Gonda, The Markaadeya Parana, Calcutta 1904.

6    Cf. Tarn, p. 288.

r

I

30                 the original home of the tukharians

joining  those  Sakas who presumeably had settled there earlier. According to  Van L.   De Leeuw the Yueh-chih—Tuchari and Sakas were mixed up together by outsiders, they only remained distinguished from each other by Chinese, as the Sakas, according to  "Ch'ien Han Shu" were already long ago partly absorbed among  the Wu-Sun and partly   among the   Yueh-chih¹.   The mention of the Yueh-chih together with  Saka  in western sources and its  ally wholly  with Chinese narratives and the passage of Trogus   Pompeius:  "the Sakas and Yueh-chih    have occupied Bactria and Sogdia" clearly provides the evidence that Yueh-chih Tochari—together with Sakas had  conquered   Bactria and north­west India between 155 and 129 B.C. they were  partly assimilated and  were mixed throng of Tochari, Sakas and others².

In support of this, prof. Haloun maintains that the Tukharians were Yueh-chih (his transcription Ue-Tsi) everywhere, in Bactria as well as in Nan-Shan, but W.B. Henning does not accept this assertion as correct, he is of the opinion that the  Yueh-chih  were the (Tugr) of Turkish tribe and not the Tochar of Tukharistan and the so called Tukharian languages are Wu-Sun dialects, after  them the (Tugr) used for the country between Kashgar and Bishbaliq, and they are not forms of Yueh-chih (Tugr) speech³.    However, W.W. Tarn's  conclusion  goes against it,  he says : "the one certainty is that the Yueh-chih of Chinese  were  the  Tochari of Strobo and Ptolemy ;   and   he   considers   the   correspondence   between   the Chinese  itenarary  of the  one   and  Ptolemy's  itenarary of the other as conclusive⁴.   And lastly, Van L. De Leeuw   analyzing this  conglomeration of tribes who were known to Indians as a whole  by the name of   Saka,  concludes that  " Scythians"  are consequently,  neither ethnograpically, nor linguistically nor cul­turally,  a unit, but  only a geographical idea⁵.

1    Leeuw, op. cit., pp. 24-45 sq.

2    Ibid., pp. 50, 327.

3    W. B. Henning, BSOS, Vol. I—X, pp. 561-564.

4    W, W. Tarn, p. 533.

5    Leeuw, op. cit., pp. 44-49, 328,

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

31

W

Ephthalites in Tukharistan

After the downfall of the so called Scythian or Yue-chih's supremacy in Bactria, North West India and elsewhere, the name of Ephthalites comes in the front page of history of Central Asia. Referring to the early mention of the name Ephthalite, in Chinese Annalls "Ch'ien Han-Shu" in the form of Vddhal or Da-Yue-ti, Prof. Thos. W. Kingsmill mixed the story of Ch'ang Ch'ien's itenarary to the kingdom of Yueh-chih in Bactria and Ta-Hia to that of the Ephthalites. Perhaps, Viven de St. Martin in pointing out for the probable connection of the "Yue-ti" with the Ephthalite," of Procopius, refers to the same Yueh-chih¹, as in his opinion the Yetha, being practically identical with Yueh-chih, lived to the north of Great Wall and had advanced southwards in the first century and had eventually become masters of Bactria in 430 A.C.² or in 468 according to Baily. Their dominion which lasted, with Tukharistan as their chief seat, down to its destruction by the westarn Turks about a century later, extended over a vast region from the border of Persia to the Tarim Basin³.

The fact that they were of Turkish origin and belonged to Yueh-chih stock, has been confirmed by Hsuan-tsang ; he counts them among the inhabitants of Hi for Si) -mo-to-lo territory of "Old Tukhara". He says that "they had resembled the Turks and the former kings of this land were of Sakya stock, and the greater part of all west of the Tsung-ling (Pamir mountains) had become subject to them ; as this country was on the confines of the Turks and influenced by them". He describes the various chiefships which he saw in Bactria and Badakhshan, as having

1    Thos. W. Kingsmill, "The Migrations and Early History of the White Huns", JRAS, vol. x, Part II, 1878, p. 291.

2    F. G. Skrioe & E.D. Ross, "The Heart of Asia", pp. 20-21, quoted from Viven de St. Martin, les Huns Blancs, 1849.

3    Stein, Serindia, p. 289, Ancient Khotan,  p.   171 ; W.H. Baily, op. cit., p. 92 ; Waiters, op. cit.; V. A. Smith, JRAS, 1903, p. 31.

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THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

once formed part of the great kingdom of the Tu-huo-lo, or Tukhara*.

According to Chinese sources, (as quoted by H. Yule), in the fourth century the Ephthalites had emerged as revivers of the Yueh-chih, and the term Yetha might have been the family name of. those conquering kings of Hoa or Hia who, according to Remusat, were a dominant power in second century A.C., in Sogdiana and Persia and whose rule was extended upto India and the countries east of Pamir2. The Ephthalites, also known as the White Huns, appear prominently in the history of Sasanian kings during the fifth and sixth centuries; they are mentioned by some Armanian writers and also by Firdawsi as Kushan Kings; the application of this name, with which Indo-Scythian kings were also known, to the Ephthalites seems to have been similar as of the name, Mughul, to the Turki dynasty of Babur in India. As they were originally a branch of the Huns, they also came to be called white Huns. Barthold however considers their relation with the Huns to have been political rather than racial³.

In the fifth and early part of the sixth century their authority extended over western India. They destroyed the Gupta Empire, and maintained their power for two generations. Among the prominent rulers of the Ephthalites was, Golla who possessed a thousand elephants, and a large number of horsemen⁴.

Their kings, were also called "Toramana" and "Mihiragula", and according to three Bhitari inscriptions (Cunningham, Arch.

1    Waiters, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 200; vol.  ii,  pp.   275-276.  A, Stein, Serjndia, p. 289.

2    H. Yule, op. cit., pp. xxv-xxvii; H.M. Eliot, "History of India", vol. v, p. 183 sqq.

3    H. A. R. Gibb,   "The Arab Conquest of Central Asia" (Turkish trans.) p. 4, u. 4.

4    f-L Yule, ->p. at., pp. xxv;i-xxviii; K. De B. Codrington, op. cit,, p. 85.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS                    31

Report). Toramana was the first king who assumed the Indian style of Maharajah, He was followed by Mihiragula who is regarded as a Buddhist inconoclast, and consequently the destruc­tion of Gandhara is commonly ascribed to him¹,

Kitol or Ketour, a warrior-king of the Yetha (Ephthalites), is stated to have crossed the mountains, conquered five kingdoms to the north of Gandhara, or the country of Peshawar, and established his son as a ruler in the later city. Yule supposes that these kingdoms must have embraced Swat and the adjoining hill States, and from there the country has taken the popular name of Yaghistan "Rebellia", including Dard and Chitral, and probably also the Kafiristan². The Kitor-Kitolo who has been considered to be the last Kushan (Ephthalite) king³, is mentioned by al-Biruni as the pagan ruler of Kabul. It is also mentioned in the account of Tlmiir's compaign against the Kafirs, whose country extended from Kashmir to the mountains of Kabul, and seems to have survived as a title of the rulers of Chitral⁴, in the form of Kitawr Shah.

The Jettahs who figure prominently in the campaigns of Timur and Babur in Central Asia, as well as the Juts (Jats) in India, are supposed to be the remnants of these people⁵.

The Ephthalites of Bactria (Tukharistan) whose power was weakened by the defeats suffered at the hands of Khusraw Anu-sKirwan, between 563 and 568 with alliance of Turks, were shattered by the invasion of the Turkish Khaqan. However, they still held Herat and Badghls in the early part of the following century at the time of Arab conquest⁶,

1    Codrington, op. cit.

2    Waiters, op. cit., vol. i, p. 102 ; Stein, Serindia, p. 289.

3    F. H. Skrine & E. D. Ross, "The Heart of Asia", p. 20.

4    H. M. Eliot, "History of India", vol. v, p. 183 sqq. & Yule, op. cit.

5    Cf. Josepb Davey Cunningham, "A History of Sikhs", pp. 4-5.

6    Yule, op. cit., pp. xxvii xxviii; Codrir^to^, p. 86.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

We find the name Kushan,  borne by the early rulers of the so

ailed Scythians (Yueh-chih) and the Ephthalites in Trans-Oxiana,

i Tabari and Ibn Kurdadhbih ; this is further supported  by the

ttistence of a district called Kushania, according to Istakhri, it

as a Sogdian town and is believed to have been the capital of

ushans of Trans-Oxiana.    It is mentioned in the Chinese sources

s quoted by M. Chavannes) that in this  Kushania there existed

building   with  pictures   of Emperors of China, the  Turks,

rsia,  and  Rome,  and  of the  Hindu-Brahmanas.    Today it is

lied Kushan-Atai.    Talikan  on  the  Murghab  is  supposed  by

.  Garrez to have derived its name from these Haitals; in the

•manian authors it appears as Idalaqan, and the Talikan  of the

rders  of   Badakhshan. probably had the same origin.    Likewise

: valley and pass of Kushan,  over the Hindu-Kush preserves

;ir other name².

ie power of Yetha (Ephthalites) extended to Daybul

The Chinese pilgrim Sung Yun who in 518 passed through afchan and Po-ho indicates that the Yetha (Ephthalites) still held tensive authority, and that forty countries were tributary to ;m, including Tieh-lo in the south, or the famous port of Diul Daybul on the east of the Indus Delta³, over which the Scythians akas) also had extended their rule⁴ in about 80 B.C.

tital (Ephthalites) in the Muslim Sources

The name Haital (Ephthalites) first mentioned by Tabari, etc., the expedition of Musa b. 'Abd Allah b. Khazim, who was sent the caliph 'Abd al-Malik, to Transoxiana (in 72) (691-2).* out the origin of Haitals we have a reference in Dinawan; lording to him Haital was the son of 'Alem son of Sam son of

Barthold, op. cit., p. 96 sqq. and notes 5, 6. Yule, op. cit., p. xxvii, note 4. Yule, p. xlv, Tam, p. 312. Barthold, p. 184.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

35

Nub, and was among those who had migrated from Babylonia and spread over the world¹.

This however seems to have been based on legend. He des­cribes the territories of Haitals ("^tu^l'^j) where Flruz took refuge when his brother Hurmuzd, son of Yezdgird, was selected as sovereign. They, according to him, consisted of Tukharistan, Chaghanian, Kabutistan and the lands which were situated beyond the "great river" near the land of Balklj². Khwarazml mentions them as having been a great people who ruled over the country of Tukharistan ; the Turks of Khalj and Kunjiah are their discendants.³

The role of Haiials in spreading Buddhism in Central Asia

The Ephthalites were great patrons of Buddhism. During the period of their supremacy Buddhism had spread in the Oxus regions and Turkistan, having displaced the religion of Zoroaster in it's very cradle. When Hsuan-tsang passed through these countries, he found Tirmidh, Khulm, Balkh, and other cities of Tukharistan, and above all, Bamyan, which had many convents and stupas, and a clossal image. Even the secluded valleys of Andarab, and Khost and Wakhan, in the bosom of the lofty Pamir, were not without their convents, and it was in this period that the name Balkh was introduced into Sanskrit literature and of Vanzo (Oxus) into Hindu cosmogony.⁴

Furthermore, the significance of the dominance of the Ephtha­lites, in the fifth and early sixth centuries is that under them for

1   Dinawari-Abu Haoifa Ahmad b. Dawud, "Afcibar-el Ttwal, ed." Haidar-abad, Deccan, pp. 3, 67, 68.

2   Ibid, p. 58.

,

Jl

3   Kbwarazmi, "Mafatihul 'Ulum," ed. Egypt,  p.  119, vide "Tari^K-i-Sistan", ed. Maliku-el-Shuarae Bahar, p. 215.

U-jUt, ^     J cJirj sS~ ^   fJ^iS" j-^lu-   J*»

For a fresh discussion about the origin of the Ephthalites, See edo Ko, Ethnography of the Ephthalites, Toyo-Banko, vol. 17, p. I off. In this article the author tries to prove that the Ephthaliies were of Persian origin.

4   Yule, p. xxi-x, cit. from   M.  Garrez, Jour. Asiat., vol. x, and H. A. R. Gipp, op. cit., p. 4.

36                       THB ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

.the first time all the trade routes, both northern and southern, as far as Kashgaria and Dzungaria were under the control of a single federation. To them is ascribed the use of long swords as a new weapon which was later adopted and put to good use by the Sasanians ; they also used scale armour, probably of leather¹.

Alliance between  Ephthalites and Celestial Empire and the Arab conquest of Central Asia

The Ephthalites played a still more significant role in the history of Bactria and the valley of Hindu-Kush, and the existence of a kind of alliance between them and China, on the eve of Arab conquest of Central Asia and Bactria is rather striking. They also played a role in the growth of political rivalry between the Arabs, and the Tibetans who were partially domina ,t in Eastern Turkistan at that time. Though the nature of the relations between the Ephthalites, the rulers of Tukharistan, and China is not quite clear, yet it can be asserted that there had been political contacts and some sort of alliance between these two distant countries, on the eve of Arab conquest of Bactria and Central Asia.

Thus, when the forces of Islam were moving fast towards the east, the whole territory of Tukharistan, including Tsung-Hng (Pamir Mountains), as well as parts of Transoxiana, were under the political influence of the Chinese. Many princes of these regions used to send complimentary embassies to the Chinese court. In 638 A. C. Yazdegird the last Sasanian king, defeated by the Muslims sought the aid from the Emperor Tai-Tsung, which however was refused. Tukharistan was one of the last strongholds of his successor, Firuz, who stayed there for some twenty years after the death of Yazdgird in 651 A.C.; ultimately he was compelled to take refugee at the Chinese Court. He was hospitably received by the Tukharians and installed on the throne of Iran, on his return some years later, after the Arabs had recreated temporarily from Tukharistan. He was ab!« by uieir

1   K. De B. Codrington, op. tit,, p. 84.                                            -.-.'•

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

37

help   to   continue his   struggle   against them for twenty   years longer¹.

It is said that when FlrGz was struggling to maintain himself in Tukharistan, the Emperor of China, made a display of his claims to sovereignty almost up to the shores of the Caspian and tried to organize the whole country, from Farghana to the borders of Persia, under Chinese administrative units which were designated as "Fu, Han, Heien" ; however, these efforts never materialized, Tukharistan was one of Sixteen Fus, according to the list published by Remusat, its capital being called by Chinese "Yue-chih-fu" 2. The chief of this Yue-chih in Tukharistan, it is said, was raised in 755 A. C. by the emperor to the rank of a king, and received in aid a Chinese force against the Tibetans, who were threatening invasion. But five years later nine of the western states are recorded to have finally thrown off their allegiance to China, and among these was Tukharistan³. It is understandable that the Chinese political influence had extended also beyond Ku-shi-mi (Kashmir), P'o-lu (Yasin and Gilgit), Udyana (Swat), Ch'ieh-shuai (Chitral), upto Kabul. This however came to an end with the Arab conquest of these territories in 760 A.C. The Chinese book "T'se-fu-Guan-kuei" says that a representative of a certain ruler (Yabghu) of Ephtha­lites of Tu-huo-Io (Tukharistan) Shih-li-mang-Ch'ieh-lo by name, had asked the help of Chinese imperial court against the neigh­bouring hill-state "Ch'ieh-shuai." (Chitral), which relying on the protection of its high mountains had allied itself with the Tibetans, who claimed to have established a stronghold in Ku-shi-mi (Kashmir), and threatened P'o-lu (Yasin).

As Kashmir was the supplier of salt and rice to his country, this alliance of Tibetans with Ch'ieh-shuai interrupted the caravan

1    Yule, p. xxxi. H.A.R. GIbb, op. cit., p. 15. cit. from Chavannes, Docu­ments.

2   Yule, op. cit.

3    Ibid., p. xxxii.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

oute which passed through this country.   To meet this danger, ie ruler of Tukharistan proposed a bold  operation, which, if jpported  by   the  Imperial  Court, would enable him to conquer The Great P'o-lu (Gilgit) and the country east of it, and eradicate ibetan influence,  Besides the dispatch of Chinese troops into -ittle P'o-lu (Yasin), he requested that the king of Kashmir, as a lyal ally of China, be encouraged by an imperial edict and special onours to lend  support to him.   The Emperor is   said to have •.sponded to his appeal and by an edict he declared  Su-chia   king f Ch'ieh-shuai in 750 A.C. in place of his rebal brother P'o-t'e-mo. .nd  as  mentioned  in  another Chinese work,  "Tzu-chih-t'ung-iien"Ch'ieh-shuai's  king  was  defeated  by the famous Chinese leneral    Kao-Hsien-Chih,    who  had  invaded  earlier P'o-lu to revent an alliance between Arabs and Tibetans, and to  him was ssigned  the  task of the capture  of its chief P'o-T'e-mo and the istallation of Su-chia  in  his  place.    The  Chinese   intervention I'll this occasion was greatly helpful in reliveing Gilgit and Tukha-istan  of the  possible  pressure of an  invasion of the Tibetans¹. But at the same time the defeat of Kao-Hsien Chih by the  Arabs n  751   A.C.  in  a decisive battle near Tiraz, whither he had gone ifter his expedition in the valley of Hindu Kush to help  the  ruler :>f Shash (Tashkand) in responce to his appeal, and the consequent -apid  decline  of the  influence  of the  Chinese had forced them to abandon their  positions,  in the Giigit and also relations which lad been maintained through it  with  such  distant  territories  as Kashmir, Kabul and Udayana (Swat), as well as in  Tukharistan².

The Ephthafites did not disappear without having left their .races in the ethnic composition of Turkish people in modern Afghanistan, and there still exist in Badakhshan an important >roup bearing the name of Yaftals, who are found to-day living n 140 villages in that region^.

1    A. Stein, Ancient K&otan, pp. 11-14; Serindia, pp. 3, 37.     ~

2   Ibid.,&n. A. R. Gipp, p. 80.                                                        .

3    Ghirshman, E. I. Art. Afghanistan & H. F. Schurman, "The Mongolr in fghanistan", p. 81.                                                                   -

J

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

39

Karluks in fukharistan    ,                      ,

Next to the Ephthalites the name of Qarluqs, who also known to have played an important role in Central Asia, occupies a pro­minent position in the history of Tukharistan. Generally known as KarlOk; KarlukJi, in early Arabic sources as Kharlukh and Khal-lukh, in Chinese Ko-Lo-Lu, Ke-erh-lu, it was mentioned in Tur­kish Orkhon inscription, and in Chinese Anna! Tang-shu as residing in the neighbourhood of the Orkhon-River in ancient times. Howorth considers them of Uighur origin, and Rashid-al-Din counted them among the pure and simple Turkish tribes.¹ The Karluk was also mentioned by Jahiz along with Tuquz-Oghuz in Eastern Turkistan as being superior to the former.² According to Guzidah they were among the five tribes of Oghuz Khan. Mahamud al-Kashgarl comprises them and Gjjuz under the com­mon name of Turkman.³

Though the exact time when the Karluqs came and settled in Tukharistan has not been determined, it is stated in Gardizi that a party of Tugjiuz Oghuz having separated themselves from the main tribe had established friendly relations with Haitals of Tukharistan. Minorisky considers this to be a possible reference to the infiltration of Khallukhs into upper Tukharistan, as well as to their relation with Ephthaiites.⁴

Firdawsi mentions three Turkish tribes Turk-Chighil, Chin, and Karluks; they were in the service of Arjasb son of Afrasiab, and lived in the country across the Oxus, opposite Balkh, which extended upto Talas. They were a branch of the Ephthalites.⁵

The Karluqs came into political importance after 766, when after the decline of the Western Turkish Empire they occupied the

1    Barthold. E. I. Art. Karluq ; Gunner Jarring, ''Distribution of Turks in Afghanistan", p. 71 ; E. D. Ross, "Tariki-i-RaiSidi", Introduction, p. 19 sqq.

2    Barthold,  "A History of Turkman", p. 86.

3    Guzide, ed. Tehran, p. 567 &  "Diwan-i-Lu£hat-el-Turk", vol. i, pp.  56, 80, 393, vol. iij, p. 304.                                      ^!     ,

4    Minorislcy, Hudul-'AJam, p. 277.

5   Dr. Z. Veu'di Togan, Turk Eli Tarihi, p. 49.                 •'       '•

40

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

valley of Chu¹. At the time of the rise of Ghinglz they still lived in the north of Tien-Shan². The Karluqs, it is stated, had an important position in the ranks of IGiwarazmshahs, who de­fended their Amirs against Ilak Turkman; they are also men­tioned among the tribes who formed the army of K^warazmshah, which fought against Chingiz Khan*.

When the Muslims conquered Khurasan they were a ruling class in Tukharistan, and their dominion, according to Ibn Haukal, included Pamir and Wakhan upto Kabul. Their chief (malifc), as Taberi mentions, was called Yabghu (djabghu)⁴. One of their branches, the Turkash Karluqs, had settled in Isfijab-Sairam (the region of Tashkand), and in the hiily districts to the east of Farghanah, another branch comprising of three Karluqs tribes (Ucji-Tughli Turks) resided in Mughulistan. In the eighth century we see them returning to their kinsmen, Turkash Karluqs in the region of Syr-Darya⁵. It was at this time that they parti­cipated in the campaign against the Arabs in 751 A. C. near Tiraz in alliance with the Chinese General Kao-Hsien-chih⁶. After the fall of the Turkash Empire and the defeat of the Chinese they seized Semir-chei (Yitti-Su) and the eastern part of the Syr-Darya and set up their own kingdom ; in 766 they occupied Suyab, the former Turkash capital⁷. This state of the Karluqs continued until it was destroyed by Kara-khanids⁸.

The Karluqs and the Oghuz Turks who had settled on the banks of Syr-Darya and Talas region and against whom, according to Mas'udi, Isma'll Samani had carried a successful campaign

1    Barthold, E. I. Art. Karluq.

2    "Tarifc^-i-Rashidi", by Mirza Hyder DuShlat, trans. D. Ross, p. 19.

3   Barthold, "Turkistan down to Mongol Invasion", p. 411.

4    Minorisky, "Hudud", pp. 108, 287-8 ; Dr. Z. Velidi Togan, op. cit., p. 49, qout. from Manuscript in Top Kapi Museum.

5    Dr. Z. V. Togan, op. at., pp. 49-50.

6   H. A. R. Gibb, op. cit., p. 80.

7   Bartliold, "T'irkistan", pp. 80. 201.

8    Ibid. ,p.321.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

41

in 892 were among the first Turki tribes who embraced Islam in that region. And Al-Ya'qubi (Tarikh) mentions a jabgkti of Karluqs who adopted Islam in I62/778-779¹. This jabghu of Karluqs was mentioned among the large number of rulers who sent tokens of submission to Caliph Mahdl, however under Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and Mamun (811); he is mentioned as having refused obedience².

When Timur invaded India in the thirteenth century he is said to have left some of his soldiers among whom were the Kar­luqs. They had settled in the territory which is now called Hazara in Pakistan. According to Longworth Dames, a small Turkish tribe, the adherents of which are said to be Karluqs, was brought there by Tlraur³.

Today the remnants of the Karluqs who formed a major part of the indigenous population of Turkistan in former days, are traceable in the province of Qattghan and Badakhshan and old Bactria (ancient Tukharistan). They have preserved even the archaic features in their tongue⁴. They live in many towns and villages, such as Balkh, Maimana Andkhul, Sari-pul, Shibarghan, Tashkurghan, Khulm, Taliqan, Qunduz, Rustaq, Faydabad and Shahr-buzurg, etc.⁵

The Karluqs are credited with  having possessed the  skill of making the    famous gold-hilted  Indian  swords,  which  became known in East Europe as Kharlican   sword⁶. fukhdristan after Islam upto the eighteenth century

Before the Muslim conquest Khurasan (Bactria) was under the Sasanian rulers, and Balkh including Tukharistan, was governed by a spahbud¹, but after the seventh century their authority hardly

1    Dr. Z. V. Togan, op. cit., Barthold, op. cit., p. 229 ; E. I. Art. Karluq.

2    Bartnold, p. 202.

3   Dr. Gunner Jarring, op. cit., pp. 72-73, E, I. Art, Hazara.

4   Ibid.

5   Ibid. & Macmuni, "Afghanistan", p. 24.

6   Togan, op. cit., p, 49.

7   Yule, op. cit., p. xxix.

I

the original home of the tukharians

itself felt. In the time of Hsuan-tsang's visit to that country existed independent provinces on both the banks of the Darya¹.

U the time of the Muslim conquest of Khurasan, we hear tame of Naizak Tarkhan who was named 'Abd-Allah submission ; he was allowed by Qutaybah to retain osition as ruler of Tukharistan. But soon after, he .gainst him and captured and put to death. When Abu m Khurasani succeeded against his rival, Nasr b. Sayyar, /ernor of Khurasan, he appointed Abu Dawud Khalid b. Im as governor of Tukharistan and Abu Nasr Malik al-laml-al Khuzal as military governor (shurta)², both of them strong supporters of Abu Muslim Khurasani³.

(n  the  reign    cf   Caliph  Al-Mahdi,  Sharwin  the  ruler  of

lanstan was among the chiefs of fifteen distant countries who

owledged  his  sovereignty.     In  Harun  al-Rashid's  time  we

him still in power, and  he was  among  those  who  received

in  Rayy⁴.    About 257/870,  when  the  Caliph  Al-Mu'tamid,

the   intention  of diverting the  Saffarids from their hostile

;ns against   Baghdad,  conferred   upon Ya'qub b.  Layth  the

government   of Sind,  Balkh  and  Tukharistan,   Sistan  and

ban also were placed under him⁵.

After the teimination of the rule of the Tahirids and Saffa-over Tukharistan, the country formed a part successively of Samanids, the Ghaznawids, the Suljukis of Persia and Khura-and of the Ghuri or Shansbanyah Kings, of whom one branch le other reigned over the area, particularly over Bamyan and haristan for about half a century. Later the Khwarazmshahis

Barthold, "Turkistan", p. 77.

Al-Ya'qubi,    vol.   ii,   pp.   286-343,. (New Ed., Bairut) ; Gibb,   op. cit.,

Barthold, p. 194

Ibid., pp. 397, 425.

M. Eliot, "History of India", vol. v, p. 26.

THE   ORIGINAL HOME OF THE TUKHARIANS

43

held sway and continued until their overthrow  by the -forces of CJyngiz¹.-   '-'•-    ••   •'"   -^;   • '           •->"•-    •':<--         •     -.4'; -     -^:

.   •-;•:-.*•         :      .         ?- •      •..                             i[.

Badakhsfaan.or in a widersense Tukharistan, was the only country which escaped the Mongol scourge and remained upto the 15th century in the hands of its local dynasty², which claimed to be descended from Alexander. However during this period they remained subject to the successors of Timur, who ruled over Balkh, Qunduz and Hisar and others. Timur himself after subjugating Khulm, Ghazniak, Samanjan, Baghlan and Andarab had passed through this country on his way to India. In the time of Shahrukh, in 1411 A. C., Badr al-Din the ruler of Badakhshan made an attempt to gain independence. Mirza Ibrahim Sultan, who was in charge of the Balkh country, sup­pressed the attempt and gave the kingdom to Baha'al-Dm's brother Shah Mahmud³.

In the reign of Abu Sa'id, great-grandson of Timur (1449-1469), the male line of the old house expired with Sultan Muham­mad Mirza. One of his daughters was married to Abu Sa'id and another to Yunus Khan, Khan of the Mongols of the eastern branch of Chughatais. In the early year of Babur's life Badakh­shan with Qunduz, Baikh, and Hisar, in fact the whole of ancient Tukharistan from Amu to Hindu-Kush mountains was under the rule of Khusraw Shah, a Kipehaq Turk, and one of the Mahmud Mirza's Amirs⁴. When Babur established himself in Kabul, Qunduz and Badakhshan passed under his sway⁵, and later these territories were conquered by Muhammad Khan Shaybani. The Uzbeks were however soon expelled as a result of a general rising of

1    Yule, p. xxxv, E.I. Art. Bada£i£han. See for Shansbanya's rule "Tabaqat-i-Nasiri", ed. Habibi, p. 452.

2   E.I.

3    Yule, pp. xxxv, xxxvii. -'•

4    Ibid.

5    "Tariici-i-Rashidi", p. 24,   Introduction by N. Elias.

44                  the original home of the tukharians

the people, and Nasir Mirza, a younger brother of Babur, was invited by them to  come and  reign over them.   He could not satisfy  the   people   and   was  defeated  and expelled   in    1507. About a year later Babur's cousin, Wa'is, often styled the IChan Mirza instigated by his grand mother Shah Begum, the widow of the Mongol chief, Yunus Khan, succeeded in establishing   his  rule at the fort of Zafar on the Kokcha, a place which became famous in the history of Babur's successors.    He maintained  his position as ruler of the country   till  his death  in  913/1520.  Babur then bestowed Badakhshan on his son Humayun, who ruled over it for eight or nine years, until he was called  by  his  father  to join him in his campaigns of Hindustan ; Hindal Mirza was  sent  there instead but in the mean time, Sultan Sa'id Khan of Kashgar another descendant of the old   house of Badakhshan  was invited by its chiefs to invade the country (1529-30).    He  soon  abondoned  the enterprise because of his opposition  by  Babur,  who  now placed the territory under Sulayman, son  of  the  deceased Khan Mirza. He    eventually  tranrmitted  the  country  to his descendants with almost independent authority¹.

In the time  of Akbar,  Badakhshan  along  with  Kabul was under his brother Hakim.    It was finally lost to him in 1585². But in 1646, Shahjahan revived his claims, and sent   in  succession his sons, Murad and Awrangzib, to recapture it3.   Balkh  also  subse­quently Badakhshan was made over to Nadhar Muhammad Uzbek. In the middle of eighteenth century we see a dynasty of the Mirs to have established its authority,  with  Faydabad as their capital⁴. In the 1765  Ahmad  Shah Abdali invaded  the country, put  to death  its ruler,  Sultan Shah, and carried   off from Faydabad the holy relic, the shirt of the Prophet was given out as the cause

1   "TariKi-i-Ragfeidi", p. 12, Intro. & p. 387, Text, Yule, p. xxxix, cit., from Sidi All, "L¹-Journal Asiatique".

?.   Lane Poole. "History of India", vol. iv, p. 48. i    ib'.d._t p. 108 ; Yul;, p. xxxix 4   Yule, op. cit.

the original home of the tukharians

45

of the invasion. In the beginning of the nineteenth century Kokan Bek, chief of the Kataghan Uzbeks of Qunduz, revaged the country ; he was succeeded by his son Murad Beg. On his death the power passed into the hands of another Uzbek chief, Muhammad Amir Khan, the Wali of Khulm. In 1850 the Afghans regained the possession of Balkh, and in 1859 they conquered Qunduz from Katgfjanis, and reinstalled under their supremacy Mir Jahandar Shah, with his capital Faydabad. He was expelled in 1867, and Mir Muhammad Shah, another member of the family took his place. He paid annually a tribute of 50,000 rupees to the Amir of Kabul¹. To-day the country of ancient Tukharistan forms the northern province and the province o Qattaghan and Badakhshan of Afghanistan, better known as Tur kistan-i-Afghanistan and each province is ruled by a governor, the capital of the former is Mazar Sharif and of the later jQian-Abad.

1   Yule, op. c/r., p. xli.