Chandragupta II's conquest of the Vahlika Hunas

Conquest of Bactria was an expedition led by the Gupta Empire's Emperor, Chandragupta II.^[a][2] Vahlika was under the Huna occupation in the last quarter of the fourth century AD.^[b]

Chandragupta 2 Bactrian Expendition
Part of Gupta-Hunnic conflicts
Date 410 Location Possibly Oxus river[c] Result Gupta Victory Territorial changes Chandragupta II conquered the Bactria region[d][e]
Belligerents
Gupta Empire	Hephthalites sassanian empire
Commanders and leaders
Chandragupta II	Unknown

The Expedition

The name "Candra" () on the iron pillar of Delhi, thought to represent Chandragupta II. Gupta script: letter "Ca" , followed by the conjunct consonant "ndra" formed of the vertical combination of the three letters n d and r .^[12][13]

The Hunas in Bactria were not a peaceful community and because they posed peril to both Iran and India, and they might have tried to run after Kidara or his successors in Gandhara, and Fa-hsien refers to Hepthalite king trying to remove Buddha's coliseum from Purushapur. This may indicate Huna invasion in Gandhara some time before Fa-hsien finished his journey in India. It is said that Kidara towards the end of the 4th century had to go northwestwards against the Hunas, leaving his son Piro at Peshawar. It is possible that Kidara might have gained some help from the Gupta emperor. It is thus possible that Chandragupta II led an adventure to Bactria through Gandhara against the Hunas, and this may be related to as his crossing of the seven rivers of Sindhu and conquering Bahlika in the Mehrauli Pillar Inscription. This event may be placed towards the end of the 4th century A.D. Chandragupta II's Bactrian expedition also led to the battle of the Oxus with his Gupta cavalry against the Hunas, who were defeated and the Gupta emperor having planted the Gupta flag on the banks of the river of Oxus.^[f][15]

The inscription of Chandragupta II

Notes

1. "Buddha Prakash has proposed to equate the account of the north-western conquest of Raghu with the conquest of Bactrians (Valhikas) described in the Mehrauli pillar inscription. He concludes,

   "Hence it follows that Chandragupta II led an expedition in Bactriana in order to remove the menace of the Sakas, Kushāņas and Pārasīkas root and branch."

   The Mehrauli pillar inscription simply says that Chandra conquered the Vālhikas. Who were they? We have seen before that the Kushāņas had moved out of Bactria c. A.D. 350 under the ever increasing pressure of the. Chionites and were in the Kabul valley about this time, and the Chionites or the Hūņas had occupied Bactria. Assuming that Kālidāsa's account of Raghu's campaign of conquest has a real historical background and that Chandragupta Vikramaditya adopted a land route for conquering the Pārasīkas, he must have come close to the south-eastern fringe of the Sassanian empire, where according to Kālidāsa he defeated the Parasikas. Kālidāsa's mention of the bearded heads of the Persian warriors suggests their identification with the Sassanians who bore beards. After this victory Chandragupta proceeded further northwards. Passing by Kapiśā where his soldiers enjoyed the famous wine of this region, he pressed towards the river Oxus, on the banks of which were the newly established settlements of the Hūņas. Having subdued them with his might Chandragupta II seems to have brought his victorious march to a halt. He returned home from Bactria proper, crowned with glory and perhaps laden with riches."^[1]
2. "Taking Kālidāsa to be a contemporary of Chandragupta II, we can conclude that the Hūṇas had occupied Bactria in the last quarter of the fourth century AD." ^[3]
3. The identification of the people of 'Vahlika' is debated amongst scholars
   Identification with Beas River:
   
   • D.R. Bhandarkar, on the basis of Ramayana, places Vahlika on the Beas and places the Vahlika people at the Beas region of Punjab^[4]
     
   • N.L. Dey, also considered these people to be part of the Punjab region. Rather than assigning them a separate entry in his dictionary, he included them under the category of Vahika^[5]
     
   • Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, delivered the final verdict: "During this period, the term Bahlika, which originally referred to Bactria, came to be used as a synonym for Bharata or the Land of the Five Rivers."^[6]
     However, the identification of Vahilka with modern day Beas river is not accepted generally, as itself in the Inscription, king Chandra is said to have crossed the seven mouths of Indus river to attack the Vahlikas^[7]
     Identification of Vahilka with modern day Balkh:
     
   • Ashvini Aggarwal, The term Vahlika has often been mistakenly conflated with Vahika and incorrectly associated with the Central Punjab. However, in this context, Vahlika clearly refers to Bactria, the ancient Persian Vagdhi, corresponding to the modern region of Balkh in north-eastern Afghanistan.^[8]
     
   • Tej Ram Sharma, Misled by a verse in the Ramayana, D.R. Bhandarkar places the Vahlikas near the Vipasa, the modern Beas River. However, the term Vahllkan in the cited passage is a textual error for Vahlkan. Numerous passages from the Epics, Puranas, and classical Sanskrit literature confirm that the Punjab—Pañcanada, meaning 'the land of five rivers'—was historically referred to as the Vahlka country.^[9]
4. " The Mehrauli Pillar Inscription (No.20) describes the digvijaya of a king named Candra (i.e. Candragupta II) in the first verse as stated below :

   "He, on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when, in battle in the Vanga countries, he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the enemies who, uniting together, came against him;—he, by whom, having crossed in warfare the seven mouths of the (river) Sindhu, the Vāhlikas;—he by the breezes of whose prowess the Southern ocean is even still perfumed".

   We find various readings of the name Vāhlika in literature which are : Vāhlika, Bāhlika, Vāhlīka and Bāhlīka. In our inscription (No. 20) 'Vāhilikāḥ', i.e. Bactria (modern Balkh) region on the Oxus in the northern part of Afghanistan."^[10]

5. J. F. Fleet's 1888 translation is as follows:^[11]

   (Verse 1) He, on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when, in battle in the Vanga countries (Bengal), he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the enemies who, uniting together, came against (him); – he, by whom, having crossed in warfare the seven mouths of the (river) Sindhu, the Vahlikas were conquered; – he, by the breezes of whose prowess the southern ocean is even still perfumed; –

6. "However, Altekar suggests that Candra Gupta attacked the Kidara Kushāṇas. But in the situation then prevailing it is not impossible that Candra Gupta really invaded Balkh or Bactria referred to as Bāhlika in the inscription. We have seen that Bactria was occupied by the Epthalites in about 350 A.D. (Kalidasa refers to the Hūņas on the Oxus) and thus had led to the eventual conquest of Gandhara by Kidāra by 356 A. D., the contemporary (Daivaputrashātā of Samudra Gupta). After Kidāra, his successors were known as little Yue-chi. As we have seen Samudra Gupta was satisfied with the offer of submission of Kidāra, and he also claims to have received the submission of Shāhānushāhī, (the Sassanian emperor), mainly to consolidate his conquests in the country, and to have some share and control over the famous Silk-route. The Hūṇas in Bactria were not a peaceful community and because a danger to both Iran and India, and they might have tried to pursue Kidāra or his successors in Gandhara, and Fa-hsien refers to Epthalite king trying to remove Buddha's bowl from Purushapur. This may indicate Hūṇa inroad in Gandhāra some time before Fa-hsien concluded his travels in India. It is held that Kidāra towards the end of the 4th century had to proceed N. W. against the Hūṇas leaving his son Piro at Peshwar. It is possible that Kidāra might have received some help from the Gupta emperor. It is therefore possible that Candra Gupta II led an expedition to Bactria through Gandhāra against the Hūṇas, and this may be referred to as his crossing of the seven rivers of Sindhu and conquering Bāhlika in the Mehrauli Pillar Inscription. This event may be placed towards the end of the 4th century A. D."^[14]

References

1. Agrawal (1989), p. [1] 165.
2. Editor: B. A. Litvinsky Co-editors: Zhang Guang-da and R. Shabani Samghabadi. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. p. 26. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
3. Agrawal 1989, p. [2] 240.
4. See, Sircar, op. cit., p. 2. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSee,_Sircar,_op._cit.,_p._2 (help)
5. Geographical Dictionary of ancient and Medieval India, pg.15. sfn error: no target: CITEREFGeographical_Dictionary_of_ancient_and_Medieval_India,_pg.15 (help)
6. Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, Early History of North India Cal., 1968, pp 205. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSudhakar_Chattopadhyaya,_Early_History_of_North_India_Cal.,_1968,_pp_205 (help)
7. Vajpeyi, Raghavendra (1977). "The Vahlikas of the Meharauli Iron Pillar Inscription". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 38: 783–790. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44139148.
8. Agrawal, Ashvini (1989). Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 164. ISBN 978-81-208-0592-7.
9. Sharma, Tej Ram (1978). Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions. Robarts - University of Toronto. Delhi : Concept. p. 167.
10. Tej Ram Sharma 1978, p. 167. sfn error: no target: CITEREFTej_Ram_Sharma1978 (help)
11. Balasubramaniam 2005, pp. 7–8. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBalasubramaniam2005 (help)
12. Bandela, Prasanna Rao (2003). Coin Splendour: A Journey into the Past. Abhinav Publications. p. 11. ISBN 9788170174271.
13. Allen 1914, p. 24. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAllen1914 (help)
14. Sinha 1974, p. 50–51. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSinha1974 (help)
15. Agrawal 1989, p. [3] 240 & 264.