Is There a “Nationality of the Hephtalites”?
É T I E N N E
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1. Interpretation of the
Dynastic Histories
V A I S S I È R E
The Jushi theory is found in the Liangshu. The
Liang (502–557) were a Southern Dynasty, but
they were in continuous contact with Central
Asia through Qinghai. The beginning of the text
is:
In 1959, Enoki Kazuo published his groundbreaking article “On the Nationality of the Ephtalites”
in the Memoirs of the Research Department of
the Toyo Bunko.1 Since then it has been regarded
as the basic study of the ethnic affiliation of the
Hephtalites. According to Enoki, this tribe was
a local one whose origin was the western Himalayan Mountains. This idea is based on geography
and on some Iranian names attested among them
but also on the fact that the Chinese sources described polyandry as one of the Hephtalite customs. Polyandry, well known on the Western
Tibetan plateau and quite unusual elsewhere,
was used by Enoki as the cornerstone of his demonstration of the local origin of the Hephtalites
(pp. 51–55).
What Enoki could not have foreseen is the discovery in the Rob archive of a polyandric marriage contract antedating the first mention of the
Hephtalites in Bactria by a century.2 As usual in
the Chinese descriptions of the Western world,
their authors simply mixed together customs of
the various components of the Bactrian society
and gave them the name of the leading tribe, that
of the Hephtalites. Polyandry was a genuine Bactrian custom, not a Hephtalite one. While logical
half a century ago, Enoki’s hypothesis can no
longer be regarded as demonstrated. It is time to
return to the Chinese texts, our main sources.
Enoki proceeded in his article by following the
various origins of the Hepthalites that can be
found in the Chinese sources: first the Jushi, an
ancient tribe located to the north of Turfan; then
the Da Yuezhi, the tribes that conquered Bactria
in the second century b.c.; and finally the Gaoju,
the Turkic tribe that conquered the Turfan region
in the fifth century a.d.
The country of Hua is another branch of Jushi (Turfan).
In the 1st year of Yongjian (126 A.D.) of the Han, a
Jushi named Bahua, who under (the Chinese general)
Ban Yong had rendered distinguished services in conquering the Northern savages (i.e. the Xiongnu), was
promoted to Hou-bu Qin-han-hou (or Marquis of Posterior Jushi, who is friendly to the Han) by arrangement of Ban Yong.3
Enoki correctly rejected the commentary linking the Hephtalites with a Jushi general as a
learned gloss. But did the author of the commentary deduce that the inhabitants of the country of
Hua were Jushi from the ethnic identity of Ba
Hua only, or was “Jushi” a data with which he
had to deal? Enoki answered this question in
another article, published in 1970. From the biography of Pei Ziye !"# (471–532), it seems indeed clear that the only information the Liang
court had was the name of Hua, so that the Jushi
theory is devoid of any basis: “During this period,
there were beyond the Northwestern frontiers
the states of Boti and Hua, who sent envoys
through the mountain road of the Min (river, in
Sichuan) to offer tribute. These two states had
not been guests of the successive dynasties, their
origin was unknown” $%&'()*+,-.
/0123456789:;/<=>?0@AB
C9. Then Pei Ziye continues with his erudite
explanation of both names, and the emperor orders him to write an illustrated treaty on the foreign countries, which is the source for chapter 54
of the Liangshu.4
While this chapter gives a good deal of information about the Hephtalites, it is strange
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shows us that the Ephtalites originated in the
neighbourhood of Altai Mountain or anywhere
to the north of the Tianshan Mountains. So far
as we know for the moment, the Ephtalites had
risen to power in Tokharistan where the Ephtalites continued to live even after the destruction of their empire. This will show that the
origin of the Ephtalites should be looked for in,
or in the neighbourhood of, Tokharistan” (p. 13).
It is obvious that there is a flaw in this argument. If Enoki assumed that the Hephtalites had
always lived in Tokharistan, why did he try to explain the Chinese texts saying that they arrived
in Tokharistan? To say that there are no archaeological remains of the Hephtalites in the Altai
is not convincing, as there has been no archaeological research on this period in the Altai, while
identified Hephtalite remains, even in Bactriana, are also almost nonexistent. Also, to say
that there is no textual evidence is not convincing either, given the fact that the only texts that
deal with northern Central Asia at that time are
Chinese.
Enoki’s argument is flawed because these Chinese texts are not analyzed for themselves but
only as an introduction to the geographic and
ethnographic rationale with which Enoki tried to
prove the western Himalayan origin of the Hephtalites. He had to discard the text of the Weishu
to clear the ground for his geographic and ethnographic comparisons, and obviously he failed in
this regard. Basically, Enoki does not explain why
a text placed the origin of the Hephtalites in the
Altai. If he had good reasons to reject the Jushi
and Da Yuezhi theories, he had none for rejecting
the original Weishu, which situated the Hephtalites there.
The consequence of this is that not only the
ethnographic section of his article should be corrected but also the textual one, as all his reasoning was biased.
that the ambassadors were unable to provide any
about their origin. It might suggest that the precise origin of the Hephtalites was already something that was not clear in their own country in
the first quarter of the sixth century, an idea that
is to be found in other Chinese texts, as we will
see.
The second theory to be read in the Chinese
texts, that they are of Da Yuezhi stock, seems at
first glance to have a wider textual base than the
previous one but is in fact easier to dismiss. The
Weishu chap. 102, p. 2278; Zhoushu chap. 50,
p. 918; Beishi chap. 97, pp. 3230–31; and Suishu
chap. 83, p. 1854; all wrote that the Hephtalites
( D Yada in the Weishu, the Zhoushu, and the
Beishi, EF Yida in the Suishu) “are a branch of
the Da Yuezhi” (GHIJKLM).
However, it has long been known that all
these texts copy each other. The original text of
the Weishu , the basis of this textual tradition,
is lost. The chapter of the Weishu in question
was reconstructed according to the Beishi. Enoki
inserted very useful line-by-line comparisons of
these texts (pp. 7–10) and demonstrated, after
Hermann and Funaki, that some parts of the
present chapter of the Beishi and Weishu are
copied from the Zhoushu and Suishu. In particular, the description of the Hephtalites as a
branch of the Da Yuezhi is convincingly interpreted by him as meaning only that in the sixth
century they occupied the former territory of the
Da Yuezhi, that is, Bactriana and Tokharistan
(p. 11).
But the Beishi, or Weishu, also states that “it
is also said that they are a branch of the Gaoju.
They originated from the north of the Chinese
frontier and came down south from the Jinshan
mountain” D/NOPQRSTJUK9VWCXY
'9Z[5\]. The Gaoju were a nomadic tribe
that lived to the west of Mongolia, between
Turfan and the Jinshan, that is, the Altai. This is
the third point of Enoki’s demonstration.
He agreed that this part of the Beishi must
have been in the original Weishu as it is not in
the Zhoushu and Suishu (p. 12). But he nevertheless dismissed the Gaoju theory as well: “It is not
clear why the Ephtalites were identified with a
branch of the Gaoju, while it is recognized that
the language of the Ephtalites was different from
that of Rouran, Gaoju and other tribes of Central Asia (according to the Beishi). There is no
evidence, both literal and archaeological which
2. The Tongdian
The Tongdian ^_, published at the beginning
of the ninth century, can also be a source for the
history of the Hephtalites. Regarding the Western Regions, the Tongdian juxtaposed or summarized texts taken from the various dynastic
histories, so that in it there are three texts concerning the Hephtalites: one on the country of
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the original Weishu, as a Wencheng (452–466)
was a Wei emperor. Moreover, it is known that a
great part of the Wei knowledge of Central Asia
comes from the Hephtalite embassy that arrived
in 456. This is demonstrated by Enoki, who
wrote: “here the time of the emperor Wencheng
means 456, when the Ephtalites sent the first embassy to the Wei.” But, curiously, he added: “But
the authority on which this chronology was
based is not known,” and he concluded, after discussing the textual variants on the name of the
emperor:8 “According to Syriac sources, the date
of the Ephtalites can not go back earlier than
460” (p. 2, n. 3). But obviously it is most probable
that the information on the date of the migration
came from the ambassadors themselves, while
the Syriac sources gave only the date of their access to political power. There is no good reason
to dismiss this date.
Moreover, the Wei were certainly the Chinese
dynasty that best knew the Western countries, as
they sent some envoys to the West and received
several embassies.9 But the embassy of 456 was
the earliest contact between the Hephtalites and
China, and is separated from the next one by half
a century. The data in the Weishu derived from
this embassy are logically the most reliable
found in the Chinese dynastic histories. According to these data, gathered from the Hephtalites
and early enough to be regarded as a reliable account of their origin, the Hephtalites had migrated from the Altai to the south in the middle
of the fourth century and were of the same stock
as the Gaoju. We do not have the slightest reason
to doubt this description from a sinological point
of view.
The link established by the original Weishu between the Hephtalites and the Gaoju may mean
that the Hephtalites were a Turkish tribe and,
more precisely, an Oghuric one, as the Gaoju are
regarded as inheritors of the old Tiele confederation supposed to be the origin of the various
Oghuric tribes.10 But I would argue parodoxically
that in this description, the main point is certainly not the ethnic affiliation, but the date.
Hua, taken from the Liangshu; one on Yada country, from the Weishu; and one on Yidatong, from
the Suishu.5 On the whole, these texts add very
few facts to the parallel passages in the dynastic
histories. But the Tongdian was written before
the disappearance of the original Weishu and preserves or summarizes the lost original text, which
was still extant at the beginning of the ninth
century. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact
that here and there the Tongdian directly quotes
the Weishu, as “The Weishu said . . .”6
The relationship between the various chapters
on the Yada country is then:
original Weishu (+ Zhoushu + Suishu) § Beishi
§ reconstructed Weishu
summarized in the Tongdian.
Enoki recognized that some parts of the text of
the current Beishi, which are not in the Zhoushu
or in the Suishu, must have come from the original Weishu (p. 12). Regarding the text of the
Tongdian, it is possible to demonstrate this hypothesis: most of these precise parts of the Beishi
are also in the Tongdian, while the few facts that
are in the Beishi and not in the parallel passage
of the Tongdian are summarized in it, or can be
read in other parts of the Tongdian. All of them
are dated from the Wei dynasty and can be assumed to have been in the original Weishu.
That is especially the case regarding the Gaoju
theory. The beginning of the text is:7
Yada country, Yidatong: Yada country is said to either
be a division of the Gaoju or of Da Yuezhi stock. They
originated from the north of the Chinese frontier and
came down south from the Jinshan mountain. They
are located to the west of Khotan. To Chang’an, to the
east, there are 10,100 li. To the reign of Wen(cheng) of
the Late Wei (452–466), eighty or ninety years have
elapsed.
Enoki was aware of the presence of some data
in the Tongdian only. If he did not bring up the
fact that the Gaoju theory was mentioned there
first (so that it can be assumed that it was also the
case in the original Weishu, a fact which would
have weakened his own theory) he did comment
upon the date, but in a surprising manner.
The Tongdian is the only text in the Chinese
sources that gives a date of the migration of these
nomadic tribes from the Altai to the south, between 360 and 370. Clearly this date comes from
3. Bactrian Hephtalites
In a recently published article I attempted to
analyze the events in the Altai in the middle of
the fourth century. I demonstrated that the great
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from the first half of the sixth century when
Song Yun and several embassies gathered most
of the data, while the only data from 456 are
concentrated at the beginning of the text, where
Wencheng is mentioned. An evolution had taken
place, and I understand it to mean that the Hephtalites had ceased to retain their original Altaic
language and adopted Bactrian.13
—the Liangshu and the Liang Zhigongtu, based
on data gathered in the 520s, bridged the gap concerning the origin of the Hephtalites with a
learned gloss. The Liangshu adds also that “they
were without a written language and kept records
by notching wood; [but from] the exchange of ambassadors with the neighbouring countries they
came to employ a Hu alphabet, using sheepskin
for paper” and that the people of Henan, that is
here the Tuyuhun, a proto-Mongolic people in the
Qinghai region, acted as translators for them. It
has been understood as an indication of the protoMongol character of the Hephtalite language.
However, the Liang dynasty was mainly linked
with Central Asia through the Qinghai region,
and as the main go-betweens in that region it is
quite natural that the Tuyuhun acted as translators, and that they translated from Bactrian, explicitly mentioned in this text.
—the Zhoushu, from data of the third quarter
of the sixth century, says nothing about their origin, except that they are Da Yuezhi.
—the Suishu says only that they are Da Yuezhi.
—the Tongdian, written at the beginning of the
ninth century, adds to the text of the Suishu a
commentary of Wei Jie, the envoy of the Sui dynasty to the Western countries between 605 and
616, according to which “I had a personal talk
with some Ephtalites and knew that they also
called themselves Yitian. In the Hanshu it is
stated that the viceroy of Kangju, named Yitian,
plundered provisions and arms under Zhen Tang
who marched against Shishi (Shanyu). This may
mean that they are descendants of Kangju. However, the information has come from remote
countries and foreign languages are subject to
corruption and misunderstanding and, moreover,
it concerns the matter of very ancient time. So we
do not know what is certain. (In this way) it is impossible to decide (the origin of the Ephtalites).”14
Hunnic migrations that reached the Volga at that
time originated in the Altai and that these Huns
were the political, and partly cultural, heirs of
the Xiongnu.11 But we also know that part of
these migrations reached Central Asia and that
the Hephtalites were among the tribes that arrived then, at least if we are to believe the date
provided by the Tongdian. They were one of
the various tribes loosely united under the old
Xiongnu political and cultural leadership. In
other words, the Hephtalites were in Bactria a
century before gaining control there, and were
under the leadership of others. The last nomadic
dynasty did not arrive in Bactria later than the
other ones but was there from the beginning of
the nomadic period. This probably means that
all the nomadic kingdoms that flourished in Bactria between the middle of the fourth century
and the middle of the sixth century can trace
their origin back to a single episode of massive
migration in the second half of the fourth century (circa 350–370), and not to a whole set of
successive migrations. The Sasanians did not
fight against successive waves of nomads freshly
emerged from the northern steppe but against
successive leading tribes or clans within the nomadic world established in northern Bactria.12
The date provided by the Tongdian implies a new
reconstruction of the events in Central Asia.
Moreover, these leading tribes are better described in political terms than in ethnic or linguistic ones. This is quite clear regarding the
Hephtalites. If during one century the Hephtalites, already united or not, were among the numerous tribes living as nomads on the pasture
grounds of the mountains, and were not at the
apex of the political hierarchy, the possibility
that they partially or totally lost their language
and their ethnic identity in a new environment
should be taken into account. This idea can be
demonstrated from the succession of the Chinese
sources. If each of them gives a static view, it is
worth considering them chronologically.
—the oldest source, which is preserved in the
Tongdian and goes back to the embassy of 456, is
able to record quite a precise origin, as I have
demonstrated.
—the Beishi and the Tongdian state that “their
speech is different from that of the Rouran, the
Gaoju and all the other hu,” while a few lines before this state that the Hephtalites are a branch
of the Gaoju. This part of the text is certainly
That these Chinese texts, however imprecise,
could support the hypothesis deduced from the
Hephtalite onomastic in Tokharistan, in which
at least some names, for instance Akhshunwar,
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To a Sogdian ambassador, after the conquest of
the Hephtalite empire by the Turks, the emperor
asked: “ ‘You have, therefore, made all the power
of the Ephthalites subject to you?’ ‘Completely,’
replied the envoys. The Emperor then asked, ‘Do
the Ephthalites live in cities or villages?’ The
envoys: ‘My Lord, that people lives in cities.’
‘Then,’ said the Emperor, ‘it is clear that you have
become master of these cities.’ ‘Indeed,’ said the
envoys.”17
These Byzantine descriptions contrast directly
with that of Song Yun, who met the Hephtalite
emperor as he was nomadizing in the mountains in 519. The Beishi, from the testimony of
Song Yun and other contemporary embassies,
states that: “Without cities and towns, they follow water and grass, using felt to make tents,
moving to the cold places in summer, to the
warm ones in winter. [The king?] separates his
various wives, each one in a separate place, apart
from one another at a distance perhaps of 200 or
300 li. Their king travels around and changes
places every month, but in the cold of winter
stays three months without moving.” But in the
Zhoushu, using later mid-sixth-century data, we
read: “Its king has his capital in the walled city
of Badiyan, which means something like ‘the
walled city in which the king resides’ ”18 and is
in agreement with the Byzantine sources. The
evolution of the Hepthalites’ way of life seems
also quite clear, although it took place later.
On the whole, I suggest using the contemporary and parallel evidence from Tuoba-dominated
China as a model for understanding the situation
in northern Bactria. The Tuoba Northern Wei
dynasty split in the sixth century, among other
reasons due to the question of their relationship
to the sedentary past, here Chinese. The Qi were
more in favor of sinization than the Zhou, who at
least ostensibly clung to the Xianbei past.19 Although the context is different, it is beyond doubt
that the question of assimilation was a major
one for the tribes in Bactria. In this regard, the
main difference between the Hephtalites and the
others, either Kidarites or Chionites, is their renunciation of the title of Kushanshah, which
implies a different relationship to the sedentary
Bactrian past.20 The Hephtalites, like the Zhou
in China, chose at the beginning of their political
history not to present themselves as the inheritors of the past glory of the Kushan empire, and
are described by Song Yun in 519, and in all the
other sources, as clinging to their nomadic way
one of the earliest Hephtalite kings, are clearly
Iranian, was recognized by Henning. This does not
mean that they were Iranian from the beginning,
as Enoki tried to prove, but only that the pace of
assimilation for a tribe or a clan not at the height
of the political hierarchy was swift after one century in Bactria. The Chinese texts are not contradictory or devoid of value—the various Chinese
courts were in constant contact with the Hephtalites during the sixth century—but they reflect
the fact that in the Hephtalite empire itself, the
old ethnic origin was an intricate or perhaps even
meaningless question, while, linguistically speaking, an evolution had already taken place when
the Hephtalites came to power and was still going on during the period recorded by the Chinese
sources. The Hephtalites went Bactrian.
We can go beyond linguistic assimilation. The
other sources we have on the Hephtalites, the
Byzantine sources, do confirm that an assimilation regarding their way of life took place,
although later than the ethnic/linguistic assimilation. Procopius wrote, from information of the
530s or 540s:15
The Ephtalitae are of the stock of the Huns in fact as
well as in name; however they do not mingle with any
of the Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their
territory lies immediately to the north of Persia; indeed their city, called Gorgo, is located over against the
Persian frontier, and is consequently the centre of frequent contests concerning boundary lines between the
two peoples. For they are not nomads like the other
Hunnic peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land. As a result of this they have
never made any incursion into the Roman territory
except in company of the Median army. They are the
only ones among the Huns who have white bodies and
countenances which are not ugly. It is also true that
their manner of living is unlike that of their kinsmen,
nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are
ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they observe right and justice in their dealings both with one another and with their neighbours,
in no degree less than the Romans and the Persians.16
The accent is clearly put on the difference between the Hephtalites and pure nomads. Assimilation with the sedentary population probably
was the major problem in the Hephtalite kingdom. Another source, Menander, confirms slightly
later that the Hephtalites at the end of their empire were regarded as a mainly urban population.
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the Jinshan mountain. They are located to the
west of Khotan. To Chang’an, to the east, there
are 10,100 li. To the reign of Wen(cheng) of the
Late Wei (452–466), eighty or ninety years have
elapsed. Their clothing is similar to that worn by
other Hu barbarians, [but] with the addition of
tassels. They all cut their hair. Their speech is
different from that of the Ruanruan, the Gaoju,
and all the other Hu. Their troops number perhaps 100,000 men. They wander in search of
water and grass. Their country is without the
She but has the Yu,21 and has many camels and
horses. They apply punishments harshly and
promptly; regardless of how much or how little
a robber has taken, his body is severed to the
waist, and even though only one has robbed, ten
may be condemned. When a person dies, wealthy
families pile up stones to make a [burial] vault,
while the poor ones simply dig a hole in the
ground and bury [the corpse]. All of the deceased’s personal effects are placed in the tomb.
Brothers, again, all together marry a wife. If there
are no brothers, the wife wears a cap with one
horn; if there are brothers, then she adds horns
according to their number. Kangju, Yutian, Sule,
Anxi and over thirty of the small countries of
the Western Regions have all been subjugated
by them. They are reputed to be a large country.
They often sent envoys bearing tribute. In the
Xiping reign period of Xiao Ming Di, Fu Zitong
and Song Yun were sent as ambassadors to the
Western Regions but were not able to learn
much of the history or geography of the countries they traversed. We will nonetheless give a
rough outline.22
of life up to the first quarter of the sixth century.
On the other hand, their Kidarite predecessors,
who seem to be the first creators of the new urban network in mid-fifth-century Central Asia,
had chosen a Kushan titulature that might be in
agreement with this urban policy.
I have shown that the Chinese texts were not
so garbled on the origin of the Hephtalites as
Enoki has tried to show in a biased demonstration. The Tongdian preserves some data from the
first Hephtalite embassy to China. The Hephtalites might have been Oghuric, and certainly
came from the Altai. But the very fact that they
are listed among the great migration of people
who arrived in Central Asia in the second half of
the fourth century combined with their subject
status there makes it impossible to speak with
precise meaning of a nationality of the Hephtalites. They were, as all the tribal groupings of
that period, an intricate mixture of political and
clan relationships, not mainly an ethnic or linguistic entity. They might have been Oghuric at
the beginning, but such also might have been the
case of the Chionites and the Kidarites, and all
of them made use of the old imperial name of
Hun. All of them went Bactrian. But while the
Kidarite dynasty seems to have played the card of
the local Kushan past, the Hephtalites differentiated themselves and perhaps even defeated the
Kidarites on this very question of the nomadic
past and way of life. They accepted the sedentary
way of life very late in their history and probably
not completely. We have no data to differentiate
all these various dynasties on a linguistic or ethnic basis. We do have some to differentiate them
on a political one. The ethnic question is certainly not of great help for understanding the history of the Hephtalites and the sources regarding
them.
Chinese Text
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Annex 1. The Chinese Texts
A) The Tongdian
Translation
Yada country, Yidatong: Yada country is said to
either be a division of the Gaojgu or of Da Yuezhi stock. They originated from the north of
the Chinese frontier and came down south from
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B) The Liangshu
customs and those of Tujue are nearly the same.
It is their custom that brothers share a wife in
common. If a man is without brothers his wife
wears a hat with one horn, if he has brothers,
there are as many horns as he has brothers. They
have fringes on their garments. They all cut their
hair. Their tongue is different from the tongues
of the Ruanruan, the Gaoju, and the various Hu.
Their total number can be estimated to be ten
miriads. Without cities and towns, they follow
water and grass, using felt to make tents, moving to the cold places in summer, to the warm
ones in winter. [The king?] separates his various wives, each one in a separate place, apart
from one another at a distance perhaps of 200 or
300 li. Their king travels around and changes
places every month, but in the cold of winter
stays three months without moving. The throne
is not always passed on to the [elder] son, the
[other] sons and younger brothers might also be
appointed, if they are able, when the king dies.
They do not have the She but have the Yu. They
have many camels and horses. Corporal punishments are severe and quick, regardless of the
importance of the theft; the thief is severed to
the waist, and if one steals, ten are punished.
As regards the dead, if rich, a chamber made of
stones is constructed; if poor, the earth is dug
and he is buried in the ground. All their belongings are put in the tomb. They are violent and
fierce men, able to fight at war. Among the Western countries, they control Kangju, Yutian, Shale,
and Anxi as well as more than thirty small countries. They claim to be a great country. They have
marital ties with the Ruanruan. From the Taian
period onward, they frequently dispatched envoys to pay tribute. At the end of the period
Zhengguang, an envoy, offered a lion as tribute.
He went up to Gaoping,26 where he met Moqi
Chounu,27 so that he had to stay. Once Chounu
was defeated, he brought the lion to the capital.
From the period Yongxi on, they stopped bringing tribute. The 12th year Datong, they dispatched an envoy who brought native products.
The second year of Feidi, the second year of
Mingdi of the Zhou dynasty, they also sent an
envoy with tribute. Later they were smashed by
the Tujue. The tribes declined and dispersed,
they stopped bringing tribute. In the Daye period
of the Sui, again they dispatched an envoy who
brought native products. To the south, there are
1,500 li to the kingdom of Cao, to the east, there
Translation
The country of Hua is another branch of Jushi
(Turfan). In the 1st year of Yongjian (a.d. 126) of
the Han, a Jushi named Bahua, who under (the
Chinese general) Ban Yong had rendered distinguished services in conquering the Northern savages (i.e., the Xiongnu), was promoted to Hou-bu
Qin-han-hou (or Marquis of Posterior Jushi, who
is friendly to the Han) by arrangement of Ban
Yong. Since the Wei and Jin, no envoy came
(from the country of Hua) to China [. . .]. While
the Yuan Wei (or the Tuoba Wei) had their capital at Sanggan (i.e., 398–494 when the capital
was situated at Pingcheng to the north of the
present Datong), the Hua was still a small subject community under the Ruirui; but, waxing
more and more powerful in the course of time,
they succeeded in conquering the tribes in the
neighbourhood such as Bosi (Sasanid Persia),
Panpan (Warwâlîz?)24 Jibin (Kashmir), Yanqi (Karashar), Guizi (Kucha), Shule (Kashgar), Gumo
(Aksu), Yudian (Khotan) and Juban (Karghalik),
and expanded their territory by more than a
thousand li.”25
Chinese text
./¢0TßJUKM9àáâãy0v.äåæ
ç'è*é0æêv.§qëàì9Zrí
î0^Ò/NOPãrJÂïðM0.ñ§Æ/0Ê
òò9qóôG0õVö/÷øùùú?¿
ûüýþÄÿ!fg"ù#/0$«%
Èo9
C) The Beishi
Translation
Country of the Yada. A kind of Da Yuezhi, they
are also said to be a division of the Gaoju. They
originated from the north of the Chinese frontier
and came down south from the Jinshan mountain. They are located to the west of Khotan.
Their capital is 200 li or more to the south of the
river Wuhu. To Chang’an, there are 10,100 li.
The capital of their king is the town of Badiyan,
which probably [means] the residence of the
king. Its city wall is ten square li or more. There
are many pagodas, all decorated with gold. Their
125
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Chang’an. Its king has his capital in the walled
city of Badiyan, which means something like
“the walled city in which the king resides.” This
walled city is some ten li square. Its penal laws
and customs are about the same as those of Tujue. They also have a custom by which elder
and younger brother both marry one wife. If one
has no elder or younger brother, his wife wears a
one-horned hat. If one has brothers, horns are
added to the hat according to their number. Its
people are fierce and violent, and make mighty
warriors. Yutian, Anxi, and other countries, large
and small, altogether more than twenty, are all
subject to it. In the twelfth year of the period
Datong (546), it sent an envoy who presented its
characteristic products. In the second year of the
reign of Wei Feidi (553), and in the second year
of the reign of (Zhou) Mingdi (558), it also sent
envoys, who came with tribute. Later, it was
smashed by the Tujue. Its settlement were scattered and its tribute stopped.29
are 6,500 li to Guazhou. Before, during the period
Xiping, Mingdi sent as an envoy to the Western
countries Sheng Fuzi, who ordered Song Yun, the
monk Fali, and others to collect Buddhist sutra.
There was then also the monk Hui Sheng, and
they went all together. They came back during
the period Zhengguang, but Hui Sheng could not
learn the history, or [the names of the] mountains or rivers, or the distances in li of the countries he passed through. We have just given a
rough outline.28
Chinese text. I have differentiated phrases presumably from the original Weishu in bold text,
from passages from the Zhoushu, underlined,
and from the Suishu, in italics. Some are in both
the Zhoushu and the Suishu, and some are common to all.
D/0!"#$%&' 0()*+$,%0-.
/0129345670 efgJ&0&'(]
;nÈo0 ijklmlno9V)&*+,-0
.)/-M9V-0xoÈ0 1203[ 9
4567Þ`9V5³´µl·08³´¢·
¸l¹º0¼*³´¢VJ½0¾~¹¿9
89&:;<=9>?@A9-BCDDE*+F
GHIJ9 KLM9NOP0QRST0;UV
W0XYZ[0\]^_9`-Ga0bc,d0
efghiEjik9-lmn6o 0p"q_0
\r$s0j"It9luIvwx 0xyz{0
|}~$9-N+99 0
N?0qL9|{0V
0{60RG 0?9 V9:
;0Ø <9 E¡¢E£¤E¥¦FG§
jL¨?©ª$0«V!9CDD¬93®
¥;¯0p°±²³9´µ¶ 0°³·xq0¸*
¹0º»¼½¾¿ 0ÀÁ$9½¾¹0Â÷9Ä
Å;¯0²ÆÇÈ9 pGÔx;y012=V0
®9>t;y?Ït;y0!12î=9q§6
7B"0#$%0&8'(9p)G*Ò0²1
2Í80®9V/i+/%,no0hi-./%
,no9É0ŹÊ0Ḛ̈ÍÎxÏÐÑE£Ò
ÓÔÕ±0ÖרÙ0s£ÒÚÛ{0(C
Üo9´µÊ0Ý9ÚÛdÙG0IÞß-à¶
F5ákâ0ãä-åæ9
Chinese text
D/0GH0JKL0efgJ&0hijkl
mno9V)1*+,-0.)/-M9V-0x
Èo9245067Þ`9V5²³´µ¶
l·98³´¢0V·¸l¹º»¼*³´¢0
VJ½0¾~º¹¿9V93;0Ø< 9
fgkÅ#GÆ;xÈ/0ÉÊJ9GÔx;
y012=V0®9r>t;y0Ït;y0!1
2î=9q§67B"0#$%0&8'(9
E) The Suishu
Translation:
The country of Yida has its capital 200 li or more
to the south of the river Wuhu. The people are of
Greater Yuezhi stock. They have an army of five
to six thousand men. They are reputed to be good
warriors. Formerly the country became disordered, and the Turks sent Tong Shad Zijie, who
forcibly took possession of this country. The
capital walled city is 10 square li or more. There
are many pagodas, all decorated with gold. Brothers share a wife in common. If a woman is married with only one man, she wears a hat with
one horn, if he has brothers, there are as many
horns as he has brothers. To the south, there
are 1,500 li to the kingdom of Cao, to the east,
there are 6,500 li to Guazhou. In the Daye pe-
D) The Zhoushu
Translation:
The country of Yada is of Greater Yuezhi stock.
It is west of Yutian, and 10,100 li west of
126
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Song copy of the Liang Zhigongtu ?&8@: left fragment.
Song copy of the Liang Zhigongtu ?&8@: right fragment.
to the Liang from various tributary countries,
with images of them (twelve out of thirty-five are
extant).30
Ambassadors from the Western countries or
from the sea are depicted: from left to right, from
Marw (Mo Ú), Balkh (Boti +,), Kumedh (Humidan }AB), Qubadiyan (Hebatan CDE), Karghalik (Zhouguke ?FG), Dengzhi (Hp some
mountainous tribes on the road to Gansu),
Langyaxiu (IJK Ceylon or Malaysia)/Japan
(Wei L), Kucha (üý), Paekche (Boji nM) in
Korea, Persia (Bosi ÷ø), and Hephtalites (the
country of Hua .).
The Liang Zhigongtu is derived from the original treatise of Pei Ziye, as is the chap. 54 of the
Liangshu, and gives a slightly more complete
text on the Hephtalites (in italics): 31 “When the
Suolu (the Northern Wei) entered (the Chinese
frontier) and settled in the (valley of the river)
Sanggan (i.e., 398–494), the Hua was still a small
riod, they dispatched an envoy who brought native products.
Chinese text
EF/0&'(];nÈo0GHIJKLM9
45¢,/%9956<97%/80671^9
:;ô<V/9&-0xÈo91203
[9³´`·9=9*l8¢0>l¹º08³´
¢0V½§¹9]i+/%,no0hi-.
/%,no9G*Ò01280®
Annex 2. The Liang Zhigongtu
Enoki had to return to the Jushi theory later on
because of the discovery in the Nanjing museum
of a Song copy of the Liang Zhigongtu ?&8@
(Liang dynasty images of tributaries), an illustrated manuscript describing ambassadors sent
127
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520, the date of the embassies of Hua recorded in
the Liang Zhigongtu, many of the towns or small
regions that sent embassies to the Liang were
within the Hephtalite empire. The embassies of
Kumedh, Qubadiyan, and Karghalik were all sent
in 520 with the embassy of Hua, while Balkh sent
its embassy in 522. It is clear that the Hephtalites
permitted independent embassies from the main
towns of their empire so that the fact that there
were embassies of Samarkand up to 509 is not in
itself a proof of a late conquest of Sogdiana, while
the end of the embassies of the kingdom of Sogdiana in 479 might indeed mean more.34
Moreover the text gives the Qi period as the
moment of the shift to Moxian, but the Qi period
began in 479 precisely, and the coincidence
would be perfect between the end of the embassies from Sogdiana and the movement to Moxian.
The last character, Â, means to settle but also to
occupy, so that the whole sentence might be
translated “in the Qi period they began to go to
Moxian and occupied it.” From then on, Sogdiana would have been the wealthiest part of their
empire.
It is strange that among all the conquests of the
Hephtalites, the Liangshu failed to mention only
Sogdiana, then certainly conquered, while mentioning all the other conquests (“they succeeded
in conquering the tribes in the neighbourhood
such as Bosi [Sasanid Persia], Panpan [Warwâlîz?],
Jibin [Kashmir], Yanqi [Karashar], Guizi [Kucha],
Shule [Kashgar], Gumo [Aksu], Yudian [Khotan],
and Juban [Karghalik], and expanded their territory by more than a thousand li.”) The parallel
text in the Weishu does mention the conquest of
Sogdiana. It is known that a Hephtalite king bore
a Sogdian title as early as the 480s, which is difficult to explain if Sogdiana was not within the
empire.35 Sogdiana would have been conquered
first, before the war with Persia, and not last, as
usually believed, and this idea would have consequences for our understanding of the Sogdian
economic and urban growth: I have proposed that
the Kidarites, who invaded Sogdiana from Bactria
sometimes around 440, could have been held responsible for both of them. But with the Hephtalite conquest of Sogdiana pushed backwards by
thirty years, the Hephtalites might have quickly
superseded the Kidarites36 and have pursued the
Kidarites’ efforts to construct a whole series of
fortified Hippodamian towns, attested from Herat
to Bukhara and Panjikent.37 The wealth of Peroz’
country and under the rule of the Ruirui. In the
Qi period (479–502), they left (their original
area) for the first time and shifted to Moxian,
where they settled” Nè7Âïð.§Æ/OÊ
òòP%QR@=\Â.
With this new indication, and after correcting
Moxian @= to Moyou @S (*mâkshu), seen as a
transcription of Wakhshu, Enoki proposed that,
having deduced from the name of Ba Hua that
the Hephtalites were Jushi, Pei Ziye logically
thought: (1) that they were under the rule of the
Ruirui as the whole area north of Turfan was under their rule in the second half of the fifth century; (2) that the reason for the presence of Hua
in Tokharistan and not to the north of Turfan
was that when the Ruirui were expelled from
there in 485 (hence the mention of the Qi period
from 479 to 502) by the Gaoju, the Hua moved to
Tokharistan, perhaps to escape the turmoil. In
other words the whole set of political data from
the Liangshu and the Liang Zhigongtu would
have been only an ad hoc explanation of Pei Ziye
to bridge the gap between his own explanation of
the country of Hua as being to the north of Turfan
and the location of Hua in Tokharistan.
Although Enoki’s argument is quite logical, especially in his first part, I am not so sure that the
part of the text dealing with Moxian is only a
mere learned gloss, and I would like to propose
another hypothesis, the weakness of which I am
fully aware.
As a matter of fact, Moxian is a real name,
unknown from other sources, and it crept into
this precise part of the text, which might mean
that some part of these data might have come
from the ambassadors themselves. Furthermore,
Enoki corrected the name, but if left uncorrected,
Moxian (EMC mâk-xIanh, Karlgren mâk-c ïÅn’
might be a truncated transcription of (Sa)markand, Greek Marakanda, as Enoki himself first
proposed.32
It is not known precisely when Sogdiana was
conquered by the Hephtalites. I have in my Sogdian Traders followed Kuwayama and understood the end of the embassies from Samarkand
to the Northern Wei in 509 as a hint to the date
of the Hephtalite conquest of Sogdiana.33 But the
last embassies of Sogdiana to the Wei are dated
precisely to 479, and Enoki understood the disappearance of the name of Sogdiana in the Wei
annals as the date of the Hephtalite conquest. He
might be right: there is no question that in 516 or
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ransom might have been invested locally.38 In
fact this hypothesis, while based on flimsy evidence, would not contradict anything known of
the very obscure history of the Hephtalite empire
in the second half of the fifth century, and would
help to explain in a neat and compact way the
new distribution of wealth and power in western
Central Asia after this period.
What would then be the Es- prefixed to it? Immediately there comes to mind the common
Turkic prefix Es-, meaning “comrade, companion
of,”46 attested precisely during this period among
the Attilanic Huns (for instance Esqam ◊ Escavm,
companion of the Shaman).47 EskiÙil would be a
meaningful Hunnic name or title, companion of
the Sword (i.e., of Mars), and would be perfectly
in accordance with what I have demonstrated to
be the common political and ethnic past of the
European and Central Asian Huns.
Annex 3
Khin% gila, EskiÙgil
Notes
The name Khin% gila is known from various
sources, Indian, Chinese and Arabic, as well as
on coins and inscriptions.39 It is now known
also on a Bactrian seal, recently published by
P. Callieri and N. Sims-Williams, at least if we
regard the eÂkiggilo to be read on this seal as a
variant of the same name.40 Sims-Williams cautiously proposed an etymology through Indic—
(Khin% gila > *Kßin% gila [sanskritization] > SkiÙil
[metathesis] > EskiÙil [prothesis]) but it is not
clear why this name, unattested in Indian onomastic, should be Indian. While various Khin% gila
are known in Indian history, all of them seem
to be related to foreign dynasties of the Northwest, so that it would be more logical to regard
Khin% gila as a foreign name. The problem is in
fact double: we have to find a suitable etymology
for Khin% gila and to explain the variant Eskingil.
As regards the first part of this problem, another
possibility, first proposed to my knowledge by
X. Tremblay, would be interesting. Tremblay indeed made the link between Khin% gila and an
analysis by Pulleyblank41 of the name of the Sacred sword worshipped by the Xiongnu, kenglu
TU (< *keÙ–hfl lax) compared by Pulleyblank and
others with Turkish qïÙïraq “double-blade knife,”
the Wakhi xiÙgar, and the Sogdian xngr.42 This
sword was worshipped among the Xiongnu in
the same way as the Scythians and the Attilanic
Huns worshipped one.43 But kenglu was not only
the name of a sword but also, at least among the
Xiongnu and Attilanic Huns, the name of a god
(kenglu shen),44 or perhaps the attribute of a god,
identified as the god of War, Mars, in Jordanes’s
testimony about the “sword of Mars” given to
Attila.45 Khin
% % gila might have been a theophoric
name.
1. Enoki 1959. As this article will be thoroughly
quoted, in the text I will give only the reference to the
pages.
2. Sims-Williams 2000, 32–33.
3. See the complete translation and Chinese text
in Annex 1.
4. Liangshu, chap. 30, p. 443; Enoki 1970, 39–41.
5. Tongdian, 5258–60.
6. For instance in the Shiwei chapter, 5487.
7. See Annex 1 for a complete translation and the
Chinese text.
8. Wencheng is the reading of the oldest manuscripts. See n. 29 in Tongdian, 5284.
9. Kuwayama 1989, 116–18.
10. Golden 1992, 93–96. Outside of the sinological
data, two recent discoveries might confirm this idea: (1)
a word is attested in the Hephtalite kingdom as swpano
and in proto-Bulgar as zoapan (Sims-Williams 2002,
234). This might mean a common Oghuric past. But
we cannot be sure that it was not a Chionite or Kidarite word or whatever tribe arrived with the Hephtalites
in Central Asia. (2) A new Bactrian seal has been discovered in Pakistan, but it was written at Samarkand,
as this seal gives the titulature in Bactrian of a 5th-century lord of Samarkand. It gives a title oglargo uonano
Âao king of the Oghlar Huns. Oghlar looks like a clan
name, although an interpretation as Oghlar, king of
the Huns, that is, as a personal name, can not be
excluded. This name is unknown from other sources,
but it sounds very close to the eponymous name of the
Oghuric tribes, Oghur, -lar being a plural suffix in
Turkish while Oghur being itself regarded as a form
based on Ogh- child, to be liked, and a denominative
suffix -ur. Oghur is supposed to mean “the Kindred
ones,” and so might be the meaning of Oghlar (Golden
1992, 96. Differently in Rahman, Sims-Williams, and
Grenet 2006, where Oghlar is understood as “the
princes, the sons.” Many thanks to Peter Golden, who
provided me with some help on this point). However,
it is a Chionite or Kidarite seal, as the titulature on the
129
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Fuzhentong Á\]` sent in 520. It describes their costumes and hairdos: Enoki 1970, 44.
32. Enoki 1970, 41.
33. La Vaissière 2005, 110–11; Kuwayama 1989,
117–18; see also Grenet 2002, 211.
34. However, this would leave unexplained the end
of the embassies from Samarkand in 509.
35. ˇabari I.874, transl. Bosworth 1999, 113, gives
the name of the Hephtalite king who defeated Peroz
in 484 as Akhshunwar, which can be Sogdian
ªxsªwndªr “power-holder” (Henning 1936, 17).
36. Peroz defeated them in 468 (Priscus, transl.
Blockley, 361).
37. Grenet 1996, 372–83.
38. Grenet 1996, 388, already suggested this idea,
but did not see that it contradicts his idea of a Hephtalite conquest of Sogdiana in 509.
39. Petech 1964; Kuwayama 1999; Callieri 2002,
129.
40. Callieri 2002; Sims-Williams 2002b.
41. Pulleyblank 1962, 222. Akinakès is sometimes
added to this family of names.
42. Tremblay 1999, 182–84.
43. See Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 278–80.
44. Kao 1960, 222–23.
45. Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 279.
46. Clauson 1972, 253–54.
47. Maenchen-Helfen 1973, 408. Âscavn in Belisarius’ army, although interpreted differently by
Maenchen-Helfen (p. 413) might also be “companion
of the Qan.”
seal includes Kushanshah, a title that disappeared after
the Kidarites. For discussions of the ethnic background
of the Hephtalites according to the vocabulary, see
Tremblay 2001, 183–88, and Sims-Williams 2002, 233–
34. Tremblay could not have made use of the Bactrian
documents, then still unpublished.
11. La Vaissière 2005.
12. See, for instance, Bivar’s article, and many
others, on the Hephtalites in the Encyclopaedia Iranica: “It is therefore assumed that the Hephthalites
constituted a second Hunnish wave who entered Bactria early in the fifth century c.e., and who seem to
have driven the Kidarites into Gandhara.” The idea of
waves is to be found in all the historiography.
13. In itself, the sentence is quite hard to understand, because “all the other hu” can include all the
populations of nomadic and sedentary Central Asia,
including Bactrian. But the contrast with the oldest
part of the text is quite clear.
14. Transl. Enoki 1959, 6–7.
15. He was with Belisarius in his wars against the
Persians from 527 on, and he wrote the History of the
Wars between 540 and 550. If he also gives information
from an earlier period, it seems nevertheless that the
description is that of an eyewitness and that his testimony on the Hephtalites can be dated from 527 on.
16. Procopius I.iii.2–8 (transl. Dewing), vol. 1, 13–15.
17. Menander (ed. and transl. Blockley), 115–17.
18. The passage is also in the Beishi, but here this
text only copies the Zhoushu.
19. Thanks to Prof. François Martin for his indications on this matter.
20. Grenet 2002, 210.
21. Both are chariots and this passage, repeated in
the Beishi, might be corrupted.
22. Transl. Wakeman 1990, 709–13, modified.
23. Tongdian, 5259.
24. According to Enoki, but it should be rather
Tashkurgan, Keban VW as in the parallel text of the
Tongdian.
25. Liangshu, chap. 54, 812, transl. Enoki 1959, 1–2.
26. Modern Guyuan.
27. A Xianbei rebel.
28. See also the French translation of Chavannes
1903, 402, n. 3.
29. Zhoushu (transl. Miller), 11–12.
30. Enoki devoted a long article to this manuscript
and its textual tradition: Enoki 1984, and a specific
article on the Hephtalites in this manuscript: Enoki,
1970, reprinted at the end of Enoki 1984. Detailed
images in Enoki 1984.
31. It also gives some additional data, especially
that the Hephtalites enslaved the kings of the countries which they conquered, and the names of three
ambassadors: Puduoda (?) XY (? the last character is
missing), sent in 516, Fuheliaoliao £Z[[, and Kang
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