A view of river vitasta or Jhelum, Srinagar , Kashmir ......
Photo Autar Mota
HUNS , MIHIRKULA AND KASHMIR
While going through history of Kashmir , one comes across a name MIHIRAKULA. I have been asked by many friends to comment on this name and the character of the person. I shall elaborate as under :-
To Know Mihirakula , we must also know something about HUNS , a violent tribe that inhabited various places in central Asia . Riding horses , Huns swarmed countries and indulged in killing , looting and other barbaric acts to spread terror .Entering through Hindu Kush pass , White Huns attacked India during the reign of Gupta kings somewhere in the middle of fifth century. Emperor Skandagupta is reported to have given a crushing defeat to this first batch of Huns . This tribe now diverted their attack towards Europe. This group of white Huns marched towards Europe and swarmed various countries . Not satisfied , another group of Huns led by TORAMANA again attacked India entering through Hindukush pass. Toramana conquered Punjab , Rajputana and Malwa and ruled this country for a brief period from 510 AD to 511 AD. He had his sway over KASHMIR and DOAB as well. Toramana was succeeded by his son MIHIRAKULA . Mihirakula was a Hinduised Hun who ( as per some historians ) demolished Bhudhist Viharas and demonstrated sadistic tendencies . To deal with Mihirakula , Gupta kings put all their might together and drove out Mihirakula from their land . Driven out of the plains, Mihirakula now moved to Kashmir .The prince of Kashmir gave him an asylum but Mihirakula overthrew the prince with intrigues and he sat on the throne. He could not enjoy his power for a long time, as he died of disease in 533. A.D. It is recorded that Mihirkula never laughed. For ordinary and petty issues he ordered slaughter. Slaughter of animals and subjects . R S Pandit records at page 40 of Rajataringani (his English Translation ) that Mihirakula carried out a terrible persecution of Bhudhists . He goes on to add that he killed monks and destroyed many Viharas in Kashmir . Mihirakula is reported to have brought a large number of prisoners with him to Kashmir and is is also reported to have massacred a good number of captives on the banks of river Indus on way to Kashmir . Mihirakula made the Hun name dreaded and hated in Kashmir .Many historians are tempted to call him THE INDIAN NERO.
Mihirakula coins were found first of all in Bactria and in some territories of the present Afghanistan and also in Kashmir and in different parts of the country . After Mihiakula’s death Praversena his younger brother came to Kashmir and ascended the kashmirian throne . This king built present Srinagar city and later on made it as the capital of his kingdom.
The tide of Hun invasions had almost stopped by the end of the sixth century, when the Turks and the Persians attacked them in Bactria. Huns had set up their capital in Bamiyan Afghanistaan . From this focal position , they set out to conquer entire India . A school of thought believes that Huns were Bhudhists. Another school of thought puts forth a theory that Huns destroyed many Bhudhist Viharas and were Shiva worshippers . Whatever be the fact , Huns certainly adopted the religion and tradition of the country where they settled after conquering . In this context many Huns were Hinduised and those who moved towards Europe adopted Christianity as their faith.
( Autar Mota )
Saturday , 15th September, 2012…Time 11.15 P.M....... Good Night ...
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.