Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 48
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 69
________________ May, 1919 ] THE HUN PROBLEM IN INDIAN HISTORY THE HUN PROBLEM IN INDIAN HISTORY. By Pror, 8. KRISHNASWAMI AY ANGAR, M.A.; MADRAS. The Huns were an Asiatic people who, according to accepted history, dominated the world during the 4th and 6th centuries of the Christian era. Gibbon says of them: "The Western world was oppressed by the Goths and Vandals who fled before the Huns; but the achievements of the Huns themselves were not adequate to their power and prosperity. Their victorious hordes had spread from the Volga to the Danube, but the public force was exhausted by the discord of independent chieftains; their valour was idly consumed inobscure and predatory exoursions; and they often degraded their national dignity by condescending, for the hope of spoil, to enlist under the banners of their fugitive enemies. In the reign of Attila, the Huns again became the terror of the world, and I shall now describe the character and actions of that formidable Barbarian, who alternately insulted and invaded the East and the West, and urged the rapid downfall of the Roman Empire. "In the tide of emigration which impetuously rolled from the confines of China to those of Germany, the most powerful and populous tribes may commonly be found on the verge of the Roman provinces. Their accumulated weight was sustained for a while by artificial barriers; and the only condescension of the emperors invited, without satisfying, the insolent demands of the Barbarians who had acquired an eager appetite for the luxuries of civilized life. "Attila, the son of Mundzuk, deduoed his noble, perhaps his regal, descent from the ancient Huns, who had formerly contended with the monarchs of China. His features, accord ing to the observation of a Gothic historian, bore the stamp of his national origin; and the portrait of Attila exhibits the genuine deformity of a modern Calmuck: a large head, a swarthy complexion, small, deep-seated eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a beard, broad shoulders, and a short square body, of nervous strength, though of a disproportioned form. The haughty step and demeanour of the king of the Huns expressed the consciousness of his superiority above the rest of mankind; and he had a custom of fiercely rolling his eyes, as if he wished to enjoy the terror which he inspired." The Huns in the East. At the other extremity of their influence at about the same period, a more recent historian has the following: -"Reference has already been made to the Yueh-Chi as having in 163 B.C. dispossessed the Sakas from their habitat in the Tarim Basin. In 120 B.C. the Yush-Chi drove the Sakas put of Bactria, which they occupied and which remained their centre for many generations. In 30 B.O. one of their tribes, the Kwei-Shang. subdued the others, and the nation became known to the Romans as the Kushan. Antony sent ambassadors to this people and Kushan chiefs appeared in Rome during the reign of Augustus. Their power gradually waned, and they were finally supplanted by & race known to the Chinese as the Yetha, to the classical writers as the Ephthalites or White Huns, and to the Persians as the Haythal: the new-oomors, though of a similar stock, were entirely distinot from the Yueh-Chi whom they drove out. This powerful tribe crossed the Oxos about A.D. 425, and according to the Persian chroniclers the news of their invasion caused a widespread panic." The Inaugural Leoture before the Madras Christian College Amociated Societies. + Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Mothua'Popular odition, Vol. III, pp. 416-19. • History of Persia, by Lieut.-Col. Sir P. M. Sykes, Vol. I, pp. 468-9.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458