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628 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
death of Kumāra Gupta I, the fierce Huns swooped down upon the north-western provinces of the empire and eventually made themselves masters of the Pañjāb and Eastern Mālwa....
The newcomers were long known to the people of India as a race of Uitlanders closely associated with the Chinese. The Mahāvastu' mentions them along with the Chînas, while the Sabhāparva of the Mahābhārata? includes them in a list of foreign tribes amongst whom the Chinas occupy the first place :
Chinān sakaṁs tathā ch Odrān (?) 3 Varvarān Nanavāsināh Vārshneyān (2) Hāra-Hünāmscha Krishnan Haimavatamistatha.
A verse in the Bhishmaparva * brings the Huns into relations with the Pārasikas or Persians :
Yavanūs China-Kambojā dārunā Mlechchhajātayah Sakridgrahāh Kulatthāścha Hūnāḥ Parasikaiḥ saha.
This verse is reminiscent of the period when the Huns came into contact with the Sassanian dynasty of Persia. Kālidāsa, too, places the Huns close to Persia-in the saffron-producing country watered by the river Vankshu, the modern Oxus. Early in the reign of the Emperor Skanda Gupta they poured into the Gupta Empire, but were at first beaten back. The repulse of the Huns is mentioned in the Bhitari Inscription and is also probably alluded to by the grammarian Chandragomin as a contemporary event. With the passing away of Skanda Gupta, however, all impediments to the steady advance of the invaders seem to have been removed and, if Somadeva, a Jaina contemporary of Kțishņa III, Rāshtrakūta, is to be
1 I. 135. 2 II, 51. 23-24.
3 The mention of the Odras in this connection is odd. It is tempting to read in the epic verse Chadotāmcha (instead of tathāchodrān). Chacota is the name of a territory in Central Asia near Khotan.
4 9. 65-66.
5 Smith, EHI, 4th edition, p. 339. See also W. M. McGovern, the Early Empires of Central Asia.
6 Ind. Ant., 1912, 265f. 7 Ind. Ant., 1896, 105.
