Hunas
THE HUNAS
Huna was a Central Asian tribes who, entered the Indian Subcontinent at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. The Hunas captured Eran and Kausambi, thus weakening the Gupta Empire. Skandagupta was the first Gupta king who defeated Hunas. And stopped them from attacking India for a few years. Scythian were basically, the nomad hordes of foreign tribes, who invaded India during 5th and 6th Century A.D from Central Asia. Scythian refers to the “Hunas” tribe. Their “war like occupation” and aristocracy got them recognised by Brahmins as Kshatriyas. According to a few historians, Rajputs are of Scythian origin.
Inscription number 43.
Eran Stone Boar Inscription of the time of Toramana.
(500-15 A.D.)— Regnal Year 1.
This Inscription of king Toramana,the ruler of the Alchon Huns is in eight lines. The first 3 lines are in meter and the rest in prose, written in late Brahmi of Northern class script It is carved on sand stone varaha statue, a zoomorphic iconography of Vishnu avtar and is dated to sixth century.King Toramana ruled over Malwa region. The inscription records that Dhanyavishnu has dedicated a stone temple to Narayana (Vishnu).
Provenance: Eran, sagar District, Madhya Pradesh.
Ancient records dated from Chalcolithic to late medieval, were found from this town by various research scholars. Ancient Varaha Temple was built here by King Dhyana Vishnu between 485-500 C.E., it is believed to be the colossal representation of the Varaha legend.
Script: Late Brahmi of Northern Class.
Language: Sanskrit .
Metre:
Verse 1: आर्या
V.2: श्लोक अनुष्टुभ
V.3: आर्या
References: J.F Fleet, C.I.I..No, 36,, III, pp.158 ff. Bhandarkar’ s List,
No. 1269 (for other references), Sircar,
Sel,Inss, I, pp.420-22.
Footnote-1.
1. Fleet takes it to be a prose sentence.
2. From the facsimile in C.I.I, III, Pl. xxiii A, opp.pp-160. Eran stone
Pillar Inscription of Budhagupta– Gupta Year 165, Supra Vol II, No.39 These two inscriptions provide interesting information on transition from, Gupta too Huna rule.
3. Expressed by/spiral symbol. According to Sircar, this symbol stands for सिद्धम. The symbol
resembles the one, the sikhs use for
एक ओंकार. Betul plates of Samkshobha (Supra III No. 39 and n2) irrefutably prove that the spiral symbol stands for ओम.
English Translation of the inscription.
L1.1-3 Om ! victorious is the God (Vishnu), who has the
form of a boar, who is in the act of lifting up the earth out of the waters, put the mountains into a whir with the blows of (his) hard snout;
and who is the pillar for support of the great house which is the three worlds.
In the first years while the Maharajadhiraja Sri Toramana of great fame (and) of great lustre, is governing the earth on the tenth day of the month Phalguna, On this luner day specified as above by the regnal year month and day, and invested as above with its
own characteristics.
L1.3-6. By Dhanyavishnu, the younger brother, obedient to him and accepted with favour by him, of the Maharaja Matrivishnu, who has gone to heaven who was extremely devoted to Vishnu, who, by the will of God Brahma, was approached by the goddess of sovereignty as a self-chosen husband as it were, whose fame had
spread up to the limits of the four oceans who was possessed of unimpaired honour and wealth and
who was victorious in battle against many enemies; who (Matrivishnu) was the great grandson of Indravishnu, who was engaged in his own traditional
duties as a Brahmana, who performed sacrifices, who carried on study of the scriptures, who was a Brahmana saint, (and) was the tallest scholar of
the Maitrayaniya (sakha of the Yajurveda), (Matrivishnu) who was the grandson of Varunavishnu,
who resembled (his) father in possessing good qualities -(Matrivishnu) who was the son of
Harivishnu, who took after his father, who was the cause of the growth of his lineage.
L1.6-7 (Dhanyavishnu) who jointly shared the reward for his deeds of piety with him (i.e. his deceased
brother, Matrivishnu) caused to be constructed in this, his own dominion of airikina, this rock temple
of the divine Narayana, who is entirely devoted to the welfare of the universe in his Boar form, with the object of increasing the religious merit of
his mother and father.
L.8: May good fortune attend all the subjects, headed by cows and the Brahmanas.
Footnote-2.
1. The punctuation mark is redundant
2. After this word there ls a sign like a dagger-mark in English typography. It perhaps indicates, as Fleet suggested, that the passage, तेनैव सहाविभक्तपुण्यक्र्कियेण should be read here, i.e. before धन्य विष्णुना .
3. Note that though in the next line he claims Adrikina as his own dominions (विषय) Dhanyavishnu does not
use any royal or official title This indicates that Toramana, who had recently conquered Airikina, had
not yet officially conferred the title of Vishayapati or Maharaja on Dhanyavishnu. The year one in verse 3
also seems to refer to Toramana’s occupation of Malwa, not to his actual regnal reckoning.
4. The allusion is to his incarnation as a boar, when he plunged into the great ocean and rescued the earth,
which had been carried off and hidden there by the demon Hiranyaksha.
