Hephthalite Empire

Hephthalite Empire
Nomadic empire
408–670
The Hephthalites (green), c. 500.
Capital		Kunduz (Walwalij, Drapsaka, or Badian) Balkh (Pakhlo)
Languages		Bactrian Gandhari (Gandhara) Sogdian (Sogdiana) Chorasmian Sanskrit Turkic
Religion		Buddhism Hinduism Manichaeism Zoroastrianism
Political structure		Nomadic empire
Tegin
•	430/440 – ≈490	Khingila
•	490/500 – 515	Toramana
•	515–528	Mihirakula
Historical era		Late Antiquity
•	Established	408
•	Disestablished	670
Preceded by Succeeded by Kushan Empire Sassanid Empire Gupta Empire Kidarites Kabul Shahi Göktürk Empire Zunbils Principality of Chaghaniyan
Today part of		Afghanistan  China  India  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Pakistan  Tajikistan  Turkmenistan  Uzbekistan

Hephthalites (or Ephthalites) was the Latinised exonym for a people commonly known in Chinese sources by names such as Yada 嚈噠. They were a confederation of peoples in Central Asia who expanded their domain westward and southward during the 5th century. They included both nomadic and urban, settled communities.

It is not clear whether the Hephthalites or a related people, the Xionites, were synonymous with the White Huns (Sanskrit Sveta Huna).

The modern Abdali or Durrani (from the Bactrian Ebodalo), a Pashtun tribal confederation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are widely believed to descend from the Hephthalites.

At the height of its power in the first half of the 6th century, the Hephthalite Empire controlled territory in present-day Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India and China.

The stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan on the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, in what is present-day northeastern Afghanistan. By 479, the Hephthalites had conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites westwards, and by 493 they had captured parts of present-day Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin in what is now Northwest China.

India was invaded during the 5th century by a people known in South Asia as the Hunas – possibly an alliance broader than the Hephthalites and/or Xionites. The Hunas were initially defeated by Emperor Skandagupta of the Gupta Empire. By the end of the 5th century, however, the Hunas had overrun the part of the Gupta Empire that was to their southeast and had conquered Central and North India. Gupta Emperor Bhanugupta defeated the Hunas under Toramana in 510. The Hunas were driven out of India by the kings Yasodharman and Narasimhagupta, during the early 6th century.