Battle of the Oxus (399)
| Battle of the Oxus | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Gupta–Huna conflict[a] and Gupta–Hunnic Wars | |||||||||
 Map of the Amu Darya's watershed in Central Asia, that drains parts of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan into the Aral Sea | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Gupta Empire | Hephthalites | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Chandragupta II | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown but high[b] | ||||||||
The Battle of the Oxus occurred in 399, when Chandragupta II defeated the Hunas at the banks of the Oxus river.[8][c][d]
Background
Submission of Varahran
After the (Persian) Sasanians faced defeat in the Battle of Sistan, which demoralized the Persian contingents in present-day Afghanistan. As the Gupta Army marched northwards to Kapisa, Varahran was quick to grasp the political realities and offered his submission to the Gupta Emperor, Chandragupta II.[11]
Battle
Gupta cavalry's arrival by the Oxus river
Bactria was under the Huna occupation in the last quarter of the fourth century AD.[12] The sudden attack into the Oxus valley caught the Transoxiana alliance off-guard. The Pamir Tocharians were unable to combine with the Hunas (Hephthalites). On hearing the news of the Gupta Empire advance, the Hephtalites resorted to a tactical retreat to the north of the Oxus River into the plains of Southern Uzbekistan. When the Gupta cavalry arrived by the Oxus river on the southern banks, they camped there. Kalidasa poetically described how the cavalry camped on the banks of the river Vankshu in the midst of saffron fields in a verse of his Raghuvamsa:
"...His horses, that had lessened their fatigues of the road by turning from side to side on the banks of the river Vankshu (Oxus), shook their shoulders to which were clung the filaments of saffron..."
Historians studied this as a description of the Gupta cavalry camping on the banks of the Oxus during Chandragupta II's expedition.[13][14]
Aftermath
Notes
- ↑ "We can safely conclude not only that the Vahlikas of the Meharauli Inscription were the Oxus valley Hunas, but also that the first Gupta-Huna contact and conflict had taken place during the reign of Candragupta II. That is, the date of the first Gupta-Huna conflict should be fixed some forty years before the date of the so-called Huna invasion during the time of Skandagupta. In the light of this discussion, a reappraisal of the evidence of the Bhitari stone pillar inscription of Skandagupta on the Gupta-Huna conflict is likely to yield fruitful results."[1]
- ↑ Kalidasa describes the gloomy aftermath of the Hunnic defeat in the Oxus valley when the Hunnic women scarred their faces as was the ancient custom of cutting the faces of the wives of deceased warriors in battle. To quote the poet:
"...There (in the Vanskhu valley)... the power (of the exploits of the Indian emperor) of which was clearly seen in (the slaughter of) the husbands of the young (Huna) women (when) in the inner apartments of the camps of the Huna Kings, (these exploits of the Indian army) proved a teacher of ruddiness in their cheeks (which were self-scarred following their Huna culture)..."
[7] - ↑ "We get some informations about the Hūṇas from Kālidāsa, who in his Raghuvaṃśa places them on the banks of the river Oxus where they were defeated by Raghu. Taking Kālidāsa to be a contemporary of Chandragupta II, we can conclude that the Hūṇas had occupied Bactria in the last quarter of the fourth century AD." [9]
- ↑ "In a well-contested battle, Candragupta had defeated them. That
battle had taken place somewhere in southern Afghanistan. He had
pushed them towards the Persian border. His success against them had inspired him to invade the Oxus valley Hunas.
Once he took that decision, he adopted the northern route and descended on the Oxus valley.
Since the Hunas had done nothing which could make the Indian ruler hostile towards them, they did not expect any invasion from the south. They were taken by surprise. And before they could recover from the initial shock, they were defeated by the Indian army."[10]
References
- ↑ Raghavendra Vajpeyi 1977, p. 789.
- ↑ "As early as in 1912, K. B. Pathak had, with the help of a comparative study of the Sanskrit and the Greek phonetics; asserted that the Sanskrit word Vanksu was spelt in the Greek as Oxus and was pronounced as Vaksu. He had maintained that the river Vanksu of Kalidasa was the same as the river Oxus of the Greeks." Raghavendra Vajpeyi (1977). "The Vahlikas of the Mehrauli Iron Pillar Inscription". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 38: 785. JSTOR 44139148.
- ↑ Pathak, K. B. Kalidasa and the Hunas of the Oxus Valley, Indian Antiquary, XLI. p. 266.
- ↑ "It is thus settled that Kālidāsa located the Hūnas conquered by Raghu on the bank of the river Vankshu or Oxus rather than the Sindhu or the Indus."Prakash, Buddha (1962). Studies in Indian History and Civilization. Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. 282.
- ↑ Prakash, Buddha (1962). Studies in Indian History and Civilization. Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. 282.
- ↑ Prakash, Buddha (1962). Studies in Indian History and Civilization. Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. Chapter XIII.
- ↑ Agrawal 1989, p. 165.
- ↑ Raghavendra Vajpeyi 1977, p. 787.
- ↑ Prakash, Buddha (1962). Studies in Indian History and Civilization. Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. Chapter XIII and Chapter XIV.
- ↑ " Taking Kālidāsa to be a contemporary of Chandragupta II, we can conclude that the Hūṇas had occupied Bactria in the last quarter of the fourth century AD. " Agrawal 1989, p. 240
- ↑ "The Raghuvamsa Of Kalidasa. With The Commentary Of Mallinatha by Nandargikar, Gopal Raghunath: used/Good rebound full cloth (1982) | Prabhu Book Exports". www.abebooks.co.uk. p. verse 66, Chapter XIII. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
- ↑ Agrawal 1989, p. 166.
Bibliography
( Agrawal, Ashvini (1989). Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0592-7.