Alchon Huns
The Alchon Huns, (Bactrian: αλχον(ν)ο [Alkhon(n)o] or αλχαν(ν)ο [Alkhan(n)o]) also known as the Alkhan, Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alakhana, and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus, and later expanded south-east, into the Punjab and Central India, as far as Eran and Kausambi. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire, in a sense bringing an end to Classical India.
Alchon Huns | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 370–670 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Portrait of Alchon king Khingila (c.450 CE), and the bull/lunar tamga of the Alchon (known as Tamgha S1), as visible on Alchon coinage.
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Sanjeli Sondani Kura Rīsthal NEZAK HUNS SASA- NIANS RAIS VAKATAKAS ZHANGZHUNG KINGDOM Northern Wei TOCHARIANS Find spots of epigraphic inscriptions (red dots) indicating local control by the Alchon Huns in India between 500-530 CE, with neighbouring polities, and territorial extent of the Alchon Huns (brown). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Kapisa Udabhanda Sagala | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Brahmi and Bactrian (written) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Shaivism Buddhism Zoroastrianism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Nomadic empire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Late antiquity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 670 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Drachm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Afghanistan Pakistan India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The invasion of India by the Huna peoples follows invasions of the subcontinent in the preceding centuries by the Yavana (Indo-Greeks), the Saka (Indo-Scythians), the Pahlava (Indo-Parthians), and the Kushana (Yuezhi). The Alchon Empire was the second of four major Huna states established in Central and South Asia. The Alchon were preceded by the Kidarites and succeeded by the Hephthalites in Bactria and the Nezak Huns in the Hindu Kush. The names of the Alchon kings are known from their extensive coinage, Buddhist accounts, and a number of commemorative inscriptions throughout the Indian subcontinent.
The Alchons have long been considered as a part or a sub-division of the Hephthalites, or as their eastern branch, but now tend to be considered as a separate entity.