Hans Bakker's book under review here provides a collection of information from many sources on the study of Alkhans in South Asia. The book is divided into five chapters, and also includes a concise preface, introduction, and a common bibliography and index at the end. It also contains a useful list of maps and many reference figures related to the history of Hunnic peoples in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent.
A brief preface opens the book, in which the author describes its relation to the European Research Council funded project “Beyond Boundaries: Religion, Region, Language and the State” (2014–2020). The project was based at the British Museum and focused on shedding light on many aspects of the history of the Huns and their contemporaries, and the impact they had on India, Iran and Central Asia.
The importance of available source materials for the history of Huns in South Asia is explained in the introduction. In the absence of authentic written evidence, the coins issued by the leaders of those people constitute one of the most reliable primary sources for the history of the Huns in these regions. It must be emphasized that our knowledge of the Huns as Central Asian nomads is to a certain extent still vague, and that many hypotheses regarding their history remain controversial in contemporary scholarship. Also, in the introduction, the author points out the importance of the numismatic materials and the ethnic names therein as providing clarification or potential solutions to many historical questions. From the inscriptions on coins, the new wave of “Iranian Huns” after the Kidarites, following R. Göbl, was that of so-called “alxono”. According to M. Alram and M. Pfisterer the precise spelling should be Alkhan, but in some literature one also encounters the spelling Alchon.
Chapter 1 focuses on the Sasanian and Gupta Empires and their wars against the Kidarites, who were followed by the Hephthalites and the Alkhans. Special reference is given to the Alkhans through coins and artefacts, such as the famous silver bowls from Swat (now in the British Museum) and from Chilek (Uzbekistan), which depict images of Kidarites and Alkhans. The chapter ends with an appendix of extracts from the Armenian historical sources written by Ełišē and Łazar P‘arpec‘i about wars between the Sasanian king Yazdegerd II and neighbours along the north-eastern borders of his empire in the fifth century ce. There is also a timeline which refers to the main historical events from 350 up to the late 560s, when an alliance between the Sasanians and Western Turks brought an end to the Hephthalite Empire's supremacy in Bactria.
The second chapter analyses the early Sanskrit sources of information about the Hūṇas (i.e. Huns). The author deals with literary sources such as the Mahābhārata and Rājataraṅgiṇī, which include some references to Hūṇas, and also with 17 epigraphic inscriptions in Sanskrit, mostly consisting of stone pillars dated to the fifth and sixth centuries ce.
Chapter 3 deals with the two epigraphic sources about the Alkhans. The first is the inscription on the silver bowl from Swat (mentioned in chapter 1). The author provides several possibilities for readings of four letters on the outside of the bowl for this inscription. The second source discussed is a copper scroll inscription in Sanskrit from the Schøyen collection, inscribed to commemorate the consecration of a Buddhist sanctuary in Śārdīyasa. The author suggests that Śārdīyasa was situated in the western Punjab, identifiable with modern Śārdi and dated to 495/496 ce.
Chapter 4, entitled “Toramāṇa's Country”, briefly discusses one of the best-known Alkhan rulers – Toramāna. The author draws information from several sources, including the Khurā Stone inscription, the Boar of Eran's inscription, the Prakrit text of Uddyotanasūri (779 ce) “Kuvalayamālā”. After analysis of these, he concludes that at the turn of the sixth century ce the heart of Toramāna's kingdom was located mostly in the western part of the Punjab.
The fifth and final chapter focuses on warfare between the Alkhan rulers and the rulers of the Gupta Empire and its governors in north-western India in the fifth–sixth centuries ce. The author reports on two “Hunnic” wars, the first ending in 510 ce with the victory of the Hunnic ruler Toramāna (of chapter 4), after which the Gupta Empire ceased to exist. The second war was started during the reign of Toramāna's son Mihirakula, who succeeded to the throne after his father's death in 515 ce. Mihirakula engaged in wars against Aulikara and Maukharis, two of the successor states of the collapsed Gupta Empire. These wars ended in 532 ce with victory for the coalition of Indian rulers under the leadership of the Aulikara king Yaśodharman, reflected in his inscriptions on victory pillars erected in Mandasor and Sondhni. The Alkhan rulers were unable to recover after this defeat. The chapter ends with an appendix of the full translated text from the Sondhni pillar inscription of Yaśodharman.
The book ends with a common bibliography and two indexes: one of sources and one general, the latter prepared by D. Heilijgers. For the bibliography it is worth noting that there are several works which unfortunately escaped the author's notice.
Overall, Bakker's work refreshes the current state of knowledge by providing detailed source information on the Hunnic peoples in the Indian subcontinent. The book will be a reliable, updated resource for researchers of Pre-Islamic Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Hopefully, it will also inspire further research into understanding the importance of the Hunnic peoples’ role in the Late Antique world.
