Hunarajas : An Hunnic India TL

Should the last chapter( the goths vs Avars one) be retconned?

  • Total voters
    13
Reader mode
Chapter 1: The End of An Era
  • Index

    • Hannibal The Bannable

    Chapter 1: The End of An Era​

    The Fall of the Gupta to the Hunas of Mihiragula had ended the Golden age of India. North India was now under the hands of Mihiragula and The Hunas. Indian Sources describe Mihiragula as a tyrant and a ruthless ruler. Under his reign , cities like Mathura , Ayodhya and Pataliputra were sacked and plundered. Mihiragula had persecuted Buddhists which made up a significant portion of the population and had replaced the Upper Indian Aristocracy with the Hunas. However it should not be assumed that Mihiragul destroyed North Indian Society, as he had integrated many Indian Values , Systems and principles to his empire . The Lower Aristocracy was mostly left untouched in all but a few places and some had willingly gave into Huna system . Many Positions were retained , only now filled by Loyal followers of Mihiragula . While Mihiragula brutally murdered the Gupta Family, many of their systems were kept in place . The King Mostly held court in Sagala in the Region of Panzabbo or Panjab . Mihiragula’s Empire stretched from Bengal to Panjab and Saurashtra to Kashmir . However Sindh was left unconquered as Mihiragula was only able to score a pyrrhic victory and was content with the Rais recognizing him as their Nominal Overlords.

    ​

    Effects of the Hunnic Conquest of India​

    India had been greatly shaken by the Hunnic Conquests .While society retained most of its Gupta Characteristics, Hunnic Elements had begun to enter the culture . Many Hunnic Gods were identified with Indian ones and were worshipped and The Eastern Iranian Hunnic Language, a variant of Bactrian which had largely displaced their previous language gained prestige , along with the Greek Alphabet. While most of the Linguistic borders remained as they were , Huna and Iranian Loanwords began to penetrate the native Prakrit dialects. Culturally the Hunas were very much distinct and many considered them out of the Caste System ,which ironically began to solidify later in their rule of India. Under Mihiragula ,Buddhism had begun a decline and was increasingly being displaced by Hinduism and Huna Paganism.

    The Deccan and South India​

    The Area just south of the Malwa Plateau was ruled by the Vakatakas who once reigned supreme over most of the former Andhra Empire. The Area Southeast was divide but was mostly ruled by the Nalas while The Bhojas ruled over the Konkan Coast The Far South was ruled by the Kalabhras in Tamil Lands and Anuradhapura in Ceylon. Most of the Kannada lands were ruled over by the Kadambas , while the southern part was ruled by the Western Ganges Dynasty. The Telugu Speaking Lands were Split between the Vishnukundinas and the Pallavas , who also ruled over Kanchi. All these dynasties were influenced by the Hunas but were left relatively unscathed in the intial invasion. The Vakatakas suffered from many Huna raids and had even lost small portions of Territory to the Hunas . Kalinga meanwhile was already being conquered from the Ganga Dynasty under Mihiragula's reign.

    Mihiragula's reign was an odd one. It had arguably established itself as the successors of the Guptas. However they had also destroyed cities like Pataliputra , which never regained its lost glory and had sacked Mathura , Ayodhya and Ujjain , not to mention the peresuction of Buddhists . Due to these reasons , his reign came to be seen unfavorably among Indians and even among later Huna Successors.
    This is my second TL . I had posted a thread 2 weeks about a Hunnic India , so thanks to anyone who answered. Also more or less I have been Inspired by @Practical Lobster 's White Huns TL. Also The Bactrian dialect would be referred to as Huna .
     
    Last edited:
  • Index

    • Byz

    Interesting, don't think I've seen this idea done before. I look forward to seeing your PoDs and how this came to be, as well as further developments.
     

    Harshavardhana

    I like it, very good :).

    I don't understand what Huna paganism is? Do you mean the Tengri gods?

    Feudalism may or may not have the chance of arising in this India with the butterflies however.

    Also another thing, Mihirakula was a Shaivist.
     
    Chapter 2 : Toramana The Great
  • Index

    • Hannibal The Bannable

    Chapter 2: Toramana The Great​

    The Long reign of Mihiragula came to an end as he died in 543 AD . He was succeeded by his nephew Toramana II , for he had no son of his son. And Thus Toramana became Raja with little opposition. Toramana after his ascension , had begun to stabilize his rule over the Empire. He first ended the persecution of Buddhists and secured the support of what remained of the Indian Aristocracy. He had also forbidden Huna Tribes to plunder and loot allied cities and begun a policy of patronizing Indian Culture. This had made the early reign of Toramana difficult and he was forced to deal with small rebellions . Despite his admiration for Indian Culture , he continued to use Huna as the Court language and promoted Huna Culture along with Indian Culture. Disregarding internal struggles , first portion of his reign was largely peaceful . His patronization of Indian Culture had also helped relations with the Rais of Sindh.

    However he had begun to be more expansionist and had conquered Kalinga by 553 . However he mostly retained the Native aristocracy , only replacing a small portion with Hunas . He had also Vassalized the Vakatakas and married an Vakataka Princess in 545 . However he would face the greatest challenge to his rule would come in 555 . In 555, a large number of nobles rose in rebellion, under Mehama . The rebellion was met with brutual suppression and was crushed by 557. Despite the defeat, the rebellion posed a major threat to Toramana's rule. After crushing the rebellion, Toramana began a purging the disloyal Huna Aristocracy and replaced them with Loyal Hunas and Indians .

    The Epatalas​

    The Hephthalite Kingdom laid broken and defeated . The Hephthalites , who once indirectly controlled the Sassanids , were now under Persian Domination. This resulted in a influx to the region of Afghanistan ,which still remained independent , however a significant portion of the Hephthalites instead asked for refuge in India from their former vassal , the Hunas. Toramana contemplated heavily whether to accept their request before finally deciding to accept their request and settle them near the Gandhara Region and also elevated some Hephthalites leaders to his court. This lead to the Formation of the Epatala people, who spoke a variety of Bactrian called Epatala. The Epatala although a minority , eventually came to dominate Indo Huna Politics later on.
    In The Epatalas part , i assumed that the Hunas were once vassals of the Hephthalites . OTL this is not confirmed
     
    Last edited:
  • Index

    • Hannibal The Bannable

    Kcirtap said:
    So the only independent kingdoms remaining in the subcontinent now are the Tamil kingdoms, hmmm.
    Click to expand...
    No most of south india is still independent. Only the Vakatakas and kalinga ( modern day province of odisha) are under the Hunas. Most of the Dravidian and Deccani Indo Aryan speaking parts are still independent. Also the Rais of Sindh are still vassals along with the Vakatakas. The Vakatakas already lost land to the Vishnukudinas OTL before the PoD
     
    Last edited:

    Brahman

    Great timeline. Huns establishing a Kingdom in India would be fascinating to see, and seeing how they would interact with Arab Caliphate(If it exists in TTL) would also be amazing to see

    Just a quick question, what is the boundaries of the empire ?
     

    Hannibal The Bannable

    Brahman said:
    Just a quick question, what is the boundaries of the empire ?
    Click to expand...
    Kalinga to Kashmir , Gandhara and Punjab to Bengal , Saurashtra ( Gujarat ) to Bengal . Some parts of Gandhara are not under the Hunas though , like Hotan ( if you consider them to be in Gandhara.

    As for the Arab conquests, my plan is to either butterfly or modify them form OTL.
     
    DanMcCollum

    DanMcCollum

    Kcirtap said:
    I don't think you can butterfly them, but you can improve upon them due to the much strong Hunnic empire here.
    Click to expand...
    I mean, I don't understand why he couldn't butterfly them. The POD is decades before the birth of the Prophet, and without Islam and a united Arabia you see a vastly different situation. There would still be a lot of population pressure in Arabia, but that could take a number of different forms: from Greek style colonies throughout the Indian ocean and eastern Africa, or Viking style raiding (only, you know, NOT, because it would be raiding through the desert). There's actually a lot of interesting possibilities.
     

    MagicalPhantom345

    So what are the chances that the Huna's sending out Hindu missionaries throughout the Indian Ocean.
    As it would be cool to see Hinduism mix with precolonial African cultures
     

    Hannibal The Bannable

    MagicalPhantom345 said:
    So what are the chances that the Huna's sending out Hindu missionaries throughout the Indian Ocean.
    As it would be cool to see Hinduism mix with precolonial African cultures
    Click to expand...
    Reaching Africa is a stretch , more likely hindu missionaries focus on the east. Arabia is somewhat plausible but still rather unlikely . Anyways thanks for the feedback.

    DanMcCollum said:
    Greek style colonies throughout the Indian ocean and eastern Africa, or Viking style raiding
    Click to expand...
    I Plan to have Some Arab states establish colonies in East Africa somewhere after 620s - 650s
     

    Harshavardhana

    DanMcCollum said:
    I mean, I don't understand why he couldn't butterfly them. The POD is decades before the birth of the Prophet, and without Islam and a united Arabia you see a vastly different situation. There would still be a lot of population pressure in Arabia, but that could take a number of different forms: from Greek style colonies throughout the Indian ocean and eastern Africa, or Viking style raiding (only, you know, NOT, because it would be raiding through the desert). There's actually a lot of interesting possibilities.
    Click to expand...
    I mean you could but the basic premise for the emergence of Islam is already set in motion. And also do remember the Huns are an Indian power not an Anatolian or Persian power.

    The Indian Huns were also not great religion spreaders as Hindu culture were never reached outside the subcontinent even when they controlled a lot of land from Punjab to Kashmir to Gandhara and less said about Buddhism the better.

    King Soter said:
    I Plan to have Some Arab states establish colonies in East Africa somewhere after 620s - 650s
    Click to expand...
    If you could have Arabian colonies before Islamic propogation in Africa they can get effected by the Hindu and Buddhist culture of the Tamils.
     
    DanMcCollum

    DanMcCollum

    Kcirtap said:
    I mean you could but the basic premise for the emergence of Islam is already set in motion. And also do remember the Huns are an Indian power not an Anatolian or Persian power.

    The Indian Huns were also not great religion spreaders as Hindu culture were never reached outside the subcontinent even when they controlled a lot of land from Punjab to Kashmir to Gandhara and less said about Buddhism the better.

    If you could have Arabian colonies before Islamic propogation in Africa they can get effected by the Hindu and Buddhist culture of the Tamils.
    Click to expand...

    Some of the basic groundwork for the rise of Islam were certainly in place. You had the emergence of the jewish kingdom in Himyar and, potentially, the earlier presece of a monothesitic Ramanism, along with Christian groups. But that's a long way from having Islam was we know it in OTL emerging. I'd suggest its likely that some form of faith revolution will occur in Arabia, but even there it could go in a number of different ways. In my own TL I actually had a Neo-Manichaen cult emerge in Arabia (following a longer-living Himyar kingdom).

    But, anyway, I think I may be hijacking the thread somewhat. Sorry about that!
     
    Chapter 3 : The Age of Justinian and Khosrow
  • Index

    • Hannibal The Bannable

    Chapter 3 : The Age of Justinian and Khosrow​

    Justinian's Reconquests:​

    Justinian Succeeded his Uncle Justin as the Emperor of the Roman Emperor in 527 . From the start of his reign , he had only dream , that was to reconquer the west ,that is Rome Itself . However he first had to deal with Sassanids in the Iberian . The Iberian War ended with Sassanid Victory with a status quo antebellum and the Roman agreed to the Eternal Peace and were forced to pay 11 Thousand Pounds of Gold as tribute to the Persians . Justinian would face another challenge to his rule as the Blue and Green Chariot Racing Factions incited a riot and had almost convinced Justinian to flee the capital , if not for the urging of his wife , Theodora and thus Justinian brutually suppressed the revolt and executed the usurper Hypatius. Justinian thus could complete his administrative reforms , which was undertaken by Tribonian and John the Cappadocian and published the Corpus Juris Civilis and rebuilt portions of the Capital devastated by the riots and built the Grand Church of Hagia Sophia. Thus he could finally focus on his dream of reclaiming the West .

    The Vandals had recently overthrown their Roman Friendly King, Hilderic and installed Gelimer , thus providing the perfect Casus Belli for reclaiming Africa . Thus in 533 , He dispatched Belisarius to reclaim Africa . Belisarius swiftly reconquered Africa and had vanquished the Vandals within a year , capturing Gelimer , despite being outnumbered. Although Africa was far from stable and the Roman Hold was tenuous at first , the Romans finally held Africa after a century of absence. Next in line was Italy , once the Heart of the empire , now under the hold of the Gothic Barbarians . The Ostrogoths were under Theodahad who was appointed successor by Amalasuntha ,the Pro-Roman regent of Athalaric . However Theodahad Imprisoned Amalasuntha and had her killed in 535, despite roman attempts to save her . Nevertheless , this provided pretext to invade Italy and in the same year ,Justinian Dispatched Belisarius to recover Italy. Belisarius Invaded Sicily and had sacked Naples and taken Rome by 536 . Theodahad ,meanwhile , was deposed by Witiges who began a very brief Gothic Resurgence and had managed to besiege Rome in 537 , which ended in failure and the Goths were pushed back up to Ravenna by 540 . Justinian , facing the Sassanids in the east , sent the Goths an offer that would leave Areas North of the Po River in Gothic . The Desperate Goths agreed . However it had found the opposition of Belisarius , who considered it a betrayal of what he had achieved . However , Belisarius finally agreed to Let the Goths keep Area north of the Po with a few concessions and departed for the East.

    Khosrow Anushirvan:​

    Khosrow succeeded Kavadh as the Shah of the Sassanid Empire. His ascension was during the Iberian war , a war his disputed Adoption had started. After the war, Khosrow faced challenges to his rule posed by his brother Kawus and the Mazdakites. As such ,he had defeated the Mazdakites and Kawus and reluctantly executed Kawus . Khosrow then focused on the Internal Administration of the empire and created the Deghan class and conducted censuses for taxes . This reduced the power of the Nobility and the Great Houses and redirected it to the Central Government and the Shah.

    In 540, Khosrow invaded the Roman empire and sacked the city of Antioch and later transported its citizens to the newly built city of Weh Khosrow Antiok literally meaning The Better Antioch of Khosrow. He then invaded the Roman Client of Lazica and provoked the Lazic War. Due these wars the Romans were forced to redirect their strength towards the east . The Fighting continued on until 546 , when both empires , weakened by the Justinian Plague agreed to cease hostilities in Syria and Mesopotamia and in 555, ended the war war in Lazica and maintained the Status Quo with minor Persian Concessions.

    Ending the War in the West , Khosrow focused his efforts to the and allied with the Turkic Khaganate and ended the Hephthalite Kingdom and broken it into small kingdoms along the Oxus . Many of the Hephthalites also fleed towards the Huna Kingdom , where they were settled around Gandhara . From their the Hunas and Ebodalas and Hunas conducted small raids along the border , befoe Toramana ,not wanting to risk war with the Persians agreed to manage the raids and tried to maintain Cordial Relations with the Persians
    As you can see this is mostly just a Rehearsal of OTL except for a Gothic Rump in Italy , an earlier end to the Lazic war and of course the Ebodalas.


    ​

     
  • Index

    • Hannibal The Bannable

    For Butterfly effects , initial effects would range from minor to somewhat major changes which spill out to come significan changes. Rest of the chapters won’t be a rehearsal of History like chapter 3 was. Also this TL Intially would be focused on India , Then Persia , but would I plan to expand it to the west and East , especially with the Ostrogothic Rump State.
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Top
    Top