EPHTHALITES or WHITE HUNS. This and enigmatical tribe was of considerable importance in the his tory of India and Persia in the 5th and 6th centuries, and was known to the Byzantine writers, who call them ' EckeaXiroc, Ebearyirot., NE4eaXlroc, or 'A/3heXoL. The last of these is an inde pendent attempt to render the original name, which was probably something like Aptal or Haptal, but the initial N of the third is believed to be a clerical error. They were also called AEwcoc, Oiivvoi or Xovvot, White (that is fair-skinned) Huns. Ephthalite is the usual orthography, but Hephthalite is perhaps more correct.
Our earliest information about the Ephthalites comes from the Chinese chronicles, in which it is stated that they were origi nally a tribe of the great Yue-Chi (q.v.), living to the north of the Great Wall, and in subjection to the Jwen-Jwen, as were also the Turks at one time. Their original name was Hoa or Hoa-tun. Before the 5th century A.D. they began to move westwards, for about 42o we find them in Transoxiana and for the next i 3o years they were a menace to Persia, which they continually and success fully invaded, though they never held it as a conquest. The Sas sanid king, Bahram V., fought several campaigns with them and succeeded in keeping them at bay, but they defeated and killed Peroz (Firuz), A.D. 484. The Persians were not quit of the Eph thalites until 557, when Chosroes Anushirwan destroyed their power with the assistance of the Turks.
The Huns who invaded India appear to have belonged to the same stock as those who molested Persia. The headquarters of the horde were at Bamian and at Balkh, and from these points they raided south-east and south-west. Skandagupta repelled an invasion in 455, but the defeat of the Persians in 484 probably stimulated their activity, and at the end of the 5th century their chief Toromana penetrated to Malwa in central India and suc ceeded in holding it for some time. His son Mihiragula (c. 51 o made Sakala in the Punjab his Indian capital, but the cruelty of his rule provoked the Indian princes to form a confederation and revolt against him about 528. He took refuge in Kashmir, where after a few years he seized the throne. He died (c. 54o) , and shortly afterwards the Ephthalites collapsed under the at tacks of the Turks. They were probably gradually absorbed in the surrounding populations. Their political power perhaps con tinued in the Gurjara empire, which at one time extended to Bengal in the east and the Nerbudda in the south, and continued in a diminished form until A.D. I o40. These Gurjaras appear to have entered India in connection with the Hunnish invasions.
Our knowledge of the Indian Hums is chiefly derived from coins, from a few inscriptions distributed from the Punjab to central India, and from the account of the Chinese pilgrim Hsiian Tsang, who visited the country just a century after the death of Mihiragula. The Greek monk Cosmas Indicopleustes, who visited India about 53o, describes the ruler, Gollas, as a White Hun king.
The accounts of the Ephthalites, especially those of the Indian Hunas, dwell on their ferocity and cruelty. Their invasions shook Indian society and institutions to the foundations, but unlike the earlier Kushans, they do not seem to have introduced new ideas into India nor have acted as other than a destructive force. Many of Mihiragula's coins bear the Nandi bull (Siva's emblem) ; and the king's name is preceded by the title sahi (shah), which had previously been used by the Kushan dynasty. Toramana's coins are found plentifully in Kashmir, which, therefore, probably formed part of the liana dominions before Mihiragula's time.
Greek writers give a more flattering account of the Ephthalites; Procopius says they were far more civilized than the Huns of Attila. The Chinese writers say their customs were like those of the Turks; that they had no cities, lived in felt tents, were igno rant of writing, and practised polyandry. Nothing whatever is known of their language, but some scholars explain the names Toramana and Jauvla as Turkish.
For the possible connection between the Ephthalites and the European Huns see HUNS.
See (original authorities) Procopius, Menander Protector, Cosmas, Indicopleustes (trans. McCrindle, Hakluyt Society, 1897) ; the Kash mir chronicle, Rajatarangini (trans. Stein, 1900, and Yuan Chwang).
See also Drouin, Memoire sur les Huns Ephthalites (1895) ; Ujfalvy, Memoire sur les Huns Blancs (1898) ; O. Franke, Beitrdge aus chine sischen Quellen zur Kenntnis der Tiirkvolker and Skythen (19o4) ; A. Stein, White Huns and Kindred Tribes (19os) ; articles by Vincent Smith, Specht, Drouin, and E. H. Parker in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal asiatique, Revue numismatique, Asiatic Quar terly, etc.