This book is the first fascicle in a series that is designed as a
reader's Companion to a Sourcebook that presents all written sources
with regard to Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia from the 4th to
the 6th centuries of the Common Era. Both these books are the outcome of
an international research project, funded by the European Research
Council, which aimed at collecting and exploring the texts regarding the
Eastern, non-European Huns in more than a dozen original languages. The
first fascicle of the Companion Series focuses on the history of Hunnic
People in South Asia, where they are known as Hūṇa in Sanskrit
literature or Alkhan according to their own coinage. These Alkhan
entered the Subcontinent in the 4th century. The fascicle reconstructs
the history of the Alkhan kings, Khiṅgila Toramāṇa, and Mihirakula, and
the impact of their invasion and control of large parts of Northern and
Western India on Indian history and culture, in particular on the Gupta
Empire. This history is shown to be interrelated with historic
developments within the Sasanian Empire and historic events to the north
of the Hindu Kush. This first fascicle of the Companion and the
Sourcebook (D. Balogh, ed.) are published simultaneously by Barkhuis,
Groningen. In the coming years other fascicles in this series will
appear, exploring the collected sources with a focus on the history of
Hunnic Peoples in Central Asia.
