The Second Battle of Eran, which took place around 510 CE, was a pivotal battle between the

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

's Emperor

Bhanugupta Bhanugupta was one of the lesser known kings of the Gupta dynasty. He is only known from an inscription in Eran, and a mention in the Manjushri-mula-kalpa. Only mentioned in the Eran inscription as a "Raja" and not a "Maharaja" or a "Mahara ...

and the Huna army of

Toramana Toramana also called Toramana Shahi Jauvla ( Gupta script: 𑀢𑁄𑀭𑀫𑀸𑀡 ''To-ra-mā-ṇa'', ruled circa 493-515 CE) was a king of the Alchon Huns who ruled in northern India in the late 5th and the early 6th century CE. Toramana co ...

. The battle, which finds mention in the

Eran Eran is an ancient town and archaeological site in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It was one of the ancient mints for Indian dynasties as evidenced by the diverse coins excavated here. The site has 5th and 6th-century Gupta era ...

inscription, was fought at the cost of the death of Bhanugupta's general,

Goparaja The Second Battle of Eran, which took place around 510 CE, was a pivotal battle between the Gupta Empire's Emperor Bhanugupta and the Alchon Huns, Huna army of Toramana. The battle, which finds mention in the Eran inscription, was fought at the ...

. It was a key battle in halting the Huna invasion of eastern

Malwa Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...

or attempting to expel them from the region. The battle was the first of a series of reverses for the Huna conqueror. In his battle against the invaders, Bhanugupta might have had the support of King Prakāśadharman, the king of

Mandasor Mandsaur is a city and a municipality in Mandsaur district located on the border of Mewar and Malwa regions of Madhya Pradesh, a state in Central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Mandsaur District. The ancient Pashupatinath Tem ...

Background

The fertile plains around

, also referred to as Airikana or the "Refreshing Fields," at the junction of the

Betwa , discharge1_min = , discharge1_avg = , date=November 2019 , discharge1_max = , source1 = Vindhya Range , source1_location = Near Obedullaganj, Vindhya Range north of Hoshangabad , source1_coordinates = , source1_elevation = , mouth ...

and Bina rivers, became a battleground between the great powers. This historically significant locality had a religious complex dedicated to

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

, the patron deity of the

, built during the time of Emperor

Budhagupta Budhagupta (Gupta script: ''Bu-dha-gu-pta'', ) was a Gupta emperor and the successor of Kumaragupta II. He was the son of Purugupta and was succeeded by Narasimhagupta.Raychaudhuri, H.C. (1972). ''Political History of Ancient India'', Calcutt ...

. Two local feudatories, Maharaja

Mātṛviṣṇu was a Brahmin and a feudatory of the Gupta Empire. He is mentioned in several inscriptions of Eran, Central India, who fought along with the emperor Bhanugupta in the First Battle of Eran in which he was martyred. In 484 CE, he is described as b ...

and his younger brother

Dhanyaviṣṇu The Eran boar inscription of Toramana, is a stone inscription found in Eran in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is 8 lines of Sanskrit, the first three of which are in meter and the rest in prose, written in a North Indian script. It i ...

, raised a twin temple, under the shadow of the 13-meter-tall ' Column of Janardana' (Vishnu/Krishna), marking the area's religious and cultural significance. center, upright=1.4, The

Hunas Hunas or Huna (Middle Brahmi script: ''Hūṇā'') was the name given by the ancient Indians to a group of Central Asian tribes who, via the Khyber Pass, entered the Indian subcontinent at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. The Hunas occu ...

, led by

. Eran inscriptional evidence reveals that by the first year of Toramana's reign, Dhanyaviṣṇu, a renowned local official, defected from the Guptas to the Hunas. This defection, carved in a temple inscription, marks the rise in the power of the Hunas and their ability to influence regional political forces.

Battle

Goparaja's posthumous inscription at Eran, dated 510 CE, is of particular significance here. It refers to King Bhanugupta as "the bravest man on the earth" and reports a great battle at Eran, in which his general

was killed. The battle would have been against the Huna invaders, either to check their advance into eastern

or to expel them from the region entirely. If the aim had been to check their advance, it is safe to put Toramana's conquest of eastern Malwa around 510 CE; otherwise, if the aim had been expulsion, the battle would have occurred earlier. Although the occupation of the region by the Huna cannot be pinpointed as accurately as we would like, it can be inferred that Toramana's penetration into India proper occurred some years after 500 CE, and the Hunas were initially confined to Gandhara. By 510 CE, Toramana's hold over Malwa may be assumed to be firmly in place. * (Lines 1-2) Ōm ! When a century of years, increased by ninety-one, (had elapsed) on the seventh lunar day of the dark fortnight of (the month)

Śrāvaṇa Shravana (Devanagari: श्रवण), also known as Thiruvonam in Tamil and Malayalam (Tamil: திருவோணம், Malayalam: തിരുവോണം), is the 22nd ''nakshatra'' or ''lunar mansion'' as used in Hindu astronomy, Hindu ca ...

, (or in figures) the year 100 (and) 90 (and) 1 (the month) Śrāvaṇa the dark fortnight; the (lunar) day 7;- * (Verse 1) (there was) a ruler, renowned as . . . . rāja sprung from the Śulakkha lineage; and his son (was) valorous by the name (of) Mādhava. * (Verse 2) His son was the illustrious

, renowned for manliness; the daughter's son of the Sarabha king;1 who became the ornament of (his) family. * (Verses 3-4) (There is) the glorious

, a distinguished hero on earth, a mighty ruler, brave being equal to Pârtha. And along with him

, following (him) without fear, having overtaken the Maittras and having fought a very big and famous battle, went to heaven, becoming equal to

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

, the best of the gods; and (his) devoted, attached, beloved, and beauteous wife, clinging (to him), entered into the mass of fire (funeral pyre). (Bhanugupta Eran inscription 510 CE.)Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol.3 (inscriptions Of The Early Gupta King
Main text p.352sq
/ref> According to Hans T. Bakker, the inscription does not contain an explicit statement regarding the success or failure of the battle. From the events that follow, it may be inferred that the inscription marks the beginning of a chain of woes for the Huna conqueror. In his struggle against the invader, Bhanugupta might have had the backing of the person of King Prakāśadharman, the king of

. The connection in question is most likely due to the sister of Bhanugupta (or another close relation), who was wedded to Ravikīrti, the Amatya, amātya of Rājyavardhana, father of Prakāśadharman. Bhagavaddosa, Ravikīrti's son and Bhānugupta's nephew (or another relation), was prime minister to Prakāśadharman and may have participated in military campaigns under his maternal uncle. It is presumed that this new line of Mandasor kings, referred to as the 'Second Aulikara dynasty, Later Aulikaras', was to challenge their erstwhile Gupta overlords.

Aftermath

Indian resistance

Resistance to foreign threats and instability grew in the second half of the 6th century, focusing on a group of

Aulikaras The Aulikaras (Late Brahmi script: ''Au-li-ka-rā''), were an ancient clan that ruled the Kingdom of Malwa between the 4th-century CE and 6th-century CE. Epigraphical discoveries have brought to light two royal lines, who call themselves as ...

who asserted independence in the area. The

Rīsthal Inscription The Rīsthal inscription is a stone-slab inscription which was discovered in 1983 in the area of Rīsthal near Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, India. The inscription says that in 515 CE the Aulikaras, Aulikara king Aulikaras, Prakashadharma of Malwa ...

of Mālava Year 572 (515 CE) documents the successful reestablishment of order in Daśapura by King Prakāśadharman with the help of the powerful Naigama merchant family. Principal members of this family were rājasthānīyas (

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

s) to the later Aulikaras and helped stabilize the region. File:Risthal inscription rubbing.jpg, 300px, This period of resilience is not only verified by inscriptions but also by the architectural monuments built by the new rulers of Daśapura. This religious change emphasized the revival, as the sixth-century Aulikara rulers dropped Vaisnavism, the original state religion, in favor of a vigorous and militant form of Shaivism. This form of Shaivism, which was linked with the Pasupata, Pāśupata movement, was from the region between the Narmadā and Mahī and became established in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, backed by an interconnected system of

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s and

Matha A ''matha'' (; , ), also written as ''math'', ''muth'', ''mutth'', ''mutt'', or ''mut'', is a Sanskrit word that means 'institute or college', and it also refers to a monastery in Hinduism.

Rise of Shaivism

The following example illustrates the development of Shaivism as a leading cultural force in this era. Though already an established popular faith, Shaivism was revitalized by the Pāśupata school, which was embraced by the political aristocracy to consolidate their ideological system of domination. Vaishnavism, the former state religion, on the other hand, lost its place in this culture. Shaivism introduced new characteristics, such as the appearance of

Śiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer ...

in the form of the Brahmin named Lakulīśa, which provided ordinary people access to superhuman powers (

siddhi In Indian religions, (Sanskrit: '; fulfillment, accomplishment) are material, paranormal, supernatural, or otherwise magical powers, abilities, and attainments that are the products of Yoga, yogic advancement through sādhanās such as medit ...

) and divine weapons through instructions learned from human gurus (achāryas) who were said to be the very personification of the Lord himself in ritual practice. upright=1.1, This change benefited the Aulikara rulers, as attested by their great architectural achievements. First among these are the colossal Śiva Śūlapāṇi Bhāratavarṣa (India)." About 3 meters in height, this stele rivaled its Bharata varsa">Bhāratavarṣa (India)." About 3 meters in height, this stele rivaled its Vaiṣṇava counterpart, the Varāha">Vaiṣṇava">Bharata varsa">Bhāratavarṣa (India)." About 3 meters in height, this stele rivaled its Vaiṣṇava counterpart, the Varāha statue of Eran, erected by Dhanyaviṣṇu during the conquest of Toramāṇa and similarly renowned as "the pillar of the universe."

Aulikara-Hunnic conflicts

The actions that occurred in 515 CE, as borne witness to by the Rīsthal Inscription, are regarded as a significant turn of events in Indian history. The inscription boasts of Prakāśadharman on account of canceling the title of "Overlord" (adhirāja) bestowed upon the Hūṇa general, a title that had been well established during the reign of Toramāṇa, a king whose authority had previously made other kings prostrate before him.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Gupta empire in the face of the Hunnic threat. Parallels to the late Roman empire?
in ''De Gruyter'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Eran 510 Battles involving India Wars involving India History of Uttar Pradesh History of Afghanistan Military history of India Military history of Afghanistan Wars involving Afghanistan History of Madhya Pradesh 510s conflicts Gupta Empire Alchon Huns Conflicts in India 510 Aulikara dynasty