Yudhishthira has been proposed as the last

Alchon Hun The Alchon Huns, (Bactrian language, Bactrian: ''Alkhon(n)o'' or ''Alkhan(n)o'') also known as the Alkhan, Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alakhana, and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4t ...

ruler of

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, according to a reconstruction made by Atreyi Biswas. The tentative identification has been made from the lists of Huna kings given in the ''

Puranas Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
(1995 Editio ...

'' and the ''

Rajatarangini ''Rājataraṅgiṇī'' (Sanskrit: Devanagari, राजतरङ्गिणी, IAST, romanized: ''rājataraṅgiṇī'', International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɑː.d͡ʑɐ.t̪ɐˈɾɐŋ.ɡi.ɳiː ) is a metrical legend ...

''. The name of Yudhishthira I is mentioned twice in the first and third book of ''Rajatarangini'', and Biswas assumes both to be the in reference to the same person. The ''Rajatarangini'' describes him as the son of a ruler named Narendraditya Khinkhila, who has been identified with the historically known

ruler

Narendraditya Khinkhila Toramana II (Gupta script: ''Sri, Śrī Toramāṇa'', "Lord Toramana") was a ruler of the Alchon Huns in the 6th century CE. Confrontation with the Nezaks Around the middle of the 6th century CE, the Alchon Huns, Alchons, after having extens ...

(597-633). According to this identification, Yudhishthira I would have succeeded his father circa 633 and went on to rule for 40 years until c. 670 CE (or for 24 years until c. 657 CE), before being dethroned by Pratapaditya of the

Karkota dynasty The Karkota dynasty (c. 625 − 855 CE) ruled over the Kashmir valley and some northern parts of the Indian subcontinent during 7th and 8th centuries. Their rule saw a period of political expansion, economic prosperity and emergence of Kashmir ...

. Yudhishtira is said to have been nicknamed "Andha-Yudhishthira" because he had small eyes. According to

Kalhana Kalhana (c. 12th century) was the author of '' Rajatarangini'' (''River of Kings''), an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own wri ...

, Yudhishthira was the last great Huna ruler, though he still produced a line of successors who were all subordinate rulers in Kashmir. With the final reign of Yudhishthira and the end of Huna independent rule, new politics arose, such as the

Turk Shahis The Turk Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turco-Hephthalite origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity."The new rulers of Kabul, who according to ...

in the areas of

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

and

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

circa 666 CE. Alternatively,

Joe Cribb Joe Cribb (born 1948) is a numismatist, specialising in Asian coinages, and in particular on coins of the Kushan Empire. His catalogues of Chinese silver currency ingots, and of ritual coins of Southeast Asia were the first detailed works on the ...

proposes that Yudhishthira was actually the son of an earlier Alchon Hun king named

Khingila Khingila I ( Bactrian: χιγγιλο ''Khingilo'', Brahmi script: 𑀔𑀺𑀗𑁆𑀕𑀺𑀮 ''Khi-ṇgi-la'', Middle Chinese: 金吉剌 ''Kim kjit lat'', Persian: شنگل ''Shengel''; c.430-490) was the founding king of the Hunnic Alkh ...

, which would date him after the end of the 4th century CE. There does not exist any direct historical evidence of Yudhishthira I.

References

{{reflist Kings of the Alchon Huns 670 deaths Rulers of Kashmir Asian people whose existence is disputed