Early Chinese & Greek sources Little is known of the
Tukhara before they conquered the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in the 2nd century BCE. They are known, in subsequent centuries, to have spoken
Bactrian, an
Eastern Iranian language. The Yuezhi are generally believed to have had their
ethnogenesis in
Gansu, China. However, Ancient Chinese sources use the term
Daxia (
Tukhara) for a state in Central Asia, two centuries before the
Yuezhi entered the area. Hence the
Tukhara may have been recruited by the Yuezhi, from a people neighbouring or subject to the Greco-Bactrians. Likewise the
Atharvaveda also associates the Tusharas with the
Bahlikas (Bactrians),
Yavanas/
Yonas (Greeks) and
Sakas (Indo-Scythians), as following: "
Saka.Yavana.Tushara.Bahlikashcha". It also places the Bahlikas as neighbors of the
Kambojas. This may suggest that the Tusharas were neighbours to these peoples, possibly in
Transoxiana.
Later Chinese sources In the 7th century CE, the
Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, by way of the "
Iron Pass" entered Tukhara (覩貨羅
Pinyin Duhuoluo;
W-G Tu-huo-luo). Xuanzang stated that it lay south of the Iron Pass, north of the "great snow mountains" (
Hindukush), and east of
Persia, with the Oxus "flowing westward through the middle of it." During the time of Xuanzang, Tukhāra was divided into 27 administrative units, each having its separate chieftain.
Tibetan chronicles The Tukharas (
Tho-gar) are mentioned in the
Tibetan chronicle
Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah (
The Excellent Kalpa-Vrksa), along with people like the
Yavanas,
Kambojas,
Daradas,
Hunas,
Khasas etc.
References in association with the Kambojas The
Komedai of
Ptolemy, the
Kiumito or
Kumituo of Xuanzang's accounts,
Kiumizhi of Wu'kong,
Kumi of the
Tang Annals,
Kumed or
Kumadh of some Muslim writers,
Cambothi, Kambuson and Komedon of the
Greek writers (or the
Kumijis of
Al-Maqidisi, Al-Baihaki, Nasir Khusau etc.) who lived in Buttamen Mountains (now in Tajikistan) in the upper Oxus are believed by many scholars to be the
Kambojas who were living neighbors to the Tukhara/Tusharas north of the
Hindukush in the
Oxus valley. The region was also known as Kumudadvipa of the Puranic texts, which the scholars identify with Sanskrit Kamboja. Before its occupation by the Tukhara,
Badakshan formed a part of ancient Kamboja (Parama Kamboja) but, after its occupation by the Tukhara in the 2nd century BCE, Badakshan and some other territories of the Kamboja became part of Tukhara. Around the 4th to 5th century CE, when the fortunes of the Tukhara finally waned, the original population of Kambojas re-asserted itself, and the region again started to be called by its ancient name, i.e., "Kamboja", though northwestern parts still retained the name of Duhuoluo or Tukharistan in Chinese at least until the time of the
Tang dynasty. There are several later references to Kamboja of the Pamirs/Badakshan.
Raghuvamsha - a 5th-century
Sanskrit play by
Kalidasa, attests their presence on river Vamkshu (
Oxus) as neighbors to the
Hunas (Raghu: 4.68-70). As seen above, the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang mentions the Kiumito/Kumito living to the north of the
Oxus, which may refer to Komedai of
Ptolemy. which, as noted above, has been equated to Kamboja mentioned in Sanskrit texts. The 8th-century king of
Kashmir, King Lalitadiya, invaded the Kambojas of the "far-spreading northern region" (
uttarāpatha) as mentioned in the
Rajatarangini of
Kalhana. After encountering the Kambojas, Lalitadiya's army approached the Tuhkhāras who "fled to the mountain ranges leaving behind their horses." According to D. C. Sircar, the Kambojas here are bracketed with the Tukharas and are shown as living in the eastern parts of the
Oxus valley as neighbors of the Tukharas who were living in the western parts of that Valley. The 10th century CE
Kavyamimamsa of Rajshekhar lists the Tusharas with several other tribes of the
Uttarapatha viz: the Shakas, Kekeyas, Vokkanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Limpakas, Kulutas, Tanganas, Turusakas, Barbaras, Ramathas etc. This mediaeval era evidence shows that the Tusharas were different from the Turushakas with whom they are often confused by some writers.
Possible connection to the Rishikas Pompeius Trogus remarks that the
Asii were lords of the Tochari. It is generally believed that they are same as the Rishikas of the
Mahabharata which people are equivalent to
Asii (in Prakrit). V. S. Aggarwala also equates the Rishikas with the Asii or Asioi. In 1870, George Rawlinson commented that
"The Asii or Asiani were closely connected with the Tochari and the Sakarauli (Saracucse?) who are found connected with both the Tochari and the Asiani". If the Rishikas of the
Mahabharata were same as the Tukharas, then the observation from George Rawlinson is in line with the
Mahabharata statement which also closely allies the Rishikas with the
Parama Kambojas and places them both in the Sakadvipa. The
Kambojas (i.e.
the southern branch of the Parama Kambojas), are the same as the classical
Assaceni/
Assacani (
Aspasio/
Assakenoi of
Arrian) and the
Aśvayana and
Aśvakayana of Panini. They are also mentioned by
Megasthenes who refers to them as
Osii (=
Asii),
Asoi,
Aseni etc., all living on upper
Indus in eastern
Afghanistan. The names indicate their connection with horses and horse culture. These Osii, Asoi/Aseni clans represent earlier migration from the
Parama Kamboja (
furthest Kamboja) land, lying between
Oxus and
Jaxartes, which happened prior to Achaemenid rule. Per epic evidence, Parama Kamboja was the land of the
Loha-Kamboja-Rishikas. The
Rishikas are said by some scholars to be the same people as the
Yuezhi. The
Kushanas are also said by some to be the same people.
Kalhana (c. 1148-1149 CE) claims that the three kings he calls
Huṣka,
Juṣka and
Kaniṣka (commonly interpreted to refer to
Huvishka,
Vāsishka and
Kanishka I) were "descended from the Turuṣka race". Aurel Stein says that the Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokarai) were a branch of the Yuezhi.
P. C. Bagchi holds that the Yuezhi, Tocharioi and Tushara were identical. If he is correct, the Rishikas, Tusharas/Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokaroi), the Kushanas and the Yuezhi, were probably either a single people, or members of a confederacy.
Sabha Parva of
Mahabharata states that the Parama Kambojas, Lohas and the Rishikas were
allied tribes. Like the "Parama Kambojas", the Rishikas of the
Transoxian region are similarly styled as "Parama Rishikas". Based on the syntactical construction of the
Mahabharata verse 5.5.15 and
verse 2.27.25, Ishwa Mishra believe that the Rishikas were a section of the
Kambojas i.e.
Parama Kambojas. V. S. Aggarwala too, relates the Parama Kambojas of the Trans-Pamirs to the
Rishikas of the
Mahabharata and also places them in the Sakadvipa (or
Scythia). According to Dr B. N. Puri and some other scholars, the Kambojas were a branch of the Tukharas. Based on the above Rishika-Kamboja connections, some scholars also claim that the Kambojas were a branch of the Yuezhi themselves. Dr Moti Chander also sees a close ethnic relationship between the Kambojas and the Yuezhi . Modern scholars are still debating the details of these connections without coming to any firm consensus.
Japan Visit According to the
Nihon Shoki, the second-oldest book of classical
Japanese history, in 1654 two men and two women of the Tushara Kingdom, along with one woman from
Shravasti, were drive by a storm to take refuge at the former
Hyūga Province in southern
Kyushu. They remained for several years before setting off for home. That is the first recorded visit of people from India to Japan. ==See also==