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The kingdom of Tushara, according to ancient Indian literature, such as the epic Mahabharata, was a land located beyond north-west India. In the Mahabharata, its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as mlechchas ("barbarians") and fierce warriors.
Modern scholars generally see Tushara as synonymous with the historical "Tokharistan", also known as Tokhara or Tokharistan – another name for Bactria. This area was the stronghold of the Kushan Empire, which ruled North India between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE.
Its inhabitants were known later to Ancient Greek scholars as the Tokharoi and to the Ancient Romans as Tochari. Modern scholars appear to have conflated the Tukhara with the so-called Tocharians – an Indo-European people who lived in the Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China, until the 1st millennium. When the Tocharian languages of the Tarim were rediscovered in the early 20th century, most scholars accepted a hypothesis that they were linked to the Tukhara (who were known to have migrated to Central Asia from China, with the other founding Kushan peoples). However, the subjects of the Tarim kingdoms appear to have endonym by names such as Agni, Kuči and Krorän. These peoples are also known to have spoken , whereas the Tukhara of Bactria spoke a satem language.
The Tukhara were among Indo-European tribes that conquered Central Asia during the 2nd century BCE, according to both Chinese and Greek sources. Ancient China sources refer to these tribes collectively as the Da Yuezhi ("Greater Yuezhi"). In subsequent centuries the Tukhara and other tribes founded the Kushan Empire, which dominated Central and South Asia.
The account in Mahabharata (Mbh) 1:85 depicts the Tusharas as mlechchas ("barbarians") and descendants of Anu, one of the cursed sons of King Yayati. Yayati's eldest son Yadu, gave rise to the Yadavas and his youngest son King Porus to the Pauravas that includes the Kurus and Panchalas. Only the fifth son of Puru's line was considered to be the successors of Yayati's throne, as he cursed the other four sons and denied them kingship. The Pauravas inherited the Yayati's original empire and stayed in the Gangetic plain who later created the Kuru kingdom and Panchala kingdoms. They were followers of the Vedic culture. The Yadavas made central and western India their stronghold. The descendants of Anu, known as the Yavana kingdom, are said to have migrated to Iran.
Various regional terms and proper names may have originated with, or been derived from, the Tusharas including: Takhar Province in Afghanistan; the Pakistani village of Thakra; the surname Thakkar, found across India; the Marathi surname Thakere, sometimes anglicised as Thackeray; the Takhar Jat clan in Rajasthan, and the Thakar tribe of Maharashtra. It is also possible that the Thakor (or Thakore) caste of Gujarat, the Thakar caste of Maharashtra and the title Thakur originated with names such as Tushara/Tukhara. The Sanskrit word thakkura "lord" may be related to such terms or may itself be derived from one of them.
The Tusharas along with numerous other tribes from the north-west, including the Bahlikas, Kiratas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Daradas, Kambojas, Shakas, Kankas, Romakas, Yavanas, Trigartas, Kshudrakas, Malavas, Angas, and Vangas had joined Yudhishtra at his Rajasuya ceremony and brought him numerous gifts such as camels, horses, cows, elephants and goldMahabharata 2.51-2.53; 3.51 .
Later the Tusharas, Sakas and Yavanas had joined the military division of the Kambojas and participated in the Mahabharata war on the side of the Kauravas.MBH 6.66.17-21; MBH 8.88.17 Karna Parva of Mahabharata describes the Tusharas as very ferocious and wrathful warriors.
At one place in the Mahabharata, the Tusharas are mentioned along with the Shakas and the Kankas. Shakas.Tusharah.Kankascha At another place they are in a list with the Shakas, Kankas and Pahlavas. Shakas Tusharah Kankashch.Pahlavashcha And at other places are mentioned along with the Shakas, Yavanas and the Kambojas Shaka.Tushara.Yavanashcha sadinah sahaiva.Kambojavaraijidhansavah OR Kritavarma tu sahitah Kambojarvarai.Bahlikaih...Tushara.Yavanashchaiva.Shakashcha saha Chulikaih etc.
The Tushara kingdom is mentioned in the travels of the Pandavas in the northern regions beyond the Himalayas:- Crossing the difficult Himalayan regions, and the countries of China, Tukhara, Darada kingdom and all the climes of Himalaya kingdom, rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men reached the capital of Suvahu (3:176).
The Mahabharata makes clear that Vedas Hindus did not know the origins of the Mlechcha tribes, who were highly skilled in weapons, warfare and material sciences, but never followed the Vedic rites properly. That the Vedic people were dealing with foreign tribes is evident in a passage from Mahabharata (12:35). It asks which duties that should be performed by the Yavana kingdom, the Kirata kingdom, the Gandhara kingdom, the Chinas, the Savaras, the Barbaras, the Sakas, the Tusharas, the Kankas, the Pathavas, the Andhra kingdom, the Madra kingdom, the Pundra kingdom, the Pulindas, the Ramathas, the Kambojas, and several new castes of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and the Shudras, that had sprung up in the dominions of the Arya kings.
The kings of the Pahlava kingdom and the Darada kingdom and the various tribes of the Kirata kingdom and Yavana kingdom and Sakras and the Harahunas and Chinas and Tukharas and the Sindhu kingdom and the Jagudas and the Ramathas and the Mundas and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tanganas and the Kekeya kingdom and the Malava kingdom and the inhabitants of Kasmira kingdom, were present in the Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhishthira the king of the Pandavas (3:51). The Sakas and Tukhatas and Tukharas and Kankas and Romakas and men with horns bringing with them as tribute numerous large elephants and ten thousand horses, and hundreds and hundreds of millions of golds (2:50).
The Tusharas were very ferocious warriors. The Yavana kingdom and the Sakas, along with the Chulikas, stood in the right wing of the Kaurava battle-array (6:75). The Tusharas, the Yavana kingdom, the Khasas, the Darvabhisaras, the Darada kingdom, the Sakas, the Kamathas, the Ramathas, the Tanganas the Andhra kingdom, the Pulindas, the Kirata kingdom of fierce prowess, the Mlecchas, the Parvata kingdom, and the races hailing from the sea-side, all endued with great wrath and great might, delighting in battle and armed with maces, these all—united with the Kuru kingdom and fought wrathfully for Duryodhana’s sake (8:73). A number of Saka and Tukhara and Yavana kingdom horsemen, accompanied by some of the foremost combatants among the Kamboja kingdom, quickly rushed against Arjuna (8:88). F. E Pargiter writes that the Tusharas, along with the Yavanas, Shakas, Khasas and Daradas had collectively joined the Kamboja army of Sudakshina and had fought in Kurukshetra war under latter's supreme command.The Nations of India at the Battle Between the Pandavas and Kauravas, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1908, pp 313, 331, Dr F. E. Pargiter, (Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland).
Puranic literature further states that the Tusharas and other like the Gandharas, Shakas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas, Yavanas, Barbaras, Khasas, and Lampakas, etc., would be invaded and annihilated by Lord Kalki at the end of Kali Yuga. And they were annihilated by king Pramiti at the end of Kali Yuga. Vayu I.58.78-83; cf: Matsya 144.51-58
According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, river Chakshu (Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the countries of Tusharas, Lampakas, Pahlavas, Paradas and the Shakas, etc. Vayu Purana I.58.78-83
The Brihat-Katha-Manjari10/1/285-86 of Pt Kshemendra relates that around 400 CE, Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) (r. 375-413/15 CE), had "unburdened the sacred earth by destroying the barbarians" like the Tusharas, Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlava, Huna people etc.
The Rajatarangini of Kalhana records that king Laliditya Muktapida, the 8th-century ruler of Kashmir had invaded the of the north and after defeating the Kambojas, he immediately faced the Tusharas. The Tusharas did not give a fight but fled to the mountain ranges leaving their horses in the battlefield.RT IV.165-166 This shows that during the 8th century CE, a section of the Tusharas was living as neighbours of the Kambojas near the Oxus valley.
By the 6th century CE, the Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira also locates the Tusharas with Barukachcha (Bhroach) and Barbaricum (on the Indus River Delta) near the sea in western India. bharukaccha.samudra.romaka.tushrah.. :Brhatsamhita XVI.6 The Romakas formed a colony of the Romans near the port of Barbaricum in Sindhu Delta.See comments: M. R. Singh in The Geographical Data of Early Purana, 1972, p. 26 This shows that a section of the Tusharas had also moved to western India and was living there around Vrahamihira's time.
There is also a mention of Tushara-Giri (Tusharas mountain) in the Mahabharata, Harshacharita of Bana Bhata and Kavyamimansa of Rajshekhar. ÷
Kingdom
Likewise the Atharvaveda also associates the Tusharas with the Bahlikas (Bactrians), / (Greeks) and (Indo-Scythians), as following: " Saka.Yavana.Tushara.Bahlikashcha".Ed Bolling & Negelein, 41.3.3. It also places the Bahlikas as neighbors of the Kambojas.AV-Par, 57.2.5; cf Persica-9, 1980, p. 106, Michael Witzel This may suggest suggests that the Tusharas were neighbours to these peoples, possibly in Transoxiana.
During the time of Xuanzang, Tukhāra was divided into 27 administrative units, each having its separate chieftain. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., Edition: 1904, pp. 102, 327. Thomas Watters - Buddhism; Publications, 1904. Oriental Translation Fund - Oriental literature.Li, Rongxi (translator). 1995. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions, p. 32. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California. . See also: E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Edition 1935, p. 807; M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel; Geographical Data in the Early Purāṇas: A Critical Study, 1972, p. 174, M. R. Singh.
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.Proceedings and Transactions of the All-India Oriental Conference, 1930, p 108, Dr J. C. Vidyalankara; Bhartya Itihaas ki Ruprekha, p 534, Dr J. C. Vidyalankar; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 129, 300 Dr J. L. Kamboj;
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", Bhartya Itihaas ki Ruprekha, p. 534, J. C. Vidyalankar; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp. 129, 300. J. L. Kamboj; though northwestern parts still retained the name of Duhuoluo or Tukharistan in Chinese at least until the time of the Tang dynasty.See, for example, the references to Xuanzang's account above.
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,Li, Rongxi (translator). 1995. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions, p. 33. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Berkeley, California. . which may refer to Komedai of Ptolemy.Samuel Beal. 1884. Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, by Hiuen Tsiang. 2 vols. Translated by Samuel Beal. London. 1884. Reprint: Delhi. Oriental Books Reprint Corporation. 1969. vol. I, p. 41, n. 131. 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." Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅgiṇī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. (1900). Translated and annotated by M. A. Stein. Reprint (1979): Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. Vol. I, Bk. 4, 163-165, p. 136. 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.Sircar, D. C. "The Land of the Kambojas", Purana, Vol V, No ?, July 1962, p. 250.These Kambojas, apparently were descendants of that section of the Kambojas who, instead of leaving their ancestral land during second century BCE under assault from the Da Yuezhi, had compromised with the invaders and decided to stay put in their ancestral land instead of moving to the Helmand or Kabul valley.There are other references which also equate Kamboja with Tokhara. A Buddhist Sanskrit Vinaya text translated by N. Dutt, Gilgit Manuscripts, III, 3, 136, (quoted in B.S.O.A.S. XIII, p. 404) has the expression satam Kambojikanam kanyanam i.e. 'a hundred maidens from Kamboja'. This has been rendered as Tho-gar yul-gyi bu-mo brgya in the Standard Tibetan and as Togar ulus-un yagun ükin in Mongolian. Thus, Kamboja has been rendered as Tho-gar or Togar. And Tho-gar/Togar are Tibetan or Mongolian forms of Tokhar/Tukhar (See: H. W. Bailey, Irano-Indica III, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1950, pp. 389-409; see also: Ancient Kamboja, Iran and Islam, 1971, p. 66, H. W. Bailey.
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. Kavyamimamsa, Chapter 17. This mediaeval era evidence shows that the Tusharas were different from the Turushakas with whom they are often confused by some writers.
If the Rishikas of the Mahabharata were same as the Tukharas, then the observation from George Rawlinson is in line with the Mahabharata Mahabharata 2.27.25-26. statement which also closely allies the Rishikas with the Parama Kambojas The Mahabharata, Book 2: Sabha Parva: Jarasandhta-badha Parva: Section XXVI and places them both in the Sakadvipa.Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī, 1953, p 64: Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana. India; A Grammatical Dictionary of Sanskrit (Vedic): 700 Complete Reviews of the ..., 1953, p 62, Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala, Surya Kanta, Jacob Wackernagel, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, Peggy Melcher - India. 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 Ashvaka and Ashvaka of Panini.See: Ashtadhyayi Sutra IV.1.110 & Ganapatha, Nadadigana IV.1.99 respectively. They are also mentioned by Megasthenes who refers to them as Osii (= Asii), Asoi, Aseni etc.,FRAGM. LVI., Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8-23. 11., List of the Indian Races . . all living on upper River Indus in eastern Afghanistan. The names indicate their connection with horses and horse culture."In Aswa, we have ancient race peopled on both sides of Indus and probable etymon of Asia. The Assaceni, the Ari-aspii, the Aspasians and (the Asii) whom Strabo describes as Scythic race have same origin. Hence Asi-gurh (Hasi/Hansi) and Asii-gard, the first settlements of Scythic Asii in Scandinavia" (see: Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1826, p 318, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland - Great Britain; Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Reprint (2002), Vol I, p 64. Also see: pp 51-54, 87, 95; Vol-2, P 2, James Tod; The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia: Commercial ..., 1885, p 196, Edward Balfour - India.For Asii = Assi = Asvaka - a tribe connected with Asvas or horses, See also : The Racial History of India - 1944, pp 815, 122, Chandra Chakraberty. For Aspasii, Hipasii, see: Olaf Caroe, The Pathans, 1958, pp. 37, 55-56, 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.Mahabharata 2.27.25-26.
The Rishikas are said by some scholars to be the same people as the Yuezhi.Aggarwala, V. S. India as Known to Panini, p. 64 The are also said by some to be the same people.Vidyalnkara, J. C. (1941). Bhartya Itihaas ki Ruprekha. 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". But as noted above, tenth 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. (Kavyamimamsa , Chapter 17), which clearly differentiates the Tukharas from the Turusakas. Aurel Stein says that the Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokarai) were a branch of the Yuezhi. Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅgiṇī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. (1900). Translated and annotated by M. A. Stein. Reprint (1979): Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. Vol. I, Bk. I, 169-170, pp. 30-31. P. C. Bagchi holds that the Yuezhi, Tocharioi and Tushara were identical.Bagchi, P. C. India and Central Asia, 1955, p 24. 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. Mahabharata 2.26.25: See: The Mahabharata, Book 2: Sabha Parva, section XXVI, p 58, Kisari Mohan Ganguli, trans. 1883-1896 [4]; The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa: Translated Into English Prose, 1962, p 66, Pratap Chandra Roy; Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva, 1945, p 13, Moti Chandra - India. Like the "Parama Kambojas", the Rishikas of the Transoxiana region are similarly styled as "Parama Rishikas".taraka maya sankashah Parama Rishika parthayoh || 26 ||. Based on the syntactical construction of the Mahabharata verse 5.5.15
Trans: The kings of the Shakas, Pahlavas and the Daradas, and the Kamboja-Rishikas live in the west in the Anupa region.
and verse 2.27.25,Lohan ParamaKambojanRishikanuttaran api ||v 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 The Deeds of Harsha: Being a Cultural Study of Bāṇa's Harshacharita, 1969, p 199, Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala. and also places them in the Sakadvipa (or Scythia). India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī, 1953, p 64, Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala - India; A Grammatical Dictionary of Sanskrit (Vedic): 700 Complete Reviews of the ..., 1953, p 62, Vasudeva Sharana Agrawala, Surya Kanta, Jacob Wackernagel, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, Peggy Melcher - India. According to Dr B. N. Puri and some other scholars, the Kambojas were a branch of the Tukharas. Buddhism in Central Asia, p. 90.The Journal of Central Asian Studies, 2003, p 33, University of Kashmir Centre of Central Asian Studies - Central Asia. Based on the above Rishika-Kamboja connections, some scholars also claim that the Kambojas were a branch of the Yuezhi themselves. Journal of Tamil Studies, 1969, pp 86, 87, International Institute of Tamil Studies - Tamil philology. Dr Moti Chander also sees a close ethnic relationship between the Kambojas and the Yuezhi .Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva, 1945, p 19, Dr Moti Chandra - India. The Cultural Heritage of India also sees a close ethnic relationship between the Kambojas, the Tukharas (=Rishikas = Yue-chis) and the modern Tajik race. It calls the modern Tajik race to be descendants of the Tukharas and Kambojas, thus assuming Kambojas as a component of the Tukharas or vice versa (The Cultural Heritage of India: Sri Ramakrishna Centenary Memorial, 1936, p 151). Cf: "The Kambojas indicate the people of Tajikistan speaking Ghalcha..." (See: Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India, 1977, p 94, Dr Moti Chandra). For Kambojas as the ancestors of the Tajiks, Cf: Bhart Bhumi Aur Unke Nivasi, p 313-314, 226, Bhartya Itihaas Ki Mimansa, p 335 by Dr J. C. Vidyalanka; Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, pp 164-65, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavrat Śāstrī.
Modern scholars are still debating the details of these connections without coming to any firm consensus.Mallory, J. P. and Mair, Victor H. (2000). The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, pp. 91-99. Thames & Hudson, London. .Lebedynsky, Iaroslav (2006). Les Saces: Les "Scythes" d'Asie, VIIIe siècle av, J.-C.— IVe siècle apr. J.-C., p. 63. Edition Errance. Paris. .
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