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HephthaliteCoin.JPG|thumb|350px|Billon drachm of the Hephthalite King Napki Malka (Afghanistan/ Gandhara, c. 475-576).
Obv: Napki Malka type bust, winged headdress with bull head in the center. Pahlavi legend "NAPKI MALKA".
Rev: Zoroastrian fire altar with attendants either side. Sun wheel, or possibly eight-spoked Buddhist Dharmacakra, above left.]]
The Hunas, (or Alchon but inaccurately Indo-Hephthalites), as they were known in South Asia, seem to have been part of the Hephthalite group, who established themselves in Afghanistan by the first half of the fifth century, with their capital at Bamiyan.
Bhishama Parava of Mahabharata supposed to have been edited around 5th c AD, in one of its verses, mentions the Hunas with the Parasikas and other Mlechha tribes of the north-west including the Yavanas, Chinas, Kambojas, Darunas, Sukritvahas, Kulatthas etc (MBH 6.9.65-66). According to Dr V. A. Smith, the verse is reminiscient of the period when the Hunas first came into contact with the Sassanians dynasty of Persia (Early History of India, p 339, Dr V. A. Smith; See also Early Empire of Central Asia, W. M. McGovern).
Scholars believe that king Raghu, the hero of Kalidasa's Sanskrit play Raghuvamsha (4th/5th c AD) was in fact king Chandragupta Vikramaditya of the Gupta Dynasty. He had started a military expedition and after defeating and subjugating the local peoples along the way he reached the Parasikas of Sassanian Iran and defeated them after fierce fight. Then he proceeded to north from Iran and reached river Vamkshu (or Oxus) where he battled with the Hunas. After conquering the Hunas, he crossed the Oxus and encountered the Kambojas, an ancient Iranian people who find frequent mention in Indian texts (Raghuvamsa 4.65-71).
See also: Raghuvamsha (play).
Brahata Katha of Kashmiri Pandit Kshmendra (11th c AD) also claims that king Vikramaditya had slaughtered the Shakas, Barbaras, Hunas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Parasikas and the Tusharas etc and hence unburdened the earth of these sinful Mlechhas (See: Brahata Katha 10.285-86). There is still another ancient Brahmanical text Katha-Saritsagara by Somadeva which also attests that king Vikramaditya had invaded the north-west tribes including the Kashmiras and had destroyed the Sanghas of the Mlechhas (reference to Sanghas here obviously alludes to the Sanghas of the Madrakas, Yaudheyas, Kambojas, Mallas or Malavas, Sibis, Arjunayans, Kulutas and Kunindas etc). Those who survived accepted his suzereinty and many of them joined his armed forces (See: Katha-Saritsagara, 18.1.76-78).
These references sufficiently prove that the Guptas indeed had encounters with the Hunas from the north-west.
The Gupta Skandagupta is stated to have repelled a Huna invasion in 455, but they continued to pressure India's northwest frontier (present day Pakistan), and broke through into northern India by the end of the fifth century, hastening the disintegration of the Gupta empire.
The Alchon ruler Toramana established his rule over Pakistan and northern India, and was succeeded by his son Mihirakula in 520 whose capital was Sakala or modern day Sialkot in the Pakistani Punjab. The Guptas continued to resist the Hunas, and allied with the rulers of the neighboring Indian states.
The Hunas suffered a defeat by Yasodharman of Malwa in 528, and by 542 Mihirakula had been driven off the plains of northern India, taking refuge in Kashmir, and he is thought to have died soon after. Mihirakula is remembered in contemporary Indian and Chinese histories for his cruelty and his destruction of temples and monasteries, with particular hostility towards Buddhism.
The Huna were further defeated around 565 by a coalition of Sasanians and Western Turks, who were able to reassert some authority on the region until the 10th century.
After the end of the sixth century little is recorded in India about the Huna, and what happened to them is unclear; some historians surmise that the remaining Huna were assimilated into northern India's population. Certain historians, such as Romila Thapar, have suggested that the Hunas are the ancestors of the Rajputs. Many Rajputs themselves however have hotly rejected this suggestion, insisting that they are pure-blooded kshatriyas.
The Gurjara clan appeared in northern India about the time of the Huna invasions of northern India, and later established a number of ruling dynasties in northern India, including the Pratiharas of Kanauj. Gurjara origins and their relationship to the Hephthalites are not well documented, and subject to considerable debate.
King Devapala of Pala dynasty of Bengal (810 AD -850 AD) is said to have invaded and received tributes from the Vindhyas, Dravidas, Hunas, Gurjaras and Kambojas in the West (Ancient India, 2003, p 650, Dr V. D. Mahajan; History and Culture of Indian People, The Age of Imperial Kanauj, p 50, Dr R. C. Majumdar, Dr A. D. Pusalkar).
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"Hunas"