| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Some 100,000 to 200,000 horse archers, according to theShiji, Chapter 123.[8] TheHanshu Chapter 96A records: 100,000 households, 400,000 people with 100,000 able to bear arms.[9] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Western China | (pre-2nd century BC)[8] |
| Central Asia | (2nd century BC-1st century AD) |
| Northern India | (1st century AD-4th century AD) |
| Languages | |
| Bactrian[10] (in Bactria in the 1st century AD) | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism Hinduism[11] Jainism[12] Shamanism Zoroastrianism Manichaeism Kushan deities | |
TheYuezhi[a] were an ancient people first described inChinese histories asnomadic pastoralists living in an aridgrassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province ofGansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat at the hands of theXiongnu in 176 BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups migrating in different directions: theGreater Yuezhi[b] andLesser Yuezhi.[c] This started a complex domino effect that radiated in all directions and, in the process, set the course of history for much of Asia for centuries to come.[13]
The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into theIli Valley (on the modern borders of China and Kazakhstan), where they reportedly displaced elements of theSakas. They were driven from the Ili Valley by theWusun and migrated southward toSogdia and later settled inBactria. The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun theGreco-Bactrian Kingdom, like theTókharoi[d] andAsii.[e] During the 1st century BC, one of the five major Greater Yuezhi tribes in Bactria, theKushanas,[f] began to subsume the other tribes and neighbouring peoples. The subsequentKushan Empire, at its peak in the 3rd century AD, stretched fromTurfan in theTarim Basin in the north toPataliputra on theGangetic plain ofIndia in the south. The Kushanas played an important role in the development of trade on theSilk Road and theintroduction of Buddhism to China.
The Lesser Yuezhi migrated southward to the edge of theTibetan Plateau. Some are reported to have settled among theQiang people inQinghai, and to have been involved in theLiang Province Rebellion (184–221 AD) against theEastern Han dynasty. Another group of Yuezhi is said to have founded thecity state ofCumuḍa (now known asKumul andHami) in the eastern Tarim. A fourth group of Lesser Yuezhi may have become part of theJie people ofShanxi, who established theLater Zhao state of the 4th century AD (although this remains controversial).
Many scholars believe that the Yuezhi were anIndo-European people.[14][15]Although some scholars have associated them with artifacts of extinct cultures in the Tarim Basin, such as theTarim mummies and texts recording theTocharian languages, there is no evidence for any such link.[16]
| Before 221 BCE | The Yuezhi are powerful near Dunhuang, near the western end of theHexi Corridor, and control the jade trade from theTarim Basin. Somewhere west are theWusun,[18] and further east near theOrdos plateau are theXiongnu or their precursors. |
|---|---|
| 215 BCE | The Xiongnu are defeated by theQin dynasty and retreat northwards into theMongolian Plateau. |
| 207 BCE | The Xiongnu begin a campaign of raids against the Yuezhi. |
| Circa 176 BCE | The Xiongnu inflict a major defeat on the Yuezhi. |
| 173 BCE | The Yuezhi defeat theWusun. |
165 BCE | The majority of the Yuezhi begin migrating west to theIli valley; this faction is known later as the "Great Yuezhi". Most of the other faction, known as the "Lesser Yuezhi", settle on theTibetan Plateau and in the Tarim basin. |
| 132 BCE | The Wusun attack the Great Yuezhi, forcing them southward from the Ili valley. |
| 132–130 BCE | The Great Yuezhi migrate west, then south and settle in north-westBactria. |
| 128 BCE | A Chinese envoy namedZhang Qian reaches the Great Yuezhi. |
| Circa 30 CE | One of five tribes comprising the Great Yuezhi tribes, the Kushana, become dominant and form the basis of theKushan Empire. |
Three pre-Han texts mention peoples who appear to be the Yuezhi, albeit under slightly different names.[19]
In the 1st century BC,Sima Qian – widely regarded as the founder ofChinese historiography – describes how theQin dynasty (221–206 BC) bought jade and highly valued militaryhorses from a people that Sima Qian called theWūzhī,[m] led by a man named Luo. TheWūzhī traded these goods for Chinesesilk, which they then sold on to other neighbours.[23][24] This is probably the first reference to the Yuezhi as a lynchpin in trade on theSilk Road,[25] which in the 3rd century BC began to link Chinese states to Central Asia and, eventually, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Europe.
The earliest detailed account of the Yuezhi is found in chapter 123 of theRecords of the Great Historian bySima Qian, describing a mission ofZhang Qian in the late 2nd century BC. Essentially the same text appears in chapter 61 of theBook of Han, though Sima Qian has added occasional words and phrases to clarify the meaning.[26]
Both texts use the nameYuèzhī,[n] composed of characters meaning "moon" and "clan" respectively.[19] Several differentromanizations of thisChinese-language name have appeared in print. The IranologistH. W. Bailey preferredÜe-ṭşi.[27] Another modern Chinese pronunciation of the name isRòuzhī, based on the thesis that the character月 in the name is a scribal error for肉; however Thierry considers this thesis "thoroughly wrong".[19]
TheBook of Han account of the Yuezhi begins with them occupying the grasslands to the northwest of China at the beginning of the 2nd century BCE:
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The Great Yuezhi were a nomadic horde. They moved about following their cattle, and had the same customs as those of theXiongnu. As their soldiers numbered more than a hundred thousand, they were strong and despised the Xiongnu. In the past, they lived in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian.
— Book of Han, 61
The area between theQilian Mountains andDunhuang lies in the western part of the modern Chinese province ofGansu, but no archaeological remains of the Yuezhi have yet been found in this area.[16] Some scholars have argued that "Dunhuang" should beDunhong, a mountain in theTian Shan, and that Qilian should be interpreted as a name for the Tian Shan. They have thus placed the original homeland of the Yuezhi 1,000 km further northwest in the grasslands to the north of the Tian Shan (in the northern part of modernXinjiang).[16][28] Other authors suggest that the area identified by Sima Qian was merely the core area of an empire encompassing the western part of the Mongolian plain, the upper reaches of theYellow River, theTarim Basin and possibly much of central Asia, including theAltai Mountains, the site of thePazyryk burials of theUkok Plateau.[29]
By the late 3rd century BCE the Yuezhi appear to have often been in conflict with the Xiongnu and theWusun – another neighbouring people, who had originally lived together alongside the Yuezhi, in the region between Dunhuang and Qilian Mountain. (The only surviving accounts of these interactions were evidently obtained later from non-Yuezhi sources – as shown by the fact that they did not record the personal names of individual Yuezhi, including their leaders.) Gradually the Xiongnu grew stronger, and began to challenge the Yuezhi militarily. There were at least four wars between the two peoples, according to Chinese accounts. The first war broke out during the reign of the Xiongnu monarchTouman (who died in 209 BCE). After Touman had sent his eldest son,Modu Chanyu, to the Yuezhi as a hostage, Touman made a surprise attack on the Yuezhi. Despite attempts by the Yuezhi to kill him, Modu stole a horse and managed to escape to his country. It appears that the Xiongnu did not prevail in this first war; Modu subsequently killed his father and became ruler of the Xiongnu.[30] The second war took place in the seventh year of Modu's reign (203 BCE), when the Xiongnu seized a large area of the territory originally belonging to the Yuezhi, and their dominance began to fade. In a third war, probably before or in 176 BCE, one of Modu's subordinate tribal chiefs led an invasion of Yuezhi territory in theGansu region, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Yuezhi.[31][32] Modu boasted in a letter (174 BC) to the Han emperor,[33] that due to "the excellence of his fighting men, and the strength of his horses, he has succeeded in wiping out the Yuezhi, slaughtering or forcing to submission every number of the tribe." (Shiji 123.[8])The wife of the murdered king became the new monarch of the Greater Yuezhi.[34][35] Shortly afterward (173 BCE), the Wusun were reportedly attacked by the Yuezhi, who sought slaves and pasture lands. The Yuezhi killed the Wusunkunmo (monarch),[o] named Nandoumi,[p][31][36] and took his territory. The son of Nandoumi, known only by the titlekunmo, fled to the Xiongnu and was brought up by their monarch – probably Modu and/or his son,Laoshang Chanyu (who reigned 174–166 BCE). Laoshang later reportedly killed a king of the Yuezhi and, in accordance with nomadic traditions "made adrinking cup out of his skull." (Shiji 123.[8])
After their defeat by the Xiongnu, the Yuezhi split into two groups. The Lesser or Little Yuezhi[q] moved to the "southern mountains", believed to be theQilian Mountains on the edge of theTibetan Plateau, to live with theQiang.[38]
The so-called Greater or Great Yuezhi[r] began migrating north-west in about 165 BC,[39] first settling in theIli valley, immediately north of theTian Shan mountains, where they defeated theSai (Sakas): "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Book of Han 61 4B). This was "the first historically recorded movement of peoples originating in the high plateaus of Asia."[40]
In 132 BC theWusun, in alliance with the Xiongnu and out of revenge from an earlier conflict, again managed to dislodge the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley, forcing them to move south-west.[31] The Yuezhi passed through the neighbouring urban civilization ofDayuan (inFerghana) and settled on the northern bank of theOxus, in the region of northernBactria, orTransoxiana (modernTajikistan andUzbekistan).
The Yuezhi were visited inTransoxiana by a Chinese mission, led byZhang Qian in 126 BC,[41] which sought an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. His request for an alliance was denied by the Yuezhi, who now had a peaceful life in Transoxiana and had no interest in revenge. Zhang Qian, who spent a year in Transoxiana andBactria, wrote a detailed account intheShiji, which gives considerable insight into the situation inCentral Asia at the time.[42]
Zhang Qian also reported:
the Great Yuezhi live 2,000 or 3,000li [832–1,247 kilometers] west ofDayuan, north of theGui [Oxus ] river. They are bordered on the south byDaxia [Bactria], on the west byAnxi [Parthia], and on the north byKangju [beyond the middleJaxartes/Syr Darya]. They are a nation ofnomads, moving from place to place with their herds, and their customs are like those of the Xiongnu. They have some 100,000 or 200,000 archer warriors.
— Shiji, 123[8]
In a sweeping analysis of the physical types and cultures of Central Asia, Zhang Qian reports:
Although the states from Dayuan west to Anxi (Parthia), speak rather different languages, their customs are generally similar and their languages mutually intelligible. The men have deep-set eyes and profuse beards and whiskers. They are skilful at commerce and will haggle over a fraction of a cent. Women are held in great respect, and the men make decisions on the advice of their women.
— Shiji, 123[43]
Zhang Qian also described the remnants of theGreco-Bactrian Kingdom on the other side of theOxus River (ChineseGui) as a number of autonomous city-states under Yuezhi suzerainty:[44]
Daxia is located over 2,000 li southwest of Dayuan, south of the Gui river. Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. Their customs are like those of Ta-Yuan. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. The people are poor in the use of arms and afraid of battle, but they are clever at commerce. After the Great Yuezhi moved west and attacked the lands, the entire country came under their sway. The population of the country is large, numbering some 1,000,000 or more persons. The capital is called the city of Lanshi and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold.
— Shiji, 123[45]
The next mention of the Yuezhi in Chinese sources is found in chapter 96A of theBook of Han (completed in AD 111), relating to the early 1st century BC. At this time, the Yuezhi are described as occupying the whole of Bactria, organized into five major tribes orxīhóu[s].[46] These tribes were known to the Chinese as:
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TheBook of the Later Han (5th century CE) also records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BC, who gave oral teachings onBuddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi already followed theBuddhist faith during the 1st century BC (Baldev Kumar 1973).
Chapter 88 of theBook of the Later Han relies on a report ofBan Yong, based on the campaigns of his fatherBan Chao in the late 1st century AD. It reports that one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, theGuishuang, had managed to take control of the tribal confederation:[52]
More than a hundred years later, thexihou of Guishuang, named Qiujiu Que[t] attacked and exterminated the four otherxihou. He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang (Kushan). He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu[u] region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda[v] and Jibin.[w] Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died.His son,Yan Gaozhen[x] (Vima Takto), became king in his place. He returned and defeatedTianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but theHan call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.
A later Chinese annotation in Zhang Shoujie'sShiji (quoting Wan Zhen 萬震 inNánzhōuzhì 南州志 ["Strange Things from the Southern Region"], a now-lost 3rd-century text from theWu kingdom), describes the Kushans as living in the same general area north of India, in cities of Greco-Roman style, and with sophisticated handicraft. The quotes are dubious, as Wan Zhen probably never visited the Yuezhi kingdom through theSilk Road, though he might have gathered his information from the trading ports in the coastal south.[55] Chinese sources continued to use the name Yuezhi and seldom used the Kushan (orGuishuang) as a generic term:
The Great Yuezhi are located about seven thousandli [2,910 km] north of India. Their land is at a high altitude; the climate is dry; the region is remote. The king of the state calls himself "son of heaven". There are so many riding horses in that country that the number often reaches several hundred thousand. City layouts and palaces are quite similar to those ofDaqin [the Roman Empire]. The skin of the people there is reddish white. People are skilful at horse archery. Local products, rarities, treasures, clothing, and upholstery are very good, and even India cannot compare with it.
— Wan Zhen (3rd century AD)[56]
The Central Asian people who called themselvesKushana, were among the conquerors of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom during the 2nd century BC,[58] and are widely believed to have originated as a dynastic clan or tribe of the Yuezhi.[59][60] The area of Bactria they settled came to be known asTokharistan. Because some inhabitants of Bactria became known asTukhāra (Sanskrit) orTókharoi (Τοχάριοι; Greek), these names later became associated with the Yuezhi.
The Kushana spokeBactrian, anEastern Iranian language.[61]
In the 3rd century BC, Bactria had been conquered by the Greeks underAlexander the Great and since settled by theHellenistic civilization of theSeleucids.
The resultingGreco-Bactrian Kingdom lasted until the 2nd century BC. The area came under pressure from various nomadic peoples and the Greek city ofAlexandria on the Oxus was apparently burnt to the ground in about 145 BC.[62] The last Greco-Bactrian king,Heliocles I, retreated and moved his capital to the Kabul Valley. In about 140–130 BC, the Greco-Bactrian state was conquered by the nomads and dissolved. The Greek geographerStrabo mentions this event in his account of the central Asian tribes he called "Scythians":[63]
All, or the greatest part of them, are nomads. The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks ofBactriana: the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the country on the other side of theJaxartes [Syr Darya], opposite the Sacae andSogdiani.
Writing in the 1st century BC, the Roman historianPompeius Trogus attributed the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian state to the Sacaraucae and the Asiani "kings of the Tochari".[63] Both Pompeius and the Roman historianJustin (2nd century AD) record that the Parthian kingArtabanus I was mortally wounded in a war against the Tochari in 124 BC.[65] Several relationships between these tribes and those named in Chinese sources have been proposed, but remain contentious.[63]
After they settled in Bactria, the Yuezhi becameHellenized to some degree – as shown by their adoption of theGreek alphabet and by some remaining coins, minted in the style of theGreco-Bactrian kings, with the text in Greek.[66]
According to Sergey Yatsenko, the carpets with vivid embroidered scenes discovered inNoin-Ula were made by the Yuezhi inBactria, and were obtained by theXiongnu through commercial exchange or tributary payment, as the Yuezhi may have remained tributaries of the Xiongnu for a long time following their defeat. Embroidered carpets were among the highest-prized luxury items for the Xiongnu. The figures depicted in the carpets are believed to reflect the clothing and customs of the Yuezhi while they were in Bactria in the 1st century BCE-1st century CE.[5]
The graves ofTillya Tepe, complete with numerous artifacts, dated to the period between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, probably belonged to the Yuezhis/early Kushans after the fall of theGreco-Bactrian Kingdom and before the rise of theKushan Empire.[67] They correspond to a time when the Yuezhis had not yet encountered Buddhism.[67]
The area of theHindu Kush (Paropamisadae) was ruled by the westernIndo-Greek king until the reign ofHermaeus (reignedc. 90 BC–70 BC). After that date, no Indo-Greek kings are known in the area. According toBopearachchi, no trace ofIndo-Scythian occupation (nor coins of major Indo-Scythian rulers such asMaues orAzes I) have been found in theParopamisade and westernGandhara. The Hindu Kush may have been subsumed by the Yuezhi,[original research?] who by then had been dominated byGreco-Bactria for almost two centuries.
As they had done in Bactria with their copying ofGreco-Bactrian coinage, the Yuezhi copied the coinage ofHermeaus on a vast scale, up to around 40 AD, when the design blends into the coinage of theKushan kingKujula Kadphises. Such coins may provide the earliest known names of Yuezhiyabgu (a minor royal title, similar to prince), namelySapadbizes[original research?] and/orAgesiles, who both lived in or about 20 BC.
After that point, they extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding theKushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries.[68][60][69] Despite their change of name, most Chinese authors continued to refer to the Kushanas as the Yuezhi.
The Kushanas expanded to the east during the 1st century AD. The first Kushan emperor,Kujula Kadphises, ostensibly associated himself withKing Hermaeus on his coins.[citation needed]
The Kushanas integratedBuddhism into a pantheon of many deities and became great promoters ofMahayana Buddhism, and their interactions with Greek civilization helped theGandharan culture andGreco-Buddhism flourish.
During the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of theTarim Basin, putting them at the center of the lucrative Central Asian commerce with theRoman Empire. The Kushanas collaborated militarily with the Chinese against their mutual enemies. This included a campaign with the Chinese generalBan Chao against the Sogdians in 84 CE, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king ofKashgar. In around AD 85,[citation needed] the Kushanas also assisted the Chinese in an attack onTurpan, east of the Tarim Basin.
Following the military support provided to the Han, the Kushan emperor requested a marriage alliance with aHan princess and sent gifts to the Chinese court in expectation that this would occur. After the Han court refused, a Kushan army 70,000 strong marched on Ban Chao in 86 AD. The army was apparently exhausted by the time it reached its objective and was defeated by the Chinese force. The Kushanas retreated and later paid tribute to the Chinese emperorHan He (89–106).
In about 120 AD, Kushan troops installed Chenpan—a prince who had been sent as a hostage to them and had become a favorite of the Kushan Emperor—on the throne ofKashgar, thus expanding their power and influence in theTarim Basin.[70] There they introduced theBrahmi script, the IndianPrakrit language for administration, andGreco-Buddhist art, which developed intoSerindian art.
Following this territorial expansion, the Kushanas introducedBuddhism to northern and northeastern Asia, by both direct missionary efforts and the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.[71] Major Kushan missionaries and translators includedLokaksema (bornc. 147 CE) andDharmaraksa (c. 233 – c. 311), both of whom were influential translators of theMahayana sutras into Chinese. They went to China and established translation bureaus, thereby being at the center of theSilk Road transmission of Buddhism.[citation needed]
In theRecords of the Three Kingdoms (chap. 3), it was recorded that in 229 AD, "The king of the Da Yuezhi [Kushanas], Bodiao 波調 (Vasudeva I), sent his envoy to present tribute, and His Majesty (EmperorCao Rui) granted him the title of King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with theWei (Ch: 親魏大月氏王,Qīn Wèi Dà Yuèzhī Wáng)."
Soon afterwards, the military power of the Kushanas began to decline. The rivalSasanian Empire of Persia extended its dominion into Bactria during the reign ofArdashir I around 230 CE. The Sasanians also occupied neighboringSogdia by 260 AD and made it into asatrapy.[72]
During the course of the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Kushan Empire was divided and conquered by the Sasanians, theHephthalite tribes from the north,[73] and theGupta andYaudheya empires from India.
Xiao Yuezhi refers to the less militarized Yuezhi who settled in northern China (following the migration of the Greater Yuezhi).[74] The term is used of peoples in locations as diverse asTibet,Qinghai,Shanxi and the Tarim Basin.
Some of the Lesser Yuezhi settled among theQiang people ofHuangzhong,Qinghai, according to archaeologist Sophia-Katrin Psarras.[75] Yuezhi and Qiang were said to be among members of the Auxiliary of Loyal Barbarians From Huangzhong that mutinied against the Han dynasty, in theLiangzhou Rebellion (184–221 CE).[76] TheLushuihu people, who founded theNorthern Liang dynasty (397–439), have been theorized by modern researchers to be descendants of the Lesser Yuezhi that intermingled with the Qiang.[77][78]
Elements of the Lesser Yuezhi are said to have been part of theJie people, who originated fromYushe County in Shanxi.[79] Other theories link the Jie more strongly to the Xiongnu, Kangju, or the Tocharian-speaking peoples of the Tarim. Led byShi Le (Emperor Ming of Later Zhao), the Jie people established theLater Zhao dynasty (319–351). The Jie populations were later massacred byRan Min of the short-livedRan Wei dynasty during theRan Wei–Later Zhao war.
InTibet, theGar ormGar – a clan name associated withblacksmiths - may have been descended from the Lesser Yuezhi who resettled in Qiang in 162 BC.[80]
A Chinese monk named Gao Juhui, who traveled from Kaifeng to Khotan in or about 938 CE, mentioned a people known in Chinese asZhongyun (仲雲; Wade–GilesTchong-yun), describing them as descendants of the Lesser Yuezhi.[81] The Zhongyun were the founders of the city state ofCumuḍa (alsoCimuda orCunuda), south ofLop Nur in the eastern Tarim.[27] (Following the subsequent settlement ofUyghur-speaking people in the area, Cumuḍa became known asČungul,Xungul andKumul. Under subsequent Han Chinese influence, it became known asHami.)
Before the middle of the 1st millennium, theXiao Yuezhi had ceased to be identifiable by that name and appear to have been subsumed by other ethnicities, includingTibetans,Uyghurs andHan.
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The relationship between the Yuezhi and other Central Asian peoples is unclear. Based on claimed similarities of names, different scholars have linked them to several groups, but none of these identifications is widely accepted.[84]
Mallory and Mair suggest that the Yuezhi and Wusun were among the nomadic peoples, at least some of whom spokeIranian languages, who moved into northernXinjiang from the Central Asian steppe in the 2nd millennium BC.[85]
Scholars such asEdwin Pulleyblank,Josef Markwart, andLászló Torday, suggest that the nameIatioi—a Central Asian people mentioned byPtolemy inGeography (AD 150)—may also be an attempt to render Yuezhi.[86]
There has been only limited scholarly support for a theory developed byW. B. Henning, who proposed that the Yuezhi were descended from theGuti (or Gutians) and an associated, but little known tribe known as theTukri, who were native to theZagros Mountains (modern Iran and Iraq), during the mid-3rd millennium BC. In addition to phonological similarities between these names and*ŋʷjat-kje and Tukhāra, Henning pointed out that the Guti could have migrated from theZagros toGansu,[87] by the time that the Yuezhi entered the historical record in China, during the 1st millennium BC. However, the only material evidence presented by Henning, namely similar ceramic ware, is generally considered to be far from conclusive.[56]
Proposed links with theAorsi,Asii,Getae,Goths,Gushi,Jats,Massagetae,[88][89][90] and other groups have also gathered little support.[84]
When manuscripts dating from the 6th to 8th centuries AD written in two hitherto unknown Indo-European languages were discovered in the northern Tarim Basin, the early 20th-century linguistFriedrich W. K. Müller identified them with the enigmatic "twγry ("Toγari") language" used to translate Indian BuddhistSanskrit texts and mentioned as the source of anOld Turkic (Uyghur) manuscript.[91][92]
Müller then proposed to connect the name "Toγari" (Togar/Tokar) to theTókharoi people ofTokharistan (themselves associated with the Yuezhi) described in early Greek histories.[91][92] He thus referred to the newly discovered languages as "Tocharian", which became the common name for both the languages of the Tarim manuscripts and the people who produced them.[61][93] Most historians have been rejecting the identification of the Tocharians of the Tarim with theTókharoi of Bactria, mainly because they are not known to have spoken any languages other than Bactrian, a quite dissimilarEastern Iranian language.[10][94] Other scholars suggest that the Yuezhi/Kushanas may previously have spoken Tocharian before shifting to Bactrian on their arrival in Bactria, an example of an invading or colonising eliteadopting a local language (as also seen for theGreeks, theTurks or the Arabs upon their successive settlements in Bactria).[95][96] However, while Tocharian contains some loanwords from Bactrian, there are no traces of Tocharian in Bactrian.[61]
Another possibleendonym of the Yuezhi was put forward byH. W. Bailey, who claimed that they were referred to, in 9th and 10th centuryKhotan Saka Iranian texts, as theGara. According to Bailey, theTu Gara ("Great Gara") were the Great Yuezhi.[27] This is consistent with theAncient Greek ΤόχαροιTokharoi (LatinisedTochari) in reference to the faction of the Kushans that conquered Bactria, as well as theTibetan language nameGar (ormGar), for the members of the Lesser Yuezhi who settled in theTibetan Empire.
Hakan Aydemir, assistant professor atIstanbul Medeniyet University, reconstructs the ethnonym *Arki ~ *Yarki which underlay Chinese transcriptions 月氏[y] and 月支[z] as well as various other foreign transcriptions andTocharian A ethnonymĀrśi.[97] Aydemir suggests that *Arki ~ *Yarki is etymologicallyIndo-European.[98]
Numerous nomadic artifacts are attributed to the areas of southernNingxia and southeasternGansu during the period of the 5th-4th century BC. They are quite similar to the works of the nomadicOrdos culture further east, and reflect strongScythian influences.[99] Some of theseartifacts were sinicized by the neighbouringQin state in China, probably also for nomadic consumption.[99] Nomadic figures with long noses riding on a camel also appear regularly in southern Ningxia from the 4th century BC.[99] Particularly, theShajing culture (700–100 BCE) ofGansu has been proposed as a candidate for the origin of the Yuezhi.[100]
![Nomadic figure, typically with a long nose, on a Bactrian camel. Southern Ningxia, 4th century BC.[101][99]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMET_2002_201_83_O1.jpg)
![Harness ornament in the shape of a coiled wolf, characteristic of nomadic artifacts of southern Ningxia and southeastern Gansu, 5th-4th century BC.[102][99]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a%25E7%258B%25BC%25E7%25B4%258B%25E9%259D%2592%25E9%258A%2585%25E8%25BB%258A%25E9%25A6%25AC%25E9%25A3%25BE-Harness_Ornament_in_the_Shape_of_a_Coiled_Wolf_MET_2002_201_61.jpg)
![Belt plaque in the shape of a standing wolf, characteristic of nomadic artifacts of southern Ningxia and southeastern Gansu, and related to the Scythian styles of Pazyryk. 4th century BC.[103][99]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a%25E7%258B%25BC%25E7%25B4%258B%25E9%259D%2592%25E9%258A%2585%25E5%25B8%25B6%25E9%25A3%25BE-Belt_Plaque_in_the_Shape_of_a_Standing_Wolf_MET_DT5398.jpg)
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Looking at the archaeological and genetic evidence, another area of origin on the northeastern border of theTarim Basin has also been proposed: the Yuegongtai-Xiheigou (岳公台-西黑沟) archaeological sites, corresponding to theShirenzigou culture and Barkol culture in theBarkol County ofXinjiang. This would have positioned the Yuezhi between theSubeshi culture to their west, theYanbulaq culture to their east, the aftermaths of theChemurchek culture to the north, and a wide desertical area to south about a thousand kilometers away from theCentral Plains of China.[104]
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In Noin-Ula (Noyon Uul), Mongolia, the remarkable elite Xiongnu tombs have revealed textiles that are linked to the pictorial tradition of the Yuezhi: the decorative faces closely resemble theKhalchayan portraits, while the local ornaments have integrated elements of Graeco-Roman design. These artifacts were most probably manufactured in Bactria
p.3: "These tapestries were apparently manufactured in Bactria or in Gandhara at the time of the Saka-Yuezhi rule, when these countries were connected with the Parthian empire and the "Hellenized East." They represent groups of men, warriors of high status, and kings and/ or princes, performing rituals of drinking, fighting or taking part in a religious ceremony, a procession leading to an altar with a fire burning on it, and two men engaged in a ritual."
About "Khalchayan", "site of a settlement and palace of the nomad Yuezhi": "Representations of figures with faces closely akin to those of the ruling clan at Khalchayan (PLATE I) have been found in recent times on woollen fragments recovered from a nomad burial site near Lake Baikal in Siberia, Noin Ula, supplementing an earlier discovery at the same site), the pieces dating from the time of Yuezhi/Kushan control of Bactria. Similar faces appeared on woollen fragments found recently in a nomad burial in south-eastern Xinjiang (Sampula), of about the same date, manufactured probably in Bactria, as were probably also the examples from Noin Ula."
...Maodun proudly informed emperor Han: . . . Due to the favor of the Sky, the commanders and soldiers were in sound condition, and the horses were strong, which allowed me to destroy Uechji, who were exterminated or surrendered.
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Among the Greater Yuezhi it appears that a lady was appointed to be the ruling queen on at least one occasion. "Zhang Qian zhuan" 張騫傳 (Biography of Zhang Qian) in theHistory of the Han records that after the king of the Greater Yuezhi was killed by the Xiongnu, his wife was appointed to be the queen.
The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BC, and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.
This would seem to prove that the Yueh-chih of Chinese history – if they correspond, as supposed, to the Tokharoi of Greek history – were from that time established in Bactria, a country of which they later made a 'Tokharistan'.
The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BC and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.
The Shajing culture of the Early Iron Age. The sites of this culture have been discovered in the central part of Gansu Province (China). Seven big burial grounds and almost the same amount of fortified settlements (with walls made of compacted loess) have been excavated. Painted pottery, associated with the local tradition of Neolithic-Early Bronze Age, has been found at the early sites, but the Scythian-like artifacts constitute the core of this culture. This makes it possible to clarify the chronological limits of the culture as 900-400 BC, but probably with the later specific dates. Different suggestions have been made concerning the ethnic origins of the "Shajing people," who may have some connections with the Tocharian-speaking Yuezhi, the proto-Tibetean Qiang and Rong, or even with the Iranian Wusuns. The Shajing culture might have emerged from the interaction of all these (or close) ethnic and cultural components.
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