Mihirakula
Encyclopedia
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He was the son of Toramana
Toramana
Toramana was a Huna ruler in India. He is known from the Rajatarangini, coins and inscriptions. In the Kura inscription his name is mentioned as Rajadhiraja Maharaja Toramana Shahi Jaula. The Eran Boar Image inscription of his first regnal year indicates that eastern Malwa was included in his...
, the founder of Huna power in India. He ruled his horde from 502 to 530 .
Mihirakula is described in "The Record of the Western Regions" by Hsüan-tsang (7th century) as a good ruler who started to conquer neighbouring territories. His Gwalior inscription issued in the 15th regnal year shows that his sovereignty extended at least up to Gwalior. Mihirakula suffered a defeat by the Aulikara
Aulikaras
The Aulikaras were an ancient Indian clan. Two royal houses belonging to this clan ruled over the present-day western Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh state from c. 350 CE to 550 CE....
king Yasodharman
Yasodharman
Yasodharman or Yashôdharman was the king of Malwa, in central India, during the early part of the 6th century.- History :...
of Malwa in 528, and the Gupta emperor Narasimhagupta Baladitya
Narasimhagupta
Narasimhagupta Baladitya was a Gupta dynasty ruler of northern India. He was son of Purugupta and probably the successor of Budhagupta. Baladitya along with Yashovarman of Kannauj is credited with driving the Hunas or White Huns from the plains of Northern India. His clay sealing has been found in...
. By 533 Mihirakula had been driven off the plains of northern India, taking refuge in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, with his capital at Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
, and he is thought to have died of disease in 533.
Mihirakula is remembered in contemporary Indian and Chinese histories for his cruelty and his destruction of temples and monasteries, with particular hostility towards Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. He claimed to be a worshipper of Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
.