Kidara I (Late Brahmi script: Ki-da-ra) fl. 350–390 CE) was the first major ruler of the Kidarite Kingdom, which replaced the Indo-Sasanians in northwestern India, in the areas of Kushanshahr, Gandhara, Kashmir and Punjab.
Reign Kidara himself was a nomadic ruler who invaded the areas of Tukharistan and Gandhara hitherto ruled by the Indo-Sasanians. It is thought the Kidarites had initially invaded Sogdiana and Bactria from the north circa 300 CE. His people may have been pushed out from the northern areas of Bactria by migrating Hephthalites.
Kidara's ethnicity is unclear, but he may himself have been a Chionite, and he belongs to the general category of the Huns or Huna. Already during the 4th century Sasanian Emperor Shapur II had fought against Chionite invaders led by king Grumbates, and ultimately passed an alliance with them, using their military in the campaign against the Romans in the siege of the fortress of Amida (now Diyarbakır, Turkey). Chinese sources explain however that the Kidarites are the Lesser Yuezhi, which would make them relatives of the Yuezhi, themselves ancestors of the Kushans. The most detailed account of Kidara’s reign is provided by the Chinese chronicle, the Pei shih [Annals of the Wei Dynasty].
Kidara having established himself in Tukharistan and Gandara, took the title of Kushanshah which until that time had been used by the rulers of the Indo-Sasanian kingdom. He thus founded the eponymous new dynasty of the Kidarites in northwestern India. The Kidarites also claimed to have been successors of the Kushans, possibly due to their ethnic proximity.
Kipunada lost his independence directly to the invading Hunas who had invaded northern India and acted as a local ruler of Taxila (alongside Mahi and Shaka) under the suzerainty of the Gupta emperors, while still using the coinage style of the Great Kushans."The last Kushan rulers, known mainly through their coinage, are known under the names Mahi, Shaka, and Kipunandha (Jongeward and Cribb 2015: 174–8). These rulers acted mainly as local authorities in the Taxila region, under the overall suzerainty of the Gupta emperors, while maintaining the coinage style of the Great Kushans in greatly reduced values. As far as East Iran is concerned, Kushan rule essentially ceased to exist following the death of Kanishka II, in effect being reduced to local rule in northern India, already dominated by the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (Dani 1996: 169). The later Kushan king Kipunandha probably lost his independence directly to the Huna tribes who invaded northern India in the late fourth century (Errington and Curtis 2007: 71; Cribb 2010: 112–13)." The Kushano-Sasanian sites, including the coins, extended to Gandhara due to Shapur II's protection of the eastern borders of his Sasanian Empire against the invading Huns/Chionites. His treaties with the Huns resulted in: allowing them to join the Sasanian troops, treating them as allies and allowing his direct control over the east. The Kushano-Sasanian coin series issued by Kidara and a certain Pērōz, in Tokharistan and Gandhara continued. Evidently, Kidara I was the Kushan king who submitted to the Gupta king Samudragupta and accepted Gupta suzerainty."The two coin types discussed here are clearly related to the Kidarite Huns by their designs and by the inscription ΚΙΔΑΡΑ (Kidara in Bactrian script, as written on Kidara’s Bactrian gold issues, Cribb 2010, pp. 109–110; p. 126, type 6A; p. 140, fig. no. 13) on one type, but curiously they have not been seen before among the many published Kidarite issues. All three pieces include in their inscription the title devaputra (son of the gods) written in Brahmi script. This title was used by the Kushan kings and in the inscription of Samudragupta from Allahabad (line 23) was used to identify the Kushan king submitting to the Gupta king dēvaputra shāhi shāhānushāhi."
Coinage Kidara struck both Sasanian-style gold and silver coins (imitating his immediate predecessor in the region Varahran I) and Kushan-style gold coins, before issuing coins in his own name.
See also Kushano-Sassanians Sasanian coinage of Sindh
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