PREFACE

The historical materials on the Hephthalites involve at least nine languages. Of them, the most important are undoubtedly the Chinese historical materials. In a manner of speaking, if there were no Chinese historical materials, it would be impossible to reconstruct the history of the Hephthalites. The number of Chinese historical materials is few, but they cover a very wide range. Here we can only select the most valuable, and dismiss repetitive or indirect materials.

For studies on the Hephthalites, the Byzantine historical data are also of high value, and are comparable to the Chinese data. For these, records on the relations between the Sasanian dynasty and the Hephthalites are complementary with the records of the Arabian and Persian data, and on the relations between the Hephthalites and the Kidārite Kushāns, the Byzantine and Chinese records can support each other. Also, for example, the records on the relations between the Hephthalites and the Türks etc. are most interesting.

Both the Arabian and Persian data focus on the relations between the Sasanian dynasty and the Hephthalites. Today we rely mainly on these two kinds of data to research the relations between Persia and Central Asia during the Hephthalite period. There are differences in the records of the Arabian and Persian historians when they describe similar events, but they do not seem to be irreconciliable, and it is possible that they have a common source.

The Sanskrit data only involve the Hephthalites’ activities in India. Although many are only indirect records, we basically rely on these to glimpse the Hephthalites’ activities after they cross the Hindu Kush Mountains, and the impacts of the Hephthalites’ migration southwards on the Gupta dynasty.

The accuracy of the Armenian data is poorer, but there are have their unique value. For example, the information disclosed about the situation in Tokharistan after the Hephthalite were destroyed may be fuzzy, but is worth pondering over.

The Syrian and Tibetan data are fewer, but they are also integral parts to make up the tangram of the Hephthalite history. Here we do not introduce them individually.