page_title: Kidarites
section_title: Kidarite successors
hierarchical_section_title: Kidarites / Kidarite kingdom / Kidarite successors
caption_attribution_description: English: Yinayaditya of Kashmir Late 5th century CE. AV Dinar (23mm, 7.68 g, 12h). Abstract Kushan-style king standing left, sacrificing over altar and holding filleted standard; filleted trident to left; “Ka” in Brahmi to inner left, “Kidara” monogram and “Jaya” to outer right / Abstract Ardoxsho seated facing, holding filleted investiture garland and cornucopia; “Sri Vinaya” in Brahmi to right, “Ditya” to left.
context_page_description: The Kidarites were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna and/or in Europe as the Xionites. The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarites Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites". The Huna/Xionite tribes are often linked, albeit controversially, to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period. They are entirely different from the Hephthalites, who replaced them about a century later.
  The Kidarites were named after Kidara one of their main rulers. The Kidarites appear to have been a part of a Huna horde known in Latin sources as the Kermichiones or "Red Huna". The Kidarites established the first of four major Xionite/Huna states in Central Asia, followed by the Hephthalites, the Alchon, and the Nezak.
  In 360–370 CE, a Kidarite kingdom was established in Central Asian regions previously ruled by the Sasanian Empire, replacing the Kushano-Sasanians in Bactria. Thereafter, the Sasanian Empire roughly stopped at Merv.
context_section_description: Many small Kidarite kingdoms seem to have survived in northwest India, and are known through their coinage. They were particularly present in Jammu and Kashmir, such as king Vinayaditya, but their coinage was much debased. They were then conquered by the Alchon Huns, sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites, during the last quarter of the 5th century. The Alchon Huns followed the Kidarites into India circa 500, invading Indian territory as far as Eran and Kausambi. By 520, Gandhara was definitely under Hephthalite (Alchon Huns) control, according to Chinese pilgrims.
  Anania Shirakatsi states in his Ashkharatsuyts, written in 7th century, that one of the Bulgar tribes, known as the Kidar were part of the Kidarites. The Kidar took part in Bulgar migrations across the Volga into Europe.
caption: Coin of king Yinayaditya (also Vinayaditya), one of the "Kidarite successors", late 5th century CE, Jammu and Kashmir.
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