Nezak Huns

The Nezak Huns (Pahlavi: 𐭭𐭩𐭰𐭪𐭩 nycky), also Nezak Shahs, was a significant principality in the south of the Hindu Kush region of South Asia from circa 484 to 665 CE. Despite being traditionally identified as the last of the Hunnic states, their ethnicity remains disputed and speculative. The dynasty is primarily evidenced by coinage inscribing a characteristic water-buffalo-head crown and an eponymous legend. The Nezak Huns rose to power after the Sasanian Empire's defeat by the Hephthalites. Their founder may have been a Huna ally or an indigenous ruler who had accepted tributary status. Little is known about the intermediary rulers; they received regular diplomatic missions from the Tang dynasty, and some coexisted with the Alchon Huns from about the mid-sixth century. The polity collapsed in the mid-seventh century after experiencing increasingly frequent invasions from the Arab frontier. A vassal usurped the throne and established the Turk Shahis. In contemporary sources, the word "Nezak" appears either as the Arabic nīzak or the Pahlavi nyčky. The former was used only to describe the Nezak Tarkhans — rulers in Western Tokharistan — while the latter was used in the coinage of the Nezaks. The etymology remains disputed; Frantz Grenet sees a possible—yet not firmly established—connection with Middle Persian nēzag ("spear") while János Harmatta traces back to the unattested Saka *näjsuka- "fighter, warrior" from *näjs- "to fight". The Middle Chinese words (捺塞) and (泥孰) have also been proposed as probable transcriptions of Nezak, but these have phonetic dissimilarities. From a review of Chinese chronicles, Minoru Inaba, a historian of medieval Central Asia at Kyoto University, concludes Nishu has been both a personal name and titular epithet across multiple Turkic tribes. The Nezak Huns ruled over the State of Jibin, which is also referred to as Kapisi — formerly Cao — by contemporaneous Buddhist pilgrims. Kapisi composed eleven vassal-principalities during Xuanzang's visit in 630, including Lampā, Varṇu, Nagarahāra, and Gandhara; Taxila had been only recently lost to Kashmir.