Period IV is hardly known. It was probably of brief duration and is distinguished on the basis of differing styles of pottery when compared with the preceding Period III material. Again, knowledge of Period V is marred by the impact of brick robbing to create the foundations of the Lahore-Multan railway in the 19th century. Occupation continued, however, on Mounds AB, E, and F, and it was during this period that Cemetery H was in use. M. S. Vats has reported on the excavation of this cemetery, which lies to the south of Mound E. The area opened between November 1929 and February 1930 was substantial: One square measured 46 by 33 meters (151 by 109 ft.), and another 54 by 16 meters (178 by 53 ft.). He found two periods of burial. The earlier had inhumation graves, in which the dead were laid out with the head pointing to the northeast, in association with pottery vessels placed neatly beyond the head. Some individuals were also found in a crouched position, on their sides. The pottery was decorated with painted designs of peacocks, trees, leaves, and stars. The upper layer of burials involved interments in large ceramic vessels, again decorated with painted foliage and peacocks and incorporating tiny human images, but also including dogs and goats. The jars usually contained the remains of a single individual, in which adult bones were placed some time after death, while infants were interred fully articulated within a cloth shroud. The jars seem to be grouped, each possibly containing the remains of related individuals. The interpretation of the motifs on these burial jars is most intriguing. Vats has turned to the RIG-VEDA, the sacred hymns of early India, to interpret the peacocks as carrying the dead, as they must, across the river, while the dogs are those belonging to Yama, god of death. The bird is identified in the Rig-Veda with fire and the Sun. It is quite possible that in this cemetery there is a conjunction of later Indus mortuary practices with the origins of the Vedic hymns.
Animal and Plant Evidence
Another advantage of the recent research at Harappa has been the attention paid to biological remains as a means of illuminating subsistence activities. While it is well established that cattle, sheep, and goats played a central role in animal husbandry and that barley and wheat were the principal grains cultivated, little is known of the other plants propagated or the role of hunting and fishing. Recent excavations have redressed this situation through the careful collection of fragile microfaunal remains. It is evident that the Indus civilization sites were located close to major rivers or the sea, while decoration of fish and fishing nets or traps on pottery vessels and the recovery of copper fishhooks reflect the importance of riverine resources. Only with the study of material from Harappa, however, have even the major species of river fish been identified. It was found that catfish predominated; almost half the assemblage was one species, Wal-lago attu. The fact that these fish can grow to a length of two meters (6.6 ft.) indicates their potential as a food source. There were also carp remains and the bone from a marine fish, which must have been obtained through trade. Contexts that yielded fish bone were also closely scrutinized. In one room, for example, most fish bones were found in the vicinity of a hearth. In another room, fish bones were found in a pit. Turning to the mammalian remains, it is found that sheep are much more numerous than goats and may have been valued for their wool as much as for meat. Again, cattle played a central role in animal husbandry at the site.
Further reading: Kenoyer, J. M. Ancient Cities of the Indus Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998; Meadow, R. H. Harappa Excavations 1986-1990. Monographs in World Archaeology No. 3. Madison, Wis.: Prehistory Press, 1991; Ratnagar, S. Understanding Harappa: Civilization in the Greater Indus Valley. Chennai, India: Tulika Publishers, 2001; Vats, M. S. Excavations at Harappa. Columbia, Mo.: South Asia Books, 1997.
Harihara Harihara was a composite god combining aspects of Vishnu and SIVA. In India, there are several representations of him. Cave 1 at badami, dated to the late sixth century C. E., has a fine example created during the CHALUKYA DYNASTY. The god reached his height of popularity in Southeast Asia during the period of chenla kingdoms but appeared rarely during the Angkorian period.
See also angkor.
Hariharalaya Hariharalaya, also known as the Roluos Group, is a collection of temples and a reservoir located 15 kilometers (9 mi.) southeast of angkor on the northern shore of the Tonle Sap, or great lake, of Cambodia. It was probably founded by jayavarman ii, first king of the state of Angkor, who was active in the region in the early ninth century C. E. Most of the buildings, however, were ordered by indravarman i (877-899 C. E.), the third king of the dynasty founded by Jayavarman II. He was responsible for the temples of preah ko and the bakong and for the main dikes that constitute the indratataka, a reservoir of unprecedented size. It is likely that the royal palace, which is described in inscriptions but has not survived because of its wooden construction, lay north of the Preah Ko temple. Several architectural innovations mark temple design, such as the use of a ceremonial portal (gopura), or snake (naga) balustrades, and large walled and moated boundaries.
YASHOVARMAN I, the son of Indravarman, completed the Indratataka and had the island temple known as LOLEI constructed, but he then diverted his attention to a new capital at Angkor, leaving Hariharalaya as a remarkably preserved reflection of an early Angkorian ceremonial and administrative center.
Hastinapura Hastinapura is a large site that spans the late prehistoric and early historic periods in northern India. Dated between 1100 and 800 B. C.E., it is one of the key sites in portraying the developments that took place during a vital period in the early development of civilization in the Ganges (Ganga)-Yamuna Valleys. It is also known from the Hindu epic the MAHABHARATA as the capital of the Kauravas. The site is substantial, measuring about 800 by 400 meters (2,640 by 1,320 ft.), and contains cultural layers to a depth of about 10 meters (33 ft.). Excavations undertaken in 1950-52 revealed that the site originated during the prehistoric period and was occupied through five phases into the medieval period. Period
II belongs the painted grey ware culture and has yielded the remains of rice, as well as domestic cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses. The inhabitants also forged iron arrowheads, spears, and sickles. Trade in exotic stone is reflected in the presence of carnelian, agate, jasper, and glass. Period
III belongs to the northern black polished ware culture, dated on the basis of radiocarbon determinations to the mid-fourth century b. c.e. It was a period of urbanization, in which mud-brick or fired-brick houses were laid out in orderly fashion, the streets were provided with a drainage system, and the application of iron tools greatly enhanced agricultural efficiency. The plow, for example, was now used. Punch-marked coins illustrate the rise of a mature trading system. The fourth phase dates to the second century c. e. on the basis of Kushan coinage. Few sites rival Hastinapura in illustrating the rise of urbanization in the Ganges Valley from prehistoric roots.
See also kushans.
Heavenly Horse, Tomb of the The interment of the royal elite in the Korean kingdom of shilla (37 B. C.E.-918 C. E.) involved first the construction of a wooden tomb chamber containing the sarcophagus and a wooden chest for grave goods. This was then covered with tens of thousands of large boulders and capped with an earthen mound. since there was no entrance passageway, this type of tomb proved difficult to loot, and many have survived intact to this day on the Kyongju Plain in southeast Korea. In 1973 one such mounded tomb was fully excavated. Forty-seven meters (155 ft.) across and nearly 13 meters (43 ft.) high, it has been named the Tomb of the Heavenly Horse, because one of the mortuary offerings consisted of birch-bark mudguards embellished with paintings of a galloping horse with wings on each foot. Among the spectacular mortuary offerings was a large gold crown.
One of the problems with such tomb construction is that the wooden chamber rotted with time, allowing the boulders to fall in on the contents. There were no human remains, but the dead king had been interred with the large gold crown, which bore symbolic deer antlers, with 58 jade pendants attached to these by gold wire. He also wore a gold and glass necklace, a gold girdle, and a gold ring on each finger. There were three layers of offerings in the wooden chest. The lowest contained iron kettles and ceramic vessels, and the next bronze and lacquer-ware. The uppermost included horse saddles and the painted horses on birch bark that gave the tomb its modern name. Many items are of absorbing interest, not least the 24 ox-horn items, for ox horn was known to symbolize supernatural powers in the shilla kingdom, and ministers were accorded graded titles incorporating the name for ox horn. There were also seven lacquerware wine cups probably used in a ritual context and two glass cups.
The occupant of the tomb might have been King Chizung, who died in 513 c. e. This king was responsible for terminating the habit of human sacrifice as part of royal burial rituals, and the absence of such remains in this mortuary context is persuasive.
Hedi (Liu Zhao; Harmonious Emperor) (79-106 c. e.) Hedi was the fourth emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China.
The son of Emperor zhangdi (57-88 C. E.), he acceded to the throne in 88 c. e. Apart from various natural problems, such as floods and drought, Hedi also had to cope with the dominant influence of the dowager empress Dou, who died in 97 c. e. He enlisted the support of palace officials to reduce her power. There followed events similar to those that had plagued the last reigns of the Western Han: a succession of infant or child emperors manipulated by rival consort families. Thus Hedi was succeeded by Shangdi (106 C. E.), who died before he reached one year of age; another child, andi (106-125 C. E.), grandson of Zhangdi, ascended the throne at the age of 12 years.
Heijo-kyo Heijo-kyo, also known as Nara, was the capital of the NARA STATE of Japan from 710 until the city was abandoned in 784 C. E. There was, however, a five-year period during the reign of Emperor Shomu when Heijo-kyo was abandoned in favor of Kuni, near modern Kyoto, and Shigaraki, 40 kilometers (12 mi.) northeast of Heijo-kyo, as a result of an insurrection. Heiji-kyo was reoccupied in 745 c. e. Research at the site of the ancient city was initiated in the 19th century by Kitaura Sadamasa (1817-71). On the basis of field observations and relevant documents, he produced a site map. His work was a starting point for Sekino Tadashi (1867-1935) to undertake excavations of the palace area. Huge areas of the palace and, more recently, the suburbs of the ancient city have now been uncovered by archaeologists. The most significant find was made in January 1961, when the first of more than 135,000 MOKKAN, inscribed wooden records, was recovered. These have thrown much light on life in the city, making it one of the best understood of all urban sites in East Asia. Archaeological excavations have revealed that no more than 15 percent of the area was built on and that there were many gardens, broad roads, and temples.
In 708 C. E. the capital had been located at fujiwara, 20 kilometers (24 mi.) south on the Nara Plain. Fujiwara itself had set new standards in Japanese urban planning and size, but the empress Genmei resolved in 708 to move to a new site, on the basis, it is said, of propitious geomantic reports and a favorable response from the diviners, based on oracle bones. A more mundane reason for the move probably lay in the fact that Heijo-kyo provided easy riverine passage to the Inland Sea, across the Osaka Plains to the west. At this period of Japanese history, the court was consciously following Chinese examples, and the layout of the new city was modeled on the great Tang dynasty capital at chang’an. There have been various estimates as to the population of Heijo-kyo, ranging up to 200,000 people, but a population in the vicinity of 80,000 is more likely, a far cry from the 1 million inhabitants of Chang’an, but still a considerable number for the time.
CITY PLAN AND ROYAL PALACE
The city, which was surrounded by an earthen embankment and a moat, has been partially excavated. It covered an area of 4.3 by 4.8 kilometers (2.6 by 2.9 mi.), with an extension to the east measuring 2.1 by 1.6 kilometers (1.2 by.9 mi.). The entire area was thus 2,400 hectares (6,000 acres). The interior was divided into square blocks each measuring 1,500 daishaku, a unit of measurement equivalent to 35.4 centimeters (14 in.). The avenues were laid out on a grand scale, the broadest 37 meters (122 ft.) wide, and others five to 25 meters (16.5 to 82.5 ft.). Each city block was then further divided by lanes into 16 areas known as cho.
The city was dominated by a grand palace, covering an area just over one kilometer square. It lay behind a high wall that reached six meters (19.8 ft.) and contained two distinct precincts, an eastern and a western. These incorporated government buildings, stables, an audience hall, and quarters for the imperial family. Members of the court could enjoy access to private pleasure gardens: The garden in an extension to the eastern precinct of the palace has been revealed through excavation. It included a lake with a small island and a pillared pavilion. The foundations of an octagonal structure, resembling a gazebo, also overlooked the little lake.
PRIVATE HOUSES
Scarlet Phoenix Avenue ran due south from the palace, dividing the city into two halves. The residences of the populace varied markedly with status, as the most exalted had large allocations of land closest to the palace. Excavations have uncovered the private residence of PRINCE NAGAYA, a grandson of an emperor, and his principal consort, Princess Kibi, whose status was even higher than that of the prince. Nagaya was a senior minister between 724 and 729, and his compound covered four cho, an area approximately 300 meters (396 sq yds.) square. The layout recovered through excavations incorporated a series of walled areas. One was the residence of the prince, with an adjacent one for the princess. The prince’s sleeping quarters alone measured 355 square meters (426 sq. yds.). The recovery of 35,000 mokkan, wooden slips containing Nagaya’s administrative records, reveal that he owned estates distant from the capital and also received tribute from districts given to him and his wife because of their aristocratic status. Thus a further area of the compound incorporated the offices for the administration of their business affairs. A Buddhist chapel occupied a prominent place, next to a private garden with a pond. Divisions of the princely household were responsible for a variety of tasks, such as manufacturing weaponry, casting bronzes, working leather, weaving, building, and caring for horses and hunting falcons. Workshops therefore covered the northeastern past of the estate. The surrounding wall and the weapons factory, however, did not save the prince when he was accused of plotting against the emperor. In 729 he was surrounded by an armed faction of the Fujiwara family, and he committed suicide.
The estate for another high aristocrat, Fujiwara no Naka-maro, covered eight cho nearby, and 70,000 mokkan relating to his activities have been found.
Even the populace at large lived in relatively spacious surroundings. Excavations suggest that outlying blocks were divided into individual plots measuring 900 square meters (1,880 sq. yds.), within which lay two to five individual buildings, a garden, and a well. Disposal of human waste in such huge cities was a perennial health issue. A privy excavated at Heijo-kyo was connected with a ditch of running water. Sanitation might well have been facilitated by the fact that the East and West Horikawa Rivers and the Saho River ran through the capital. They were canalized to conform to the grid plan of the streets and would have been of use in transporting heavy goods.
BUDDHIST TEMPLES
The city also incorporated at least two major markets, the west and the east, and by 720 C. E., there were 48 Buddhist temples in the city, the largest covering an area of 27 hectares (67.5 acres). buddhism played a central role in the city. There was a department for copying sacred texts in the palace, and numerous Buddhist monks lived in the city. Their services were called on when, in 735, Japan was hit by a smallpox epidemic that is said to have killed a third of the population. The most important of all the temples was undoubtedly the todaiji, located due east of the royal palace on the edge of the city It housed a massive gilt bronze casting of the Buddha nearly 11 meters (36.3 ft.) in height. Completed in 749 C. E., it was associated with two pagodas about 100 meters (330 ft.) tall. At least 10 other major Buddhist temples graced the city, their pagodas rising above the surrounding houses. The Kofukuji lay immediately to the southwest of the Todaiji. It was constructed by the powerful aristocrat Fujiwara no Fuhito and occupied an area nearly 500 meters square (600 sq. yds.). The Gangoji lay just south. This temple was formerly the Asuka-dera. The palace was flanked to the east by the Kairyuoji and on the west by the Sairyuji and Saidaiji. The Kiko-ji was built southwest of the palace by the Haji clan. The Toshodaiji, yakush-ji, and Dianji occupied prominent locations in the southern half of the city
In 784 Nara ceased to be the capital, which was moved under Emperor Kammu to Nagaoka.
See also geomancy; yamato.
Heliodoros Heliodoros was the ambassador of Antialci-das, the Greek king of Taxila, in modern Pakistan, to the court of King Kasiputra Bhgabhadra of Besnagar in India.
In the late second century B. C.E., Heliodoros had a column erected in Besnagar decorated with an image of GARUDA, accompanied by a dedicatory inscription. This is a particularly clear example of the Greeks adopting an Indian religion.
Hephthalite Huns The Hephthalite Huns were a people of shadowy origins who ruled much of Central Asia and northern India from about 450 to 550 c. e. The word Hephthalite means “valiant” or “courageous,” and the Sassanian rulers, who resisted the initial westward expansion of the Huns, rightly feared their prowess as mounted cavalry and archers. Their coins bore a Bactrian script, and they probably spoke an Iranian language. A description by the sixth-century historian Procopius of Caesarea noted that they were ruled by one king and resembled the Byzantine state in their legal system. There is also evidence in their conflict with the Sassanian kings Yazgird II and Peroz that they had a powerful army and observed sealed treaties over fixed frontiers. They were engaged in three campaigns against the King Peroz, captured him on at least two occasions, and finally defeated and killed him in battle. Thereafter, the Sassanians paid tribute in COINAGE to the Hephthalites, largely to keep the peace on their eastern frontier, until the reign of Khusrau I in the mid-sixth century c. e. The Huns territory at this juncture included Tokharistan and much of Afghanistan. They seized sogdiana in 509 and extended their authority as far east as Urumqi in northeast China. Although successful in India from 520 to the mid-seventh century, the Hephthalites in Central Asia had to withstand a new threat from the northeast in the form of the Turks. The Huns’ king Gatfar was seriously defeated in 560 c. e. in the vicinity of Bukhara, and the Huns thereafter survived only in the form of small and remote principalities, whose leaders paid tribute to the Sassanians and the Turks.
EXPANSION OF THE HUNS
As had many groups before them, the Huns then turned their imperial thoughts south into gandhara. By 520 they controlled this area and came up against the western frontiers of the gupta empire under King Bhuhagupta. Under their own king, Toramana, they seized the Punjab, Kashmir, and Rajputana, a policy continued vigorously under their next king, Mihirakula, who established his capital at Sakala (modern Sialkot in the Punjab, Pakistan). He was a Sivaite, and this was a period of devastation for the venerable Buddhist monasteries, many of which were sacked and destroyed. Sakala was visited in the seventh century by XUANZANG, the Chinese monk, who noted that the walls were dilapidated but still had strong foundations. He described the presence of an inner citadel and learned that several hundred years earlier the city had been the capital of Mihirakula, who ruled over India. Pravarasena reigned from about 530 c. e. His capital, near Srinagar in Kashmir, was named Pravarasenapura after him. He issued coins inscribed with his name. We also know the names of his successors, who formed a Hun dynasty ruling over much of northwestern India and Afghanistan until the mid-seventh century c. e. Increasingly, these rulers absorbed Indian ways, particularly in respect to religion. Thus King
Gokarna founded and endowed a shrine to siVA called Gokarnesvara. The last Hephthalite king, Yudhishthira, ruled until about 670, when he was replaced by the Turk Shahi dynasty. In Central Asia, one principality that persisted after the Turks overcame the Hephthalites was located in Chaganiyan, on the northern bank of the Surkhan Dar’ya River. Another was at Khuttal in the Vakhsh Valley These places were described by Xuanzang, who noted the number of monasteries and monks, the system of writing, and the fact that people dressed in cotton and sometimes woolen clothing.
HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
The historical sources for the Hephthalites are fragmentary and at times contradictory, but it seems that while some of the population continued the typically nomadic life on the steppes, the elite became increasingly sedentary and occupied permanent walled towns or cities. One report describes the king’s gold throne and magnificent dress. Their coinage reveals kings, but there also appear to have been regional rulers. Little archaeological research has been undertaken on the major settlements of the Hephthalite empire. balkh (Afghanistan) is known to have been one of their centers, and Xuanzang described it as their capital. It was, he said, defended with strong walls but was not densely populated. termez, on the Amu Dar’ya River, and Budrach were other cities of this period. The latter incorporated a citadel and covered an area of about 50 hectares (125 acres). kafyr-kala, in the Vaksh Valley of Tajikistan was a walled regional capital with a citadel and a palace. The life led in such centers is illustrated by the painted feasting scene at Balalyk-tepe in the upper valley of the Amu Dar’ya River in Uzbekistan, which shows aristocratic men and women shielded by servants holding umbrellas. A second elite feasting scene is depicted on a silver dish from Chilek, in which female dancers are entertaining royalty. In Afghanistan, the massive rock-cut images of the Buddha at bamiyan in Afghanistan, the largest such statues known before their destruction by the Taliban in 2001, probably date within the period of the Hephthalite empire.
See also bactria; sassanian empire.
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484-425 b. c.e.) A Greek historian from Ionia on the coast of modern Turkey who wrote valuable texts about early India.
His Persian Wars included early descriptions of India and its inhabitants. He described the variety of peoples and customs, although it is highly unlikely that he ever visited the subcontinent. He drew attention to the contrast between the Aryans and the Dravidian-speaking people, who lived in southern India and were not part of the empire of darius the great (550-486 b. c.e.) of Persia, and noted groups who ate no meat. Herodotus described Indian clothing as made from wool that grew on trees, a clear reference to cotton.
Hiraide Hiraide is a prehistoric village located in central Honshu Island, Japan. It was located adjacent to a series of springs overlooking a broad river plain and has seen continuous occupation from the middle Jomon period, with settlement phases ascribed to the YAYOI culture (300 B. C.E.-300 c. e.) and the period of the yamato state (300 C. E.-700 c. e.). A burned house of the Jomon occupation phase was found to contain numerous clay human figurines and may have been a house for women in childbirth, the figurines meant to ensure a successful outcome. while many rural Yayoi settlements, such as TORO, have been exposed by excavation, less is known of village life during the Yamato period (300-700 c. e.), because archaeologists have paid so much attention to the massive kofun burial mounds. Hence much is known about elite burials but less about the way of life in the vital villages that produced the rice surpluses to maintain the aristocracy.
Excavations have uncovered about 50 houses at Haraide. Their floor plans when considered in conjunction with the many house models from kofun tombs reveal square one-chambered dwellings sunk about half a meter into the ground. The roofs were supported by four large posts, and the area was around five meters (16.5 ft.) square. The largest measured eight meters (26.4 ft.) on each side. One door gave access to a room equipped with an enclosed ceramic or stone oven set against the wall, in contrast to the fires placed centrally in Yayoi houses. The disposition of some postholes suggests that there were village storehouses for grain surpluses, which, according to carbonized remains, included rice, millet, and barley Taro and broad beans were also cultivated, and domestic horse, cattle, and chicken bones have been found.
By Yamato times, iron was widely smelted and forged into weapons and tools, and at Haraide it was used to tip wooden hoes and make sickles, knives, chisels, and needles. The needles, linked with the recovery of spindle whorls, also attest to a weaving industry. Domestic and fine ceramic vessels were regularly used.
Hmawza See sri ksetra.
Hnaw Kan Hnaw Kan is an Iron Age cemetery located 80 (48 mi.) kilometers east of pagan in the dry zone of central Myanmar (Burma). The late prehistoric period of this region, before the development of the pyu civilization, is hardly known, and the excavations at Hnaw Kan in 2001 provided much new and important information after the discovery of the site when a farmer plowed there. The dead were interred in collective graves, each containing more than 12 individuals packed closely together. Mortuary goods were dominated by pottery vessels of many forms; one individual was found with more than 12. Iron grave goods included sword and dagger blades, axes, and spearheads. There were not many ornaments, but those recovered included blue-green glass beads, carnelian beads, and, in one case, a cowry shell held in a woman’s hand. Although a considerable distance from the sea, many individuals had been interred with marine shells placed near the head. seventy-two skeletons have been recovered, and these were reasonably well preserved. Of these, 16 percent were infants, and the sexes are equally represented among the adults. unfortunately, the lack of surviving collagen in the bones ruled out radiocarbon dating, but the site probably dates to within the second half of the first millennium b. c.e.
Hongshan culture The Hongshan culture of northeastern China is one of the prehistoric groups that reveal an early development of social complexity before the transition to the state. Located in Liaoning province and adjacent Inner Mongolia, the Hongshan culture is best known for its ritual sites associated with rich burials that date between about 4700 and 2900 b. c.e. niuheliang is the best-documented site, notable for its spirit temple surrounded by mounded tombs that cover an extensive area. The temple itself covers 22 by nine meters (72.6 by 29.7 ft.) and was constructed of wooden-framed walls over stone foundations. The inner walls were plastered and painted. several clay female figures were found within, as well as figures of dragons and birds. Burials clustering around the sacred structure included stone mounds raised over stone-lined graves. The presence of some particularly rich burials, measured by their jade grave goods, indicates an early development of social ranking. Furthermore, some of the jade figures, such as the coiled dragons, animal masks, and turtles, are matched by later developments in shang and zhou art. This suggests a long development of a ritual that was in train long before the establishment of early states. As also illustrated by the liangzhu culture and yangshao culture, social complexity had early beginnings in several regions of China.
See also shang states; xia dynasty.
Horyuji The Horyuji is one of the earliest Buddhist temple-monasteries in Japan. It was established in 607 C. E. and was probably inspired by prince shotuku (d. 622 c. e.), an early supporter of this new religion in Japan. It is the oldest extant wooden building in the world and houses many fine statues of the period.
Hospitals The foundation inscription from the temple of TA PROHM at ANGKOR in Cambodia describes the foundation and administration of 102 hospitals during the reign of JAYAVARMAN VII (1181-1219). These were distributed across the kingdom and were identical in their basic design. They incorporated a chapel housing an image of Buddha the healer and an exterior water basin. Men and women, 81,640 in number, from 838 villages, were assigned to supply these hospitals with rice, clothing, honey, wax, and fruit. The doctors had two varieties of camphor, coriander, pepper, mustard, cardamom, molasses, cumin, pine resin, ginger, onions, and ointment made from 10 plants for the treatment of fevers. Almost 2,000 boxes of salve were also on hand to ease hemorrhoids. The staff of each institution included two doctors and their assistants, two dispensary workers, two cooks who also assisted in cleaning, water heaters, specialists in preparing the medicines, and various other attendants, including the servants who prepared the offerings to the Buddha. The stone ruins of many of these hospitals have been identified.
Hotan Hotan was one of the major states that straddled the SILK ROAD linking China with India and Rome. It is located in the southwestern corner of the tarim basin, south of the Taklamakan Desert, in China. Here the rivers that flow north from the Kunlun Range form delta oases before their water dissipates in the desert sand. Hotan was known to the Chinese as Yutian and was renowned as a source of jade. Indeed, the river that flows south to the city is known as “the River of Precious Stones.” The ancient capital of Hotan is located at the modern site of Yotkan. Formerly walled, it has been virtually destroyed by looting for gold, jade, and other precious artifacts there. During a visit to Hotan during his 1913 expedition. SIR AUREL STEIN found that many artifacts allegedly from Yotkan were available for sale. Most were terra-cotta figurines of men and women or animals, such as camels and horses. There are also figurines of monkeys. He collected some stone seals, agate and glass beads, and fragments of stucco ornamentation.
In terms of archaeological remains, several elaborate inhumation graves have been found at Shampula dating to the first and second centuries C. E., and these have yielded a remarkable assemblage of woolen, cotton, and silk fabrics. one of these, part of a pair of trousers, was probably taken to Hotan from the west, for it was decorated with a singular image of a man with western features. Several expeditions have also left Hotan with clay and bronze Buddha images.
The description of Hotan by the Chinese monk XUANZANG, who passed through the kingdom on his journey to India in the seventh century C. E., provides a glimpse of the people and their industries. He noted, for example, that there was relatively little land under cultivation because of the aridity of the sandy desert, but that where there was sufficient water, people cultivated cereal crops and tended orchards. They were adept at making felt and carpets, for they maintained large herds of sheep, and they had an established silk industry. The people seemed content and welcoming, much enjoying music and dance. They read good literature and “showed a sense of propriety and justice.” During his visit to Hotan in about 400 C. E., the Chinese monk faxian noted the presence of many monks and monasteries. A recent royal foundation was magnificently decorated in gold and silver leaf, and the kingdom was dotted with large and impressive foundations. The pleasures of reaching Hotan, where space was available in monasteries for visiting monks, was all the greater for the privations suffered during the journey west.
In terms of documentary sources, the history of Hotan can be only partially reconstructed. The Hotanese spoke their own dialect of Saka, with close parallels to the southern Saka languages of mathura, sistan, and gand-HARA. This suggests strongly that the Saka Hotanese moved into the area probably by the second century b. c.e. Many of the shared words with southern Saka provide clues to the social order of the day, including expressions for “supervisor,” “rich,” “greatness,” “ruler,” “lord,” and “official title.” This language, linked with the brahmi script, was also the vehicle for written Buddhist texts, some of which were sought after and taken to China, for Hotan was an important stepping stone between east and west. The Tibetan document known as the Li Yul provides some indications of Hotanese history. It describes 56 kings and indicates that buddhism was introduced 404 years after the nirvana, during the reign of King Vijaya Samb-hava. The 14th king, called Vijaya Jaya, married the Chinese princess who took silk worms to Hotan to found the local silk industry. It was she who founded a Buddhist monastery known as Lu-she, south of the capital.
A brief period during the first and second centuries C. E. is also illuminated by the corpus of local bronze COINAGE. These have kharoshthi and Chinese texts, the former naming a series of kings with the family name of Gurga and the titles maharaja (great king) and yidaraja (king of Hotan). Some also bore the symbol of a Bactrian camel. The presence of Chinese and Kushan coins also provides evidence for an extensive exchange system that incorporated Hotan.
Further reading: Bailey, H. “Saka-Studies: The
Ancient Kingdom of Hotan,” Iran 8 (1970): 65-72; Rhie, M. M. Later Han, Three Kingdoms and Western Chin in China and Bactria to Shan-shan. Leiden: Brill, 1999; Stein, A. Ancient Khotan. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.
Hou Hanshu The Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han Dynasty) is a work of historical scholarship that describes the period of Eastern Han rule between 25 and 220 c. E. Several authors were involved in compiling this text. The only contemporary commentary is from the Dongguan Hanji (Biographies in the Eastern Lodge); most commentaries were written by Fan Ye (398-446 C. E.), the balance by Sima Biao (240-306 C. E.).
See also han dynasty; hanshu.
Hougang Hougang is a major walled site of the long-SHAN CULTURE, located barely 1.5 kilometers (.9 mi.) northwest of anyang, the later shang state capital, in Henan province, north China. It covered an area of about 10 hectares (25 acres) and was defended by stamped-earth walls. This site has revealed the practice of sacrificing children and burying them in the foundations of the walls and buildings. Traces of 37 circular houses with walls of mud and straw brick or wattle and daub have been encountered. These were circular, with a diameter of about five meters (16.5 ft.). They were also spaced with a distance of about five meters between houses and were rebuilt, over time, on the same sites. A kiln indicates local pottery production.
Huainanzi The Huainanzi, or 21 chapters on the art of government, were compiled in the court of the king of Huainan and presented to the Chinese Han emperor WUDI (157-87 B. C.E.) in 139 b. c.e. They were compiled under the rule of the king of Huainan, Liu An, by a group of scholars espousing the moral values of taoism. The Huainanzi can be seen as a late attempt to steer Han Wudi toward Taoist principles. Thus they encourage the ruler “to keep to endeavors that take no action” and note that “although [the emperor’s] feet are able to walk, he permits his ministers to lead the way. Although his ears are able to hear, he permits his ministers to propose their own strategies.” These proposals had little influence on Han Wudi, who proceeded to double the size of the empire by sending armies to conquer in the south, in Korea, and in the northwestern frontier region.
Wudi, the Martial Emperor, who ruled for 54 years, was one of the greatest Han emperors. His dynasty succeeded the centralized autocracy of the qin. The latter were overthrown by the first Han emperor, gaozu (247-195 B. C.E.), a man of humble origin, who was faced with the need to maintain an empire created out of the great warring states of the preceding two centuries. Many political philosophers offered their advice to successive emperors, and for the first six decades of the Western Han rule, Taoism dominated. This approach advocated an essentially detached and remote role for the ruler, whose tranquility and lack of action allowed him to react positively to any changing conditions. Under Han Wudi, however, there was a marked move to a Confucian model of government, in which the emperor adopted a proactive role toward policy
Huanbei Huanbei, “north of the Huan River,” is a city of the SHANG STATE, discovered in the autumn of 1999. It is about two kilometers (1.2 mi.) north of the later Shang capital of ANYANG, and its walls, 2,150 meters (7,095 ft.) long, enclosed an area of 470 hectares (1,175 acres). Very little is known about the site because of its recent discovery, but preliminary excavations have dated it to within the period 1400-1200 B. C.E., making it the likely Shang capital of Xiang, founded by King He Tan Jia, the 12th Shang king. Alternatively, it could have been the court center of King Pan Geng, the 19th king, and his two successors. This is a vital site and a remarkable discovery. A palace precinct has been found in the center of the walled area, covering more than 10 hectares and incorporating at least 25 individual buildings. Outside the eastern wall, a road has been identified, 10 meters (33 ft.) wide and 1.5 kilometers (.9 mi.) long, still retaining the rut marks of wheeled vehicles. Further excavations have the potential to illuminate the vital period of Shang history between the abandonment of ZHENGZHOU as the capital and the occupation of Anyang.
Huandi (Liu Zhi; Martial Emperor) (132-168 c. e.) Huandi (Martial Emperor) was the 10th emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China.
He was the great-grandson of Emperor zhangdi (57-88 C. E.) and acceded to the throne in 146 c. E.
Huang-lao boshu Huang-lao boshu, or Huang-lao silk texts, refer to a remarkable discovery made in 1973 in a rich tomb at mawangdui in Hunan province, a tomb dated to 168 B. C.E. This was a set of documents written on silk, which included the Daodejing with four appendixes. The latter have proved controversial; some scholars identify them as the Huangdi sijing (Records of the yellow emperor), lost to historians for more than 2,000 years. Others, uncertain of their precise place in the documentary evolution of that text, refer to them simply as the Huang-lao boshu or Huang-lao silk texts. These four records are known as the Jingfa, Shiliu, Cheng, and Daoyuan. They have in common the advocacy of taoism, the constrained and detached relationship between the king and his subjects in accordance the Tao, the concordance between cosmic inevitability and human behavior.
Huang-lao was a philosophical approach to government that predominated during the first reigns of the HAN DYNASTY in the second century c. e. This approach was set out in the Daodejing, a set of 81 chapters ascribed to the sage LAOZI, who probably lived at the same time as conFUCIUS during the late Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B. C.E.). Taoism was rooted in the notion that the world is subject to unpredictable but constant development and change and that the ruler should adopt a tranquil and detached acceptance of this fact, expressed in the concept wuwei, or avoidance of a personal policy Huang-lao, the name given to this school of thought, is derived from Huang, the mythical yellow emperor, and Lao, or Laozi. However, their writings have survived only as brief allusions in later texts.
Huhai (Er Shi) (r. 210-207 b. c.e.) Huhai was the second emperor of the Qin dynasty of China. He acceded to the imperial throne some time between the ages of 12 and 21.
Huhai followed in the footsteps of one of the most charismatic and powerful rulers China has known, qin shi-HUANGDI (259-210 B. C.E.), and acceded through intrigues manipulated by the eunuch and minister zhao gao. Fusu, the eldest of the first emperor’s sons, was the legitimate heir, but Zhao Gao retained the emperor’s instructions for Fusu to return from the northern frontier and substituted a requirement, allegedly from the emperor, that he commit suicide. Thus Huhai succeeded. He was evidently a weak and ineffectual leader, easily manipulated by his senior advisers.
The formation of the qin empire followed the long and vicious warring states period, and while Qin Shi-huangdi had been able to keep his state intact through his forceful measures, the former independent states began to assert their independence under the weaker hand of Huhai and his ministers. Thus Cheng sheng in the former southern state of CHU declared himself king, while independence was also proclaimed by the state of WEI. Huhai then antagonized the powerful Zhao Gao, who coerced him to commit suicide. Under the HAN DYNASTY, which succeeded Qin, Huhai was cited as a weak and extravagant ruler who had lost the mandate of HEAVEN and deserved to be ejected.
Huidi (Liu Ying; Beneficial Emperor) (210-188 b. c.e.) Huidi was the second emperor of the Western Han dynasty. GAOZU (247-195 B. C.E.), his father and founder of the dynasty, had married Lu Hou, a member of the Lu family of shandong. They produced a son and a daughter. The emperor, however, also had other consorts and sired seven sons by them. Huidi was only 15 years of age when his father was killed by an arrow while on a military campaign, and for his entire reign Huidi was dominated by his mother, the dowager empress. she is reputed to have had several of his half-brothers and potential rivals murdered, while one of the lesser queens of Gaodi was put to death and so mutilated that Huidi was cowed for the rest of his brief reign. Huidi is best known for the establishment of shrines for the veneration of his late father. It was also during his reign that massive labor forces were galvanized for the construction of the walls around the capital, XIANYANG. This huge undertaking resulted in the enclosure of an area measuring 33.5 square kilometers (13.4 sq. mi.); the walls themselves were eight meters high and 12 meters wide (26.4 by 39.6 ft.) at the crest. Huidi died in 188 b. c.e., aged only 23 years. He was succeeded by Shaodi Gong, the infant son of a minor wife.
Hulaskhera Hulaskhera is a city in the Lucknow area of northern India, occupied during the kushan and Gupta kingdoms, and dominated by a walled citadel built during the gupta empire. Excavations have revealed Kushan period brick houses and a road running through the city.
Hun The Chinese believed that at death a person was divided between the hun and the bo. The former may be translated as the soul, which might migrate either to the heavens or to the land of the yellow springs. The latter remained with the body. Apparent death was followed by a ritual in which the robe of the deceased was taken to the roof of his or her house and pointed north in an attempt to tempt the hun back into the body. This was followed by the preparation of a talisman to place in the grave, which contained directions for the hun to reach either the Blessed Islands of DI to the east or the land of the Queen Mother of the West. The best-known such talisman is from Tomb 1 at mawangdui, that of the marchioness of Dai, dated to 168 b. c.e. This was a painting on silk that had probably been carried aloft in the manner of a banner in her funeral procession before it was placed face down on her innermost coffin. The painting depicted a series of scenes that began with the corpse’s being laid out, accompanied by items for interment. The lady is then seen with servants, before embarking on her soul journey, first to the island of peng-lai, where she received an elixir before she passed through the gates of heaven, and then, in the uppermost scene, to paradise itself. A second such banner was found in the adjacent tomb of the marchioness’s son.
From the mid-first century b. c.e., the talisman was often a fine bronze mirror decorated with a square within a circle, representing the Earth within the heavens. The symbolism on the mirrors also incorporated the green dragon, scarlet bird, white tiger and turtle, animals that represent four of the five phases that determined and explained the rhythms of the universe and of human destiny in Han thought.
See also han dynasty.
Hwangnam, great tomb of Burial 98 at the royal necropolis of Kyongju, also known as the great tomb of Hwangnam, belongs to the Old shilla kingdom of Korea, before Shilla unified the peninsula in 668 C. E. This is a double-mounded tomb attaining a length of 120 meters (396 ft.), and the higher mound rises to a height of 23 meters (75.9 ft.). The south mound is thought to have covered the tomb of King Nulchi, who died in 458 C. E., after a reign that lasted for 42 years. Excavations of the north mound, which is thought to have contained the burial of his queen, commenced in 1973; a year later, after the removal of 14,000 cubic meters (490,000 cu. ft.) of material, the main burial chamber was revealed. The ascription of this tomb to the queen is based on the lack of weaponry with the dead person, as well as a text on a garment that read, “Girdle for madame.” While the remains of the queen have not survived, her tomb revealed the wealth of the shilla aristocracy. she wore a gold crown and girdle, multiple gold bracelets, and two necklaces of gold and glass. indeed the weight of gold exceeded four kilograms (8.8 lbs.). Such Shilla tombs had a mound of earth covering a tumulus of large stones raised over the wooden mortuary chambers. Both the mounds of Hwangnam, the name of the district of Kyongju where the mounds are located, contained horse harnesses in the topmost layer, while the king’s burial mound, which also held rich grave goods, incorporated a small grave with the remains of a young woman thought to have been sacrificed during the mortuary rituals.
The queen’s burial chamber covered an area of 6.8 by 4.6 meters (22.4 by 15.8 ft.) and was four meters (13.2 ft.) high. Timber lined, it lay under a mound of stones. A double lacquered coffin lay within, associated with a wooden chest to contain the mortuary offerings. A superb silver bowl of Sassanian style was found in the chest of mortuary offerings, as well as a rare imported Chinese ceramic vessel made in Nanjing and typologically belonging to the second half of the fifth century C. E.
The adjacent king’s burial incorporated an additional chamber for grave offerings that included many ceramic vessels and armor. He was well equipped with nine swords, while his armor included silver leggings. The offerings chest included a silver crown, but the crown he wore, curiously, was made of gilt bronze rather than the anticipated solid gold. The king had a favorite glass wine flagon; made in the Levant and imported over a huge distance, it had a broken handle that had been repaired with gold wire.
World History
