Qıdır Xunı (Kidarites)
The Qıdır Xunı, or Kidarites (Greek: Οὔννους τoύς Κιδαpίτας; Brahmi: 𑀓𑀺𑀤𑀭; Bactrian: κιδαρo, κιδιρo, κηδδιρo; Sogdian: κyδr; Chinese: 寄多羅), were among the first remnants of the Xuŋa to invade Turän following the collapse of the Northern Xuŋa empire. They came to rule Bactria in addition to parts of Central and South Asia during the 4th and 5th centuries C.E.
Etymology
It has been suggested that the name of Kidara, the eponymous founder of the Kidarite Huns, can be traced to Turkic *kidirti “west.” The term, to my knowledge, is attested only in Xakas (Khakas) as kider s.m. If Kidara is to be understood as a personal name, then the suggestion is rendered unlikely. In any case, the Kidarite Huns were already a faction under the Red Huns, a southern division of the Hunnish horde.
Origins
As remnants of the Northern Xuŋa (Xiongnu), the ancestors of the Qıdır Xunı were part of the migrating Hunnish people known as the Xunı (Huns). They belonged to a sub-group of Xunı identified by the 6th century historian Theophanes Byzantius as the Kermixuna (Κερμιχίωνα) “Red Huns” (from Iranian Karmir Xyon s.m.). The designation “red” referred to the group’s status as a southern division of the Xunı. The Zänd-i Wähmän Yäsn, a medieval Zoroastrian text written under the Säsäniyän dynasty, divides the Xunı into the Xyon, Heftäl (Hephthalites), Kärmir Xyon, and Spet Xyon “White Huns.”