Indo-Scythians

Indo-Scythian Kingdom

Territories (full line) and expansion (dotted line) of the Indo-Scythians Kingdom at its greatest extent.
Languages	Scythian language Greek (Greek alphabet) Pali (Kharoshthi script) Sanskrit, Prakrit (Brahmi script) Possibly Aramaic
Religions	Buddhism Ancient Greek religion Hinduism Zoroastrianism
Capitals	Sigal Taxila Mathura
Area	Northwestern Indian subcontinent
Existed	80 BCE–20 CE

The Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Indo-Iranian Sakas (Scythians), who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, and finally into remaining parts of Western and Central India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. The first Saka King in India was Maues or Moga who established Saka power in Gandhara and gradually extended supremacy over north-western India.

Origins

A Scythian horseman from the general area of the Ili river, Pazyryk, c.300 BCE.

The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to be Sakas (Scythian) tribes, originally settled in southern Siberia, in the Ili river area.

Around 175 BCE, the Yuezhi tribes (probable related to the Tocharians) who lived in modern day Gansu, were defeated by the Xiongnu (Huns) tribes, and had to migrate towards the West into the Ili river area. There, they displaced the Sakas, who had to migrate south into Ferghana and Sogdiana. According to the Chinese historical chronicles (who call the Sakas, "Sai" 塞):

"The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Han Shu 61 4B).

Sometime after 155 BCE, the Yuezhi were again defeated by an alliance of the Wusun and the Xiongnu, and were forced to move south, again displacing the Scythians, who migrated south towards Bactria, and south-west towards Parthia and Afghanistan.

The treasure of the royal burial Tillia tepe is attributed to 1st century BCE Sakas in Bactria.

The Sakas seem to have entered the territory of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom around 145 BCE, where they burnt to the ground the Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus. The Yuezhi remained in Sogdiana on the northern bank of the Oxus, but they became suzerains of the Sakas in Bactrian territory, as described by the Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian who visited the region around 126 BCE.

In Parthia, between 138-124 BCE, the Sakas tribes of the Massagetae and Sacaraucae came into conflict with the Parthian Empire, winning several battles, and killing successively king Phraates II and king Artabanus I.

The Parthian king Mithridates II finally retook control of Central Asia, first by defeating the Yuezhi in Sogdiana in 115 BCE, and then defeating the Scythians in Parthia and Seistan around 100 BCE.

After their defeat, the Yuezhi tribes migrated into Bactria, which they were to control for several centuries, and from which they later conquered northern India to found the Kushan Empire. The area of Bactria they settled came to be known as Tokharistan, since the Yuezhi were called Tocharians by the Greeks.

Invasion

Main article: Invasion of India by Scythian Tribes

Map of Sakastan around 100 BCE.

The Sakas settled in areas of southern Afghanistan, still called after them Sakastan. From there, they progressively expanded into the Indian subcontinent, where they established various kingdoms, and where they are known as "Indo-Scythians".

The presence of the Sakas in Sakastan in the 1st century BCE is mentionned by Isidore of Charax in his "Parthian stations". He explained that they were bordered at that time by Greek cities to the east (Alexandria of the Caucasus and Alexandria of the Arachosians), and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia to the south:

"Beyond is Sacastana of the Scythian Sacae, which is also Paraetacena, 63 schoeni. There are the city of Barda and the city of Min and the city of Palacenti and the city of Sigal; in that place is the royal residence of the Sacae; and nearby is the city of Alexandria (and nearby is the city of Alexandropolis), and six villages." Parthian stations, 18.

Indo-Scythian kingdoms

File:EarlyIndoScythianCoin.jpg

Early anepigraphic coinage of the Indo-Scythians (c. 110 - 100 BCE).
Obv: Horse walking right with her head turned back.
Rev: Goddess Nike walking right. Control mark, possibly for Khandahar, Afghanistan.

Abiria to Surastrene

The first Indo-Scythian kingdom in the Indian subcontinent occupied the southern part of Pakistan (which they accessed from southern Afghanistan), in the areas from Abiria (Sindh) to Surastrene (Gujarat), from around 110 to 80 BCE. They progressively further moved north into Indo-Greek territory until the conquests of Maues, circa 80 BCE.

The 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the Scythian territories there:

"Beyond this region (Gedrosia), the continent making a wide curve from the east across the depths of the bays, there follows the coast district of Scythia, which lies above toward the north; the whole marshy; from which flows down the river Sinthus, the greatest of all the rivers that flow into the Erythraean Sea, bringing down an enormous volume of water (...) This river has seven mouths, very shallow and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except the one in the middle; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum. Before it there lies a small island, and inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara."

The Indo-Scythians ultimately established a kingdom in the northwest, based in Taxila, with two Great Satraps, one in Mathura in the east, and one in Surastrene (Gujarat) in the southwest.

Gandhara and Punjab

Silver tetradrachm of the Indo-Scythian King Maues (85-60 BCE).
Obv: Zeus standing with a sceptre. Greek legend: BASILEOS BASILEON MEGALOU MAUOU "of the Great King of Kings Maues".
Rev: Nike standing, holding a wreath. Kharoshthi legend. Taxila mint.

The presence of the Scythians in north-western India during the 1st century BCE was contemporary with that of the Indo-Greek Kingdoms there, and it seems they initially recognized the power of the local Greek rulers.

Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila around 80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. In the east, the Indian king Vikrama retook Ujjain from the Indo-Scythians, celebrating his victory by the creation of the Vikrama Era (starting 58 BCE). Indo-Greek kings again ruled after Maues, and prospered, as indicated by the profusion of coins from kings Apollodotus II and Hippostratos. Not until Azes I, in 55 BCE, did the Indo-Scythians take final control of northwestern India, with his victory over Hippostratos.

Coins

The coins of the Indo-Scythians in northwestern India, probably designed by Indo-Greek celators (their coins bear Greek monograms, and still kept their Greek names and denominations), displayed Greek legends and Greek divinities such as Zeus or Nike in a fine style.

Sculpture

A toilet tray of the type found in the Early Saka layer at Sirkap.

Several stone sculptures have been found in the Early Saka layer (Layer No4, corresponding to the period of Azes I, in which numerous coins of the latter were found) in the ruins of Sirkap, during the excavations organized by John Marshall.

The Bimaran casket, representing the Buddha surrounded by Brahma (left) and Śakra (right) was found inside a stupa with coins of Azes II inside. British Museum.

Several of them are toilet trays (also called Stone palettes) roughly imitative of earlier, and finer, Hellenistic ones found in the earlier layers. Marshall comments that "we have a praiseworthy effort to copy a Hellenistic original but obviously without the appreciation of form and skill which were necessary for the task". From the same layer, several statuettes in the round are also known, in very rigid and frontal style.

Bimaran casket

Main article: Bimaran casket

Azes II is connected to the Bimaran casket, one of the earliest representations of the Buddha. The casket, probably Greek work, was used for the dedication of a stupa in Bamiran, near Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and placed inside the stupa with several coins of Azes II. This event may have happened during the reign of Azes II (30-10 BCE), or slightly later. The Indo-Scythians are otherwise connected with Buddhism (see Mathura lion capital), and it is indeed possible they would have commendited the work.

Mathura

File:Rujavula.jpg

Coin of Rajuvula (circa 10 CE), AE, Mathura.
Obv: Bust of king Rajuvula, with Greek legend.
Rev: Pallas standing right (crude). Kharoshthi legend.

In central India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the area of Mathura over Indian kings around 60 BCE. Some of their satraps were Hagamasha and Hagana, who were in turn followed by the Saca Great Satrap Rajuvula.

The Mathura lion capital, an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital in crude style, from Mathura in Central India, and dated to the 1st century CE, describes in kharoshthi the gift of a stupa with a relic of the Buddha, by Queen Nadasi Kasa, the wife of the Indo-Scythian ruler of Mathura, Rajuvula. The capital also mentions the genealogy of several Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura.

Rajuvula apparently eliminated the last of the Indo-Greek kings Strato II around 10 CE, and took his capital city, Sagala.

The coinage of the period, such as that of Rajuvula, tends to become very crude and barbarized in style. It is also very much debased, the silver content becoming lower and lower, in exchange for a higher proportion of bronze, an alloying technique (billon) suggesting less than wealthy finances.

Pataliputra

Silver coin of King Azes II (r.c. 35-12 BCE). Buddhist triratna symbol in the left field on the reverse.

Profile of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II on one of his coins.

The text of the Yuga Purana describes an invasion of Pataliputra by the Scythians sometimes during the 1st century BCE, after seven greats kings had ruled in succession in Saketa following the retreat of the Indo-Greeks from Eastern India (circa 170 BCE). The Yuga Purana explains that the king of the Sakas killed one fourth of the population, before he was himself slain by the Kalinga king Shata and a group of Sabalas (Sabaras) .

Kushan and Indo-Parthian conquests

After the death of Azes II, the rule of the Indo-Scythians in northwestern India finally crumbled with the conquest of the Kushans, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had lived in Bactria for more than a century, and were now expanding into India to create a Kushan Empire. Soon after, the Parthians invaded from the west. Their leader Gondophares temporarily displaced the Kushans and founded the Indo-Parthian Kingdom that was to last towards the middle of the 1st century CE.

The Kushans ultimately regained northwestern India from around 75 CE, and the area of Mathura from around 100 CE, where they were to prosper for several centuries.

File:WesternSatrap.JPG

Coin of the Western Kshatrapa ruler Bhratadaman (278 to 295 CE), a descendant of the Indo-Scythians.

Western Kshatrapas legacy

Main article: Western Kshatrapas

The Indo-Scythians continued to hold the area of Seistan until the reign of Bahram II (276-293 CE), and held several areas of India well into the 1st millennium: Kathiawar and Gujarat were under their rule until the 5th century under the designation of Western Kshatrapas, until they were eventually conquered by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (also called Vikramaditya).

The Indo-Scythians and Buddhism

The Indo-Scythians seem to have been followers of Buddhism, and many of their practices apparently continued those of the Indo-Greeks.

Buner reliefs

File:BunerArmedMen.jpg

A Buner relief representing Indo-Scythians with their caracteristic pointed hood. Peshawar Museum. Drawing.

File:BunerIndo-ScythianMausic.jpg

Indo-Scythian soldiers dancing and playing musical instruments. Cleveland Museum of Art. Drawing.

Indo-Scythian soldiers in military attire are sometimes represented in Buddhist friezes in the art of Gandhara (particularly in Buner reliefs). They are depicted in ample tunics with trousers, and have heavy straight sword as a weapon. They wear a pointed hood (the Scythian cap or bashlyk), which distinguishes them from the Indo-Parthians who only wore a simple fillet over their bushy hair, and which is also systematically worn by Indo-Scythian rulers on their coins. With the right hand, some of them are forming the Karana mudra against evil spirits. In Gandhara, such friezes were used as decorations on the piedestals of Buddhist stupas. They are contemporary with other friezes representing people in purely Greek attire, hinting at an intermixing of Indo-Scythians (holding military power) and Indo-Greeks (confined, under Indo-Scythian rule, to civilian life).

Another relief is known where the same type of soldiers are playing musical instruments and dancing, activities which are widely represented elsewhere in Gandharan art: Indo-Scythians are typically shown as revelling devotees.

Butkara Stupa and other Gandharan sculptures

Possible Scythian devotee couple (extreme left and right, often described as "Scytho-Parthian"), around the Buddha, Brahma and Indra.

File:IndoScythiansAndBuddha.jpg

Devotees of the Buddha in Indo-Scythian clothes (top), and erotical scene (bottom), Butkara stupa.

Excavation at the Butkara Stupa in Swat by an Italian archaeological team have yielded various Buddhist sculptures thought to belong to the Indo-Scythian period. In particular, an Indo-Corinthian capital representing a Buddhist devotee within foliage has been found which had a reliquary and a coins of Azes II buried at its base, securely dating the sculpture to around 20 BCE. A contemporary pilaster with the image of a Buddhist devotee in Greek dress has also been found at the same spot, again suggesting a mingling of the two populations. Various reliefs at the same location show Indo-Scythians with their characteristics tunics and pointed hoods within a Buddhist context, and side-by-side with reliefs of standing Buddhas.

Other reliefs have been found, which show Indo-Scythian men with their caracteristic pointed cap pushing a cart on which is reclining the Greek god Dyonisos with his consort Ariadne.

• 
  Indo-Scythians pushing the Greek god Dyonisos with Ariadne in a charriot. Gandhara.
• Indo-Corinthian capital from Butkara Stupa, dated to 20 BCE, during the reign of Azes II. Turin City Museum of Ancient Art.
  Indo-Corinthian capital from Butkara Stupa, dated to 20 BCE, during the reign of Azes II. Turin City Museum of Ancient Art.
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  Dancing Indo-Scythians (top) and hunting scene (bottom). Buddhist relief from Swat, Gandhara.
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  Butkara door jamb, with Indo-Scythians dancing and revelling. On the back side is a relief of a standing Buddha (Faccenna, "Sculptures from the sacred area of Butkara I", plate CCCLXXII)

Stone palettes

File:ScythianStonePalette.jpg

Indo-Scythian stone palette, found in Sirkap, New-Delhi Museum. The lion with protruding tongue is highly reminescent of those on the Mathura Lion Capital.

Main article: Stone palette

Numerous stone palettes found in Gandhara are considered as good representatives of Indo-Scythian art. These palettes combine Greek and Iranian influences, and are often realized in a simple, archaic style. Stone palettes have only been found in archaeological layers corresponding to Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian rule, and are essentially unknown the preceding Mauryan layers or the succeeding Kushan layers.

Very often these palettes represent people in Greek dress in mythological scenes, a few in Parthian dress (head-bands over bushy hair, crossed-over jacket on a bare chest, jewelry, belt, baggy trousers), and even fewer in Indo-Scythian dress (Phrygian hat, tunic and comparatively straight trousers). A palette found in Sirkap and now in the New Delhi Museum shows a winged Indo-Scythian horseman riding winged deer, and being attacked by a lion.

Mathura lion capital

The Indo-Scythian Mathura lion capital, 1st century CE (British Museum).

The Mathura lion capital, which associates many of the Indo-Scythian rulers from Maues to Rajuvula, mentions a dedication of a relic of the Buddha in a stupa. It also bears centrally the Buddhist symbol of the triratana, and is also filled with mentions of the bhagavat Buddha Sakyamuni, and characteristically Buddhist phrases such as:

"sarvabudhana puya dhamasa puya saghasa puya"

"Revere all the Buddhas, revere the dharma, revere the sangha"

(Mathura lion capital, inscription O1/O2)

Coinage

Buddhist symbolism is present throughout Indo-Scythian coinage. In particular, they adopted the Indo-Greek practice since Menander I of showing divinities forming the vitarka mudra with their right hand (as for the mudra-forming Zeus on the coins of Maues or Azes II), or the presence of the Buddhist lion on the coins of the same two kings, or the triratana symbol on the coins of Zeionises.

Indo-Scythians in Ancient Indian Literature

King Azes I on a camel, holding the ankus, and wearing a Phrygian cap. From some of his square coins.

Main article: Sakas

The Indo-Scythians were named "Shaka" in India, an extension on the name Saka used by the Persians to designate Scythians. From the time of the Mahabharata wars (1500-500 BCE) Shakas receive numerous mentions in texts like the Puranas, the Manusmriti, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Mahabhasiya of Patanjali, the Brhat Samhita of Vraha Mihira, the Kavyamimamsa, the Brihat-Katha-Manjari, the Katha-Saritsagara and several other old texts. They are described as part of an amalgam of other war-like tribes from the northwest.

"Degraded Kshatriyas" from the northwest

The Manusmriti, written about 200 CE, groups the Shakas with the Yavanas, Kambojas, Paradas, Pahlavas, Kiratas and the Daradas etc..., and addresses them all as degraded warriors, or Kshatriyas (X/43-44). Anushasanaparava of the Mahabharata also views the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas etc. in the same light. Patanjali in his Mahabhasya regards the Shakas and Yavanas as pure Shudras (II.4.10).

The Vartika of the Katyayana informs us that the kings of the Shakas and the Yavanas, like those of the Kambojas, may also be addressed by their respective tribal names.

Coin of Zeionises (circa 10 BCE - 10 CE).
Obv: King on horseback holding whip, with bow behind and Buddhist Triratna symbol.
Rev: Standing king, being crowned by the goddess Tyche.

The Mahabharata also associates the Shakas with the Yavanas, Gandharas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Tusharas, Sabaras, Barbaras etc and addresses them all as the Barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha. In another verse, the epic groups the Shakas Kambojas and Khashas and addresses them as the tribes from Udichya i.e north division (5/169/20). Also, the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana locates the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas and Paradas in the extreme north-west beyond the Himavat (i.e. Hindukush) (43/12).

The Udyogaparava of the Mahabharata (5/19/21-23) tells us that the composite army of the Kambojas, Yavanas and Shakas had participated in the Mahabharata war under the supreme command of Sudakshina Kamboja. The epic repeatedly applauds this composite army as being very fierce and wrathful.

Invasion of India (180 BCE onward)

Main article: Invasion of India by Scythian Tribes

King Spalirises standing in armour. From his coins [1] and [2]. He holds the ankus in the right hand.

The Vanaparava of the Mahabharata contains verses in the form of prophecy that the kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas and Abhiras, etc. shall rule unrighteously in Kaliyuga (MBH 3/188/34-36).

This reference apparently alludes to the precarious political scenario following the collapse of Mauryan and Sunga dynasties in northern India and its occupation by foreign hordes of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas.

Extinction in the 5th century CE

The Brihat-Katha-Manjari of the Kshmendra (10/1/285-86) informs us that around 400 CE the Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had unburdened the sacred earth of the Barbarians like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, etc. by annihilating these sinners completely.

The 10th century CE Kavyamimamsa of Raj Shekhar (Ch 17) still lists the Shakas, Tusharas, Vokanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Tangana, Turukshas, etc. together and states them as the tribes located in the Uttarapatha division.

The Invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant part in the history of India as well as nearby countries. In fact, the Indo-Scythian war is just one chapter in the events triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with Chinese tribes which had lasting effects on Bactria, Kabol, Parthia and India as well as far off as Rome in the west.

But these important historical events are viewed through a fog of misconceptions that scholars are only beginning to clear up.

One of these relates to the true identity of the Scythian peoples who participated in the invasion. Many historians now believe that the Scythian group that invaded India and set up various kingdoms, included not only the Sakas but other allied tribes, such as the Parama Kambojas, Bahlikas, Rishikas and Paradas. This new view is based on readings of ancient inscriptions as well as literary evidence from scholars in the region and further afar. It suggests that India's modern population is descended from a far greater range of Central Asian peoples than previously thought.

Movements among Central Asian tribes

In the second century BCE, a fresh nomadic movement started among the Central Asian tribes, producing lasting effects on the history of Rome in Europe and Bactria, Kabol, Parthia and India in the east. Recorded in the annals of the Han dynasty and other Chinese records, this great tribal movement began after the Yue-chi Chinese tribe fled westwards after their defeat by the neighbouring Hiung-nu, creating a domino effect as the Yue-chi displaced other central Asian tribes in their path.

According to these ancient sources Mao-tun of the Hsiung-nu tribe of Mongolia attacked the Yue-chi and evicted them from their homeland Kansu (Nan-shan). Leaving behind a remnant of their number, most of the population moved westwards, and following the route north of Takla Makan, entered the lands of the Haumavarka Sakas of Issyk-kul Lake through the passes of Tien-shan. Unable to withstand the assault, the Haumavarka Sakas allowed the Yue-chi to settle in their lands. In the years to come, the Haumavarka Sakas (Sakas of Wu-sun?) sought the help of the Hsiung-nu people and evicted the Yue-chi.

Even so, the initial clash with the invading Yue-chi caused a large group of the Haumavarka Shakas to leave their ancestral home. These Sakas journeyed through Tashkent and Ferghana (Sogdiana) (inhabited by the Sugud or Shulik tribe of the Iranians) and occupied the Doab of Oxus and Jaxartes, also overunning the Greek kingdom of Bactria, occupying most of its western parts.. Others suggest Tukhara (India and Central Asia, 1955, p 125, Dr P. C. Bagch). Dr D. C. Sircar reconciles the difference by suggesting that Ta-hia referred to Tukhara and the eastern parts of Bactria..

After being defeated and evicted by the joint forces of the Wu-sun and Hsiung-nu people, the Ta Yue-chis also moved southwards, overrunning in their path the Rishikas, Parama-Kambojas, Lohas and other allied Scythian clans living in the Transoxian regions as far Fargana. Many fled in a southwesterly direction and joined the Haumavarka Sakas in Bactria. The Yue-chi followed behind. Once again under extreme pressure, the Sakas and other allied Scythian groups including the Kambojas were forced to leave Bactria.

They first tried to enter India via the Kabol valley but were vigorously opposed by the Greek powers there. Rebuffed, the clans turned westwards to Herat and then took a southerly direction, reaching Helmund valley (Sigal) in south-west Afghanistan, the region later called Sakasthan or Seistan. Scholars believe that this Scythian migration through Herat to Drangiana was accompanied by groups of Kambojas (Parama-Kambojas), Rishikas and other allied tribes from Transoxiana that were also displaced by the Yue-chi. .

Scythians and Sakas in classical sources

Modern historical accounts of the Indo-Scythian wars often assume that the Scythian protagonists were a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas). But earlier Greek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples.

To Herodotus (484-425 BCE), the Sakai were the 'Amurgioi Skuthai' (i.e. Scythians from Ammyurgia). Strabo (Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo, 63 BCE-c24 AD) suggests that the term Skuthais (Scythians) referred to the Sakai and several other tribes. Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' , c92-175 AD), refers to the Sakai as Skuthon (a Scythian people) or the Skuthai (the Scythians) who inhabit Asia.

It is clear that the Greek and Latin scholars cited here believed, all Sakai were Scythians, but not all Scythians were Sakai. It seems likely that modern confusion about the identity of the Scythians is partly due to the Persians. According to Herodotus, the Persians called all Scythians by the name Sakas. Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23–79 AD) provides a more detailed explanation, stating that the Persians gave the name Sakai to the Scythian tribes: "nearest to them". This likely explains why the Scythians began to be called Sakai.

Classical descriptions of the Scythian regions

Another clue to the true identity of the Scythians is the widespread area in which classical scholars thought they lived. The ancient Greeks wrote that the homelands of the Scythian peoples included Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea, north of Hindukush/Karakoram and west of China extending as far as Siberia. This suggests Scythia was a generic term that was loosely applied to a vast area of Central Asia spanning numerous groups and diverse ethnicities.

Approximate extent of Scythia and Sarmatia in the 1st century BC.

Strabo defined all the Central Asian clans inhabiting the area east of the Caspian Sea as Scythian in culture. Diodorus (Diodorus Siculus, c90–30 BCE) said that Mt Hemodos was the dividing line between Scythia and India, ancient Greek sources used a variety of names for this mountain, including Himaos, Imaos and Paropamisos but generally place it in the Himalayas.

Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus, c90-168 AD) writes that Skuthia was not only "within the Imaos" (the Himalayas) and "beyond the Imaos" (north of the Himalayas), but also speaks of a separate "land of the Sakais" within Scythia . Both Solinus and Pliny report that the Ganges was one of the greatest rivers of India and has its source in the Scythian mountains .

When ancient texts refer to the Sakai living in the Mt. Hemodos area or the Himalayan region, they are also talking about a much wider area than the modern Himalayas. Greek texts refer to Mt. Hemodos as Kaukasos, the Caucasus, which is the Greek word for the entire Hindukush region. In the ancient Sanskrit/Pali texts, the Himalayas spanned the eastern and western oceans and so included the Hindukush and Karakoram ranges.

Ptolemy meanwhile says that the Scythian tribes living in the Hindukush ranges were only at the southern fringe of the Scythian world. By this definition, the Parama Kambojas tribe who lived in the far off Transoxiana territory as distant as the Fargana and Zeravshan valleys were also Scythians.

With Scythia covering such a wide area, it is no wonder classical scholars like Strabo and the Historiae Philippcae writings of 1st century BC Roman historian Pompeius Trogus (Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus), classified any Asio/Asii or Asiani and Kambojan clans connected with horse culture as Scythic races.

Where did the Sakas live?

Physical map of Central Asia from the Caucasus in the northwest, to Mongolia in the northeast.

The Sakas had at least three major settlements, Saka Haumavarka, Saka Tigrakhauda and Saka Taradarya, according to inscriptions left by King Achaemenid Darius I (522-486 BCE) in the city of Hamadan and his royal seat of Perspolis. However, scholars think these three settlements may be merely remnants of a much greater civilization left by the waves of Scythian migrations back to the middle of the 8th century BCE.

The Darian inscriptions say that the Sakas Haumavarka lived 'beyond Sogdiana' (para-Sugudam) which when seen from Perspolis, seems to point to Tashkant, Fargana, Kashgar and nearby regions. The Sakas Tigrakhauda lived near the Arals in the lower valleys of the Jaxartes as well as the plains north of the Jaxartes. The third Sakas settlement,Sakas Taradarya, was located north of the Black Sea in the Russian Steppes.

There are also references to the Saka Haumavarka in ancient Indian texts. It seems likely that it was these Sakas Haumavarka and other allied tribes such as the Lohas, Parama Kambojas, Rishikas, etc that lived in, and north of the Pamir mountains as far as Kashgar, Fargana and Issyk-kul Lake, that entered into conflict with the Ta Yue-chi or Great Yue-chi and migrated into northern India. According to the evidence furnished by Mahabharata, the Transoxian Pamir mountains and regions to the north as far as Fargana were known as the lands of the allied Lohas, Parama Kambojas, Rishikas, etc tribes . All these peoples living in the Scythia of the classical writers or the Shakadvipa of Indian texts, were lumped together and given the general name Sacae by Greeks and Sakas by the Iranians. They were known as Shakas in Indian texts .

Parama Kambojas were Scythians

According to scholars, term Kamboja may be explained as Kam+boja. Boja is the Iranian equivalent of the Sanskrit Bhoja which means Lord or King or Master . Thus, Kambojas may be explained as Lords or Masters or Rulers of Kam country.

The root Kam implying place or region is reflected in the Kama valley, a region lying between the Khyber Pass and Jalalabad. It is also reflected in the place names Kama-daka, Kamma-Shilman, Kama-bela of Kabol; in the Kamdesh or Kambrom, Kamich, Kama and Kamu & Kamatol of the Kunar and Bashgul valleys. It is further reflected in the vast expanses of the region called Kazal-kam and Kara-kam lying on either side of the Oxus north of Hindukush in parts of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. There is also a river named Kama in the Russian Steppes. Kambah is also said to be name of an ancient town some destinations north-west of Samarkhand in Uzbekistan.

The Ptolemian term Kamoi also refers to a people of the region falling in the Oxus/Jaxartes doab. According to Dr Seth, it seems highly likely that the ancient Kambojas had their habitats in the doab of the river Vamksu (Oxus) and Syr (Jaxartes) (ancient Suguda) and beyond in the hilly regions of Syr. The territory is watered by numerous tributaries of the Oxus and Jaxartes and was referred to as Komdei by Ptolemy. Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (325 AD‑330 AD) labelled the mountainous region of Suguda as Komedas .

These names seem to point towards 'Komdesh' (Kambojdesh ?) which was the original home of the Kambojas . Ptolemy has also stated that there is a tribe variously called Komroi, Komedei or Komoi which occupies the plateaus of Bactria, Suguda and Ski countries .

Al-Maqidisi in his book Al-Muqhni calls the people of this territory Kumiji a name that apparently points to the Sanskrit Kamboja. The Komdei of Ptolemy has been identified with the Kiumito of Hiun Tsang . Scholars have identified this Kiumito as the habitat of Iranian Kambojas . The Kumuda-dvipa of the Puranas is said to lie to north of Pamirs in the Tartary region and is equivalent to the Komdei of Ptolemy and the Kumadas of Ammianus Marcellinus.

The fifth century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa attests that the Hunas and Kambojas lived as neighbors in their respective west and east Oxus valleys . Rajatarangini of Kalhana also refers to Tukharas and Kambojas living respectively in the west and east Oxus valleys, during the 8th century AD.

Scholars believe that the Kiumito of Hiun Tsang is same as the Kamboja of Raghuvamsa and of Rajatarangini and represents the Iranian section of the Kambojas . The Kumuda or Kumuda-dvipa of Indian texts and the Komdei of Ptolemy lay in the Shaka-dvipa per Mahabharata and Puranic texts . Komdei apparently refers to the region which has been called Parama Kamboja in Mahabharata . This was the region where the Rishikas, Parama Kambojas, Lohas and other allied people dwelt.

Needless to say that all these people including the Parama Kambojas were Scythians by culture for obvious reasons. Writing on the Rishikas, Dr V. S. Aggarwala observes: “The name Rishika occurs in Mahabharata as a part of 'Shakadvipa'. Arjuna had conquered Rishikas across the Vakshu (Oxus) which flowed through the Shaka country.” As the Parama Kambojas, Lohas and the Rishikas were all neighborly tribes and were allied in their fight against Arjuna , this strongly suggests that the Transoxian Lohas and Parama Kambojas were also located in Shakadvipa or Scythia.

Dr Bailey lists several breeds of Kamboja horses and states that their haya- and javana- breeds ( 'swift horse') refer to the famous horses of the Farghana breed . Praja Bhata, a Kashmiri Sanskrit poet and author of the fourth Rajatarangini while writing about the history of Moghul dynasty in India, addresses emperor Babur as a Yavana king hailing from Kambhoja . Since Vabur (Babur) was native of Fargana (in Kyrgyzstan of Central Asia), this Indian reference seems to extend the Kamboja i.e the Parama Kamboja domain almost as far as to Fargana.

Thus the foregoing discussion sufficiently proves that the territory of the Parama Kambojas lay in a region beyond Imaos or Himalaya/Hindukush, the region that ancient Sanskrit texts such as Mahabharata labelled Shakadvipa and classical writers Strabo and Diodorus define as part of Scythia (see above). This allows the conclusion that the Parama Kambojas, the Rishikas and Lohas were Scythians .

According to Serge Thion: “It seems from some inscriptions that the Kambojas were a royal clan of the Sakas better known under the Greek name of Scyths” .

Shaka, Kamboja references in ancient texts

Mahabharata references

Udyoga Parva of Mahabharata groups the Shakas, Pahlavas, Paradas with the ‘’Kamboja-rishikas’’ and attests them as living on sea-shore in western India. Again Udyoga Parava of Mahabharata lists the Shakas, Kambojas and the Khashas together and calls them as tribes of Udichya or Uttarapatha. The Shanti Parva of Mahabharata also associates the Shakas with the Kambojas, Yavanas, Gandharas, Pahlavas, Tusharas, Sabaras, Barbaras, etc. and addresses them all as the Barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha . More importantly, the Shaka army had joined the Kamboja army and together they had participated in the Kurukshetra war under single and supreme command of Sudakshina Kamboja .

Ramayana references

Kishkindha Kanda Sarga 43 of Valmiki Ramayana collocates the Kambojas with the Shakas, Yavanas, Paradas and the Uttarakurus in the extreme northwest. The Yavanas are in (Bactria) and Kambojas in Tajikstan, the Paradas are on river Sailoda in Sinkiang province of China. The Uttarakurus lie beyond the Pamirs. The Shakas of the Ramayana obviously refer to the Shakas of Issyk-kul Lake lying beyond Suguda . Adi-Kanda of the Ramayana , tells us that the Kambojas, Shakas, Pahlavas and some other allied tribes from northwest were 'created' at the request of sage Vasishta by the Divine cow Shavala to defend Vasishta sage from the forces of king Vishwamitra (Dr B. C. Law). All these Ramayanic references seem to closely connect the Kambojas and the Shakas together.

Puranic references

Harivamsa Purana and other Puranic literature attest that Iksvaku king Bahu of Ayodhya was driven out of his dominions by Haihayas and Talajanghas with the assistance of Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas and Paradas Ayudhajivin Kshatriyas from Uttarapatha, popularly known as "five hordes" (ganah pāñca) .

Kalika Purana, one of the Upa-Puranas of the Hindus, refers to a war between Brahmanical king Kalika (supposed to be Pusyamitra Sunga) and Buddhist king Kali (supposed to be Maurya king Brihadratha (187-180 BCE)) and states the Shakas, Kambojas, Khasas, etc together as a powerful military allies of king Kali. The Purana further states that these Barbarians take the orders from their women .

The Bhuvanakosha section of Puranic texts also lists the Kambojas with the Shakas, Paradas, Yavanas, Bahlikas, Sindhus, Soviras, Madrakas, Kekayas etc and place then all in the Udychya or northwest division.

Manusmiriti reference

Manusmriti places the Shakas with the Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Paradas and labels them all as degraded Kshatriyas defying the Brahmanical codes and rituals .

Mahabharata, too similarly groups the Shakas with the Kambojas and Yavanas and states that they were originally noble Kshatriyas but got degraded to to vrishala status on account of their non-obersvance of the sacred Brahmanical codes.

Mudrarakshas reference

The Buddhist drama Mudrarakshas by Visakhadutta and the Jaina works Parisishtaparvan refer to Chandragupta's alliance with Himalayan king Parvatka. This Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a powerful composite army made up of the north western martial tribes including the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Parasikas, Bahlikas etc .

Other references

In the Brihat Katha of Pt. Kshmendra, Vedic king Vikramaditya had fought with the joint mlechcha forces of the Shakas, Kambojas, Hunas, Sabaras, Tusharas, Parasikas and had destroyed them completely.

The Vartika of the Katyayana on Panini's Ashtadhyayi informs us that the kings of the Shakas and the Yavanas, like those of the Kambojas may similarly be addressed by their respective tribal names.

There are numerous more similar references in ancient Sanskrit literature where the Kambojas and Shakas are listed together. All these references amply prove that the Shakas were closely allied to the Kambojas and both were living as close neighbors in the extreme of northwest division of ancient India.

Strabo’s evidence

Scythian horseman from Central Asia, c. 300 BC.

According to Greek chronicler Strabo , Bactriana was taken by nomads like Asii/Asio, Pasianoi, Tokhario and Sakarauloi who had originally come from country from other side of Jaxartes (Central Asia) . The prologus XLI of Historiae Philippcae also refers to the Scythian invasion of the Greek kingdom of Bactria and Sogdiana---the invaders are described as Saraucae and Asiani . The Saraucae are Sacarauli and Asiani are Asii or Asio of Strabo . These references conceal the information that after being turned out from Issyk-kul lake and in their movements to Bactria via Sogdiana and Fargana, under pressure from Ta Yue-chih, the Issyk-kul Sakas (Sakaraulois) had been joined on the way by sections of other Scythian tribes of the intervening regions during their southerly or south-westerly movements to Bactria. The term Asio (or Asii) obviously refers to horse People and undoubtedly refers to the Kambojas of the Parama Kamboja domain whose Aswas or horses too have been glorified by Mahabharata as being of excellent quality. In fact, Asio, Asi/Asii, Asva/Aswa, Ari-aspi, Aspasios, Aspasii (or Hippasii) are variant names the Classical writers have given to the horse-clans of the Kambojas of Scythian domain . The Tokharios are assumed by some scholars to be Rishikas. But the Rishikas were a closely affiliated to the Parama-Kambojas as per Mahabharata evidence . Similarly, the Pasianois were another Scythian tribe from Central Asia. Saraucae or Sakarauloi obviously refers to the Saka proper from Issyk-kul Lake. Some scholars tend to link the Rishikas with Tukharas and later with the Ta Yue-chis themselves. If one accepts this connection, then the Tukharas (==> Rishikas ==> Yue-chihs) had controlled the eastern parts of Bactria country (Ta-hia) while the combined forces of the Sakarauloi, 'Asio' (horse people = Parama Kambojas) and the 'Pasinoi' of Strabo etc had occupied its western parts after being displaced from the original home in Fargana/Alai valley by the Ta-Yuechis. As stated earlier, Ta-hia is taken to mean Tukhara/Tokhara which also included Badakshan, Chitral, Kafirstan and Wakhan which are said to have formed eastern parts of Bactria According to other scholars, it were the Saka hordes alone who had put an end to the Greek kingdom of Bactria .

Sai-Wang Scythian hordes of Chipin or Kipin

A section of the Central Asian Scythians (under Sai-Wang) is said to have taken southerly direction and after passing through the Pamirs it entered the Chipin or Kipin after crossing the Hasuna-tu (Hanging Pass) located above the valley of Kanda in Swat country . Chipin has been identified by Dr Pelliot, Dr Bagchi, Dr Raychaudhury and some others with Kashmir while other scholars identify it with Kapisha (Kafirstan) . The Sai-Wang had established his kingdom in Kipin. Dr S. Konow interprets the Sai-Wang as Saka Murunda of Indian literature, Murunda being equal to Wang i.e king, master or lord, but prof Bagchi who takes the word Wang in the sense of the king of the Scythians but he distinguishes the Sai Sakas from the Murunda Sakas . There are reasons to believe that Sai Scythians were Kamboja Scythians and therefore Sai-Wang belonged to the Scythianised Kambojas (i.e. Parama-Kambojas) of the Transoxiana region and came back to settle among his own stock after being evicted from his ancestral land located in Scythia or Shakadvipa. King Moga or Maues could have belonged to this group of Scythians who had migrated from the Sai country (Central Asia) to Chipin . The Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions attest that the members of the family of king Moga (q.v.) had last name Kamuia or Kamuio (q.v) which Khroshthi term has been identified by scholars with Sanskrit Kamboja or Kambojaka . Thus, Sai-Wang and his migrant hordes which came to settle in Kabol valley in Kapisha may indeed have been from the transoxian Parama Kambojas living in Shakadvipa or Scythian land .

Mixed hordes in Drangian/Zrangiana

Arsacid emperor Mithridates II ( c 123-88/87 BCE) had scored many successes against the Scythians and added many provinces to Parthian empire . It is pointed out that the Bactrian Scythain hordes were also conquered by him. A section of these people had moved from Bactria to Lake Helmond in the wake of Yue-chi pressure and had settled about Drangiana/Zrangiana (Sigal) which region later came to be called ‘Sakistana of the Skythian (Scythian) Sakai’ by the time of compositions Isodor of Charax, Sathmoi Parthikoi, 18.</ref>, towards the end of first century BCE . The region is still known as Seistan.

Scholars hold that Sakistan or Seistan of Drangiana was not only the habitat of the Saka alone but it also contained population of the Pahlavas and the Kambojas etc who have all been lumped together and labelled as Sakas . On the same lines, there were numerous Sakas settled in Afghanistan but the Rock Edicts of king Ashoka only refer to the Yavanas, Kambojas and the Gandharas but no mention is made of the Sakas. Thus, whatever Saka population was living in Afghanistan, it has been included and counted among the Kambojas. Similarly, numerous Sakas had settled in Mathura around the start of Christian era and the city was also their capital or political headquarters. But Mahabharata verses composed around this time only attest to theKambojas and Yavanas as the inhabitants of Mathura but do not make any mention of the Sakas . Obviously, the Indian epic has included the Sakas of Mathura among the Kambojas or the Yavanas here (Dr J. L. Kamboj). In fact, the term Yavana had become a common designation for the Barbarians or Mlechchas and was commonly used for all aliens or foreigners irrespective of whether they were Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas or the Sakas.

The nomenclature of the early Sakas in India saliantly contains a mixture of Saka, Parthian and Iranian elements . The Iranian elements here obviously implies the Iranian Kambojas. Dr Thomas also observes that the Epigraphs of Mathura Lion Capital Inscriptions exhibit a mixture of Saka and Persian nomenclature .

Dr Thomas further notes: " It would seem probable that the tribes from eastern Iran who invaded India included diverse elements mingled indistinguishably together, so that, it is not possible to assert that one dynasty was Parthian while another was Saka etc .

Numerous scholars believe that during centuries immediately preceding Christian era, there had occurred extensive social and cultural admixture among the Kambojas and Yavanas; the Sakas and Pahlavas; and the Kambojas, Sakas, and Pahlavas etc.... such that their cultures and social customs had become almost identical. The culture of Kambojas was modified as a result of their contacts, first with the Yavanas and later, it went further modification as a result of their contacts with the Sakas and Pahlavas etc . This extensive social and cultural admixture due to time and space proximity had led to adoption of similar customs, dress mode, language and social manners among the various frontier peoples of north-west. While living and ruling over middle and lower Indus valley--Drangiana and Archosia (Kandhahar region) -- the Sakas, Pahlavas and Kambojas were closely associated and no wonder it is sometimes impossible to distinguish as to which ruler belongs to which clan.

In view of the foregoing discussion, it is thus quite safe to conclude that the Drangiana country and its surrounding area commnly called Sakistan had become common habitat for the migrants from Saka, Pahlava, Kamboja and some other clans etc .

Establishment of Mlechcha Kingdoms in Northern India

The mixed Scythian hordes that migrated to Drangiana and surrounding regions, later spread further into north and south-west India via the lower Indus valley. Their migration spread into Sovira, Gujarat, Rajasthan and northern India, including kingdoms in the Indian mainland.

There are important references to the warring Mleccha hordes of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana also.

Leading Indologists like Dr H. C. Raychadhury glimpses in these verses the struggles between the Hindus and the invading hordes of Mlechcha barbarians from the northwest. The time frame for these struggles is the second century BCE onwards. Dr Raychadhury fixes the date of the present version of the Valmiki Ramayana around or after the second century CE .

This picture presented by the Ramayana probably refers to the political scenario that emerged when the mixed hordes descended from Sakasthan and advanced into the lower Indus valley via Bolan Pass and beyond into the Indian mainland. It refers to the hordes' struggle to seize political control of Sovira, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Malwa, Maharashtra and further areas of eastern, central and southern India.

Mahabharata too furnishes a veiled hint about the invasion of the mixed hordes from the northwest. Vanaparava by Mahabharata contains verses in the form of prophecy deploring that "......the Mlechha (barbaric) kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, etc shall rule the earth (i.e India) un-rightously in Kaliyuga..." .

According to Dr H. C. Ray Chaudhury, this is too clear a statement to be ignored or explained away.

Mahabharata's epic reference apparently alludes to the chaotic politics which followed the collapse of the Mauryan and Sunga dynasties in northern India and the area's subsequent occupation by foreign hordes of the Saka, Yavana, Kamboja, Pahlavas, Bahlika, Shudra and Rishika tribes from the northwest.

See also: Migration of Kambojas

Kambojas-Sakas in control of Mathura

The Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions attest that Mathura fell under the control of the Sakas and the Kambojas. The inscriptions contain references to Kharaosta Kamuio (Kamboja) and Aiyasi Kamuia (Kambojaka). Yuvaraja Kharostes (Kshatrapa) was the son of Arta as is attested by his own coins . Arta is stated to be brother of king Moga or Maues . Princess Aiyasi Kambojaka, also called Kambojika, was the chief queen of Shaka Mahakshatrapa Rajuvula. This shows that Sakas and Kambojas had jointly ruled over Mathura/Uttara Pradesh. As stated before, the Mahabharata verses, composed around the beginning of Christian era, strongly attest that the Kambojas and Yavanas were in control of Mathura country.

Dr Jayaswal writes: “Mathura was under outlandish people like the Yavanas and Kambojas... who had a special mode of fighting”.

Dr Buddha Prakash observes: "Along with the Sakas, the Kambojas had also entered Indian mainland and spread into whole of North India, especially in Panjab and Uttar Pradesh. Mahabharata contains references to Yavanas and Kambojas having conquered Mathura (12/105/5)....There is also a reference to the Kambojas in the Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions of Saka Satrap (Kshatrapa) Rajuvula found in Mathura ".

The term Kamboja in the above verses of Mahabharata seems to include both the Kambojas and Sakas.

Kamboja principalities in West/Southwest India

Markendeya Purana (57.35) lists the Kambojas and Pahlavas among the countries of Udichya division i.e Uttarapatha, but the next chapter (58.30-32) of the same work also refers to other Kamboja and Pahlava settlements, locating them in the south-west of India neighboring the Sindhu, Sauvira and Anarta (north Saurashtra) countries .

Brhatsamhita of Varaha Mihira (6th century CE) also locates a Kamboja and Pahlava settlement specifically in the south-west (nairrtyam dizi) of India, neighbouring Sindhu, Sauvira, Saurashtra and Dravida .

Arthashastra of Barhaspatya refers to the Kamboja as a great country (Mahavishaya) and locates it adjacent to the Dasrana country (southern Malwa), east of Gujarat .

Vishnu Dharmottari includes the Kambojas in the list of Janapadas of south-west India .

Raajbilaas, a medieval text, locates a Kamboj settlement in the neighborhood of Kachcha, Sorata or Saurashtra and Gurjara countries of SW India..

The Garuda Purana, composed later, locates a Kamboj principality/settlement in the neighborhood of the Ashmaka, Pulinda, Jimuta, Narashtra, Lata and Karnata countries. It also specifically says that this group of Kambojas were living in southern division of India (dakshina.path.vasinah) .

Interestingly, Agni Purana locates two Kamboja settlements in India itself....... Kambhoja in south-west India and Kamboja in the southern parts of India .

The above post-Christian Sanskrit references abundantly establish as historical fact, that in the wake of the major events of the second and first centuries BCE, some groups of Central Asian Kambojas in alliance with the Sakas and Pahlavas, had settled the western and south-western parts of India.

The Kambojas in and around west, south-west India are also mentioned in inscriptions by king Sahasiva Raya of the Sangama Dynasty (1336-1478), kings Harihara & Deva Raya of Narasinga Dynasty (1496-1567), and from the references of king Vishnuvardhana of Hoiyasala Dynasty/Mysore (12th century CE).

Due to the above cited literary/inscriptional evidence, some historians, including Dr Aiyangar and Dr Banerjee, have located Kamboja in Sindhu and Gujarat . It seems clear that the Kamboja they refer to are the post-Christian settlements of Kambojas in western or south-western India and not the original Kamboja of the Sanskrit/Pali literature.

The biography of Shankara Acharya, which is based on religious itineraries, refers to Kambhoja located in Saurashtra comprising Girnar, Somnath, Prabhasa and other regions and a Kamboja located in Central Asia adjacent to Daradistan but lying north of Kashmir. This eighth-century reference attests to two Kamboja settlements, one specifically situated in Saurashtra http://www.geocities.com/advaitavedant/shankarabio.htm. Some historians have also invested western Kshatrapas, especially the Kshahrata Kshatrapas with Kamboja ethnicity .

Kambhoja Raja Kathalu is highly popular in Andhra traditions. The story deals with the militaristic exploits of a fierce and adventurous Kambojan king. The tale probably relates to a historical brush between the Andhraites and the intruding Kamboja/Pahlavas hordes in the Christian era.

The Kamboja hordes of the second/first century BCE have left indelible foot prints in the names of mountains, rivers and other geographical places in western India. The Kamb/Kambuh river and Kamboh/Kambo mountain in Sindh are reminiscent of Sanskrit Kamboja. The Kamboi (ancient town/port) in district Patan, Khambhoj in district Anand, Kambay (port/town and Gulf)... all in Saurashtra; Kumbhoj/Kambhoj (an ancient town) in Kolhapur in Maharashtra; and the Koimbatore city of Tamilnadu in southern India carry the unmistakable footprints of Kambojas. There is also an ancient Kambhoj caste living near Nanded in Maharashtra, possibly the dwindling remnant of ancient Kambojas that settled southwest India around the Christian era.

Evidence about joint invasions

The clans of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Paradas, etc had been invading India from Central Asia many years before the Christian era. These peoples were all absorbed into the community of Kshatriyas of mainstream Indian society .

The Bahlikas were originally people of Balkh or Bactria. Before the arrival of the Greeks, Bactria and nearby regions were inhabitated by the Uttaramadras and Uttarakurus. A later settlement of Bahlikas was also said to exist in south-west India in the neighborhood of Gujarat and Maharashtra. This is evident in some verses of Ramayana as well as the Padama Purana . These ancient references demonstrate that the Bahlikas had also migrated into south-western India as neighbors of the Saurashtra and the Abhira peoples. According to the Puranas, a branch of the Bahlikas had ruled in Vindhyas . The Baraca of the Periplus (first century AD) has been identified with the Bahlika .

The Shakas were formerly a people of trans-Hemodos region---the Shakadvipa of the Puranas or the Scythia of the classical writings. Isidor of Charax (beginning of first c AD) attests them in Sakastana (modern Seistan). First century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c AD 70-80) also attests a Scythian district in lower Indus with Minnagra as its capital. Ptolemy (c AD 140) also attests Indo-Scythia in south-western India which comprised Patalene, Abhira and the Surastrene (Saurashtra) territories.

The Paradas anciently inhabited the mountainous region between the upper courses of Oxus and Jaxartes. Puranas attest their location on the banks of river Chaksu (Oxus) . Mahabharata too lists them among the tribes of northwest and place them on river Sailoda . But Geographer Ptolemy notes them as Pardane and attests them as living in western India in Sindhu or Gedrosia during second century CE.

The Kambojas and Pahlavas are originally attested to have been living in east Iranian regions in Central Asia. But, later evidence testifies that this people had also established some of their settlements in South-west/Southern India in post-Christian times. [[[migration of Kambojas#The Kambojas in West.2FSouthwest India|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration of Kambojas#The Kambojas in West.2FSouthwest India]]].

The Rishikas were formerly attested as living in Sakadvipa as neighbors to the Parama-Kambojas of Transoxiana region which branch of theirs is known as Uttara Rishikas. But later evidence locates one of their section living as neighbors to the Asmakas and Vidarbhas in south-west India. In the Udyyoga Parva of Mahabharata, the Pahlavas, Shakas, Paradas, Kambojas and Rishikas are listed together and are placed in the west near the sea shore . This Rishika settlement lied between Godavari and Tapti rivers, east of Nasika, north of Mulaka and west of Vidarbha in what is called Khandes.

Barbaras were originally attested to have been living in extreme northewest on the banks of river Sita apparently as neighbors to the Parama Kambojas. Puranas also attests that river Chaksu (Oxus) flowed through the janapada of the Barabaras . In Mahabharata, Barbaras are mentioned with the Kambojas, Gandharas, Yavanas and the Kiratas--- all being placed in the Uttarapatha . But in later verses of Mahabharata, the Barbaras, Pahlavas, Yavanas, Sakas etc have also been placed near the sea . According to the author of Periplus, river Sinthos (Sindhu) had seven mouths and all were shallow and unnavigable except the middle one on which was located Barbaricum, a trading seaport. Behind this tradeport was located minnagra, the capital of Skythia.

The facts presented above show that the second century BCE Scythian invasion of India, was in all probability carried out jointly by the Sakas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas, Rishikas and other allied tribes from the northwest . As a result, groups of these people who had originally lived in the northwest before the Christian era, were also found to have lived in southwest India in post-Christian times. All these groups of north-western peoples apparently entered Indian mainland following the so-called Scythian Invasion of India.

Books and Periodicals

Political History of ancient India, 1996, Dr H. C. raychaudhury
Hindu Polity, A Constitutional history of India in Hindu Times, 1978, Dr K. P. Jayswal
Geographical Data in Early Puranas, 1972, Dr M. R. Singh
Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, Dr J. L. Kamboj
Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, S Kipal Singh
India and Central Asia, 1955, Dr P. C. Bagchi
Geography of Puranas, 1973, Dr S. M. Ali
Greeks in Bactria and India, Dr W. W. Tarn
Early History of North India, Dr S. Chattopadhyava
Sakas in Ancient India, Dr S. Chattopadhyava
Development of Kharoshthi script, C. C. Dasgupta
Ancient India, 1956, Dr R. K. Mukerjee
India and the World, p 154, Dr Buddha Parkash
These Kamboj People, 1979, K. S. Dardi
Ancient India, Vol III, Dr T. L. Shah
Hellenism in Ancient India, Dr G. N. Banerjee
Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol XLIII, Part I, 1884
Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol XVI, Part III, & IV, 1930
Manu and Yajnavalkya, Dr K. P. Jayswal
Anabaseeos Alexanddrou, Arrian
Geography, by Ptolemy
Mathura Lion Capital Inscriptions
Corpus Inscriptionium Indicarum, Vol II, Part I, Dr S Konow

Notes

Equipement of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II (r.35-12 BCE), as shown on his clearest coins. He wears a type of Phrygian cap with flaps, and a web-like armour (a cataphract), on top of a thick tunic. He holds a whip in the right hand. The two threads behind his back are probably a sign of his royalty. The upper end of a recurve bow appears from the left side of the saddle (click image for reference).

Main Indo-Scythian rulers

Coin of Azes II, with king seated, holding a drawn sword and a whip.

File:SeatedAzes.jpg

King Azes II seated on a large sofa. He wears a Greek royal headband, is clothed with a tunic and trousers, and holds a drawn sword and a whip (click image for reference).

Northwestern India:

• Maues, c. 90-60 BCE
• Vonones, c. 75-65 BCE
• Spalahores, c. 75-65 BCE, satrap and brother of king Vonones, and probably the later king Spalirises.
• Spalirises, c. 60-57 BCE, king and brother of king Vonones.
• Spalagadames c.50 BCE, satrap, and son of Spalahores.
• Azes I, c. 57-35 BCE
• Azilises, c. 57-35 BCE
• Azes II, c. 35-12 BCE
• Zeionises, c.10 BCE-10 CE
• Kharahostes, c.10 BCE- 10 CE
• Hajatria
• Liaka Kusuluka, satrap of Chuksa
• Kusulaka Patika, satrap of Chuksa and son of Liaka Kusulaka

Bajaur area (Apracharaja rulers):

• Vijayamitra (12 BCE - 15 CE)
• Itravasu (c.20 CE)
• Aspavarma (15 - 45 CE)

Mathura area:

• Hagamasha (satrap, 1st century BCE)
• Hagana (satrap, 1st century BCE)
• Rajuvula, c.10 CE (Great Satrap)
• Sodasa, son of Rajuvula

Minor local rulers:

• Bhadayasa
• Mamvadi
• Arsakes

See also

• Tillia tepe
• Yuezhi
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Indo-Greek Kingdom
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Kushan Empire
• Kambojas

References

• Bailey, H. W. 1958. "Languages of the Saka." Handbuch der Orientalistik, I. Abt., 4. Bd., I. Absch., Leiden-Köln. 1958.
• Faccenna D., "Sculptures from the sacred area of Butkara I", Istituto Poligrafico Dello Stato, Libreria Dello Stato, Rome, 1964.
• Foucher, M. A. 1901. "Notes sur la geographie ancienne du Gandhâra (commentaire à un chaptaire de Hiuen-Tsang)." BEFEO No. 4, Oct. 1901, pp. 322–369.
• Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Paris, UNESCO Publishing.
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.[3]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [4]
• Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
• Konow, Sten. Editor. 1929. Kharoshthī Inscriptions with Exception of those of Asoka. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. II, Part I. Reprint: Indological Book House, Varanasi, 1969.
• Litvinsky, B. A., ed., 1996. History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Paris, UNESCO Publishing.
• Liu, Xinru 2001 “Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies.” Journal of World History, Volume 12, No. 2, Fall 2001. University of Hawaii Press, pp. 261–292. [5].
• P’iankov, I. V. 1994. "The Ethnic History of the Sakas." Bulletin of the Asia Institute: The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia. Studies From the Former Soviet Union. New Series. Edited by B. A. Litvinskii and Carol Altman Bromberg. Translation directed by Mary Fleming Zirin. Vol. 8, (1994), pp. 37-46.
• Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1970. "The Wu-sun and Sakas and the Yüeh-chih Migration." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 33 (1970), pp. 154-160.
• Puri, B. N. 1994. "The Sakas and Indo-Parthians." In: History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 191-207.
• Thomas, F. W. 1906. "Sakastana." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1906), pp. 181-216.
• Watson, Burton. Trans. 1961. Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Chapter 123: The Account of Ta-yüan, p. 265. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08167-7
• Yu, Taishan. 1998. A Study of Saka History. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 80. July, 1998. Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
• Yu, Taishan. 2000. A Hypothesis about the Source of the Sai Tribes. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 106. September, 2000. Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

External links

• Coins of the Indo-Scythians
• Burner relief