Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c6.48.1

c6.48.1

Of course, he may have left some Greek garrisons, but certainly a province is not named after the race of garrisoned soldiers. It is only when a tribe or people comes in such terrific masses as to outnumber the original inhabitants that it gives its name to the province so occupied by them. We have many such instances, *e.g.*, of the Ābhīras, Gurjaras and so on.¹ The idea of a mere garrison imparting the name of its race to the country where it is stationed is, I am afraid, utterly inadmissible, if not even ludicrous. In all likelihood, the Yavanas of Rock Edict XIII must have come and settled in large numbers in some outlying province of India long before Alexander. But if we assume that the Yavanas had their colony in a territory conterminous to India, they must have exercised some sort of political independence and for at least some period, and have we, you may naturally ask, got any evidence to that effect? And this question numismatics is, I think, in a position to answer in the affirmative. Coins, similar to those of the earliest type of Athens, are known to have been collected from the north-west frontiers of India. They bear head of Athena on the obverse and owl on the reverse.² And the question must naturally arise: Why are they to be found in the frontier provinces of India?