The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.s1.6

v1.c15.s1.6

The foreign authorities naturally belong to those periods in which India was brought most closely into contact with the civilisations of Western Asia and China. The general fact that such intercourse by land and sea existed in very early times is undoubted, but detailed authentic records of political relations are not found before the rise of the Persian Empire in the sixth century B.C., when Greek writers and the cuneiform inscriptions of Darius enable us to trace the extension of the Persian power from Bactria, the country of the Oxus, to N.W. India. From these sources it is clear that the Persian dominions included Gandhāra (the Districts of Peshāwar and Rāwal Pindi) and the Province of ‘India’ (the Western Punjab together with Sind which still retains its ancient name); and it is probable that these countries remained tributary to the King of Kings until the Persian Empire gave place to the Macedonian.