Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c9: Chapter IV. Greek and Semi-Greek Dynasties of the Panjāb

Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c9

Language: English

c9.s1 Indo-Greek and Indian Coins — 49 parts

Chapter IV. Greek and Semi-Greek Dynasties of the Panjāb

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“The grete Emetreus, the king of Inde.”
*Knight’s Tale*, 2156.

THE ancient city of Baktra (Bākhtri or Bākhdhi in old Persian, the modern Balkh), like Constantinople or Alexandria, was destined by its geographical position to play a leading part in the history of the world. On the landward side, it was the key to India. At its gates converged almost all the great trade-routes of central Asia. First, there were the famous “three roads to Baktria¹,” running through Afghanistan and converging at Balkh. Then there was the road through Kashgar to the Stone Tower of Sarikol, by which the silk-traders brought their goods. Lastly, there were the two great highways to the West, the waterway of the Oxus, and the caravan road through Parthia to Antioch.

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¹ ἡ εἰς Βακτριανὴν τρίοδος. Strabo, xv. 2. 8. See Bunbury, *Hist. Anc. Geog.* pp. 486–7.

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Balkh had been, for countless years, a Scythian settlement before the coming of the Iranians.

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After their advent, it became the capital of eastern Irān, separated from the rest of the Persian Empire by the vast Karmanian Desert, and never perfectly subdued. It became a fixed policy on the part of the Persian kings to leave the satrapy of Baktria in a state of practical independence, as it formed an outpost against the ever-growing menace of the Scythian hordes beyond the Oxus. Baktra was famous in Persian literature as the centre of the worship of Anahid, probably a Scythian goddess originally, who had there a great temple. Baktra fell, like the rest of Persia, before the invincible arms of Alexander, and formed a natural base for his invasion of India. Of the far-reaching projects of Alexander, his colonies in the Indus valley, and their fate, we have already spoken. Meanwhile Baktria, which had been made an important Macedonian settlement, became a part of the Syrian Empire, until its ruler, a certain Diodotus, took advantage of the incessant wars which distracted the king's attention to declare himself an independent sovereign. Parthia quickly followed suit. This must have been about 250 B.C., or a little later. Baktria finally extorted her independence in 208 B.C., when Antiochus III, after an unsuccessful siege of the capital, acknowledged the claims of Euthydemus, the Baktrian ruler, and gave him a Seleukid princess in marriage.

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Meanwhile, the great Empire of the Mauryas was slowly breaking up. A succession of weak monarchs followed the death of Aśoka in 231 B.C., and it is not surprising that the Baktrians began to turn their attention to the rich plains which lay beyond the Paropamisus. There were probably already settled there considerable colonies of Yavanas, descendants of the Greek soldiers who preferred staying in India to participating in the evacuation of Eudamus in 317 B.C. At any rate, between 190 and 180 B.C., Demetrius, the son and successor of Euthydemus, conquered Ariana, crossed the Paropamisus, and subdued not only Pattalene or Sind, but also Surāṣṭra,—the Kathi-āwār and Surāt districts—and an obscure province which Strabo calls Sigertis¹. At the same time, he extended the Baktrian Empire “to the Seres and Phrynoi.” His object in both these undertakings was no doubt commercial. He pushed the limits of his realm to the edge of the Pamirs in order to control the silk-routes; and by conquering Sind and Kathiāwār, he obtained an outlet to the sea by the great waterway of the Indus. Demetrius, apparently, made his Indian territories into a separate province. Its capital was Euthydemeia, the new name which he bestowed, in memory of his father, upon the ancient city of Sāgala². Other towns which he built were Demetria in Sind and another town of the same name in Arachosia. He probably absorbed the remains of the older Greek principalities¹, whose capital, Alexandria-on-Indus, "Alasanda of the Yonas," was famous enough to find mention in the chronicles of the remote island of Ceylon. The fine coins struck by Demetrius illustrate very appropriately the events of his reign. In some, he wears upon his head a wonderful elephant-headed helmet, appropriate to the conqueror of India². Another type³, issued no doubt for circulation in his Indian domains, is the square type, bearing an inscription in Kharoshṭhī, the script then almost exclusively used in the North-West Frontier. A third type represents the king in extreme old age. On the reverse stands Anahid, the goddess of Baktra, with her starry crown⁴. It was in his old age that the great conqueror was defeated by a rival named Eukratides, perhaps his grandson¹, who raised a rebellion against him during his absence². Though Demetrius had an army of sixty thousand men, and his opponent’s forces dwindled down to three hundred followers, Eukratides managed, after a blockade of five months, to cut his way out to safety and finally to depose Demetrius³. But the way of transgressors is hard, for Eukratides was finally slain, on his return from India, by his own son, who declared him to be “ a public enemy and not a parent,” and driving his chariot through his father’s blood, ordered the body to be left unburied where it had fallen⁴.

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¹ Δημήτριος ὁ Εὐθυδήμου υἱὸς τοῦ Βακτρίων βασιλέως οὐ μόνον δὲ τὴν Πατταληνὴν κατέσχεν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἄλλης παραλίας τήν τε Σαραόστου (MSS. τεσσαριόστου) καλουμένην καὶ τὴν Σιγερτίδος βασιλείαν. Strabo, Geog. XI. II. I.

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² Σάγαλα ἡ καὶ Εὐθυδημeία, says Ptolemy. It is probably Siālkot. See McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 37; V. A. Smith, Anc. Hist. Ind. p. 65 note.

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¹ Or are we to attribute this to Eukratides? Eukratides restrikes the coins of Apollodotus, and it may be supposed that Apollodotus was an indigenous "Yavana" prince and not a Baktrian. His coins are of a type all their own (Gardner, IX. 8-13). Another explanation is, of course, that Apollodotus was a prince of the House of Euthydemus, who reigned at Kāpiśa, and was conquered by Eukratides along with Demetrius and other members of the family. His coins are certainly associated with those of Menander. But there may be two princes of the same name.

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² Gardner, Cat. of Greek and Indo-Scythic Coins in the B.M. II. 9-12.

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³ Ibid. XXX. 3.

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⁴ Ibid. III. I. For the crown, see Zend Avesta in S.B.E. II. 82.

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¹ See the Author’s Baktria (Probsthain, 1912), pp. 155-6.

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² Epit. XLI. 6. “ Multa tamen Eukratides bella magna virtute gessit quibus attritus cum obsidionem Demetrii regis Indorum pateretur cum ccc militibus lx milia hostium assiduis eruptionibus vicit. Quinto itaque mense liberatus Indiam in potestatem redegit.”

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³ Date c. 174 B.C. Justin says that both Mithradates and Eukratides came to the throne about the same time. (Epit. XLI. 6. 1.)

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⁴ Justin, ibid.

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It is difficult to decide whether the parricide was Apollodotus II or Heliokles. Apollodotus II (it is usually supposed that there were two princes of the name), however, places the epithets Φιλοπάτωρ καὶ Σωτήρ on his coins, and the title would be somewhat incongruous under the circumstances. We are, therefore, driven to suppose that the murderer was Heliokles⁵. This was about 156 B.C.

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⁵ See, however, Cunningham, Num. Chron. 1869, p. 241; Rapson, J.R.A.S. 1905, p. 783; Tarn, “ Hellenism in Baktria,” J.H.S. 1902, p. 272.

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Eukratides was, if we may judge from his coins, a proud, determined man. One of these, a triumph of the coiner's art, represents him as wearing the Kausia¹ or sun hat. On the reverse are the charging Dioskuri².

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¹ καυσία from καίω, the modern solar topi.

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² Gard. v. 7. The coins of Demetrius, Eukratides and Antimachus are among the finest of the ancient world. It is impossible to account for this outburst of art in a remote corner of the Hellenic world. But the most artistic Greek nations were not the most skilful coiners, e.g. the coins of Athens are by no means remarkable and do not compare with those of Sicily.

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The murder of Eukratides struck a fatal blow to the fortunes of Baktria. The country was beset by enemies. On the one side was Parthia, her ancient and inveterate rival. Under Mithradates I, she had already inflicted one serious reverse on Baktria, and had recaptured two outlying provinces³. On the other side, a still graver menace presented itself. The dangers of a Skythian invasion from across the Oxus had long threatened Baktria. Antiochus III had been induced to spare the town chiefly because, if it fell, " the Hellenic world would obviously be soon overrun by the barbarians⁴." The cause of the new invasion which now promised to inundate the country south of the Oxus was primarily a migration, from central Asia, of the great nomad tribe of the Yueh-chi, who, about 165 B.C., had been driven out of their pasture-lands, and had moved southwards, pressing before them in their turn the Sakae or Scythian tribes who lay on the borders of Sogdiana. The first omens of the coming trouble appeared in Parthia. A body of Scythian mercenaries, who, driven out of their native country by the advance of the tribes from central Asia, had enlisted in the service of Parthia, rebelled. A war followed, in which the Parthian monarch Artabanus was killed by a poisoned arrow¹. Parthia, however, managed to beat back the invaders. It was otherwise with the Baktrians. Having dissipated their strength in various ambitious schemes, the Baktrian monarchs, exhausted by wars with the Parthians, Indians, and Sakae, were literally "drained of their life-blood" as Justin says, and unable to offer an effective resistance². At first the Sakae contented themselves with occupying Sogdiana : finally, however, they pushed across the Oxus, and Heliokles and his followers were compelled to seek refuge in their domains across the Hindu Kush, and abandon Baktria to the invaders.

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³ τὴν Ἀσπιώνην καὶ τὴν Τουρίοναν ἀφῄρηντο Εὐκρατίδην οἱ Παρθυαῖοι. Strabo, xi. 11. Mithradates imitates the coins of Demetrius and Eukratides, and Orosius has a tale that he invaded India as far as the Indus.

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⁴ ἐκβαρβαρωθήσεσθαι τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὁμολογουμένως. Polybius, xi. 34.

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¹ Justin, XLII. 1, 2.

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² Baktriani per varia bella jactati non regnum tantum, verum etiam libertatem amiserunt : siquidem Sogdianorum et Drangianorum Indorumque bellis fatigati ad postremum ab invalidioribus Parthis velut exsangues oppressi sunt. Justin, XLI. 6.

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The Greek kingdom south of the Hindu Kush, did not, however, long remain intact. Even Eukratides had found it impossible to govern his extensive dominions single-handed, and had delegated part of his powers to his son¹. Of the petty princes who split up the Panjāb among them, we know nothing except what we like to infer from the coins which have been unearthed from time to time. Many of these are extraordinarily fine, but they shed little light upon their strikers' history. If we may rely at all upon similarity of types and legends², we may infer that some of these princelets belonged to the house of Eukratides, and others to that of Euthydemus. About others we are quite uncertain. Thus we know that Agathokles and Antimachus claim descent from Euthydemus and Diodotus respectively³. Plato's coin is dated 165 B.C.⁴, which makes him an early contemporary, probably a viceroy, of Eukratides. Apollodotus II, Strato, and Menander, employ the figure of Athene hurling the bolt, which first appears on the coins of Euthydemus. Hence we infer that they belong to his family. Heliokles, supposed to be the son and murderer of Eukratides, restrikes the coins of Strato, probably because he conquered territory belonging to the rival house. Antialkidas, on the other hand, restrikes coins of Eukratides. Diomedes¹ reproduces in a barbarous fashion the charging Dioskuri of Eukratides; hence we may suppose that he is a scion of that house. These problems, however, belong to the province of the numismatist rather than the historian, and these petty rulers are unknown to us except for their coins. About forty of them divided Sind and the Panjāb between them during the two centuries before and after the birth of Christ, and the epithet " fiercely fighting," applied to them by the Hindu writers, indicates fairly correctly, no doubt, the extent of their achievements. The "fierce fighting" was, doubtless between the rival houses. At first the family of Eukratides was successful. Eukratides beat Apollodotus II, and wrested from him the Kāpiśa district; Heliokles won territories from Strato. But with Antialkidas and Menander the tide turned in favour of the house of Euthydemus, though the family of Eukratides retained the Gandhāra and Kābul districts till the coming of the Sakae.

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¹ Eukratides a filio, quem socium regni fecerat, interficitur. Justin, XLI. 6.

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² This is, of course, a most untrustworthy guide.

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³ Gardner, p. xxviii, Introd.

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⁴ He also wears on his helmet the bull's ear and horn of Eukratides. Gardner, VI. 11.

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¹ Gardner, VIII. 12.

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Only one of these monarchs achieved any real greatness. This was king Menander, or Milinda as he is called by the Buddhist writers, of whose career some details have been preserved in a Buddhist treatise, the *Milinda Pañha*, and in passages of Strabo and Plutarch. To him, too, we should very probably attribute the remarkable Greek invasion of the Ganges Valley which penetrated almost to the walls of Pāṭaliputra itself, and which is mentioned by more than one Indian writer¹. According to the *Milinda Pañha*², Menander was born, probably soon after the conquest of the Panjāb by Demetrius, perhaps about 180 B.C., in a village called Kalasi, on the island of Alasanda. This was no doubt an island at the confluence of the Indus and Akesines, which took its name from the adjacent town of Alexandria-on-Indus, the modern Ucch. His father may have been a viceroy, probably a relation, of Demetrius, left in charge of this important post. Strabo, who couples together, on the authority of Apollodorus of Artemita³, the names of Demetrius and Menander, says that both monarchs made themselves masters of the Panjāb, Sind, and the Kathiāwār coast. Menander ascended the throne of Sāgala, which probably retained the position of the premier state or capital of the Greek principalities, about 155 B.C. It was about this time, no doubt, that his conversion to Buddhism took place⁴. Buddhism, which had been made, thanks to the efforts of Aśoka, the official religion of northern India, appealed especially to the casteless foreigners of the Indus valley. In the Middle Land, with the collapse of the Maurya dynasty, Brahminism was gradually beginning to reassert itself, though it encountered set-backs when foreign kings like Kanishka or Menander wielded a temporary supremacy over India.

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¹ This is usually taken for granted by writers, but is by no means proved.

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² Trans. Rhys Davids in *S.B.E.* vol. xxxv.

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³ *Geog.* xi. ii. 1 (quoted above). Many of Menander's coins bear the figure of Herakles or an elephant, both devices found also on the coins of Demetrius. Compare the coins of Menander in Gardner, xii, with those of Eukratides in Gardner, iii. 2.

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⁴ There is no reason to doubt Menander's conversion, though the evidence of the coins is inconclusive. We know

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Of the capital as it was in the time of Menander, the author of the *Milinda Pañha* gives us a fascinating description, which may not be entirely fanciful:

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“ There is, in the country of the Yonakas, a great centre of trade, a city that is called Sāgala, situated in a delightful country, well-watered and hilly, abounding in parks and gardens and groves and lakes and tanks, a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods. Wise architects have laid it out, and its people know of no oppression, since all *their enemies and adversaries have been put down*¹. Brave is its defence, with many and various strong towers and ramparts with superb gates and entrance archways, and with the royal citadel in its midst, white-walled and deeply-moated. Well laid-out are its streets, squares, cross-roads, and market-places. Well-displayed are the innumerable sorts of costly merchandise with which its shops are filled². It is richly

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¹ Does this refer to Menander’s reduction of his Greek and Śaka rivals?

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² Menander had access to the sea on the one hand and the Seres on the other. See the quotation from Strabo given above.

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from cave inscriptions that “Yonas” often adopted Buddhism as their creed.

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adorned with hundreds of alms halls of various kinds, and splendid with hundreds of thousands of magnificent mansions which rise aloft like the peaks of the Himalayas. Its streets are filled with elephants, horses, carriages, and foot-passengers and crowded by men of all sorts and conditions,—Brahmins, nobles, artificers and servants. They resound with cries of welcome to teachers of every creed, and the city is the resort of leading men of each of the different sects. Shops are there for the sale of Benares muslin, of Kotumbara stuffs, and of other cloths of various kinds; and sweet odours are exhaled from the bazaars where all sorts of flowers and perfumes are tastefully set out. Jewels are there in plenty and guilds of traders in all sorts of finery display their goods in the bazaars which face all quarters of the sky."

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Menander was not content, however, with the conquest of the Panjāb. He aimed at nothing less than the Empire of all northern India, the position of *Chakravarti*, attained by his great predecessor, Chandragupta. Perhaps his object was partly religious. He may have hoped to restore the *Dharma* to its old dominant position in Pāṭaliputra from which it had been ousted by the Śunga kings. Of his invasion of Magadha, echoes are found in contemporary Hindu literature¹. Menander's first move was against the frontier towns of Magadha. He besieged Mathurā, Madhyamikā near Chitor, and Sāketa in Oude.

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¹ As already pointed out, it is highly probable, but not absolutely certain, that the Yavana invasion here referred to was conducted by Menander. But the passage of Strabo, quoted below, shews that Menander did invade Magadha, and we have no records of another such Baktrian invasion.

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“The Yavana was besieging Sāketa : the Yavana was besieging Madhyamikā,” are examples given by the contemporary grammarian Patañjali of the imperfect tense, which indicates an event which has recently taken place, and is still fresh in men’s memories. About this time the aged Pushyamitra, who had usurped the throne of the last of the Mauryas in 184 B.C., was contemplating offering the ancient Brahminical sacrifice of Aśvamedha, to celebrate his ascendancy over his neighbours. He received an unexpected check. On the banks of the Sindhu¹ river, the sacred horse and its bodyguard, under the command of the young Crown Prince Agnimitra, were attacked by a party of Yavana horsemen (perhaps a detachment of the army besieging Madhyamikā), and all but carried off². Nor did Menander stop here. Pressing on, he began to threaten Pāṭaliputra itself, to the great alarm of the inhabitants. “When the viciously valiant Yavanas,” says the author of the Gārgī Saṃhitā, “after reducing Sāketa, the Pañchāla country, and Mathurā, reach the royal residence of Pāṭaliputra, all the provinces will be in disorder.” He penetrated, says Strabo, right to the Soanus³. But the fears of contemporary writers were not realised, and Menander, as far as we know, never entered the ancient capital of Aśoka. “The fiercely-fighting Greeks,” we are told, “did not stay long in Madhyadeśa: a cruel strife had broken out in their own country.” Menander returned, and died soon after in the field. According to a Siamese version of the *Milinda Pañha* he was looked upon at the time of his death as an Arhat, a Buddhist saint of high degree. And so, says Plutarch, his subject states strove for his ashes, which they finally divided among them, and placed beneath great *dāgabas* in their own land, just as was done in the case of Gautama Buddha himself¹. His coins are found in great quantities all over North-Western India, and as far south as Hamīrpur in the Jamna district. Over two centuries after Menander’s death, the author of the *Periplus* found them still current at the port of Broach².

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¹ Between Rājputāna and Bundelkhand. Not, of course, the Indus.

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² See the drama called Mālavikāgnimitra, trans. Tawney, p. 78.

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³ πλείω ἔθνη κατεστρέψαντο ἢ ᾿Αλέξανδρος, καὶ μάλιστα ὁ Μέναν- δρος, εἴγε τὸν Ὕπασιν διέβη πρὸς ἕω καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Σοάνου προῆλθε (MSS Ὕπανιν... Ἰσάμου). Strabo, XI. II. I.

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¹ Μενάνδρου δέ τινος ἐπιεικῶς βασιλεύσαντος καὶ ἀποθανόντος ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου, τὴν μὲν ἄλλην κηδείαν ἐποιήσαντο κατὰ τὸ κοινὸν αἱ πόλεις· περὶ δὲ τῶν λειψάνων αὐτοῦ καταστάντες εἰς ἀγῶνα, μόλις συνέβησαν, ὥστε νειμάμενοι μέρος ἴσον τῆς τέφρας ἀπελθεῖν καὶ γενέσθαι μνημεῖα παρὰ πᾶσι τοῦ ἀνδρός. *De Rep. Ger.* 21. For Gautama’s funeral, see *Mahāparinibbāna Sutta* in *S.B.E.* XI. 131.

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² § 47. Μέχρι νῦν ἐν Βαρυγάζαις παλαιαὶ προχωροῦσι δραχμαί... ἐπίσημα τῶν μετ’ Ἀλέξανδρον βεβασιλευκότων Ἀπολλοδότου καὶ Μενάνδρου.

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The war which recalled Menander was probably a Śaka invasion. The Śaka tribes, pushed steadily southwards by the advance of the Yueh-chi, and hemmed in on the west by the Parthians, overflowed Baktria and crossed the Helmand river into the country still known as Sakastene or Seistān. Here they were joined by allied Parthian or Pahlava tribes, and made their way into India through the Bolān Pass. Entering the Panjāb, they quickly superseded the now decaying power of the Baktrian Greeks, excepting a small principality ruled over by members of the house of Eukratides, which still held out in the Kābul valley. The invaders set up two allied kingdoms. At Mathurā reigned the Śaka line which was founded by Moga or Maues, who was apparently reigning in 93 B.C. Among his successors was Azes, whose coins indicate that he ruled over a wide area. Under him were the satraps Liaka Kusūlaka and Pātika at Taxila, and Rājavula and Śodāsa at Mathurā¹. These rulers restrike the coins of Demetrius, Eukratides, and Strato, whose territories they doubtless conquered. Meanwhile, a Parthian prince named Vonones set up a dynasty in Baluchistān and Khandahār, and the two families were finally united under the rule of the Parthian prince Gondophares in the first century A.D. Gondophares is interesting, as, according to a widely-spread legend, he and his followers were converted to Christianity by the Apostle Thomas. At the same time, a Śaka chief of the Kshaharāta clan named Nahapāna gained some temporary successes against the Andhra monarchs in the Northern Deccan, and struck some creditable imitations of Indo-Greek coins.

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¹ There is, of course, much argument on all these points, and the identity of Maues with Moa, and his date, are still under discussion. But a detailed account is here out of place. See V. A. Smith, Ancient India, ch. VII. The coins are barbarous imitations of debased Indian models, with Parthian titles like βασιλεὺς βασιλέων, Chhatrapa, etc.

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Lastly, about the last quarter of the first century B.C., the Yueh-chi, after conquering Baktria, descended upon India. The leading tribe, the Kushāns, had now gained the supremacy, and headed by the monarch Kujūla Kadphises, they invaded Kābul, and conquered the last of the Baktrian monarchs, Hermaeus, as the coins clearly indicate¹. The Kushān kings finally, at a date which is still quite uncertain, conquered and superseded the Indo-Parthian dynasty, and under their monarch Kanishka, became the paramount power in India. The Kushāns had, no doubt, many Greek and semi-Greek subjects, and it is uncertain whether they employed Baktrian Greeks or outsiders to execute the remarkable Gandhāra sculptures which are the most striking relic of their period which we possess². Their coins are singularly interesting. They bear traces of imitation of both Baktrian and Roman models, but they also shew a great deal of artistic originality and power of realistic portraiture. The Greek element in India was now rapidly absorbed. Yavanas appear among the pious donors in the Buddhist 1. Gold double stater struck in the Punjab in the time of the Persian occupation. Probably belongs to Darius Codomannus 337 B.C. (Rapson, Indian Coins, I. 2).

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¹ Gard. xxv. 1-3.

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² For a fuller discussion of this point, see ch. VII.

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2. Athenian owl, probably struck in India in imitation of Athenian coinage. (Ibid. I. 1).

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3. Coin of Sophytes (Saubhuti), king of the Salt Range at the time of Alexander's invasion. (Ibid. I. 3).

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4. Coin of Eucratides, king of Bactria, Kabul, and the Punjab (c. 175 B.C.). (Cat. M.A. Col. V. 3).

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5. Coin of Demetrius, king of Bactria, Kabul, and the Punjab (c. 190 B.C.). (Ibid. II. 11).

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6. Coin of Menander, king of the Punjab (c. 155 B.C.). (Ibid. XI. 1).

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7. Coin of Maues, ruler in the Punjab who conquered the territories of Demetrius (c. 120 B.C.). (Ibid. XXI. 1).

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8. Coin of Nahapana, a Saka chieftain who ruled in the northern Deccan (c. 100 A.D.). (Rapson, op. cit. IV. 6).

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9. Coin of Kanishka, the greatest of the Kushan kings, who ruled at Peshawar. His time is disputed, perhaps c. 130 A.D. (Gardner, op. cit. XXVI. 1).

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10. Coin of Samudragupta, Gupta Emperor of Northern India, c. 335 A.D. (Allan, op. cit. IV. 7).

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11. Coin of Pulumayi, Andhra king of the Deccan, 1st century A.D. (Rapson, Cat. Andhra V. 80).

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12. Coin of Huvishka, with standing figure of Buddha and Greek inscription (Gardner, op. cit. XXVIII. 8).

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The coin plate

Indo-Greek and Indian Coins

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1. Gold double daric, struck in the Panjāb in the time of the Persian occupation. Probably belongs to Darius Codomannus, 337 B.C. (Rapson, *Indian Coins*, I. 5.)

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2. Athenian *owl*, probably struck in India in imitation of Athenian coinage. (*Ibid.* I. 6.)

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3. Coin of Sophytes (*Saubhūti*), king of the Salt Range at the time of Alexander’s invasion. (*Ibid.* I. 8.)

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4. Coin of Eukratides, king of Baktria, Kābul, and the Panjāb (*c.* 175 B.C.). (Gardner, *B.M. Cat.* v. 8.)

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5. Coin of Demetrius, king of Baktria, Kābul, and the Panjāb (*c.* 190 B.C.). (*Ibid.* II. 9.)

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6. Coin of Menander, Greek king of the Panjāb (Sākala) (*c.* 165 B.C.). (*Ibid.* XI. 7.)

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7. Coin of Maues, Śaka ruler in the Panjāb, who conquered the territories of Demetrius (?*c.* 21 A.D.). (*Ibid.* XXI. 1.)

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8. Coin of Nahapāna, Kshaharāta chieftain who ruled in the northern Deccan and Gujarat (*c.* 100 A.D.). (Rapson, *op. cit.* III. 1.)

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9. Coin of Kanishka, the greatest of the Kushan kings, who ruled at Peshāwar. His date is disputed, perhaps *c.* 120 A.D. (Gardner, *op. cit.* XXVI. 1.)

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10. Coin of Samudragupta, Gupta Emperor of Northern India, 326 A.D. (Allen, *B.M. Cat.* v. 1.)

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11. Coin of Puḷumavi, Āndhra king of the Deccan, 1st century A.D. (Rapson, *Āndhra Cat.* v. 89.)

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12. Coin of Kanishka, with standing figure of Buddha and Greek inscription ΒΟΔΔΟ. (Gardner, *op. cit.* XXVI. 8.)

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To face coin plate Indo-Greek and Indian Coins caves of Kārla and Nāsik, but they bear Indian titles, and were doubtless Greek in little more than name. Perhaps the latest reference to them occurs in the inscription of the Āndhra queen Bālaśrī, 144 A.D., who boasts that she rooted the “Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas,” out of the Deccan for ever¹.

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¹ Kārla Inscr. No. 17 (*Archaeological Survey of Western India*, ed. Bühler, IV. 109.) Her son Gautamīputra actually carried this out.

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GREEK AND SEMI-GREEK RULERS IN BAKTRIA AND THE PANJĀB

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(This list is entirely conjectural. Semi-Greek includes all kings minting coins which have Greek inscriptions. The various theories on this vexed subject may be found in Gardner’s *Catalogue of Greek and Indo-Scythian Coins in the B.M.*, V. A. Smith’s *Early History of India*, Ch. VIII.–IX., Duff’s *Chronology of India*, Barnett’s *Chronology in Antiquities of India*, pp. 36–94, and articles in the *J.R.A.S.* and other Oriental Journals.)

I. Greek Kings of Baktria

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Diodotus I, 250 B.C. Diodotus II, 245 B.C. Euthydemus I, 230 B.C.

II. Greek Kings of Baktria and Sāgala

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Demetrius, 200 B.C. Eukratides, 165 B.C. Heliokles, 156 B.C.

III. Greek Kings of Sāgala and Other Principalities in N.W. India

(a) Family of Euthydemus

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Antimachus Agathocles Philoxenus Menander Apollodotus II

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Pantaleon Euthydemus II Strato I and II and Agathokleia Antialkidas Menander

(b) Family of Eukratides

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Plato (contemporary) Lysias Hippostratus Pantaleon Diomedes

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Zoilus Antimachus Philoxenus Archebius Hermaeus (last Greek ruler, deposed about 25 B.C.)

(c) Uncertain

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Apollophanes Epander Amyntas Artemidorus Nikias

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Hippostratus Epander Telephus Peukelaus Zoilus

IV. Śaka and Indo-Parthian

(a) Śaka Princes (House of Maues)

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Maues c. 93 B.C.¹

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¹ This is quite uncertain. Fleet says 21 A.D.

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Azes I and II Azilises (b) *Indo-Parthian Princes (House of Vonones)*

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Vonones Spalirises (brother of Vonones) Gondophares (1st cent. A.D., unites Śakas and Parthians) Orthagnes Arsakes Pakores Sandbares

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(1) Liaka } Satraps of Taxila Pātika }
(2) Rājavula } Satraps of Mathurā Sodāsa }

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(d) *Kshahārāta satraps*

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Bhumaka Nahapāna

V. Kushān Kings

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Kujūla Kadphises, c. 25 B.C. Wima Kadphises Kanishka 78 A.D.¹ Huvishka Vāsudeva

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¹ This would be Kanishka’s date if he is regarded as the founder of the Śaka era. Fleet, Barnett and others, apparently consider Kanishka as the *first* of the Kushān line, and identify his accession with the commencement of the Vikrāmāditya era, *i.e.* 58 B.C.

Linked texts (5)

Milindapañha — Pāli
Mahāparinibbānasutta — Pāli
Πλούταρχος — Πλούταρχος, Ancient Greek
Pāṭaliputra
Madhyamikā