Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c13.s2: Section II. The Last of the Achæmenids and Alexander

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c13.s2

Language
English

Section II. The Last of the Achæmenids and Alexander

c13.s2.1

Artaxerxes II died in or about 358 B.C. After a period of weak rule and confusion, the crown went to Darius III Codomannus (335-330 B.C.). This was the king against whom Alexander, the great king of Macedon, led forth his famous phalanx. After several engagements in which the Persian forces suffered repeated defeats, the Macedonian conqueror rode on the tracks of his vanquished enemy and reached the plain watered by the river Bumodus.

c13.s2.2

Three distinct groups of Indians figured in the army which mustered under the banner of the Persian monarch in that region. “*The Indians who were conterminous with the Bactrians* as also the Bactrians themselves and the Sogdianians had come to the aid of Darius, all being under the command of Bessus, the Viceroy of the land of Bactria. They were followed by the Sacians, a Scythian tribe belonging to the Scythians who dwell in Asia. These were not subject to Bessus but were in alliance with Darius. . .Barsaentes, the Viceroy of Arachotia, led the Arachotians and the men who were called *Mountaineer Indians*. There were a few elephants, about fifteen in number, belonging to the *Indians who live this side of the Indus*. With these forces Darius had encamped at Gaugamela, near the river Bumodus, about 600 stades distant from the city of Arbela.”[’]¹ The hold of the Achaemenians on the Indians in the various provinces on the frontier had, however, grown very feeble about this time, and the whole of north-western India was parcelled out into innumerable kingdoms, hyparchies and republics. A list of the more important among these is given below:—

c13.s2.3

¹ Chinnock, *Arrian's Anabasis*, pp. 142-143.

c13.s2.4

1. The Aspasian territory (Alishang-Kūnar-Bajaur valley):

c13.s2.5

It lay in the difficult hill country north of the Kābul river watered by the Khoes, possibly the modern Alishang, and the Euaspla, apparently the Kūnar. The name of the people is derived from the Irānian “*Aspa*,” *i.e.*, the Sanskrit “*Aśva*” (horse) or *Aśvaka*. The Aspasians were thus the western branch of the Aśvakas (Assakenians).¹ The chieftain, *hyparch*, of the tribe dwelt in a city on or near the river Euaspla, supposed to be identical with the Kūnar, a tributary of the Kābul. Other Aspasian cities were Andaka and Arigaeum.²

c13.s2.6

¹ *Camb. Hist. Ind.*, 352. n. 3, *Cf.* assānam āyatanam, 1494 *ante*.

c13.s2.7

² Chinnock’s *Arrian*, pp. 230-231.

c13.s2.8

2. The country of the Guraeans:

c13.s2.9

It was watered by the river Guraeus, Gaurī, or Pañjkora, and lay between the land of the Aspasians and the country of the Assakenians.

c13.s2.10

3. The Kingdom of Assakenos (part of Swat and Buner):

c13.s2.11

It stretched eastwards as far as the Indus and had its capital at Massaga, a “formidable fortress probably situated not very far to the north of the Malakand Pass but not yet precisely identified.” The name of the Assakenians probably represents the Sanskrit Aśvaka ‘land of horses,’ not Aśmaka, ‘land of stone.’ The territory occupied by the tribe was also known in different ages as Suvāstu, Udyāna and, according to some, Oḍḍiyāna. The Aśvakas do not appear to be mentioned by Pāṇini unless we regard them as belonging to the same stock as the Aśmakas³ of the south for which there is no real ground. They are placed in the north-west by the authors of the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* and the *Bṛihat Saṁhitā*. The Assakenian king had a powerful army of 20,000 cavalry, more than 30,000 infantry and 30 elephants. The reigning king at the time of Alexander's invasion is called by the Greeks Assakenos. His mother was Kleophis. Assakenos had a brother¹ who is called Eryx by Curtius and Aphrikes by Diodoros.² There is no reason to believe that these personages had any relationship with king Śarabha, whose tragic fate is described by Bāṇa and who belonged apparently to the southern realm of the Aśmakas in the valley of the Godāvarī.

c13.s2.12

³ IV. 1. 173.

c13.s2.13

¹ *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 378.

c13.s2.14

² He led the flying defenders of the famous fortress of Aornos against the Greeks (*Camb. Hist. Ind.*, I. 356. Aornos is identified by Sir Aurel Stein with the height of Una between the Swat and the Indus (*Alexander's Campaign on the Frontier, Benares Hindu University Magazine*, Jan., 1927). The southern side of the stronghold was washed by the Indus (*Inv. Alex.*, 271).

c13.s2.15

4. Nysa:

c13.s2.16

This was a small hill-state which lay at the foot of Mt. Meros between the Kophen or Kābul river and the Indus.³ It had a republican constitution. The city was alleged to have been founded by Greek colonists long before the invasion of Alexander.⁴ Arrian says,⁵ "The Nysaeans are not an Indian race, but descended from the men who came to India with Dionysus." Curiously enough, a *Yona* or Greek state is mentioned along with Kamboja in the *Majjhima Nikāya*⁶ as flourishing in the time of Gautama Buddha and Assalāyana: "*Yona Kambojesu dveva vaṇṇā Ayyo c'eva Dāsoca* (there are only two social grades among the Yonas and the Kambojas, *viz.*, Aryan and Dāsa)."

c13.s2.17

³ *Inv. Alex.*, 79, 193.

c13.s2.18

⁴ McCrindle, *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 79; Hamilton and Falconer, *Strabo*, Vol. III, p. 76. Dr. K. P. Jayaswal informed me that he referred to the Nysaean Indo-Greeks in a lecture delivered as early as 1919.

c13.s2.19

⁵ Chinnock's *Arrian*, p. 399.

c13.s2.20

⁶ II. 149.

c13.s2.21

According to Holdich the lower spurs and valleys of Koh-i-Mor in the Swat country are where the ancient city of Nysa once stood.¹ At the time of Alexander's invasion the Nysaeans had Akouphis for their President. They had a Governing Body of 300 members.²

c13.s2.22

¹ Smith, EHI., 4th ed., p. 57. Camb. Hist., I, p. 353.

c13.s2.23

² *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 81.

c13.s2.24

5. **Peukelaotis** (in the Peshāwar District) :

c13.s2.25

It lay on the road from Kābul to the Indus. Arrian tells us³ that the Kābul falls into the Indus in the land called Peukelaotis, taking with itself the Malantus, Soastus and Guraeus. Peukelaotis represents the Sanskrit **Pushkarāvatī**. It formed the western part of the old kingdom of Gandhāra. The people of the surrounding region are sometimes referred to as the "**Astakenoi**" by historians. The capital is represented by the modern Mīr Ziyārat and Chārsadda, about 17 miles N. E. of Peshāwar, on the Swat river, the Soastus of Arrian, and the Suvāstu of the Vedic texts.

c13.s2.26

³ Chinnock's *Arrian's Anabasis of Alexander and Indica*, p. 403.

c13.s2.27

The reigning *hyparch* at the time of Alexander's invavion was Astes⁴ identified with Hastī or Ashṭaka. He was defeated and killed by Hephaestion, a general of the Macedonian king.

c13.s2.28

⁴ Chinnock, *Arrian*, p. 228.

c13.s2.29

6. **Taxila** or Takshaśilā (in the Rāwalpindi District) :

c13.s2.30

Strabo says⁵ "between the Indus and the Hydaspes (Jhelum) was Taxila, a large city, and governed by good laws. The neighbouring country is crowded with inhabitants and very fertile." The kingdom of Taxila formed the eastern part of the old kingdom of Gandhāra.

c13.s2.31

⁵ H. and F's. tr., III, p. 90.

c13.s2.32

In B. C. 327 the Taxilian throne was occupied by a *hyparch*, or *basileus*, whom the Greeks called Taxiles. When Alexander of Macedon arrived in the Kābul valley he sent a herald to the king of Taxila to bid him come and meet him. Taxiles accordingly did come to meet the conqueror, bringing valuable gifts. When he died his son Mophis or Omphis (Sanskrit Āmbhi) succeeded to the government. Curiously enough, the reputed author of the *Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra*, himself a native of Taxila according to the *Mahāvaṁsa Ṭīkā*, refers to a school of political philosophers called Āmbhīyas, and Dr. F. W. Thomas connects them with Taxilā.¹

c13.s2.33

¹ *Bārhaspatya Arthaśāstra, Introduction*, p. 15.

c13.s2.34

7. The kingdom of **Arsakes** :

c13.s2.35

The name of the principality represents the Sanskrit **Uraśā** which formed part of the modern **Hazāra** District. It adjoined the realm of Abisares, and was probably, like the latter, an offshoot of the old kingdom of Kamboja. Uraśā is mentioned in several Kharoshṭhī inscriptions, and, in the time of the geographer Ptolemy, absorbed the neighbouring realm of Taxilā.

c13.s2.36

8. **Abhisāra** :

c13.s2.37

Strabo observes² that the kingdom was situated among the mountains above the Taxilā country. The position of this state was correctly defined by Stein who pointed out that *Dārvābhisāra*³ included the whole tract of the lower and middle hills lying between the Jhelum and the Chenāb. Roughly speaking, it corresponded to the Punch and some adjoining districts in Kaśmīra with a part at least of the Hazāra District of the North-West Frontier Province. It was probably an offshoot of the old kingdom of Kamboja. Abisares, the contemporary of Alexander, was a shrewd politician of the type of Charles Emanuel III of Sardinia. When the Macedonian invader arrived in Taxila he informed him that he was ready to surrender himself and the land which he ruled. And yet before the battle which was fought between Alexander and the famous Poros, Abisares intended to join his forces with those of the latter.¹

c13.s2.38

² H. & F's tr., III, p. 90.

c13.s2.39

³ Cf. *Mbh.* VII. 91, 43.

c13.s2.40

¹ Chinnock, *Arrian*, p. 276. *Inv. Alex.*, 112.

c13.s2.41

9. The kingdom of the Elder Poros :

c13.s2.42

This territory lay between the Jhelum and the Chenāb and roughly corresponded to parts of the modern districts of Guzrāt and Shāhpur.² Strabo tells us³ that it was an extensive and fertile district containing nearly 300 cities. Diodoros informs us⁴ that Poros had an army of more than 50,000 foot, about 3,000 horse, above 1,000 chariots, and 130 elephants. He was in alliance with Embisaros, *i.e.*, the king of Abhisāra.

c13.s2.43

² It apparently included the old territory of Kekaya.

c13.s2.44

³ H. & F.'s tr., III, p. 91.

c13.s2.45

⁴ *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 274.

c13.s2.46

Poros probably represents the Sanskrit Pūru or **Paurava.** In the *Ṛig-Veda* the Pūrus are expressly mentioned as on the Sarasvatī. In the time of Alexander, however, we find them on the Hydaspes (Jhelum). The *Bṛihat Saṁhitā*,⁵ too, associates the 'Pauravas' with 'Madraka' and 'Mālava.' The *Mahābhārata*,⁶ also, refers to a "*Puraṁ Paurava-rakshitam*", city protected by the Pauravas, which lay not far from Kaśmīra. It is suggested in the *Vedic Index*⁷ that either the Hydaspes was the earlier home of the Pūrus, where some remained after the others had wandered east, or the later Pūrus represent a successful onslaught upon the west from the east.

c13.s2.47

⁵ XIV. 27.

c13.s2.48

⁶ II. 27, 15-17.

c13.s2.49

⁷ Vol. II, pp. 12-13.

c13.s2.50

10\. The country of the people called **Glauganikai**¹ (Glauganicians) by Aristobulus, and Glausians by Ptolemy: This tract lay to the west of the Chenāb and was conterminous with the dominion of Poros.² It included no less than seven and thirty cities, the smallest of which had not fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, while many contained upwards of 10,000.

c13.s2.51

¹ With the second part of the name *anīka*, troop or army, may be compared that of the Sanakānīkas of the Gupta period. Dr. Jayaswal, who, doubtless following Weber in *IA*, ii (1873), p. 147, prefers the restoration of the name as Glauchukāyanaka, does not apparently take note of this fact.

c13.s2.52

² Chinnock, *Arrian*, p. 276. *Inv. Alex.* 112. The country was subsequently given to the elder Poros to rule.

c13.s2.53

11\. **Gandaris** (in the Rechna Doāb): This little kingdom lay between the Chenāb and the Rāvi and (if Strabo has given the correct name of the territory) probably represented the easternmost part of the old *Mahājanapada* of Gandhāra.³ It was ruled by the Younger Poros, nephew of the monarch who ruled the country between the Jhelum and the Chenāb.

c13.s2.54

³ But see Camb. *Hist. Ind.*, I, 370, n. 4; the actual name of the territory in olden times was, however, Madra.

c13.s2.55

12\. The **Adraistai** (in the Bari Doāb):⁴ They dwelt on the eastern side of the Hydraotes or the Rāvi, and their main stronghold was Pimprama.

c13.s2.56

⁴ Adrijas? *Mbh.*, VII. 159.5. Yaudheyān Adrijān rājan Madrakān Mālavān api.

c13.s2.57

13\. **Kathaioi** or Cathaeans (probably also in the Bari Doāb): Strabo points out⁵ that "some writers place Cathaia and the country of Sopeithes, one of the *nomarchs*, in the tract between the rivers (Hydaspes and Acesines, *i.e.*, the Jhelum and the Chenāb); some on the other side of the Acesines and of the Hydarotis, *i. e.*, of the Chenāb and the Rāvi, on the confines of the territory of the other Poros, the nephew of Poros who was taken prisoner by Alexander." The Kathaioi probably represent the Sanskrit Kaṭha, Kāṭhaka,¹ Kantha² or Krātha.³ They were the most eminent among the independent tribes dwelling in the area of which the principal centre was Sangala (Sāṅkala). This town was probably situated in the **Gurudāspur** district, not far from Fatbgarh.⁴ Anspach locates it at Jandiāla to the east of **Amritsar**.⁵

c13.s2.58

⁵ H. & F.'s tr., III, p. 92.

c13.s2.59

¹ Jolly, SBE., VII. 15; *Ep. Ind.*, III. 8.

c13.s2.60

² *Cf.*, Pāṇini, II. 4. 20.

c13.s2.61

³ Mbh., VIII. 85. 16.

c13.s2.62

⁴ *JRAS.*, 1903, p. 687.

c13.s2.63

⁵ *Camb. Hist. Ind.*, I. 371.

c13.s2.64

The Kathaians enjoyed the highest reputation for courge and skill in the art of war. Onesikritos tells us that in Kathaia the handsomest man was chosen as king.⁶

c13.s2.65

⁶ McCrindle, *Ancient India as described in Classical Literature*, p. 38.

c13.s2.66

14. **The kingdom of Sophytes** (Saubhūti), probably along the banks of the Jhelum:

c13.s2.67

In the opinion of Smith, the position of this kingdom is fixed by the remark of Strabo⁷ that it included a mountain composed of fossil salt sufficient for the whole of India; Sophytes was, therefore, according to him, the "lord of the fastness of the Salt Range stretching from the Jhelum to the Indus." But we have already seen that the classical writers agree in placing Sophytes' territory *east of the Jhelum*. Curtius tells us⁸ that the nation ruled by Sopeithes (Sophytes), in the opinion of the "barbarians," excelled in wisdom, and lived under good laws and customs. They did not acknowledge and rear children according to the will of the parents, but as the officers entrusted with the medical inspection of infants might direct, for if they remarked anything deformed or defective in the limbs of a child they ordered it to be killed. In contracting marriages they did not seek an alliance with high birth but made their choice by the looks, for beauty in the children was highly appreciated. Strabo informs us¹ that the dogs in the territory of Sopeithes (Sophytes) were said to possess remarkable courage. We have some coins of Sophytes bearing on the obverse the head of the king, and on the reverse the figure of a cock.² According to Smith the style is suggested probably by the "owls" of Athens. Strabo calls Sophytes a *nomarch* which probably indicates that he was not an independent sovereign, but only a viceroy of some other king.³

c13.s2.68

⁷ H. & F. 's tr., III, p. 93.

c13.s2.69

⁸ *Invasion of India by Alexander*, p. 219.

c13.s2.70

¹ H. & F., III, p. 93.

c13.s2.71

² Whitehead (*Num. Chron.*, 1943, pp. 60-72) rejects the identification of Sophytes with Saubhūti. He thinks that "Saubhūti is a philologist's creation. There is no historical evidence that Saubhūti existed" (p. 63). Subhūti (from which Saubhūti is apparently derived) is a fairly common name in Indian literature. (*The Questions of King Milinda*, Part II, SBE. XXXVI, pp. 315, 323; Geiger, the *Mahāvaṁsa*., tr., 151n, 275). It is by no means improbable that a Hindu Rajah should strike a piece bearing a Hellenized form of his name, as the Hinduised Scythian rulers did in later ages.

c13.s2.72

³ Was it the Great King of W. Asia or some Indian potentate? Among other *nomarchs* mention may be made of Spitaces, a nephew and apparently a vassal of the elder Poros (*Camb. Hist. Ind*, 36, 365, 367).

c13.s2.73

15. The kingdom of Phegelas or Phegeus (in the Bari Doāb) :

c13.s2.74

It lay between the Hydraotes (Rāvi) and the Hyphasis (Bias).⁴ The name of the king, Phegelas, probably represents the Sanskrit *Bhagala*—the designation of a royal race of Kshatriyas mentioned in the *Gaṇapāṭha*.⁵

c13.s2.75

⁴ *Inv. Alex*, p. 281, 401.

c13.s2.76

⁵ *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 401. *Cf.* Kramadīśvara, 769.

c13.s2.77

16 The Siboi (in the lower part of the Rechna Doāb) :

c13.s2.78

They were the inhabitants of the Shorkot region in Jhang district below the junction of the Jhelum and the Chenāb.¹ They were probably identical with the Śiva people mentioned in a passage of the *Ṛig-Veda*² where they share with the Alinas, Pakthas, Bhalānases, and Viṣāṇins the honour of being defeated by Sudās.³ The *Jātakas* mention a Sivi country and its cities Ariṭṭhapura⁴ and Jetuttara.⁵ It is probable that Śiva, Śivi, Śibi, and Siboi were one and the same people. A place called Śiva-pura is mentioned by the scholiast on Pāṇini as situated in the northern country.⁶ It is, doubtless, identical with Śibipura mentioned in a Shorkot inscription edited by Vogel. In the opinion of that scholar the mound of Shorkot marks the site of this city of the Śibis.⁷

c13.s2.79

¹ *Inv. Alex.*, p. 232.

c13.s2.80

² VII. 18. 7.

c13.s2.81

³ *Vedic Index*, Vol. II, pp. 381-382. A 'Śaibya' is mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII. 23; *Vedic Index*, I. 31).

c13.s2.82

⁴ *Ummadanti Jātaka*, No. 527; *cf.* Pāṇini, VI. 2. 100.

c13.s2.83

⁵ *Vessantara Jātaka*, No. 547. See also *ante*, p. 198, n 6.

c13.s2.84

⁶ Patañjali, IV. 2. 2; *Ved. Ind.*, II, p. 382. IHQ, 1926, 758.

c13.s2.85

⁷ *Ep. Ind.*, 1921, p. 16.

c13.s2.86

The Siboi dressed themselves with the skins of wild beasts, and had clubs for their weapons.

c13.s2.87

The *Mahābhārata*⁸ refers to a *rāshṭra* or realm of the Śivis ruled by king Uśīnara, which lay not far from the Yamunā.⁹ It is not altogether improbable that the Uśīnara country¹⁰ was at one time the home of the Śivis. We find them also in Sind, in Madyamikā (Tambavatī nagarī ?) near Chitor in Rājputāna,¹¹ and in the *Daśa-kumāra-charita*, on the banks of the Kāverī.¹² 17. The **Agālassoi** :

c13.s2.88

⁸ III. 130-131.

c13.s2.89

⁹ *Cf.* Siba (Cunn. *AGI.*, revised ed., pp. 160-161).

c13.s2.90

¹⁰ *Vide* pp. 65, 66 *ante*.

c13.s2.91

¹¹ Vaidya, *Med. Hind. Ind.*, 1, p. 162; *Carm. Lec.*, 1918, p. 173. Allan *Coins of Anc. Ind.* cxxiii.

c13.s2.92

¹² The southern Śivis are probably to be identified with the Chola ruling family (Kielhorn, *List of Southern Inscriptions*, No. 685).

c13.s2.93

This people lived near the Siboi, and could muster an army of 40,000 foot and 3,000 horse.

c13.s2.94

18. The Sudracae or **Oxydrakai** :

c13.s2.95

The accounts of Curtius and Diodoros¹ leave the impression that they lived not far from the Siboi and the Agalassoi, and occupied part of the territory below the confluence of the Jhelum and the Chenāb. At the confluence Alexander garrisoned a citadel and thence came into the dominions of the Sudracae and the Malli (Mālavas). The former may have occupied parts of the Jhang and Lyallpur districts. The name of the Sudracae or the Oxydrakai represents the Sanskrit **Kshudraka**.² They were one of the most numerous and warlike of all the Indian tribes in the Pañjāb. Arrian in one passage refers to the "leading men of their cities and their provincial governors" besides other eminent men. These words afford us a glimpse into the internal condition of this and similar tribes.

c13.s2.96

¹ *Inv. Alex.* 233-4. 286-7.

c13.s2.97

² *Mbh.*, II. 52. 15; VII. 68.9.

c13.s2.98

19. The **Malloi** :

c13.s2.99

They seem to have occupied the right bank of the lower Hydraotes (Rāvi) and are mentioned as escaping across that river to a city of the Brāhmaṇas. The Akesines (Chenāb) is said to have joined the Indus in their territory.³ Their name represents the Sanskrit **Mālava**. According to Weber, Āpiśali (according to Jayaswal, Kātyāyana), speaks of the formation of the compound "*Kshaudraka-Mālavāḥ*." Smith points out that the *Mahābhārata* couples the tribes in question as forming part of the Kaurava host in the Kurukshetra war.¹ Curtius tells us² that the Sudracae and the Malli had an army consisting of 90,000 foot soldiers, 10,000 cavalry and 900 war chariots.

c13.s2.100

³ *Megasthenes and Arrian* (2nd ed.), p. 196. The accuracy of this statement may be doubted. The Malloi territory seems to have included part of the Jhang district, besides a portion of South Lyallpur, West Montgomery, and perhaps North Multan.

c13.s2.101

¹ *EHI.*, 1914. p. 94n.; *Mbh.*, VI. 59. 135.

c13.s2.102

² *Invasion of Alexander*, 234.

c13.s2.103

Sir R. G. Bhandarkar. informs us that Pāṇini refers to the Mālavas as living by the profession of arms.³ In later times they are found in Rājputāna, Avanti and the Mahī valley.

c13.s2.104

³ *Ind. Ant.*, 1913, p. 200.

c13.s2.105

20. The Abastanoi :

c13.s2.106

Diodoros calls them the Sambastai,⁴ Arrian Abastanoi, Curtius Sabarcae, and Orosius Sabagrae. They were settled on the lower Akesines (Chenāb) apparently below the Mālava country, but above the confluence of the Chenāb and the Indus. Their name represents the Sanskrit *Ambashṭha* or *Ambashṭha*.⁵ The Ambashṭhas are mentioned in several Sanskrit and Pāli works. An Ambashṭha king is mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*⁶ whose priest was Nārada. The *Mahābhārata*⁷ mentions the Ambashṭhas along with the Śivis, Kshudrakas, Mālavas and other north-western tribes. The Purāṇas represent them as Ānava Kshatriyas and kinsmen of the Śivis.⁸ In the *Bārhaspatya Arthaśāstra*,⁹ the Āmbashṭha country is mentioned in conjunction with Sind:

c13.s2.107

⁴ *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 292.

c13.s2.108

⁵ Dr. Surya Kānta draws a distinction between *Ambashṭha* and *Ambashṭha*, regarding the former as a place-name, and the latter as the name of a particular class of people, 'an elephant-driver, a Kshatriya, a mixed caste'. (*B. C. Law* Vol. II, pp. 127ff). To us the distinction seems to be based upon philological conjectures.

c13.s2.109

⁶ VIII. 21.

c13.s2.110

⁷ II. 52. 14-15.

c13.s2.111

⁸ Pargiter, *AIHT.*, pp. 108-109.

c13.s2.112

⁹ Ed. F. W. Thomas, p. 21.

c13.s2.113

*Kāśmīra-Hūn-Āmbashṭha-Sindhavaḥ*.

c13.s2.114

In the *Ambaṭṭha Sutta*,¹ an Ambaṭṭha is called a Brāhmaṇa. In the *Smṛti* literature, on the other hand, Ambashṭha denotes a man of mixed Brāhmaṇa and Vaiśya parentage. According to *Jātaka* IV. 363, the Ambaṭṭhas were farmers. It seems that the Ambashṭhas were a tribe or clan who were at first mainly a fighting race, but some of whom took to other occupations, viz., those of priests, farmers and, according to *Smṛti* writers, physicians (*Ambashṭhānāṁ chikitsitam*).²

c13.s2.115

¹ *Dialogues of the Buddha*, Part I, p. 109.

c13.s2.116

² *Manu*, X. 47. Dr. Surya Kānta suggests the reading (*Law Volume*, II, 134) *cha hāstinam*. In his dissertation he speaks of the possibility of Ambashṭha being a Sanskritized form of a Celtic word meaning 'husbandman, tiller of the ground'. It is also pointed out that the word may be an exact parallel to '*mahāmātra*' inasmuch as '*ambhas*' means 'of large measure', 'an elephant', so that Ambashṭha would mean 'one sitting on the elephant', i.e., a driver, a keeper, a sāmanta, or a Kshatriya. They lived on warfare, presumably as gujārohas, and banner-bearers. A distinction is drawn between *Ambashṭha* and *Ambashṭha*. The last-mentioned expression is considered to be a place-name, based on the plant name *Amba*. For other notes on the subject see *Prabāsī*, 1351 B. S; I, 206; *JUPHS*, July-Dec., 1945, pp. 148 ff; *History of Bengal* (D. U.), pp. 568 ff.

c13.s2.117

In the time of Alexander, the Ambashṭhas were a powerful tribe having a democratic government. Their army consisted of 60,000 foot, 6,000 cavalry and 500 chariots.³

c13.s2.118

³ *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 252.

c13.s2.119

In later times the Ambashṭhas are found in South-Eastern India near the Mekala range, and also in Bihār and possibly in Bengal.⁴

c13.s2.120

⁴ *Cf.* Ptolemy, *Ind. Ant.*, XIII, 361; *Bṛihat Saṁhitā*; XIV. 7; *Mekhalā-mushṭa* of *Mārkaṇḍeya P.*, LVIII. 14, is a corruption of *Mekal-Ambashṭha*. *Cf.* also the Ambashṭha Kāyasthas of Bihār, the Gauḍa Ambashṭha of the *Surjan-Charita* (*DHNI*, II. 1061 n) of the time of Akbar, and the Vaidyas of Bengal whom Bharata Mallika classes as Ambashṭha. This is not the place to discuss the authenticity or otherwise of the tradition recorded by Bharata and some of the Purāṇas. The origin of the Vaidyas, or of any other caste in Bengal, is a thorny problem which requires separate treatment. What the author aims at in these pages is to put some available evidence, early or late, about the Abastanoi. That some Ambashṭhas, and Brāhmaṇas too, took to the medical profession is clear from the evidence of Manu and Atri (*Saṁhitā*, 378) and Bopadev. It is equally clear that the Vaidya problem cannot be solved in the way it has been sought to be done in some recent publications. Due attention should be given to historical evidence bearing on the point like that of Megasthenes and of certain early Chalukya, Pāṇḍya, and other epigraphs, *e.g.* the Talamañchi plates, *Ep. Ind.* IX 101; Bhandarker's List 1371, 2061, etc.

c13.s2.121

21-22. The Xathroi and the Ossadioi

c13.s2.122

The Xathroi are according to McCrindle¹ the **Kshatri** of Sanskrit literature mentioned in the Laws of Manu as an impure tribe, being of mixed origin. V. de Saint-Martin suggests that in the Ossadioi we have the **Vasāti** of the *Mahābhārata*,² a tribe associated with the Sibis and Sindhu-Sauvīras of the Lower Indus Valley.³ Like the Abastanoi, the Xathroi and the Ossadioi seem to have occupied parts of the territory drained by the lower Akesines (Chenāb) and situated between the confluence of that river with the Rāvi and the Indus respectively.

c13.s2.123

¹ *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 156 n.

c13.s2.124

² VII. 19. 11; 89. 37; VIII. 44 99.

c13.s2.125

³ "*Abhīshāhāḥ Śūrasenāḥ Śivayo'tha Vaśātayaḥ*" (Mbh., VI. 106. 8). "*Vaśāti Sindhu-Sauvīrā itiprāyo' tikutsitāḥ.*" "*Gāndhārāḥ Sindhu-Sauvīrāḥ Śivayo'tha Vaśātayaḥ*" (Mbh., *VI. 51 14*)

c13.s2.126

23-24. The Sodrai (sogdoi) and the Massanoi:

c13.s2.127

They occupied Northern Sind with contiguous portions of the Pañjāb (Mithan-koṭ area) and the Bahawalpur state, below the confluence of the Pañjāb rivers. The territories of these two tribes lay on opposite banks of the Indus. The Sodrai are the **Sūdra** tribe of Sanskrit literature, a people constantly associated with the Ābhīras who were settled near the Sarasvatī.⁴ Their royal seat (*basileion*) stood on the Indus. Here another Alexandria was founded by the Macedonian conqueror.

c13.s2.128

⁴ *Patañjali*, 1.2.3; *Mbh.*, VII. 19.6; IX. 37. 1.

c13.s2.129

25. The kingdom of **Mousikanos**:¹

c13.s2.130

¹ Bevan in *Camb. Hist. Ind.* p. 377, following Lassen (*Inv. Alex.* 157 n) restores the name as Mūshika. Dr. Jayaswal in his *Hindu Polity* suggests Muchukarṇa. *Cf.* Maushikāra (*Patañjali*, IV. 1. 4).

c13.s2.131

This famous state included a large part of modern Sind. Its capital has been identified with Alor in the Sukkur district. The characteristics of the inhabitants of the realm of Mousikanos as noticed by Strabo are given below:²

c13.s2.132

² H. & F. III. p. 96.

c13.s2.133

“The following are their peculiarities; to have a kind of Lacedæmonian common meal, where they eat in public. Their food consists of what is taken in the chase. They make no use of gold nor silver, although they have mines of these metals. Instead of slaves, they employed youths in the flower of their age, as the Cretans employ the Aphamiotæ, and the Lacedæmonians the Helots. They study no science with attention but that of *medicine*;³ for they consider the excessive pursuit of some arts, as that of war, and the like to be committing evil. There is no process at law but against murder and outrage, for it is not in a person's own power to escape either one or the other; but as contracts are in the power of each individual, he must endure the wrong, if good faith is violated by another; for a man should be cautious whom he trusts, and not distrub the city with constant disputes in courts of justice.”

c13.s2.134

³ This trait they shared with the Ambaṣṭhas (*cf*. Manu, X. 47).

c13.s2.135

From the account left by Arrian it appears that the “Brachmans,” *i.e.*, the Brāhmaṇas exercised considerable influence in the country. They were the instigators of a revolt against the Macedonian invader.⁴

c13.s2.136

⁴ Chinnock, *Arrian*, p. 319. *Cf*. Strabo, xv. 1. 66,—“Nearchos says that the Brachmans engage in the affairs of the state and attend the king as councillors,”

c13.s2.137

26. The principality of Oxykanos :

c13.s2.138

Curtius calls the subjects of Oxykanos the Praesti (**Proshthas** ?).¹ Oxykanos himself is styled both by Strabo and Diodoros Portikanos. Cunningham places his territory to the west of the Indus in the level country around **Larkhāna**.²

c13.s2.139

¹ *Mbh*, VI. 9. 61.

c13.s2.140

² *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 158; *AGI*, Revised ed. 300.

c13.s2.141

27. The principality of Sambos :³

c13.s2.142

³ Sambhu, according to Bevan (*Camb. Hist. Ind.*, 377). Sāmba is a possible alternative.

c13.s2.143

Sambos was the ruler of a *mountainous* country adjoining the kingdom of Mousikanos, with whom he was at feud. His capital, called **Sindimana**, has been identified, with little plausibility, with Sehwan, a city on the Indus.⁴ According to Diodoros 'a city of the Brāhmaṇas' (**Brāhmaṇavāṭa** ?) had to be stormed whilst the operations against Sambos were going on.⁵

c13.s2.144

⁴ McCrindle, *Invasion of Alexander*, p. 404; *AGI*, Revised ed., 302 f.

c13.s2.145

⁵ Diod. XVII. 103. 1; *cf.* Alberuni (I. 316; II. 262).

c13.s2.146

28. Patalene :

c13.s2.147

It was the Indus delta, and took its name from the capital city, Patala probably near the site of Bahmaṇābād.

c13.s2.148

Diodoros tells us⁶ that Tauala (Patala) had a political constitution drawn on the same lines as the Spartan; for in this community the command in war was vested in two hereditary kings of different houses, while a Council of Elders ruled the whole state with paramount authority. One of the kings in the time of Alexander was called **Moeres**.⁷

c13.s2.149

⁶ *Inv. Alex.*, p. 296.

c13.s2.150

⁷ *Inv. Alex.*, p. 256, *cf.* Maurya.

c13.s2.151

The states described above had little tendency to unity or combination. Curtius tells us⁸ that Āmbhi, ruler of Taxila, was at war with Abisares and Poros. Arrian informs us that Poros and Abisares were not only enemies of Taxila but also of the neighbouring autonomous tribes. On one occasion the two kings marched against the Kshudrakas and the Mālavas.¹ Arrian further tells us that the relations between Poros and his nephew were far from friendly. Sambos and Mousikanos were also on hostile terms. Owing to these feuds and strifes amongst the petty states, a foreign invader had no united resistance to fear; and he could be assured that many among the local chieftains would receive him with open arms out of hatred for their neighbours.

c13.s2.152

⁸ *Inv. Alex.*, p. 202.

c13.s2.153

¹ Chinnock, *Arrian*, p. 279.

c13.s2.154

The Nandas of Magadha do not appear to have made any attempt to subjugate these states of the Uttarāpatha (North-West India). The task of reducing them was reserved for a foreign conqueror, *viz*., Alexander of Macedon. The tale of Alexander's conquest has been told by many historians including Arrian, Q. Curtius Rufus, Diodoros Siculus, Plutarch and Justin. We learn from Curtius that Scythians and Dahae served in the Macedonian army.² The expedition led by Alexander was thus a combined Śaka-Yavana enterprise. The invader met with no such general confederacy of the native powers like the one formed by the East Indian states against Kūṇika-Ajātaśatru. On the contrary he obtained assistance from many important chiefs like Āmbhi of Taxila, Sangæus (Sañjaya?) of Pushkarāvatī, Kophaios or Cophæus (of the Kābul region?), Assagetes (Aśvajit?), and Sisikottos (Śaśigupta) who got as his reward the satrapy of the Assakenians.³ The only princes or peoples who thought of combining against the invader were Poros and Abisares, and the Mālavas (Malloi), Kshudrakas (Oxydrakai), and the neighbouring autonomous tribes. Even in the latter case personal jealousies prevented any effective results. Alexander met with stubborn resistance from individual chiefs and clans, notably from Astes (Hastī or Ashṭaka?), the Aspasians, the Assakenians, the elder Poros, the Kathaians, the Malloi, the Oxydrakai, and the Brāhmaṇas of the kingdom of Mousikanos. Massaga, the stronghold of the Assakenians, was stormed with great difficulty, Poros was defeated on the banks of the Hydaspes (B.C. 326), the Malloi and the Oxydrakai were also no doubt crushed. But Alexander found that his Indian antagonists were different from the effete troops of Persia. Diodoros informs us that at Massaga, where Alexander treacherously massacred the mercenaries, "the women, taking the arms of the fallen, fought side by side with the men."¹ Poros, when he saw most of his forces scattered, his elephants lying dead or straying riderless, did not flee—as Darius Codomannus had twice fled—but remained fighting, seated on an elephant of commanding height, and received nine wounds before he was taken prisoner.² The Malloi almost succeeded in killing the Macedonian king. But all this was of no avail. A disunited people could not long resist the united forces of the Hellenic world led by the greatest captain of ancient Europe. Alexander succeeded in conquering the old Persian Provinces of Gandhāra and "India," but was unable to try conclusions with Agrammes king of the Gangaridae and the Prasii, *i.e.*, the last Nanda king of Magadha and the other Gangetic provinces in Eastern India. Plutarch informs us that the battle with Poros depressed the spirits of the Macedonians and made them very unwilling to advance further into India. Moreover, they were afraid of the "Gandaritai and the Praisiai" who were reported to be waiting for Alexander with an army of 80,000 horse, 200,000 foot, 8,000 war-chariots and 6,000 fighting elephants. As a matter of fact when Alexander was retreating through Karmania he received a report that his satrap Philippos, governor of the Upper Indus Province, had been murdered (324 B.C.). Shortly afterwards the Macedonian garrison was overpowered. The Macedonian governor of the Lower Indus satrapy had to be transferred to the north-west borderland beyond the Indus and no new satrap was appointed in his place. The successors of Alexander at the time of the Triparadeisos agreement in 321 B.C., confessed their inability to remove the Indian Rājās of the Pañjāb without royal troops under the command of some distinguished general. One of the Rājās, possibly Poros, was treacherously slain by Eudemos, an officer stationed in the Upper Indus satrapy. The withdrawal of the latter (*cir.* 317 B.C.) marks the ultimate collapse of the first serious attempt of the *Yavanas* to establish an empire in India.

c13.s2.155

² *Inv. Alex.*, p. 208.

c13.s2.156

³ *Inv. Alex.*, p. 112.

c13.s2.157

¹ *Inv. Alex.*, p. 270

c13.s2.158

² *Cf.* Bury, *History of Greece for Beginners*, pp. 428-29.

c13.s2.159

The only permanent effect of Alexander's raid seems to have been the establishment of a number of *Yavana* settlements in the *Uttarāpatha*. The most important of these settlements were:

c13.s2.160

1. The city of Alexandria (modern Charikar or Opian?)¹ in the land of the Paropanisadae, *i.e.*, the Kābul region.

c13.s2.161

¹ According to Tarn (*The Greeks in Bactria and India*, 1st. ed., 462) Alexandria stood on the west bank of the united Panjshir-Ghorband rivers near the confluence facing Kāpiśa on the east bank. It is represented by the modern Begram.

c13.s2.162

2. Boukephala, possibly on the east side of the Hydaspes (Jhelum).

c13.s2.163

3. Nikaia, where the battle with Poros took place,

c13.s2.164

4. Alexandria at or near the confluence of the Chenāb and the Indus, to the north-east of the countries of the Sodrai, or Sogdoi, and Massanoi, and 5. Sogdian Alexandria,¹ below the confluence of the Pañjāb rivers.

c13.s2.165

¹ *Inv. Alex.*, pp. 293, 354; Bury, *History of Greece for Beginners*, p. 433; *Camb. Hist. Ind.*, I. 376f.

c13.s2.166

Aśoka recognised the existence of Yona (Yavana) settlers on the north-western fringe of his empire, and appointed some of them, *e.g.*, the Yavana-rāja Tushāspha)² to high offices of state. Boukephala Alexandria flourished as late as the time of the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea*.³ One of the Alexandrias (Alasanda) is mentioned in the *Mahāvaṁsa*.⁴

c13.s2.167

² For the nationality of Tushāspha and significance of the term "Yavana." see Raychaudhuri, *Early History of the Vaishnava Sect*, 2nd Ed., pp. 28f, 314 post.

c13.s2.168

³ Schoff's tr., p. 41.

c13.s2.169

⁴ Giger's tr., p. 194.

c13.s2.170

Alexander's invasion produced one indirect result. It helped the cause of Indian unity by destroying the power of the petty states of north-west India, just as the Danish invasion contributed to the union of England under Wessex by destroying the independence of Northumbria and Mercia. If Ugrasena-Mahāpadma was the precursor of Chandragupta Maurya in the east, Alexander was the forerunner of that emperor in the north-west.

Linked texts (15)