The Greeks in Bactria and India c21.34

c21.34

The name of this the first Saca state south of the Hindu Kush with which the Chinese had become acquainted was transferred, by a natural process, to the great Saca realm which soon afterwards absorbed it, and that is what it meant to Pan-ku himself, writing about a century later than that absorption; probably he did not know what Wen-Chung’s Ki-pin was, but he transcribed faithfully and gave us the chance of knowing. To Pan-ku personally Ki-pin meant the Saca realm in India;¹ later writers transferred the name to the realm of the Kushans who ultimately replaced the Sacas. It has been truly said that the Chinese never got clear ideas about this great kingdom of ‘Ki-pin’ in Saca times.² Pan-ku did not follow his usual rule of giving the numbers of families, of inhabitants, and of warriors, but merely said that the numbers were those of a great kingdom, his formula for states of which he knew little, and his own formal account of Ki-pin³ is a mixture of elements drawn from different parts of it and not necessarily all trustworthy; for its alleged currency⁴ numismatists have sought, and will seek, in vain.