Tribes in Ancient India c35.13.6

c35.13.6

The *Yuga Purāṇa* section of the *Gārgī Saṃhitā* points to the decline of Maurya power in the Madhyadeśa when it says: ‘Tatah Sāketam ākramya Pañcālam Mathurāmstathā | Yavanaḥ duṣṭavikrāntaḥ prāpsyati Kusumadhvajam ‖ Tataḥ Puṣapure prāpte Karddame prathite hite ‖ Ākulā viṣayā sarve bhaviṣyanti na saṃśayaḥ ‖¹ In Patañjali’s *Mahābhāṣya* there is a similar line: ‘Arunaḍ Yavanaḥ Sāketaṃ: Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām.’ According to Sir R. G. Bhandarkar this shows that a certain Yavana or Greek prince had besieged Sāketa or Ayodhyā and another place called Madhyamikā (near Chitor) when Patañjali wrote this. Kālidāsa in his *Mālavikāgnimitram* refers to a conflict between the Śuṅga prince Vasumitra and a Yavana on the southern bank of the Sindhu. The name of this invader, however, is not given in the *Mahābhāṣya* or the *Mālavikāgnimitram*.² It is clear at any rate that the extension of Yavana power to the interior of India was thwarted in the first instance by the Śuṅgas. In Western India the rising power of the Andhras, Andhrabhṛtyas or Sātavāhanas caused the last vestige of Yavana power to disappear. Thus from the Nāsik Cave Inscription of Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi we learn that he destroyed the Śakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas. While in the north-west of India the Yavanas were swept away by the onrush of the Parthians or Pahlavas, as we learn from Chinese sources.