Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c5.48

c5.48

In the Chinese annals they are known as Sai and in the oldest sources they are spoken of as Sai-wang. Sometimes before 160 B.C. they were driven off from their own home by the Yüe-Chï who were in their turn driven out by Wu-sun whose settlements according to Prof. Franke, extended from Urumchi to the west of Issik-Kul, from the Dzungarian desert and down towards Tarim.³³ The Ts'ien Han Shu³⁴ speaks of several Sai states. It seems that they were greatly affected by the great nomadic movement in the second century B.C.