The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c13.42

c13.42

third century B.C. to the first century A.D. various Indo-Greek and Indo-Parthian dynasties ruled in the west of India but their history is obscure and little can be ascertained about their institutions. An interesting document is the Taxila Plate of Patika which belongs to about the close of the second century B.C. It applies the title Mahârâya--great king--to Moga whom Cunningham identified with the Moa or Mauos of the coins. So, Mahârâya, corresponding to Mahârâja, was the title of kings at the time in that region. Under the king Patika governed two provinces as satrap. A better-known figure of the second century B.C. is Menander, king of the Bactrian Greeks, who had established themselves in modern Afghânistân and the Puñjâb. About 155-53 B.C., Menander annexed the Indus delta, Surâṣṭra or Kâṭhiâwâḍ and other territories, occupied Mathurâ on the Jumnâ and carried his arms up to Pâṭaliputra. He was driven back to the Puñjâb. In spite of the defeat, Bactrian kings continued to hold various districts in the west of India for a long while.¹ Menander is the Milinda of the Milinda Pañha and the Tibetan Tangyur. His capital Śâkala (Siâlkoṭ) is described as "a great centre of trade, . . situated in a delightful country, abounding in parks and gardens and groves and lakes and tanks, a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods."² The position of Menander in Buddhist literature and the evidence of coins indicate that the Greeks or Bactrians were rapidly absorbed into the Hindu system. If they had any peculiar political institutions, they perished with their individuality.