A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1548

c5.1548

SAKAS. A northern people, usually associated with the Yavanas. Wilson says, “These people, the Sakai and Sacæ of classical writers, the Indo-Scythians of Ptolemy, extended, about the commencement of our era, along the West of India, from the Hindu Koh to the mouths of the Indus.” They were probably Turk or Tatar tribes, and were among those recorded as conquered by King Sagara, who compelled them to shave the upper half of their heads. They seem to have been encountered and kept back by King Vikramāditya of Ujjayinī, who was called Sakāri, ‘foe of the Sakas.’