Saka - Scythians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakas
Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas (or Scythians), who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE.
It has been claimed that ancient historians including Arrian and Ptolemy have mentioned that the ancient Sakas ('Sakai') were basically nomads.[1] However, Italo Ronca, in his detailed study of Ptolemy's chapter vi, marks the statement: "The land of the Sakai belongs to nomads, they have no towns but dwell in forests and caves" as spurious.[2]
The first Saka king in India was Maues or Moga who established Saka power in Gandhara and gradually extended supremacy over north-western India. Indo-Scythian rule in India ended with the last Western Satrap Rudrasimha III in 395 CE.
The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant part in the history of South Asia as well as nearby countries. In fact, the Indo-Scythian war is just one chapter in the events triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with tribes such as the Xiongnu in the 2nd century CE, which had lasting effects on Bactria, Kabul, Parthia and India as well as far-off Rome in the west.
The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to be Sakas (Scythian) tribes.
"One group of Indo-European speakers that makes an early appearance on the Xinjiang stage is the Saka (Ch. Sai). Saka is more a generic term than a name for a specific state or ethnic group; Saka tribes were part of a cultural continuum of early nomads across Siberia and the Central Eurasian steppe lands from Xinjiang to the Black Sea. Like the Scythians whom HerodotusHistory (Saka is an Iranian word equivalent to the Greek Scythos, and many scholars refer to them together as Saka-Scythian), Sakas were Iranian-speaking horse nomads who deployed chariots in battle, sacrificed horses, and buried their dead in barrows or mound tombs called kurgans."[3]
Yuezhi expansion In the 2nd century BCE, a fresh nomadic movement started among the Central Asian tribes, producing lasting effects on the history of Rome in Europe and Bactria, Kabul, Parthia and India in the east. Recorded in the annals of the Han dynasty and other Chinese Yuezhi tribe was defeated by the Xiongnu, fleeing westwards after their defeat and creating a domino effect as they displaced other central Asian tribes in their path.
According to these ancient sources Modu Shanyu of the Xiongnu tribe of Mongolia attacked the Yuezhi and evicted them from their homeland between the Qilian Shan Dunhuang. Leaving behind a remnant of their number, most of the population moved westwards.[4]
Early Indian literature records military alliances between the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Paradas. The ancient Puranic traditions mentions several joint invasions of India by the Scythians. The conflict between the Bahu-Sagara of India and the Haihaya-Kamboja-Saka-Pahlava-Yavana-Parada is well known as the war fought by "five hordes" (pāňca-ganha). The Sakas, Yavanas, Tusharas and Kambojas also fought the Kurukshetra war under the command of Sudakshina Kamboja. The Valmiki Ramayana also attests that the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Yavanas fought together against the Vedic, Hindu king Vishwamitra of Kanauj.
Around 175 BCE, the Yuezhi tribes (re possibly related to the Tocharians) who lived in eastern Tarim Basin area), were defeated by the Xiongnu tribes, and fled west into the Ili river area. There, they displaced the Sakas, who migrated south into Ferghana and Sogdiana. According to the Chinese historical chronicles (who call the Sakas, "Sai" 塞): describes in book four of his records, this great tribal movement began after the and "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Hanshu 61 4B).
Sometime after 155 BCE, the Yuezhi were again defeated by an alliance of the Wusun and the Xiongnu, and were forced to move south, again displacing the Scythians, who migrated south towards Bactria, and south-west towards Parthia and Afghanistan.
The Sakas seem to have entered the territory of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom around 145 BCE, where they burnt to the ground the Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus. The Yuezhi remained in Sogdiana on the northern bank of the Oxus, but they became suzerains of the Sakas in Bactrian territory, as described by the Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian who visited the region around 126 BCE.
In Parthia, between 138–124 BCE, the Sakas tribes of the Massagetae and Sacaraucae came into conflict with the Parthian Empire, winning several battles, and killing successively King Phraates II and King Artabanus I.
The Parthian king Mithridates II finally retook control of Central Asia, first by defeating the Yuezhi in Sogdiana in 115 BCE, and then defeating the Scythians in Parthia and Seistan around 100 BCE.
After their defeat, the Yuezhi tribes migrated into Bactria, which they were to control for several centuries, and from which they later conquered northern India to found the Kushan Empire.
The Sakas settled in areas of southern Afghanistan, still called after them Sakastan. From there, they progressively expanded into the Indian subcontinent, where they established various kingdoms, and where they are known as "Indo-Scythians".
The Arsacid emperor Mithridates II (c 123–88/87 BCE) had scored many successes against the Scythians and added many provinces to the Parthian empire,[5] and apparently the Scythian hordes that came from Bactria were also conquered by him. A section of these people moved from Bactria to Lake Helmond in the wake of Yue-chi pressure and settled about Drangiana (Sigal), a region which later came to be called "Sakistana of the Skythian (Scythian) Sakai",[6] towards the end of 1st century BCE.[7] The region is still known as Seistan.
Sakistan or Seistan of Drangiana may not only have been the habitat of the Saka alone but may also have contained population of the Pahlavas and the Kambojas.[8] Rock Edicts of King Ashoka only refer to the Yavanas, Kambojas and the Gandharas in the northwest, but no mention is made of the Sakas, who immigrated in the region more than a century later. It is thus likely that the immigrant Saka populations who settled in Afghanistan did so among or near the Kambojas and nearby Greek cities.[9]Christian era, there had occurred extensive social and cultural admixture among the Kambojas and Yavanas; the Sakas and Pahlavas; and the Kambojas, Sakas, and Pahlavas etc.... such that their cultures and social customs had become almost identical.
The presence of the Sakas in Sakastan in the 1st century BCE is mentioned by Isidore of Charax in his "Parthian stations". He explained that they were bordered at that time by Greek cities to the east (Alexandria of the Caucasus and Alexandria of the Arachosians), and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia to the south:
"Beyond is Sacastana of the Scythian Sacae, which is also Paraetacena, 63 schoeni. There are the city of Barda and the city of Min and the city of Palacenti and the city of Sigal; in that place is the royal residence of the Sacae; and nearby is the city of Alexandria (Alexandria Arachosia), and six villages." Parthian stations, 18.[10]
The Saka (Old Iranian Sakā; Latinized Sacae) were Scythian tribes or groupings, rendered in Greek as Σάκαι, in Chinese as 塞pinyin sāi; from Old Chinese *sək), and in Sanskrit as शक (śaka), referring to those Scythians who founded the Indo-ScythianGreek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples. Some Asian Saka groups include the Abhira, Nagbanshi, Andhra,Bala, Gurjjara.[1][2]
( kingdom in the 2nd century BC.
Modern historical accounts of the Indo-Scythian wars often assume that the Scythian protagonists were a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas). But earlier Greek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples.Some Asian Saka includes, Abhira, Nagbanshi, Andhra,Bala, Gurjjara.[1][2]
To Herodotus (484-425 BC), the Sakai were the 'Amurgioi Skuthai' (i.e. Scythians from Ammyurgia).[3]Strabo (Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo, 63 BC-AD 24 c.) suggests that the term Skuthais (Scythians) referred to the Sakai and several other tribes.[4]Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' , c AD 92-175), refers to the Sakai as Skuthon (a Scythian people) or the Skuthai (the Scythians) who inhabit Asia.[5]
It is clear that the Greek and Latin scholars cited here believed, all Sakai were Scythians, but not all Scythians were Sakai.[6] It seems likely that modern confusion about the identity of the Scythians is partly due to the Persians. According to Herodotus, the Persians called all Scythians by the name Sakas.[7]Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23–79) provides a more detailed explanation, stating that the Persians gave the name Sakai to the Scythian tribes: "nearest to them".[8] This likely explains why all the Scythians began to be called Sakai. The Behistun inscription mentions four divisions of the Scythians,
Numerous scholars believe that during centuries immediately preceding
Scythians to the far north of Assyria were also called the Saka suni "Saka or Scythian sons".
It is suggested Scythia was a generic term that was loosely applied to a vast area of Central Asia spanning numerous groups and diverse ethnicities. Ptolemy writes that Skuthia was not only "within the Imaos" (the Himalayas) and "beyond the Imaos" (north of the Himalayas), but also speaks of a separate "land of the Sakais" within Scythia.[9]
The Romans recognized both Saceans (Sacae) and Scyths (Scythae). Stephanus of Byzantium referred to the Sakas in Ethnica as Saka sena, or Sakaraucae. Isidorus of Charax used the term "Saka" in his work "Parthian stations". They were known to the Chinese as the Sai (Chinese: 塞, Old Sinitic*sək).
Chinese Imperial reports by General Ban Chao and the Greek history by Stephanus Byzantinus record how the Sakasena, originally Scythians, were pushed west and displaced by the Asii who themselves became known as Scythians as they conquered Sakastan. On the west the Saka were among the first Iranians to enter the Middle East. The Assyrians of the time of Esarhaddon record campaigning against a people they called in the Akkadian the Ashkuza or Ishhuza.[10]Hugo Winckler was the first to associate them with the Scyths and the identification remains without serious question. They were closely associated with the Gimirrai,[10] who were the Cimmerians known to the ancient Greeks. Confusion arose because they were known to the Persians as Saka, however they were known to the Babylonians as Gimirrai, and both expressions are used synonymously on the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in 515 BCE on the order of Darius the Great.[11] These Scythians were mainly interested in settling in the kingdom of Urartu, which later became Armenia. The district of Shacusen, Uti Province, reflects their name.[12] In ancient Hebrew texts, the AshkuzAshkenaz) are even considered to be a direct offshoot from the Gimirri (Gomer).[13]
According to the Greek chronicler Strabo,[14]Bactria was taken by nomads like "the Asioi and the Pasianoi, and the Tacharoi and the Sakaraukai, who originally came from the other side of the Iaxartou river (Syr Darya) that adjoins that of the Sakai and the Sogdoanou and was occupied by the Saki."
The Prologus XLI of Historiae Philippicae also refers to the Scythian invasion of the Greek kingdom of Bactria and Sogdia. The invaders are described as "Sarauceans" (Saraucae) and "Asians" (Asiani). Aseni and Asoi clans are also referenced by Pliny[15] and he locates them all in southern side of the Hindukush. Bucephala was the capital of the Aseni which stood on Hydaspes (the Jhelum River).[16] The Sarauceans are Sacarauls and the "Aseni" are the Asioi of Strabo.[17]
After being turned out from Issyk-Kul Lake under pressure from the Yuezhi, and moving to Bactria via Sogdiana and Fergana, the Issyk-kul Sakas (Sakaraulois) had been joined on their way by sections of other Scythian tribes. The term Asio (or Asii) possibly refers to Horse People[18] and may refer to the Kambojas of the Parama Kamboja domain whose Aswas or horses have been glorified in the Mahabharata[19] as being of excellent quality. Asio, Asi/Asii, Asva/Aswa, Ari-aspi, Aspasios, Aspasii (or Hippasii) are possibly variant names the Classical writers have given to the horse-clans of the Scythian Kambojas.[20] These terms are most likely derived from the Old-Persian words for horse, "asa" and "aspa."[21]
Some scholars tend to link the Rishikas with the Tukharas and with the Yuezhi themselves.[citation needed] The Rishikas were closely affiliated with the Parama-Kambojas as per Mahabharata evidence.[22] Similarly, the Pasianois were another Scythian tribe from Central Asia. Saraucae or Sakarauloi obviously refers to the Saka properIssyk-kul Lake. If one accepts this connection, then the Tukharas (= Rishikas = Yuezhi) controlled the eastern parts of Bactria (Ta-hia) while the combined forces of the Sakarauloi, 'Asio' (horse people = Parama Kambojas) and the 'Pasinoi' of Strabo occupied its western parts after being displaced from their original home in the Fergana valley by the Yuezhi. As stated earlier, Ta-hia (Daxia) is taken to mean Tukhara/Tushara which also included Badakshan, Chitral, Kafirstan and Wakhan which are said to have formed eastern parts of Bactria[23] According to other scholars, it were the Saka hordes alone who had put an end to the Greek kingdom of Bactria.[24]
Language The Sakan speakers were gradually conquered and acculturated by the Turkic expansion to Central Asia beginning in the 4th century. The only known remnants of the Sakan language come from Xinjiang, China, but the language there is widely divergent from the rest of Iranian and accordingly is called eastern or northeastern Iranian. It also is divided into two divergent dialects.[25] ( from
Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas (or Scythians), who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE.
It has been claimed that ancient historians including Arrian and Ptolemy have mentioned that the ancient Sakas ('Sakai') were basically nomads.[1] However, Italo Ronca, in his detailed study of Ptolemy's chapter vi, marks the statement: "The land of the Sakai belongs to nomads, they have no towns but dwell in forests and caves" as spurious.[2]
The first Saka king in India was Maues or Moga who established Saka power in Gandhara and gradually extended supremacy over north-western India. Indo-Scythian rule in India ended with the last Western Satrap Rudrasimha III in 395 CE.
The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant part in the history of South Asia as well as nearby countries. In fact, the Indo-Scythian war is just one chapter in the events triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with tribes such as the Xiongnu in the 2nd century CE, which had lasting effects on Bactria, Kabul, Parthia and India as well as far-off Rome in the west.
The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to be Sakas (Scythian) tribes.
"One group of Indo-European speakers that makes an early appearance on the Xinjiang stage is the Saka (Ch. Sai). Saka is more a generic term than a name for a specific state or ethnic group; Saka tribes were part of a cultural continuum of early nomads across Siberia and the Central Eurasian steppe lands from Xinjiang to the Black Sea. Like the Scythians whom HerodotusHistory (Saka is an Iranian word equivalent to the Greek Scythos, and many scholars refer to them together as Saka-Scythian), Sakas were Iranian-speaking horse nomads who deployed chariots in battle, sacrificed horses, and buried their dead in barrows or mound tombs called kurgans."[3]
Yuezhi expansion In the 2nd century BCE, a fresh nomadic movement started among the Central Asian tribes, producing lasting effects on the history of Rome in Europe and Bactria, Kabul, Parthia and India in the east. Recorded in the annals of the Han dynasty and other Chinese Yuezhi tribe was defeated by the Xiongnu, fleeing westwards after their defeat and creating a domino effect as they displaced other central Asian tribes in their path.
According to these ancient sources Modu Shanyu of the Xiongnu tribe of Mongolia attacked the Yuezhi and evicted them from their homeland between the Qilian Shan Dunhuang. Leaving behind a remnant of their number, most of the population moved westwards.[4]
Early Indian literature records military alliances between the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Paradas. The ancient Puranic traditions mentions several joint invasions of India by the Scythians. The conflict between the Bahu-Sagara of India and the Haihaya-Kamboja-Saka-Pahlava-Yavana-Parada is well known as the war fought by "five hordes" (pāňca-ganha). The Sakas, Yavanas, Tusharas and Kambojas also fought the Kurukshetra war under the command of Sudakshina Kamboja. The Valmiki Ramayana also attests that the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Yavanas fought together against the Vedic, Hindu king Vishwamitra of Kanauj.
Around 175 BCE, the Yuezhi tribes (re possibly related to the Tocharians) who lived in eastern Tarim Basin area), were defeated by the Xiongnu tribes, and fled west into the Ili river area. There, they displaced the Sakas, who migrated south into Ferghana and Sogdiana. According to the Chinese historical chronicles (who call the Sakas, "Sai" 塞): describes in book four of his records, this great tribal movement began after the and "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Hanshu 61 4B).
Sometime after 155 BCE, the Yuezhi were again defeated by an alliance of the Wusun and the Xiongnu, and were forced to move south, again displacing the Scythians, who migrated south towards Bactria, and south-west towards Parthia and Afghanistan.
The Sakas seem to have entered the territory of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom around 145 BCE, where they burnt to the ground the Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus. The Yuezhi remained in Sogdiana on the northern bank of the Oxus, but they became suzerains of the Sakas in Bactrian territory, as described by the Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian who visited the region around 126 BCE.
In Parthia, between 138–124 BCE, the Sakas tribes of the Massagetae and Sacaraucae came into conflict with the Parthian Empire, winning several battles, and killing successively King Phraates II and King Artabanus I.
The Parthian king Mithridates II finally retook control of Central Asia, first by defeating the Yuezhi in Sogdiana in 115 BCE, and then defeating the Scythians in Parthia and Seistan around 100 BCE.
After their defeat, the Yuezhi tribes migrated into Bactria, which they were to control for several centuries, and from which they later conquered northern India to found the Kushan Empire.
The Sakas settled in areas of southern Afghanistan, still called after them Sakastan. From there, they progressively expanded into the Indian subcontinent, where they established various kingdoms, and where they are known as "Indo-Scythians".
The Arsacid emperor Mithridates II (c 123–88/87 BCE) had scored many successes against the Scythians and added many provinces to the Parthian empire,[5] and apparently the Scythian hordes that came from Bactria were also conquered by him. A section of these people moved from Bactria to Lake Helmond in the wake of Yue-chi pressure and settled about Drangiana (Sigal), a region which later came to be called "Sakistana of the Skythian (Scythian) Sakai",[6] towards the end of 1st century BCE.[7] The region is still known as Seistan.
Sakistan or Seistan of Drangiana may not only have been the habitat of the Saka alone but may also have contained population of the Pahlavas and the Kambojas.[8] Rock Edicts of King Ashoka only refer to the Yavanas, Kambojas and the Gandharas in the northwest, but no mention is made of the Sakas, who immigrated in the region more than a century later. It is thus likely that the immigrant Saka populations who settled in Afghanistan did so among or near the Kambojas and nearby Greek cities.[9]Christian era, there had occurred extensive social and cultural admixture among the Kambojas and Yavanas; the Sakas and Pahlavas; and the Kambojas, Sakas, and Pahlavas etc.... such that their cultures and social customs had become almost identical.
The presence of the Sakas in Sakastan in the 1st century BCE is mentioned by Isidore of Charax in his "Parthian stations". He explained that they were bordered at that time by Greek cities to the east (Alexandria of the Caucasus and Alexandria of the Arachosians), and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia to the south:
"Beyond is Sacastana of the Scythian Sacae, which is also Paraetacena, 63 schoeni. There are the city of Barda and the city of Min and the city of Palacenti and the city of Sigal; in that place is the royal residence of the Sacae; and nearby is the city of Alexandria (Alexandria Arachosia), and six villages." Parthian stations, 18.[10]
The Saka (Old Iranian Sakā; Latinized Sacae) were Scythian tribes or groupings, rendered in Greek as Σάκαι, in Chinese as 塞pinyin sāi; from Old Chinese *sək), and in Sanskrit as शक (śaka), referring to those Scythians who founded the Indo-ScythianGreek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples. Some Asian Saka groups include the Abhira, Nagbanshi, Andhra,Bala, Gurjjara.[1][2]
( kingdom in the 2nd century BC.
Modern historical accounts of the Indo-Scythian wars often assume that the Scythian protagonists were a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas). But earlier Greek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples.Some Asian Saka includes, Abhira, Nagbanshi, Andhra,Bala, Gurjjara.[1][2]
To Herodotus (484-425 BC), the Sakai were the 'Amurgioi Skuthai' (i.e. Scythians from Ammyurgia).[3]Strabo (Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo, 63 BC-AD 24 c.) suggests that the term Skuthais (Scythians) referred to the Sakai and several other tribes.[4]Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' , c AD 92-175), refers to the Sakai as Skuthon (a Scythian people) or the Skuthai (the Scythians) who inhabit Asia.[5]
It is clear that the Greek and Latin scholars cited here believed, all Sakai were Scythians, but not all Scythians were Sakai.[6] It seems likely that modern confusion about the identity of the Scythians is partly due to the Persians. According to Herodotus, the Persians called all Scythians by the name Sakas.[7]Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23–79) provides a more detailed explanation, stating that the Persians gave the name Sakai to the Scythian tribes: "nearest to them".[8] This likely explains why all the Scythians began to be called Sakai. The Behistun inscription mentions four divisions of the Scythians,
Numerous scholars believe that during centuries immediately preceding
- the Saka paradraya "Scythians beyond the sea" of Sarmatia,
- the Saka tigraxauda "Scythians with pointy hats",
- the Saka haumavarga " haoma-worshipping Scythians" (Amyrgians) of the Pamirand
- the Saka para Sugudam "Scythians beyond Sogdia" at the Jaxartes.
Scythians to the far north of Assyria were also called the Saka suni "Saka or Scythian sons".
It is suggested Scythia was a generic term that was loosely applied to a vast area of Central Asia spanning numerous groups and diverse ethnicities. Ptolemy writes that Skuthia was not only "within the Imaos" (the Himalayas) and "beyond the Imaos" (north of the Himalayas), but also speaks of a separate "land of the Sakais" within Scythia.[9]
The Romans recognized both Saceans (Sacae) and Scyths (Scythae). Stephanus of Byzantium referred to the Sakas in Ethnica as Saka sena, or Sakaraucae. Isidorus of Charax used the term "Saka" in his work "Parthian stations". They were known to the Chinese as the Sai (Chinese: 塞, Old Sinitic*sək).
Chinese Imperial reports by General Ban Chao and the Greek history by Stephanus Byzantinus record how the Sakasena, originally Scythians, were pushed west and displaced by the Asii who themselves became known as Scythians as they conquered Sakastan. On the west the Saka were among the first Iranians to enter the Middle East. The Assyrians of the time of Esarhaddon record campaigning against a people they called in the Akkadian the Ashkuza or Ishhuza.[10]Hugo Winckler was the first to associate them with the Scyths and the identification remains without serious question. They were closely associated with the Gimirrai,[10] who were the Cimmerians known to the ancient Greeks. Confusion arose because they were known to the Persians as Saka, however they were known to the Babylonians as Gimirrai, and both expressions are used synonymously on the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in 515 BCE on the order of Darius the Great.[11] These Scythians were mainly interested in settling in the kingdom of Urartu, which later became Armenia. The district of Shacusen, Uti Province, reflects their name.[12] In ancient Hebrew texts, the AshkuzAshkenaz) are even considered to be a direct offshoot from the Gimirri (Gomer).[13]
According to the Greek chronicler Strabo,[14]Bactria was taken by nomads like "the Asioi and the Pasianoi, and the Tacharoi and the Sakaraukai, who originally came from the other side of the Iaxartou river (Syr Darya) that adjoins that of the Sakai and the Sogdoanou and was occupied by the Saki."
The Prologus XLI of Historiae Philippicae also refers to the Scythian invasion of the Greek kingdom of Bactria and Sogdia. The invaders are described as "Sarauceans" (Saraucae) and "Asians" (Asiani). Aseni and Asoi clans are also referenced by Pliny[15] and he locates them all in southern side of the Hindukush. Bucephala was the capital of the Aseni which stood on Hydaspes (the Jhelum River).[16] The Sarauceans are Sacarauls and the "Aseni" are the Asioi of Strabo.[17]
After being turned out from Issyk-Kul Lake under pressure from the Yuezhi, and moving to Bactria via Sogdiana and Fergana, the Issyk-kul Sakas (Sakaraulois) had been joined on their way by sections of other Scythian tribes. The term Asio (or Asii) possibly refers to Horse People[18] and may refer to the Kambojas of the Parama Kamboja domain whose Aswas or horses have been glorified in the Mahabharata[19] as being of excellent quality. Asio, Asi/Asii, Asva/Aswa, Ari-aspi, Aspasios, Aspasii (or Hippasii) are possibly variant names the Classical writers have given to the horse-clans of the Scythian Kambojas.[20] These terms are most likely derived from the Old-Persian words for horse, "asa" and "aspa."[21]
Some scholars tend to link the Rishikas with the Tukharas and with the Yuezhi themselves.[citation needed] The Rishikas were closely affiliated with the Parama-Kambojas as per Mahabharata evidence.[22] Similarly, the Pasianois were another Scythian tribe from Central Asia. Saraucae or Sakarauloi obviously refers to the Saka properIssyk-kul Lake. If one accepts this connection, then the Tukharas (= Rishikas = Yuezhi) controlled the eastern parts of Bactria (Ta-hia) while the combined forces of the Sakarauloi, 'Asio' (horse people = Parama Kambojas) and the 'Pasinoi' of Strabo occupied its western parts after being displaced from their original home in the Fergana valley by the Yuezhi. As stated earlier, Ta-hia (Daxia) is taken to mean Tukhara/Tushara which also included Badakshan, Chitral, Kafirstan and Wakhan which are said to have formed eastern parts of Bactria[23] According to other scholars, it were the Saka hordes alone who had put an end to the Greek kingdom of Bactria.[24]
Language The Sakan speakers were gradually conquered and acculturated by the Turkic expansion to Central Asia beginning in the 4th century. The only known remnants of the Sakan language come from Xinjiang, China, but the language there is widely divergent from the rest of Iranian and accordingly is called eastern or northeastern Iranian. It also is divided into two divergent dialects.[25] ( from
- Sakastan
- Abhira
- Kambojas
- Scythians
- Indo-Scythians
- Massagetae
- Pazyryk culture
- Pazyryk burials
- Sakha Republic
- Szekely
- Sistan va Baluchestan
- Baluch people
- ^ a b Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society ... - Google Books. Books.google.com. 2007-04-06. http://books.google.com/books?id=J_gAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA322&lpg=PA322&dq=HAIHAIYA+AHIR&source=bl&ots=rF4ihWC6Jg&sig=GH0s1r5wn8WydSX-RV5ZGeb2JI8&hl=en&ei=6TkcTd_fEYO88galsIHcDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=AHIR&f=false. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
- ^ a b Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland By Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland-page-323
- ^ History, VII, 64
- ^ Strabo, XI, 8, 2
- ^ Ambaseos Alexandrou, III, 8, 3
- ^ B. N. Mukerjee, Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 690-91.
- ^ Herodotus Book VII, 64
- ^ Naturalis Historia, VI, 19, 50
- ^ Geography VI, 12, 1f; VI, 13; 1f, VI, 15, 1f
- ^ a b Westermann, Claus; John J. Scullion, Translator (1984). : A Continental Commentary. p. 506.
- ^ George Rawlinson, noted in his translation of History of Herodotus, Book VII, p. 378
- ^ Kurkjian, Vahan M. (1964). A History of Armenia. Armenian General Benevolent Union of America. p. 23.
- ^ . "The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath,[a] and Togarmah." See also the entry for Ashkenaz in Young, Robert. Analytical Concordance to the Bible. Mac Donald Publishing Company. ISBN 0917006291.
- ^ XI.8.2.
- ^ Pliny: Hist Nat., VI.21.8-23.11, List of Indian races
- ^ Alexander the Great, Sources and Studies, p 236, W. W. Tarn; Political History of Indian People, 1996, p 232, H. C. Raychaudhury, B. N. Mukerjee
- ^ History and Culture of Indian People, Age of Imperial Unity, p 111; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 692.
- ^ For Asii = Aswa = Horse-people, see: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, reprint (2002), pp 53-54, 64 fn 1 etc
- ^ MBH 8.38.13-14, 10.13.1-2; 7.23.42-43 etc.
- ^ For Asii/Aswa/Assaceni/Aspasio connection with horse, refer to Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Reprint (2002), James Tod. E.g: "In Aswa, we have ancient race peopled on both sides of Indus and probable etymon of Asia. The Assaceni, the Ari-aspii, the Aspasians and (the Asii) whom Strabo describes as Scythic race have same origin. Hence Asi-gurh (Hasi/Hansi) and Asii-gard, the first settlements of Scythic Asii in Scandinavia" (See: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Reprint (2002), Vol I, p 64 fn 1. Also see: pp 51-54, 87, 95; Vol-2, P 2, James Tod. For nomenclature Aspasii, Hipasii, see: Olaf Caroe, The Pathans, 1958, pp 37, 55-56. Pliny also refers to horse clans like Aseni, Asoi living in north-west of India (which were none-else than the Ashvayana and Ashvakayana Kambojas of Indian texts). See: Hist. Nat. VI 21.8-23.11; See Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, Trans. and edited by J. W. McCrindle, Calcutta and Bombay,: Thacker, Spink, 1877, 30-174.
- ^ Encyclopedia Iranica Article on Asb
- ^ Lohan. ParamaKambojan.Rishikan.uttaranapi:MBH 2.27.25; Kambojarishika ye cha MBH 5.5.15 etc.
- ^ Political History of Ancient India, 1996, Commentary, p 719, B. N. Mukerjee. Cf: "It appears likely that like the Yue-chis, the Scythians had also occupied a part of Transoxiana before conquering Bactria. If the Tokhario, who were the same as or affiliated with Yue-chihs, and who were mistaken as Scythian people, particiapated in the same series of invasions of Bactria of the Greeks, then it may be inferred that eastern Bactria was conquered by Yue-chis and the western by other nomadic people in about the same period. In other words, the Greek rule in Bactria was put to end in c 130/29 BC due to invasion by the Great Yue-chis and the Scythians Sakas nomads (Commentary: Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 692-93, B.N. Mukerjee). It is notable that before its occupation by Tukhara Yue-chis, Badakashan formed a part of ancient Kamboja i.e. Parama Kamboja country. But after its occupation by the Tukharas in second century BC, it became a part of Tukharistan. Around 4th-5th century, when the fortunes of the Tukharas finally died down, the original population of Kambojas re-asserted itself and the region again started to be called by its ancient name Kamboja (See: Bhartya Itihaas ki Ruprekha, p 534, J.C. Vidyalankar; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 129, 300 J.L. Kamboj; Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, p 159, S Kirpal Singh). There are several later-time references to this Kamboja of Pamirs/Badakshan. Raghuvamsha, a 5th c Sanskrit play by Kalidasa, attests their presence on river Vamkshu (Oxus) as neighbors to the Hunas (4.68-70). They have also been attested as Kiumito by 7th c Chinese pilgrim Hiun Tsang. Eighth century king of Kashmir, king Lalitadiya had invaded the Oxian Kambojas as is attested by Rajatarangini of Kalhana (See: Rajatarangini 4.163-65). Here they are mentioned as living in the eastern parts of the Oxus valley as neighbors to the Tukharas who were living in western parts of Oxus valley (See: The Land of the Kambojas, Purana, Vol V, No, July 1962, p 250, D. C. Sircar). These Kambojas apparently were descendants of that section of the Kambojas who, instead of leaving their ancestral land during second c BC under assault from Ta Yue-chi, had compromised with the invaders and had decided to stay put in their ancestral land instead of moving to Helmond valley or to the Kabol valley. There are other references which equate Kamboja= Tokhara. A Buddhist Sanskrit Vinaya text (N. Dutt, Gilgit Manuscripts, III, 3, 136, quoted in B.S.O.A.S XIII, 404) has the expression satam Kambojikanam kanayanam i.e a hundred maidens from Kamboja. This has been rendered in Tibetan as Tho-gar yul-gyi bu-mo brgya and in Mongolian as Togar ulus-un yagun ükin. Thus Kamboja has been rendered as Tho-gar or Togar. And Tho-gar/Togar is Tibetan/Mongolian names for Tokhar/Tukhar. See refs: Irano-Indica III, H. W. Bailey, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1950, pp. 389-409; see also: Ancient Kamboja, Iran and Islam, 1971, p 66, H. W. Bailey.
- ^ Cambridge History of India, Vol I, p 510; Taxila, Vol I, p 24, Marshal, Early History of North India, p 50, S. Chattopadhyava.
- ^ Dalby, Andrew (2004). Dictionary of Languages: the definitive reference to more than 400 languages. Columbia University Press. p. 278.
- Bailey, H. W. 1958. "Languages of the Saka." Handbuch der Orientalistik, I. Abt., 4. Bd., I. Absch., Leiden-Köln. 1958.
- Bailey, H. W. (1979). Dictionary of Khotan Saka. Cambridge University Press. 1979. 1st Paperback edition 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-14250-2.
- Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. 2002. Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, New York. 1st Trade printing, 2003. ISBN 0-446-67983-6 (pbk).
- Bulletin of the Asia Institute: The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia. Studies From the Former Soviet Union. New Series. Edited by B. A. Litvinskii and Carol Altman Bromberg. Translation directed by Mary Fleming Zirin. Vol. 8, (1994), pp. 37–46.
- Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. John E. Hill. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation.
- Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. (2006). Les Saces: Les <<Scythes>> d'Asie, VIIIe av. J.-C.-IVe siècle apr. J.-C. Editions Errance, Paris. ISBN 2-87772-337-2 (in French).
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1970. "The Wu-sun and Sakas and the Yüeh-chih Migration." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 33 (1970), pp. 154–160.
- Puri, B. N. 1994. "The Sakas and Indo-Parthians." In: History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 191–207.
- Thomas, F. W. 1906. "Sakastana." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1906), pp. 181–216.
- Yu, Taishan. 1998. A Study of Saka History. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 80. July, 1998. Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
- Yu, Taishan. 2000. A Hypothesis about the Source of the Sai Tribes. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 106. September, 2000. Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania.