Indo-Scythians

The Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic people of Iranic Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the present-day of regions of Afghanistan, Eastern Iran and the northwestern Indian subcontinent: present-day Pakistan and northern India. The migrations persisted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE.
The first Saka king in India was Maues/Moga (first century BCE) who established Saka power in Gandhara, the Indus Valley, and other regions. The Indo-Scythians extended their supremacy over the north-western subcontinent, conquering the Indo-Greeks and other local peoples. They were apparently subjugated by the Kushan Empire's Kujula Kadphises or Kanishka. The Saka continued to govern as satrapies, forming the Northern Satraps and Western Satraps. The power of the Saka rulers began to decline during the 2nd century CE after the Indo-Scythians were defeated by the Satavahana emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni. Indo-Scythian rule in the northwestern subcontinent ended when the last Western Satrap, Rudrasimha III, was defeated by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II in 395 CE.
The invasion of the northern Indian subcontinent by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant role in the history of the subcontinent and nearby regions. The Indo-Scythian war was triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with tribes such as the Xiongnu in the second century CE, which had lasting effects on Bactria, Kabul and the Indian subcontinent and Rome and Parthia in the west. Ancient Roman historians, including Arrian and Claudius Ptolemy, have mentioned that the ancient Sakas ("Sakai") were nomadic people. The first rulers of the Indo-Scythian kingdom were Maues (c. 85–60 BCE) and Vonones (c. 75–65 BCE).
The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to have been Saka (Scythian) tribes.
The Saka of western India spoke the Saka language (also known as Khotanese), first documented in the Tarim Basin.
During the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley c. 515 BCE, the Achaemenid army was not Persian and the Saka probably participated in the invasion of northwest India. The Achaemenid army was composed of a number of ethnic groups who were part of the Achaemenid Empire. The army included Bactrians, Saka, Parthians, and Sogdians. Herodotus listed the ethnicities of the Achaemenid army, which included Ionians (Greeks) and Ethiopians. These groups were probably included in the Achaemenid army which invaded India.
Some scholars (including Michael Witzel) and Christopher I. Beckwith suggested that the Shakya – the clan of Gautama Buddha – were originally Scythians from Central Asia, and the Indian ethnonym Śākya has the same origin as "Scythian". This would explain the strong Saka support of Buddhism in India.
The Persians, the Saka and the Greeks may have participated in the later campaigns of Chandragupta Maurya to gain the throne of Magadha c. 320 BCE. The Mudrarakshasa says that after Alexander the Great's death, Chandragupta Maurya used a Shaka-Yavana-Kamboja-Parasika-Bahlika alliance in his campaign to take the throne in Magadha and found the Maurya Empire. The Saka were the Scythians; the Yavanas were the Greeks, and the Parasikas were the Persians.
During the second century BCE, a nomadic movement began among the Central Asian tribes. Recorded in the annals of the Han dynasty and other Chinese records, the movement began after the Yuezhi tribe was defeated by the Xiongnu and fled west; this created a domino effect, displacing other central Asian tribes in their path.
According to these ancient sources, Modu Shanyu of the Xiongnu tribe of Mongolia attacked the Yuezhi (possibly related to the Tocharians, who lived in the eastern Tarim Basin) and evicted them from their homeland between the Qilian Shan and Dunhuang c. 175 BCE. Leaving a few people behind, most of the population moved west to the Ili River region. They displaced the Saka, who migrated south into Ferghana and Sogdiana. According to the Chinese historical chronicles (who call the Saka "Sai" 塞): "[The Yuezhi] attacked the king of the Sai, who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands."
Sometime after 155 BCE, the Yuezhi were again defeated by an alliance of the Wusun and the Xiongnu. They were forced to move south, again displacing the Scythians (who migrated south towards Bactria and present-day Afghanistan and south-west towards Parthia. A tribe known to ancient Greek scholars as the Sacaraucae (probably from the Old Persian Sakaravaka, "nomadic Saka") and an allied people, the Massagetae, came into conflict with the Parthian Empire in Parthia between 138 and 124 BCE. The Sacaraucae-Massagetae alliance won several battles and killed the Parthian kings Phraates II and Artabanus I. The Yuezhi tribes migrated east into Bactria after their defeat, from which they conquered northern India to establish the Kushan Empire.
The Saka settled in regions mostly corresponding to the region of Drangiana, which was later called Sakastan or Sistan, a region of south-western Afghanistan, south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of western Pakistan. The mixed Scythian hordes who migrated to Drangiana and the areas of Sakastan later gave rise to the Indo-Scythian Kingdom and vassel states in north and south-west India via the lower Indus valley. Beginning from Sovira, Gujarat, Rajasthan and north India, and expanding into kingdoms on the Indian mainland as well as increasing influence on other kingdoms.
The Arsacid emperor Mithridates II (c. 123–88/87 BCE) pursued an aggressive military policy in Central Asia and added a number of provinces to the Parthian Empire. This included western Bactria, which he seized from the Indo-Scythians.
Following military pressure from the Yuezhi (predecessors of the Kushana), some Indo-Scythians moved from Bactria to Lake Helmond (or Hāmūn) and settled in or near Drangiana (Sigal). The region came to be known as "Sakistana of the Skythian Sakai [sic]" towards the end of the first century BCE.
The presence of the Saka in Sakastan in the first century BCE is mentioned by Isidore of Charax in "The Parthian Stations". According to Isidore, they were bordered by Greek cities on the east (Alexandria of the Caucasus and Alexandria of the Arachosians) and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia on the south:
From petroglyphs left by Saka soldiers at river crossings in Chilas and on the Sacred Rock of Hunza in Pakistan, Ahmad Hassan Dani and Karl Jettmar [de] have established the route across the Karakoram mountains used by Maues (the first Indo-Scythian king) to capture Taxila from Indo-Greek King Apollodotus II.
The first-century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the Scythian territories:
The Indo-Scythians established a kingdom in the northwest near Taxila, with two satraps: one at Mathura in the east, and the other at Surastrene (Gujarat) in the southwest.
The presence of the Scythians in modern Pakistan and north-western India during the first century BCE was contemporaneous with the Indo-Greek kingdoms there, and they apparently initially recognized the power of the local Greek rulers. Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan c. 80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. In the east, the Indian king Vikrama retook Ujjain from the Indo-Scythians and celebrated his victory by establishing the Vikrama era in 58 BCE. Indo-Greek kings again ruled and prospered after Maues, as indicated by the profusion of coins from Kings Apollodotus II and Hippostratos. In 55 BCE, under Azes I, the Indo-Scythians took control of northwestern India with their victory over Hippostratos.
Excavations organized by John Marshall found several stone sculptures in the early Saka layer (layer number four, corresponding to the period of Azes I, in which a number of his coins were found). Several of them are toilet trays roughly imitative of finer Hellenistic examples found in earlier layers.
Azes is connected to the Bimaran casket, one of the earliest representations of the Buddha. The reliquary was used for the dedication of a stupa in Bamiran, near Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and placed inside the stupa with several coins of Azes. This may have happened during the reign of Azes (60–20 BCE), or slightly later. The Indo-Scythians were connected with Buddhism.
In northern India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the Mathura region c. 60 BCE. Some of their satraps were Hagamasha and Hagana, who were followed by Rajuvula.
The Mathura lion capital, an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital which dates to the first century CE, describes in Kharoshthi script the gift of a stupa with a relic of the Buddha by Nadasi Kasa (Rajuvula's queen). The capital also mentions the genealogy of several Indo-Scythian Mathura satraps. Rajuvula apparently eliminated Strato II (the last Indo-Greek king) c. 10 CE and took Sagala, his capital city.
Coinage of the period, such as that of Rajuvula, tends to be crude. It is also debased; the silver content becomes lower and bronze content higher, an alloying technique suggesting a lack of wealth.
The Mathura lion capital inscriptions attest that Mathura came under Saka control. The inscriptions refer to Kharahostes and Queen Ayasia, the "chief queen of the Indo-Scythian ruler of Mathura, satrap Rajuvula." Kharahostes was the son of Arta, as attested by his own coins. Arta was the brother of King Maues.
The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the Northern Satraps to distinguish them from the Western Satraps ruling in Gujarat and Malwa. After Rajuvula, several successors are known to have ruled as vassals of the Kushans. They include the "Great Satrap" Kharapallana and the satrap Vanaspara, who are known from an inscription discovered in Sarnath and dated to the third year of Kanishka (c. 130 CE), when they pledged allegiance to the Kushans.
The Yuga Purana describes an invasion of Pataliputra by the Scythians during the first century BCE, after seven kings ruled in succession in Saketa following the retreat of the Yavanas. According to the Yuga Purana, the Saka king killed one-fourth of the population before he was slain by the Kalinga king Shata and a group of Sabalas.
After Azes' death, Indo-Scythian rule in northwestern India ended with the rise of the Indo-Parthian ruler Gondophares late in the first century BCE. For the following decades, A number of minor Scythian leaders maintained themselves in local strongholds on the fringes of the loose Indo-Parthian empire over the next few decades, some paying allegiance to Gondophares I and his successors.
Indo-Parthian rule was gradually replaced with that of the Kushans, one of the five Yuezhi tribes who lived in Bactria for over a century and expanded into India during the late first century CE. The Kushans regained northwestern India c. 75 CE and the Mathura region c. 100, where they prospered for several centuries.
Indo-Scythians continued to hold the Sistan region until the reign of Bahram II (276–293 CE), and held several areas of India well into the first millennium; Kathiawar and Gujarat were under Western Satrap rule until the fifth century. Rudradaman I's exploits are inscribed in the Junagadh rock inscription. During his campaigns, Rudradaman conqured the Yaudheyas and defeated the Satavahana Empire. The Western Satraps were conquered by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (also known as Vikramaditya).
Indo-Scythian coinage is generally of high quality, although the coins of Rajuvula deteriorate near the disintegration of Indo-Scythian rule c. 20 CE. A fairly high-quality, stereotypical coinage was continued by the Western Satraps until the fourth century.
Indo-Scythian coinage is generally realistic, artistically between Indo-Greek and Kushan coinage. It has been suggested that its coinage benefited from the help of Greek coin-makers. Indo-Scythian coins continue Indo-Greek tradition by using the Greek alphabet on the obverse and Kharoshthi script on the reverse. A portrait of the king is absent, with depictions of the king on a horse (sometimes on a camel) or sitting cross-legged on a cushion instead. The reverse of their coins typically show Greek gods.
Buddhist symbolism is present in Indo-Scythian coinage. The Indo-Scythians adopted the Indo-Greek practice (since Menander I) of depicting gods forming the vitarka mudra with their right hand (like Zeus on the coins of Maues or Azes II), the Buddhist lion on the coins of those two kings, or the triratana symbol on the coins of Zeionises.
Other than coins, few works of art are known to indisputably represent Indo-Scythians. Several Gandharan sculptures show foreigners in soft tunics, sometimes wearing the pointed hat typical of the Scythians. Kushan men seem to wear thick, rigid tunics, and are generally represented more simplistically.
Indo-Scythian soldiers in military attire are sometimes represented in Buddhist friezes in Gandharan art, particularly in the Buner reliefs. They are depicted in loose tunics with trousers, with heavy, straight swords. They wear pointed hoods or the Scythian cap; this distinguishes them from the Indo-Parthians, who wore a simple fillet over their bushy hair, and which is worn by Indo-Scythian rulers on their coins. With their right hand, some form the karana mudra to ward off evil spirits. In Gandhara, such friezes were used to decorate the pedestals of Buddhist stupas. They are contemporary with other friezes representing people in Greek attire, hinting at an intermixing of Indo-Scythians and Indo-Greeks. In another relief, the same type of soldiers are playing musical instruments and dancing; in Gandharan art, Indo-Scythians are typically depicted as reveling devotees.
A number of stone palettes in Gandhara are considered representative of Indo-Scythian art. The palettes, which combine Greek and Iranian influences, often have a simple, archaic style. Stone palettes have only been found in archaeological layers corresponding to Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian rule, and are unknown in the preceding Mauryan layers or the succeeding Kushan layers.
The palettes often depict people in Greek dress in mythological scenes; a few have Parthian dress (headbands over bushy hair, crossed-over jacket on a bare chest, jewelry, belt, baggy trousers), and fewer have Indo-Scythian dress (Phrygian hat, tunic and straight trousers). A palette found in Sirkap, now in the New Delhi Museum, shows a winged Indo-Scythian horseman riding a winged deer and being attacked by a lion.
The Indo-Scythians seem to have supported Buddhism, with many of their practices continuing those of the Indo-Greeks.They had an active role in the dissemination of Buddhism beyond India.
Several Indo-Scythian kings after Azes made Buddhist dedications in their name on plaques or reliquaries:
Excavations at the Butkara Stupa in Swat by an Italian archaeological team have yielded Buddhist sculptures thought to belong to the Indo-Scythian period. An Indo-Corinthian capital of a Buddhist devotee in foliage has been found which had a reliquary and coins of Azes buried at its base, dating the sculpture to c. 20 BCE. A contemporary pilaster of a Buddhist devotee in Greek dress has been found at the same spot, again suggesting a mingling of the populations. Reliefs at the same location show Indo-Scythians, with characteristic tunics and pointed hoods, with reliefs of standing Buddhas.
The Indo-Scythians were named "Shaka" in India, a variation of the name "Saka" used by the Persians for Scythians. Shakas are mentioned in the Purāṇas, the Manusmṛti, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata, the Mahābhāṣya, the Bṛhat Saṃhitā by Varāhamihira, the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, the Bṛhatkathāmañjarīi, and the Kathāsaritsāgara. They are described as part of a group of other warlike tribes from the northwest.
There are references to the warring mleccha hordes of Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas in the Balakanda of the Ramayana. H. C. Raychadhury saw in these verses the struggles between the Hindus and the invading hordes of mleccha barbarians from the northwest beginning in the second century BCE, and fixed the date of the Ramayana around (or after) the 2nd century CE.
The Mahabharata also alludes to the invasion of mixed hordes from the northwest, with prophetic verses that "...the Mlechha (barbaric) kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas ... shall rule the earth un-righteously in Kali Yuga ..."
A portion of Central Asian Scythians under Sai-Wang reportedly moved south, crossed the Pamir Mountains and entered Chipin (or Kipin) after crossing the Xuandu (懸度, Hanging Pass) above the valley of Kanda in Swat. Chipin has been identified by Pelliot, Bagchi, Raychaudhury and others as Kashmir, but other scholars identify it as Kafiristan. Sai-Wang established his kingdom in Kipin. Konow interprets the Sai-Wang as the Śaka Murunda of Indian literature; murunda is synonymous with wang (king, master or lord). Bagchi interprets Wang as the king of the Scythians, but distinguishes the Sai Sakas from the Murunda Sakas. The Sai Scythians may have been Kamboja Scythians; the Sai-Wang were part of the Parama Kamboja kingdom of Transoxiana, and returned after being evicted from their ancestral land. Maues might have belonged to this group of Scythians who migrated from the Sai country (Central Asia) to Chipin.
The Scythian groups who invaded India and established kingdoms included, in addition to the Saka, allied tribes such as the Medii, Xanthii, and Massagetae. These peoples were absorbed into mainstream Indian society.
The Shakas were from the trans-Hemodos region—the Shakadvipa of the Puranas or the Scythia of classical writings. At the beginning of the first century CE, Isidore of Charax notes their presence in Sistan. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 70–80 CE) documents a Scythian district in the lower Indus Valley, with Minnagra its capital. Ptolemy (c. 140 CE) also documents an Indo-Scythia in south-western India which consisted of the Patalene and Surastrene (Saurashtra) territories. The second-century BCE Scythian invasion of India was probably carried out jointly by the Saka, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas, Rishikas and other allied tribes from the northwest.
Tadeusz Sulimirski notes that the Saka also invaded parts of northern India. Indian linguist Weer Rajendra Rishi has identified linguistic affinities between Indian and Central Asian languages, which also suggests a Saka influence in northern India.