page_title: Legacy of the Indo-Greeks
section_title: Society
hierarchical_section_title: Legacy of the Indo-Greeks / Society
caption_attribution_description: English: Men in arm, wearing Greek uniforms. Tillia tepe. Musee Guimet. Personal photograph 2006. Français&#160;: Paire d'agrafes à décor de guerriers. Afghanistan, Tillia tepe, tombe III. Ier siècle. Or 9,0 x6,3 cm. Musée National d'Afghanistan. MK 04.40.245. Exposition temporaire: Afghanistan&#160;: Les trésors retrouvés&#160;: Collections du Musée National de Kaboul, Pierre Cambon, dir. Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet, 2006-2007, éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 300 pages. ISBN 978-2-7118-5218-5. N°79, Page 182 et Page 165: Pierre Cambon: ...les parures elles-mêmes évoquent un modèle plus ancien, la Bactriane grecque ou le règne d'Eucratide (170-145 av. n. è., voir les agrafes à décor de guerriers, tombe III, ou le pectoral décoré d'un camée, tombe IV)...
context_page_description: The legacy of the Indo-Greeks starts with the formal end of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from the 1st century, as the Greek communities of central Asia and northwestern India lived under the control of the Kushan branch of the Yuezhi, apart from a short-lived invasion of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. The Kushans founded the Kushan Empire, which was to prosper for several centuries. In the south, the Greeks were under the rule of the Western Kshatrapas.
  It is unclear how much longer the Greeks managed to maintain a distinct presence in the Indian sub-continent.
context_section_description: Politics
  The 36 Indo-Greek kings known through epigraphy or through their coins belong to the period between 180 BC to AD10–20. There are a few hints of a later Indo-Greek political presence in the Indian subcontinent.
  Theodamas, known from an inscription on a signet, may have been an Indo-Greek ruler in the Bajaur area in the 1st century AD.
  In the 3rd century, the Scythian Western Satraps seem to have relied on Greeks, such as Yavanesvara ("Lord of the Greeks"), who may have been organized in more or less independent poleis.
  Some sort of Greek political organization is thought to have existed in the first half of the 4th century after the rule of the Satavahanas. This is also suggested by the Puranas (the Matsya Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana) which give a list of the dynasties who ruled following the decline of the Satavahanas: this list includes 8 Yavana kings, thought to be some dynasty of Greek descent, although they are not otherwise known. According to one theory however, the Southern Indian dynasty of the Chalukyas was named after "Seleukia" (the Seleucids), their conflict with the Pallava of Kanchi being but a continuation of the conflict between ancient Seleukia and "Parthians", the proposed ancestors of Pallavas. Dr. Lewis's theory, based on the mere similarity of names, has not found acceptance at all because the Pallavas were in constant conflict with the Kadambas, prior to the rise of Chalukyas.
  Cities
  Some Greek cities seem to have remained intact under Parthian rule: Isidorus of Charax in his 1st century AD "Parthian stations" itinerary described "Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia" as being Greek:
  "Beyond is Arachosia (Old Persian Hara[h]uvati, Avestan Haraxvaiti)). And the Parthians call this White India; there are the city of Biyt and the city of Pharsana and the city of Chorochoad (Haraxvat) and the city of Demetrias; then Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and by it flows the river Arachotus (Harahvati). As far as this place the land is under the rule of the Parthians."
  — "Parthians stations", 1st century AD. Original text in paragraph 19 of Parthian stations
  Also, the city of Alexandria Bucephalus on the Jhelum River is still mentioned in the 1st century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, as well as in the Roman Peutinger Table.
  Military
  Greek mercenary soldiers from northwestern India are mentioned in the accounts of the Pandyan Kingdom in Madurai, and described in admiring terms: "The valiant-eyed Yavanas, whose bodies were strong and of terrible aspect".
  At the beginning of the 2nd century, the Central India Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni (r. 106–130) was described as the "Destroyer of Sakas (Western Kshatrapas), Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) and Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians)" in his inscriptions, suggesting a continued presence of the Indo-Greeks until that time.
  Around 200 AD, the Manu Smriti describes the downfall of the Yavanas, as well as many others:
  "43. But in consequence of the omission of the sacred rites, and of their not consulting Brahmanas, the following tribes of Kshatriyas have gradually sunk in this world to the condition of Shudras;
  44. (Viz.) the Paundrakas, the Chodas, the Dravidas, the Kambojas, the Yavanas, the Shakas, the Paradas, the Pahlavas, the Chinas, the Kiratas, the Daradas and the Khashas." (Manusmritti, X.43–44)
  There are important references to the warring Mleccha hordes of the Yavanas, Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, etc. in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana.
  Indologists like Dr H. C. Raychadhury, Dr B. C. Law, Satya Shrava and others see, in these verses, the clear glimpses of the struggles of the Hindus with the mixed invading hordes of the barbaric Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, etc. from north-west. The time frame for these struggles is the 2nd century BCE downwards. Dr Raychadhury fixes the date of the present version of the Valmiki Ramayana around/after the 2nd century CE.
  The invading hordes of the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Abhiras, etc. from the north-west had
caption: Men in Greek uniform, Tillia Tepe, 1st century CE.[10]
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