Post Mauryan Period
Introduction
The decline of the Mauryan Empire was followed by an important period in ancient Indian history known as the post-Mauryan Period, which roughly spanned from 185 BCE to 300 CE. During this time, a number of regional kingdoms came into being, while foreign invasions caused political division and the spread of culture. The Shungas, the Indo-Greeks, the Kushans, and the Satavahanas were among the major powers at this time. The flourishing of the Gandhara and Mathura schools of art, as well as the expansion of trade routes like the Silk Road, were notable developments in art, architecture,. The emergence of Mahayana Buddhism and the strengthening of Hinduism also occurred during this time, adding to the rich religious and cultural fabric of ancient India.
The Indo Greeks
The entry of numerous foreign ruling groups into India defined the Post Mauryan era of Indian history. These communities first established in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, then they progressively spread throughout the rest of the country. The Indo-Greeks were the first people from all these groups to arrive in India. The Kushanas and Sakas came after them. From 183 BCE to about 30 BCE, the Indo-Greek Kingdom (also known as the Greco-Indian Kingdom) ruled over a number of regions in the northwest and northern Indian subcontinent.More than thirty Hellenic and Hellenistic kings, frequently at odds with one another, controlled it. The mighty Greco-Bactrian Kingdom headquartered in Bactria (today's northern Afghanistan) was split off from the kingdom when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius attacked India in 183 BCE. Since the term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" refers to a loose collection of different dynastic polities, it had many capitals. However, Taxila in northern Pakistan was likely one of the first places where local Hellenic rulers had a seat, although other cities such as Pusthkalavati and Sakala (which is thought to be the largest of these residences) hosted several dynasties during their respective periods. Furthermore, based on Ptolemy's Geographia and the names of succeeding kings, a certain Theophila (which has not been identified up to this point) in the south was likely a satrap or royal seat at some point. Archaeological evidence from their cities and signs of their support for Buddhism show that the Indo-Greek kings blended ancient Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist religious practices during the two centuries of their reign. They also blended Greek and Indian languages and symbols on their coins. The effects of the Indo-Greek kings' seeming high degree of cultural syncretism are still evident today, especially in the form of the spread and impact of Greco-Buddhist art. After the Indo Scythians invaded, the Indo-Greeks eventually vanished from political existence around 30 BCE, while pockets of Greek settlers may have persisted for many centuries later under the control of the Indo-Parthians and Kushanas.
Early Greek presence in India
In 326 BCE Alexander the Great conquered the north-western part of the lndian subcontinent as far as the Hyphasis Beas) River, and established satrapies as well as several cities, such as Bucephala (on the name of his horse), until his troops refused to go further east. The indian satrapies of the Punjab were left to the rule of Porus and Taxiles, who were confirmed again at the Treaty of Triparadisus in 321 BCE, and remaining Greek troops in these satrapies were left under the command of general Eudemus. Sometime after 321 Eudemus toppled Taxiles, until he left India in 316 BCE. Another general also ruled over the Greek colonies of the Indus: Peithon, son of Agenor, until his đeparture for Babylon in 316 BCE, and a last one, Sophytes, may have ruled in northern Punjab until around 294 BCE.
According to Indian sources, Greek ("Yavana") troops seem to have assisted Chandragupta Maurya in toppling the Nànda Dynasty and founding the Mauryan Empire. By around 312 BCE Chandragupta had established his rule in large parts of the north-western Indian territories. In 305 BCE, Seleucus | led an army to the Indus, where he encountered Chandragupta. The confrontation ended with a peace treaty, and "an intermarriage agreement", meaning either a dynastic marriage or an agreement for intermarriage between Indians and Greeks. Accordingly, Seleucus ceded to Chandragupta his north-western territories i.e. Ariana (Herat), Arachosia (Kandhar), Gedrosia (Makran Coast/Baluchistarn) a and Paropanisdae (kabul) and received 500 war elephants". The Greco-Bactrians maintained a strong Hellenistic culture at the door of India during the rule of the Mauryan empire in India, as exemplified by the archaeological site of A-Khanoum. When the Mauryan empire was toppled by the Sungas around 185 BCE, the Greco-Bactrians expanded into India, where they established the Indo-Greek kingdom.
Establishment of the Indo-Greek kingdom
The founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom was Demetrius "the Invincible" (205-171 BCE). The invasion of northern India, and the establishment of what would be known as the "indo-Greek kingdom’’, started around 180 BCE when Demetrius, son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I, led his troops across the Hindu Kush. In the process of the invasion, the Greeks seem to have occupied territory as far as the capital Patliputra, before ultimately retreating and consolidating in north-western India. Apollodotus, seemingly a relative of Demetrius, led the invasion to the south, while Menander, one of the generals of Demetrius. led the invasion to the east. Following his conquests, Demetrius received the title Invincible, a title never given to any king before Written evidence of the initial Greek invasion survives in the Greek writings of Strabo and Justin, and in Sanskrit in the records of Patanjali, Kâlidâsa, and in the Yuga Purana, among others. Coins and architectural evidence also attest to the extent of the initial Greek campaigns.
Evidence of the initial invasion
The Roman historian Justin also mentioned the Indo-Greek conquests, describing Demetrius: as "King of the Indians'' ("Regis Indorum"), and explaining that after vanquishing him Eucratides in turn "put India under his rule''. Greek and Indian sources tend to indicate that the Greeks campaigned as far as Pataliputra until they were forced to retreat following the coup staged by Eucratides back in Bactria circa 170 BCE, : suggesting an Occupation period of about eight years. Alternatively, Menander may merely have joined a raid led by Indian Kings down the Ganga, as Indo-Greek territory has only been confirmed from the Kabul Valley to the Punjab. To the south, the Greeks occupied the areas of the Sindh and Gujarat down to the region of Surat (Greek: Saraostus) near Mumbai (Bombay), including the strategic harbour of Barigaza (Bharuch), as attested by several sources and as evidenced by coins dating from the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I. The 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes numerous Greek buildings and fortifications in Barigaza, although mistakenly attributing them to Alexander, and testifies to the circulation of Indo-Greek coinage in the region. From ancient authors (Pliny, Arrian, Ptolemy and Strabo), a list of provinces, satrapies, or simple regional designations, and Greek cities from within the Indo-Greek Kingdom can be discerned (though others have been lost), ranging from the Indus basin to the upper valley of the Ganges. The lndo-Greeks were the first to issue gold coins in India. Their copper coins were known as Drama.
Indian sources
Various Indian records describe Yavana attacks on Mathura, Panchala, Saketa, and Pataliputra. Patanjali,a grammarian and commentator on Panini around 150 BCE, describes in the Mahâbhâsya, the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of Sanskrit, denoting a recent event; "The Yavanas (Greeks) were besieging Saketa “and The Yavanas were besieging Madhyamika" (the "Middle country"). The Anushasanaparava of the Mahabharata affirms that the country of Mathura, the heartland of India, was under the joint control of the Yavanas and the Kambojas The Vayupurana asserts that Mathura was ruled by seven Greek kings over a period of 82 years. Accounts of battles between the Greeks and the Sunga in Central India are also found in the Mâlavikagnimitram, a play by Kâlidâsa which describes an encounter between Greek forces and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamita during the latter's reign. Also the Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy, relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes, and describes the ultimate destruction of the city's walls. According to the Yuga Purana a situation of complete social disorder follows, in which the Yavanas rule and mingle with the people, and the position of the Brahmins and the Sudras is inverted.
Consolidation
The first invasion was completed by 175 BCE, as the Indo-Greeks apparently contained the Sungas to the area eastward of Pataliputra, and established their rule on the new territory. Back in Bactria however, around 170 BCE, an usurper named Eucratides managed to topple the Euthydemid dynasty. He took for himself the title of king and started a civil war by invading the Indo-Greek territory, forcing the Indo-Greeks to abandon their easternmost possession and establish their new oriental frontier at Mathura, to confront this new threat. The Hathigumpha inscription, written by the king of Kalinga, Kharavela, also describes the presence of the Yavana ling "Demetrius" with his army in eastern India, apparently as far as the city of Rajagriha about 70 km southeast of Pataliputra and one of the foremost Buddhist sacred cities, but claims that Demetrius ultimately retreated to Mathura on hearing of Kharavela's military successes further south. Menander was another important Indo-Greek ruler of India. According to Periplus the coins of Menander were in circulation in Bharooch. Coins of Menander and his son Strato-i have been discovered from Mathura. His capital was at Sialkot (Sakala). Milindpanho of Nagasen contains the philosophical discussions between Menander and Nagasen. Menander was Succeeded by son Strato-1. He was minor at the time of sitting at throne. He was followed by Strato- I. With him the Euthydemus dynasty came to an end. The Euthydemus dynasty was followed by Eucratides dynasty emerged on the forefront. Antialkidas and Hermius of this dynasty ruled in India. Antialkidas sent Heleodorus as his ambassador in the court of Sunga ruler Bhagabhadra. Hermius was the last Indo-Greek ruler of India.
The Indo-Scythins
The Indo-Scythians were a branch of the indo-iranian Sakas (Scythiarns), who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, and into parts of Western and Central india, Gujarat and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE. 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 India 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 Chinese tribes which had lasting effects on Bactria. Kabul, Parthia and India as well as far off as Rome in the west. The Scythian groups that invaded India and set up various kingdoms, may have included besides the Sakas other allied tribes, such as the Parama Kambojas, Bahlikas, Rishikas and Paradas.
The Indo-Parthian Kingdom
Parthia was the located in the west of Bactria towards Caspian sea. It was a bordering province of Selucid empire Mithradat T(171 BC-131BC) was the real founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. Gondophernes (20 CE- 46bCE) was the most powerful ruler of lndo-Parthian Kingdom. His kingdom extended into areas that are in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. Saint Thomas came to India during the reign of king Gondophares about 45 AD. For most of its history, the capital of the kingdom was at Taxila (in present-day Pakistan), but during the last few years of its existence the capital was at Kabul (present-day Afghanistan). The kingdom barely lasted one century. It started to fragment under Gondophares' successor Abdagases. The northern Indian part of the kingdom was captured by the Kushans around 60 CE.
Indo-Parthian territories
The Parthians ended up controlling extensive territories in Northern India, after fighting many local rulers such as the Kushan Empire ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the Gandhara region. Gondophares was the ruler of areas comprising Arachosia, Seistan, Sindh, Gandhara, and the Kabul valley, but it does not seem he held territory east beyond the Punjab. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is a surviving 1st century guide to the routes commonly being used for navigating the Arabian Sea. It describes the presence of Parthian kings fighting with each other in the area of Sindh, a region traditionally known at that time as "Scythia" due to the previous rule of the Indo-Scythians there: An inscription from Takht-i-Bahi near Hada bears two dates, one in the regnal year 26 of the Maharaja Guduvhara (again thought to be Gondophares), and the year 103 of an unknown era. The Indo-Parthians seemingly occupied the area of Gandhara between around 20 CE, when Gondophares took over from the Indo-Scythians, to around 60 CE, when Kujula Kadphises established Kushan rule there.
Kushana Empire
The Kushan Empire was created by the Kushan tribe of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European people from the eastern Tarim Basin, China, possibly related to the Tocharians. They had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Persia and China, and for several centuries were at the center of exchange between the East and the West.
Origins
Chinese sources describe the Guishuang, i.e. the "Kushans", as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi, also spelled Yueh-chi, a loose confederation of Indo-European peoples. The Yuezhi are also generally considered as the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages, who had been living in the arid grasslands of eastern Central Asia, in modern-day Xinjiang and Gansu, possibly speaking versions of the Tocharian language, Until they were driven west by the Xiongnu in 176-160 BCE. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiûmi, Guishuang, Shuangmi, Xidun, and Dümì. Chinese sources tell of the construction of the Great Wall in the third century BC and the repulse of various marauding tribes. Forced to head west and eventually south, these tribes displaced others in an ethnic knnock-on effect which lasted many decades and spread right across central Asia, The Parthians from Iran and the Bactrian Greeks from Bactria had both been dislodged by the Shakas coming down from somewhere near the Aral Sea. But the Shakas had in turn been dislodged by the Yueh-chi who had themselves been driven west to Sinkiang by the Hiung-nu. But the Yueh-chi continued to press on the Shakas, and having forced them out of Bactria, it was sections or clans of these Yueh-chi who next began to move down into India in the second half of the first century AD The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria, in the Bactrian territory (northernmost Afghanistan Uzbekistan) around 135 BCE. The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush and the Indus basin (in present day Pakistan), occupying the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
Early Kushans
In the following century, the Guishuang gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under Commander Kujula Kadphises. Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (An area lying primarily in Pakistan’s Pothwar, and Northwest Frontier Provinces region but going in an arc to include Kabul valley and part of Qandahar in Afghanistan) and established twin capitals near present-day Kabul and Peshawar then known as Kapisa and Pushklavati respectively. The Kushan writing system used the Greek alphabet, with the addition of the letter Sho. The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adapted the Greek alphabet (often corrupted) to suit their own language and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the Kharoshthi script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After that date, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek sCript) and legends in Pali (Kharoshthi script). The Kushans are believed to have been predominantly. Zoroastrian and later Buddhist as well. However, from the time of Wima Takto, many Kushans started adopting aspects of indian culture like the other nomadic groups who had invaded India, principally the Royal clans of Gujjars. Like the Macedonians and Egyptians they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek Culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly Hellenised. The first. great Kushan emperor Wima Kadphises may have embraced Saivism, as.surmised by coins minted during the period. The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and possibly Saivism. The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilized indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely oversaw a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan into northern India. The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers.
Territorial Expansion
Direct archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is basically available in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal (located in the southern part of the region of Bactria), Begram, Peshawar (the summer capital of the Kushans), Taxila and Mathura (the winter capital of the Kushans). Other areas of probable rule include Khwarezm (Russian archaeological findings) Kausambi (excavations of the Allahabad University), Sanchi and Sarnath (inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings), Malwa and Maharashtra, Orissa (imitation of Kushan coins, and large Kushan hoards). The recently discovered Rabatak inscription tends to confirm large Kushan dominions in the heartland of India. The lines 4 to 7 of the inscription describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka, among which six names are Identifiable: Ujjain, Kundina, Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Champa (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it). northward, in the 2nd century CE, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin, seemingly The original ground of their ancestors the Yuezhi, where they had various contacts with the Chinese. Both archaeological findings and literary evidence suggest Kushan rule, in Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. As late as the 3rd century CE, decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at Bodh Gaya together with other gold offerings under the "Enlightenment Throne" of the Buddha, suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period.
Main Kushana Rules
Kujula Kadphises (15CE - 65 CE)
His conquests probably took place sometime between 45 and 60, and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which, was rapidly expanded by his descendants. Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two Sons, Sadashkana (who is known from only two inscriptions, especially the Rabatak inscription, and apparently never have ruled), and seemingly Vima Taktu. Kujula Kadphises was the great grandfather of Kanishka
Wima Kadphises (65CE-78 CE)
Vima Kadphises was a Kushan emperor from around 90-100 CE, the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of kujula Kadphises, and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by the Rabatak inscription. Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Afghanistan and north-west India. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions.
Kanishka I (78CE -101 CE)
The rule of Kanishka I, the second great Kushan emperor, fifth Kushan king, who flourished for at least 28 years from c. 127. Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina (It is thought that is it the locality of Kaundinyapura on the Wardha River in the Amravati Division of Vidarbha, or Berar in Maharashtra) and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription: In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundinya< Kundina) and the city of Ozeno (0zene, Ujjain) and the city of Zageda (Saketa) and the city of Kozambo (Kausambi) and the city of Palabotro (Pataliputra) and so long unto (1.e. as far as) the city of Ziri-tambo (sri- Champa)," The Qila Mubarak fort at Bathinda was built by Kanishka. His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in northern Pakistan) and Mathura in northern India. He is also credited (along with Raja Dab) for building the massive, ancient Fort at Bathinda ( Qila Mubarak), in the modern city of Bathinda, Indian Punjab. Nagarjuna, the founder of Madhyamika School of philosophy, lived in his court. He wrote Prajnaparamitasuta Charaka, the author of Charaka Samhita, lived in his court. The Buddhist scholars Ashvaghosha and Vasumitra also lived in his court. Ashvaghosha wrote Buddhacharita, Saundriyananda and Shariputraprakranana. Kanishka organised 4th Buddhist council. This council was presided by Vasumitra. Ashvaghosha was its vice-president. Parshava, Sangharaksha and Matrachetta were other scholars living in the court of Kanishka. Sangharaksha was the chief priest of Kanishka.
Vâsishka
Vâsishka was a Kushan emperor, who seems to have a short reign following Kanishka. His rule is recorded as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (The Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana'- i. e. Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (The Sanchi inscription of Vasaska – I. e. Vasishka) of the Kanishka era.
Huvishka
Huvishka was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 140 CE) until the succession of Vasudeva l about forty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.
Vasudeva I
Vasudeva I was the last of the "Great Kushans." Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least 191 to 225 CE. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sassanids as far as north-western India, and the establishment of the Indo- Sassanids or Kushanshahs from around 240 CE.
