The Indus plains formed the most populous and richest
satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid Empire for almost two centuries, starting
from the reign of Darius the Great (522-485 BCE).Its heritage influenced the
region e. g. adoption of Aramaic script, which the Achaemenids used for the
Persian language; but after the end of Achaemenid rule, other scripts became
more popular, such as Kharoṣṭhī (derived from Aramaic) and Greek. The
interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism began when Alexander the
Great overthrew the Achaemenid empire in 334 BCE, and marched eastwards.
Eventually, after defeating King Porus in the fierce Battle of the Hydaspes
(near modern Jhelum), he conquered much of the Punjab region. But, his
battle weary troops refused to advance further into India to engage the
formidable army of Nanda Dynasty and its vanguard of trampling elephants,
new monstorities to the invaders. Therefore, Alexander proceeded southwest
along the Indus valley.[24] Along the way, he engaged in several battles
with smaller kingdoms before marching his army westward across the Makran
desert towards modern Iran. Alexander founded several new Macedonian/Greek
settlements in Gandhara and Punjab.During the time of his campaigns on the
Indus plain, Alexander had found an ally in Chandragupta Maurya, a fugitive
general from Magadha empire of the Nandas, who later raised his own military
force and ultimately overthrew the Nanda Dynasty - using Macedonian tactics
- and founded the Mauryan dynasty in Magadha, that lasted about 180 years.
After Alexander's death in 323BCE, his Diadochi (generals) divided the
empire, with Seleucus setting up the Seleucid Kingdom, which included the
Indus plain.Chandragupta Maurya took advantage of this fragmentation of
Greek power and captured the Punjab and Gandhara.[27] Later, the eastern
part of the Seleucid Kingdom broke away to form the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
(thirdsecond century BCE). Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka the Great,
(273-232 BCE) expanded the Mauryan empire to its greatest extent covering
most of South Asia. He converted to Buddhism after feeling remorse for his
bloody conquest of Kalinga in eastern India. His Edicts were written on
pillars in Aramaic (the lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire) or in
Kharoṣṭhī.
Greco-Buddhism (or Gręco-Buddhism) was the syncretism between the culture of
Classical Greece and Buddhism in the area of modern Afghanistan and
Pakistan, between the fourth century BCE and the fifth century CE.It
influenced the artistic development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana
Buddhism, before it spread to central and eastern Asia, from the 1st century
CE onward. Demetrius (son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus) invaded
northern India in 180 BCE as far as Pataliputra and established an
Indo-Greek kingdom. To the south, the Greeks captured Sindh and nearby
coastal areas, completing the invasion by 175 BCE and confining the Sungas
to the east. Meanwhile, in Bactria, the usurper Eucratides killed Demetrius
in a battle. Although the Indo-Greeks lost part of the Gangetic plain, their
kingdom lasted nearly two centuries.
The Indo-Greek Menander I (reigned 155-130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians
out of Gandhara and beyond the Hindu Kush, becoming a king shortly after his
victory. His territories covered Panjshir and Kapisa in modern Afghanistan
and extended to the Punjab region, with many tributaries to the south and
east, possibly as far as Mathura. The capital Sagala (modern Sialkot)
prospered greatly under Menander's rule and Menander is one of the few
Bactrian kings mentioned by Greek authors.The classical Buddhist text
Milinda Pańha, praises Menander, saying there was "none equal to Milinda in
all India".[31] His empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the
last independent Greek king, Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125
BCE, the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from the
Yuezhi invasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the
Indo-Greeks east of the Jhelum River. Various petty kings ruled into the
early first century CE, until the conquests by the Scythians, Parthians and
the Yuezhi, who founded the Kushan dynasty. The last known Indo-Greek ruler
was Theodamas, from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a 1st century
CE signet ring, bearing the Kharoṣṭhī inscription "Su Theodamasa" ("Su" was
the Greek transliteration of the Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah" or
"King")).
The Indo-Scythians were descended from the Sakas (Scythians) who migrated
from southern Siberia to Kashmir and Arachosia from the middle of the 2nd
century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled
a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara to Mathura and Scythian tribes spread
further into northwest India and the Iranian plateau.
The Parni were a nomadic Central Asian tribe who overthrew the Persian
Seleucids and annexed much of the Indus region. Following the decline of the
central Parthian authority after clashes with the Roman Empire, a local
Parthian leader, Gondophares established the Indo-Parthian Kingdom in the
1st century CE. The kingdom was ruled from Taxila and covered much of modern
southeast Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.
The Kushan kingdom founded by King Heraios, and greatly expanded by his
successor, Kujula Kadphises. Kadphises' son, Vima Takto conquered territory
now in India, but lost much of the west of the kingdom to the Parthians. The
fourth Kushan emperor, Kanishka I, (circa 127 CE) had a winter capital at
Purushapura (Peshawar) and a summer capital at Kapisa (Bagram). The kingdom
linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the Silk Road
through the Indus valley. At its height, the empire extended from the Aral
Sea to northern India, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between
China and Rome. Kanishka convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir,
marking the start of the pantheistic Mahayana Buddhism and its scission with
Nikaya Buddhism. The art and culture of Gandhara are the best known
expressions of the interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures, which
continued over several centuries until the fifth century CE White Hun
invasions. Over the next few centuries, the White Huns, Indo-Parthians, and
Kushans shared control of the Indus plain while the Persian Sassanid Empire
dominated the south and southwest. The mingling of Indian and Persian
cultures in the region gave rise to the Indo-Sassanid culture, which
flourished in Balochistan and western Punjab. The Gupta Empire arose in
northern India around the second century CE and included much of the lower
Indus area as a province. The Gupta era was marked by a local Hindu revival,
whose impact was felt in distant Punjab/Sindh region, although Buddhism
continued to flourish. According to Arab chroniclers, the Rai Dynasty of
Sindh (c.489-632), established a great kingdom with Ror (modern Sukkur) as
its capital and, at its zenith, under Rai Diwaji (Devaditya), ruled over the
Sindh region and beyond. Devadittya was a great patron of Buddhism, which
flourished. This kingdom was taken over by Brahman dynasties, whose
unpopularity among Buddhist subjects contributed towards the consolidation
of Arab conquerors' base in Sindh. |
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