Ch 1.H. O. Vedic Aryans &
Sourashtras since the earliest times
Introduction: The
Historical Geography of Ancient India and Western India
2 (…) According to
Strabo (BK. XI, Section XI.I; H&F.
Vol. II Pp 252-253) the conquests of the Bactrian Greeks was
partly by Menander and partly by Euthydemos. They gained possession
not only of Patalene but also the kin Saraostos (Surastra) and Sigerdir.
Ptolemy refers to a country called SYRASTRENE which must be identical with
Surastra (modern Surat on the Gulf of Cutch). Syrastrene which extended from
the mouth of the Indus to the gulf of Cutch was one of the three divisions of
India- Schythia in Ptolemy’s time. Syrastrene is also mentioned in the Perplus
of the Erythraenean Sea as the sea-board of Aberia which is identified
with the region east of the Indus above the insular portion formed by its
bifurcation of. (…)
Lata - its
geography and the commercial importance:
4 (…) Ptolemy
(A.D. 150) uses the term „Larica” apparently from the Sanskrit Lataka. (…)
Location and
extent/ area of Lata or Lar-desh
(…) Ptolemy (2nd
century A.D.) describes it as „Larika”. (…)
Larice and Lariaca
5 (…) As to the
identification of Lar des or ‘Country of the Lar’, James Tod writes (pp 186-7)
“By these extracts from Charita, we are enabled also at once to clear up two
long disputed points regarding the countries of LARICE AND LARIACA, which Ptolemy
makes contiguous to each other. According to him it appears to have been an
important division of the Syrastrene or peninsula of the Suaras. (…)”
Persian and Greek
invasion
19 (…) In 334.
B.C., Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and the Achaemenid
Empire reaching the North West frontiers of the Indian subcontinent. There, he
defeated king Puru in the Battle of Hydaspes (near modern day Jhelum, Pakistan)
and conquered much of the Punjab; however, Alexander’s troops refused to
go beyond the Hydespes (Beas) river near modern day Jalandar, Punjab. Alexander
left many Macedonian veterans in the conquest regions; he himself
turned back and turned his army southwest.
The Greek-Persian
invasions had many important repercussions on Indian civilization.
(L52/WA.335)
20 (…) According to Bongard Levin,
Chandragupta due to his alliance with Selucus, could receive opportunity
of paying stern attention to the domestic affairs and his conquests in other
parts of India. (…) Plutarch only remarks that with an army comprising
six hundred thousand, Chandragupta overran and subdued the whole India
22 THE INDO-GREEKS:
The Indo-Greek kingdom (or
sometimes Graeco Indian kingdom) covered various parts of the north-west
and northern Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BCE and
was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings.
During the two centuries of their
rule, the Indo Greek kings joined the Greeks continued the
Greek and Indian LANGUAGES and symbols… and blended ancient Greek,
Hindu and Buddhist religious practices….
The Indo-Greeks ultimately
disappeared as a political entity around 10 A.D. following the invasion
of the Indo- Scythians, although the pockets of Greek populations
probably remained for several centuries longer under the subsequent rule of the
Indo-Parthians and Kushans.
THE YAVANAS:
The Yavanas were described as living
beyond Gandhara. There was another country mentioned in the epic as Parama
Yona, in the far west of Yavana. This could be the Ionia of Greece,
somewhat related to Indo-Ionians or Yavanas. The name Yavana could be the
sanskritized form of the name Ionia.
23 (…) THE
KUSHANS:
The Kushan Empire (c 1st
-3rd Centuries) of Bacteria expanded its territory to include the
Punjab and much of the Ganges basin. The Kushan warriors were assimilate into
Indian society as KSHTRIYAS. The Kushans conquered the central section of the
main SILK ROUTES and, therefore, had control of the overland trade
between India, Persia, China, and the Roman Empire.
27 (…) ECONOMIC
LIFE: The economic prosperity of the Satavahana period was secured by
profitable agriculture and industries and lucrative commerce. The maritime
activities of the period are indicated by the ship-type coins of Pulamavi and
Sriyajna Satakarni. Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus of
the Erythrean Sea mention some of the ports and cities of the period. The
important ports were Broach, Sopara and Kalyana; some of the well-known market
towns of the interior were Paithan, Tagara, Junnar, Nasik, Vaijayanthi and
Dhanyakataka. The empire had commercial contacts with the Roman
Empire, as indicated by the discovery of a large number of Roman coins
at several places on the coast.
28 (…) The
Periplus of the Erytherean Sea mentions both Tagara and Prathisthan as
important trading centres in the south. (…)