History of Sakasthana: 500BC-1900AD

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History of Sakasthan (500BC-1900AD)
- by SakaChella

Contents:

Introduction

Loss of the History of Sakasthan, Buddhism and Reconstruction

Saka Origins and Early History (500 BC)

Saka Dynasties from 500 BC - 1000 AD

The Saka Virka Dynasty: 420 AD - 640

The Saka Kushanas: 50 AD - 400

Saka Imperial Expansion
Mauryas (324-232 BC)
Dharan-Jartas (320 AD - 515)

Later Sakas (9-11th Century AD): Changes in Polity and Rajputs

Spread of Gangetic Brahmanism in post-Buddhist Sakasthan (900 AD - 1100)

Rise of Sufism and Sikhism in Sakasthan (11-18th century)

Saka Political Revival (17-19th century)

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Introduction to Sakas and Sakasthan
------------------------------------

"Sakasthana" is the historical name of northwest southasia including the
present states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Western UP/MP, Gujarat, northern
Maharasthra and Punjab whose history goes back to 500 BC. Ancient
inscriptions, statues and coins found as far east as Mathura (western UP),
Vidharba (north Maharashtra) and Ujjain (western MP) and refer to this
country as "Sakasthana" and the people as "Sakas". Other major Saka cities
and centers include Sialkot, Jalandar, Taxila, Moga, Ropar, Patiala, Batinda,
Jodhpur, Multan, Peshawar and Kabul. Peshawar and Mathura were the twin
capital of the Kushana Sakas. The "Saka era" was used in the northwest to
date events in the region's history.

This article gives a brief outline of the REAL history of the northwest
country as reconstructed from archeologic, coin and inscriptional evidence
and reliable early Greek, Chinese, Tibetan, Jain and surviving Buddhist
literary sources. Although most of the direct indeginous history and
literature was lost in the post Buddhist transition (8-10 th centuries),
these sources collectively paint a rich portrait of Saka society, culture,
political orders, dynasties, political institutions and their religious and
spiritual outlook. Between 4th century BC and 9th century AD, the Sakas
mostly patronized Buddhism mixed with their own religious and cultural
traditions (e.g. sun and ancestor worship). They had democratic republican
political institutions and offices and frequently elected their Kings. The
Sakas did not practise the gangetic "chaturvarna" caste sytem and laws of
Brahmanical "Law Givers" like Manu Smriti and had a secular unorthodox and
mystical outlook towards towards religion. The Saka-Buddhist institutions
such as sun temples, dharmshalas, universities and centers were open to all
segments of society, including foreign scholars.

The Sakas or Indo-Scythians were an aggressive and expansionist old-Iranian
speaking culture of southern central asia who invaded and settled the
northwest and western subcontinent is various waves between 500 BC and 500
AD: MassaGetae, Kushanas and Hunas. A branch of the Sakas kown as the Alani
reached regions of Europe, Asia minor and the middle east and have been
connected to the Goths of France/Spain, Saxons and the Juts of Denmark. They
are remembered by Greek and Persian historians of antiquity as tall, large
framed and fierce warriors who were unrivalled on the horse. Herrodotus from
the 5th century BC writes in an eye-witness account of the Scythians (Puniya,
p. 302): "they were the most manly and law-abiding of the Tracian tribes. If
they could combine under one ruler, they would be the most powerful nation on
earth."

As a people, the presence and deeds of the Sakas in the history of central
asia, Persia and northwest India appear in the pages of Greek, Persian,
Chinese, Tibetan, Roman, Gandharan, Buddhist manuscripts and chronicles (e.g.
Herrodotus, Arrian, Ptolemy, Megasthenes, Strabo, Pliny, Bana, Hiuen-Tsang).
Togethor with archeological evidence in the form of coins and inscriptions
from various sites in the northwest dating to 3rd century BC, historians and
ethnographers have been able to reconstruct the lost history of Sakasthana
from 500 BC to 1000 AD even though much of its indeginous literary treasures
were lost after the demise of Buddhism in the region (7-9th century). Parts
of their history and rule is also witnessed in the Poorbia gangetic
literature (e.g. Puranas, Mahabharta), albiet in a highly prejudicial and
bigoted light ("mlechaas", "vahikas", "shudras", etc.). This is the
recurrent abnoxious treatment meted out by the easterly Brahmins to nations,
peoples and ruling orders of the northwest country who felt no need or desire
to share their power with the gangetic priests, patronized other religions
(e.g. Buddhism, Saka and Vedic religions) and did not hold Brahmanical "law
givers", gods, mythologies and caste ideology in high regard.

Ethnological and sociological information collected in colonial census shows
that the traditionally agrarian and artisan communities of the northwest
(e.g. Jats, Gujars, Tarkhans, Khatris, Ghakkars, Rajputs, Awans, Khambos,
Lohars, Yadavs, Ahirs, Meos, etc.), forming over 65% of the population, are
derived from Saka tribes and clans. Other Sakas lost their tribal identity
during the "casteization" that occurred in the region with the collapse of
Buddhism and influx of Brahmanism in the 8-11th century, begun by
Shankarcharya of Malabar. Existing tribe and clan names from these Saka
communities have been found in early Greek, Persian, Buddhist, Jain, Puranic
and Chinese manuscripts and Saka and Buddhist coins and inscriptions.
Anthrometric features, cultural characteristics, social customs, kinship
patterns and surviving political institutions of the Saka population in the
northwest correlates strongly with similar known information of early Sakas
from 500 BC - 1000 AD. Their physical, cultural and social features vividly
differ from the populations, societies and cultures found in other regions of
the subcontinent. All these communities are confined predominantly to the
northwest - unlike the Brahmins who are firmly established in the south and
east and have had a strong historical presence in Burma, Indonesia and even
the far east.

Politically, the Sakasthan country was independent from the other regions of
the subcontinent during most of its known history. For example, Sakasthana's
oldest northern province - the Punjab - was politically independent of
southasia over 90% of its known 3500 years history prior to annexation by the
British in 1847 - even the "10% togethorness" was strictly under
Saka-Buddhist (e.g. Mauryas) and later Muslim regimes. Prior to 12th century
AD, the northwest Saka-country was politically unified with the eastern
gangetic country, Bengal and rest of subcontinent less than 92 years (under
the Mauryas) since its known existence from 5th century BC. During its long
stretch of history, the northwest Sakasthan country pursued it own separate
and unique historical, ethnic, cultural and linguistic development.

The differences in social and culture systems, polity, religion, kinship
patterns, diet, dress and ethnicity that defines and distinguishes the people
and history of the northwest subcontinent from the gangetic country and other
regions represents nothing less than a "clash of civilizations" - to the
east of the western ganga river lay the "Brahmanical civilization" while to
the west of this frontier lay the "Saka-Vedic civilization".

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Loss of the History of Sakasthan, Buddhism and Reconstruction

Almost all of the indigenous Saka-Buddhist literature and history of
Sakasthan (500 BC - 1000 AD) and other regions of the subcontinent)
maintained in universities, temples, religious centers and monasteries was
destroyed and lost in the post-Buddhist transition period (8-10th century).
It is amazing and disquieting that most of the history of Buddhism in the
subcontinent and Sakas of the northwest has been reconstructed from mostly
"foreign" sources (e.g. Chinese, Tibetan, Greek) and archeology. In
revisionist Brahmanical accounts even the grandest Saka-Buddhist emporers of
India such as Ashoka Maurya are maligned, slandered, mocked and all but
erased from history as "insignificant king", "mlechha", "shudra" and "not
generous to Brahmins".

If this can happen to Ashoka, who created the largest Saka empire ever in
southasia, one can easily imagine the plight in revisionist fantasy of other
ruling orders and dynasties who failed to give the gangetic Brahmins their
dues. Buddhists are incessantly insulted and slandered as "shudras
practicing peity", "mlecchas", "vratyas", etc. in main Brahmanical texts. To
ensure that egalitarian and humanistic Buddhism (which rejected the gangetic
Brahmanical caste ideology, gods, shastras and supremacist claims) would not
again threaten supremacist Brahmanist ambitions and to crush it as a separate
independent religious philosophy, even the Buddha was “neutralized” by
claiming him to be an “avtar of Vishnu” 15 centuries after his death!
Similarly, the scriptures and theology of other earlier separate (e.g.
Vedism, Jainism) or anti-Brahmanical religious movements (e.g. Bhagvatism)
that arose in earlier centuries and eras were “absorbed” into the Brahmanical
fold at a later date when Brahmins gained more influence. The most common
device for doing so is the construction of some fanciful mythology involving
a Brahmanical devta who reincarnated as the founder of the target religion.

Gangetic Brahmanical literature have gone through continual modification,
interpolation and revision and was in earlier times maintained in the oral
tradition. The oldest gangetic texts date to the 11th century as they are
written in devnagri - a new script developed in that century. To further
Brahmin monopoly over literature and Sanskrit, it was traditionally taught
only to the Brahmin’s loyal "twice born" orthodox. Contrary to popular
notions, Sanskrit along with Pali and local languages were in full use by
Buddhists and even Chinese and Tibetan scholars as far back as 4th century
BC; the defacto Brahmanical "ownership" occured only after the extirpation of
Buddhism. Moreover, Sanskrit itself developed out of the Vedic language
spoken in Saptha Sindhva post 1500 BC and under the Saka-Buddhist expansion
reached central asia, China, Indonesia and the far east. The gangetic
Brahmins neither created this language not had sole use of it in the pre-9th
century period. With the expansion of the Vedic language to the south it
also absorbed foreign influences as linguistic analysis reveals that over 30%
of the Sanskrit vocabulary is traceable to dravidian languages.

The earlier Buddhist and Saka texts and literature that did survive in
Sakasthan and other regions of southasia after the 8-11th century transition
went through Brahmanical censorship in which literature on earlier religions,
social orders, history and rulers not conducive to their socio-political
agenda were either weeded out or altered and interpolated to advance their
caste ideology, polity and the notion of superiority.

Hence, most of the early indigenously recorded literary history (500 BC -
1000 AD) and knowledge of Sakasthan and the Saka people was lost with the
demise of Buddhism and the destruction of Saka supported Buddhist centers and
universities in the northwest during the Brahmanical revival (8-11th century)
started by Shankarcharya from Malabar. Substantial portions of the lost and
suppressed history of "Sakasthana" and the Sakas has been reconstructed from
analysis of coins, inscriptions and archeological finds along with early
Buddhist/Chinese/Greek/Persian/Arab manuscripts dating to 500 BC begun by the
pioneering research of Sir Alexander Cunningham (former Director General of
Indian Archeological Survey) and Colonel James Tod in the 19th century.
Their contribution has been followed by a substantial list of later and newer
historians and ethnographers such as, to mention a few, Rapson, Bilingley,
Ibbetson, Elliot, Ephilstone, Banerjea, Sharma, Sinha, Dahiya, Sara, Dhillon,
Puniya, etc (see references below).

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Saka Origins and Early History - 500 BC

One of the earliest accounts of the Sakas comes from the 5th century BC Greek
historian Herodotus ("father of history") who travelled to Scythia, a newly
acquired Scythian acquisition to the north-east of Greece in the Crimea
region. His writings provide important early insights into the culture and
ethos of these warrior tribes who traded wheat and horses with the Greeks for
metals, art and ornaments. Herrodotus decribes the location of the main
Scythic tribes such as the Sacae, Sogdians, Alani and MassaGetae
(acknowledged among Scythians as the "Royal Scythians") and mentions that the
most southerly Saka branch - the MassaGetae - had political control over the
northwest country up to the Ganga river. Tod, Cunningham, Rapson and others
derive the ethnological term "Jat" (plural "Jataeh") from "Getae" ("Massa" in
old Iranian means "grand").

Sir Cunningham (former Director General of Indian Archeological Survey)
writes: "the different races of the Scythians which succesively appeared as
conquerors in the border provinces of Persian and India are the following in
the order of arrival: Sakas or Sacae (the Su or Sai of the Chinese - B.C. ?),
Kushans (the great Yue-Chi (Yuti) of the Chinese - B.C. 163), Kiddarite or
later Kushans (the little Yue-chi of the Chinese - A.D. 450) and Epthalites
or White Huns (the Yetha of the Chinese - 470 A.D.)".

Cunningham further writes ". . . the successive Scythian invasions of the
Sakas, the Kushans, and the White Huns, were followed by permanent
settlements of large bodies of their countrymen.".

According to their "origin myth" recorded by Herrodotus, the Sakas arose when
three things fell from the sky: the i) plough, ii) sword and iii) cup. The
progenitor of the Sakas, picked them up and hence the Saka race began its
long history of conquering lands, releasing its bounties and enjoying the
fruits of their labor (the cup has a ceremonial-spiritual-festive symbolism).
The relevance of these symbols and codes of life and culture to the
traditional Punjabi and northwest society are tantalizingly obvious. Indeed,
Sikhism which developed later in northern Sakasthan (Punjab) reflects these
ideals in its socio-political concept of "degh, tegh, fateh" (upliftment and
advancement of society in all sheres of life: economic, defence/security and
spiritual rejuvination). Ptolemy ("father of geography") confirms the
continuity of Saka political control in the northwest up to Ganges five
centuries later in 140 AD.

The conquering Saka waves subsequently absorbed their Vedic forerunners in
the Saptha Sindhva country and the resulting Saka-Vedic confluence forms the
core ethnicity and nationality of the northwest trans Indus-Ganga country
(Sakasthana). The Sakas have left their deep imprint on the ethnic
composition, ethos, cultural heritage, political institutions, social
customs, dress, kinship patterns, folk dances and cuisine of the Punjab and
other provinces of Sakasthan. These include: democratic-republican political
systems and institutions, elected panchayat, sarpanch, thok, khaap, sarva
khaap; kurta-pajama, uchkin, turban, salwar-kameez, ghagra; bhangra,
giddha, dhol, tumbi, thadi-jathas; diet based on wheat, meat, onions,
sour-milk (lassi), liqor; an ethos and tradition showing a high affinity for
self-sacrifice and heroism, a strong sense of self-honor (ankh) and
independence, strong work-ethic; a secular, unorthodox, mystical and
humanistic outlook towards religion and spirituality, etc.

Interestingly, in the orthodox Brahmanical culture of the eastern
subcontinent, the use of onions, meat and liqor was taboo and the diet based
on rice. Moreover, traditional Brahmanical dress consisting of the sari and
dhoti are visibly different in appearance and style from the traditional
uchkin, turban, kurta pajamas, jodhpurs, salwar kammeez and ghagra worn by
the Vedic-Saka populations in the northwest.

From third century BC onward, there is very reliable local coin,
inscriptional and archeological evidence from the northwest along with
surviving pre-8th century Buddhist (Tibetan) manuscripts to support the
continuity of the Saka-Buddhist order and reign in the northwest up to the
last great Buddhist-Saka emporer Harshavardhan of the 7th century AD. Greek
sources from Alexander’s century, provide a rich insight into the social and
political life of the northwest. Many of the tribes and rulers who fought
the Greeks including Porus (Paura) and the Malloi in the Punjab have been
connected to Saka tribes and Jat-Saka clans of the same name are found in
these region to this day. A detailed list of 163 Saka clan names surviving
today in the northwest along with earlier forms available from early Greek
and Indian texts along with their central asian versions is given by Dehiya
(e.g. Paura = Phor/Por, Malloi = Malli, Xothri/Khathoi = Kheta/
Khatri/hothri, Kharata = Khar/ Kher/Khareta, Maurya = Maur/Mor, Jauvala=
Johal, Pauni = Pauniya, Uluka = Aulakh, Balla = Bal, Parmar=Pawar, Kanka =
Kang, Lalliya=Lalli, Mauna = Mann, Yaudheya = Johiya/Dehiya, Hansa = Hans,
Saindhava = Sandhu, Tushara = Tusar, Taank = Tank, Virka =Virk, etc.).

The descendents of the Saka tribes continued to control the region
politically in the post-Vardhana period (7th century) as the historian of
Mahmud Gazni in the 11th century documents that northern Sakasthan (Punjab)
was wrestled from the Jat-Sakas whose rulers used the title “Shahi” which can
be traced toi the Kushanas of 1st-4th century AD. In central and southern
Sakasthan, Rajput, Gujar and Maratha Sakas struggled for absorption of their
lands into the Hindusthani empire of the Afghan and later Moguls between the
12-15th century. Indeed, the demise of the Mogul empire in the 17th and
early 18th century was due to the Saka political revival in the west and
northwest as expressed by the rise of Maratha, Jat and Sikh power under the
leadership of Gokhla, Shivaji, Churuman, Suraj Mal, Banda Bahadur, Jassa
Singh Ahluwalia, Bhagel Singh, Ranjit Singh, etc.

As a historical note, the term "Hindusthan" was first used in southasia by
the Afghan imperialist Mohammed Ghori of the 12th century who dubbed his
conquered lands in the north “Hindusthan” and subjects "Hindus". Both these
term were never used by the people of the northwest (or elsewhere) to define
or describe themselves nationally or religiously in any sense and they are
not found in the indiginous early Buddhist and eastern Brahmanical
literature. Their is no collective or common socio-religious identity
granted by the orthodox Brahmanical social ideology is which social,
religious and political rights and privledges are strictly envisioned and
prescribed along the four hereditary caste lines ("chaturvarnas"). In this
social ideology, the fourth Sudra caste making up of the majority is seen as
too "polluted" to participate in Brahmanical religious rituals and learn
their holy books.

The term "Hindu" is derived from the ancient Indus (Sindhu) river which
separates the northwest trans Indus-Yamuna lands from central asia and Persia
and terms derived from it were used by "outsiders" such as central asians,
Persians and Greeks (Indica) in reference to the lands and people neighboring
its south banks (i.e. the proper Punjab and Sindh). As historical, national
and social constructs, these terms have no depth and usage within Punjab or
southasia prior to the 12th century (exception: the country of Sindh).
Furthermore, the terms "India" and "Indian" are modern orientalist/colonial
expressions given to southasia by the British in the 18-19th centuries.
Obviously, the Sakas and nationalities derived from them in the northwest did
not know themselves as or call themselves "Indian" before their annexation to
British India during the mid-19th century and they certainly did not call
themselves "Hindus" before Ghori established his "Hindusthan" and termed his
subjects "Hindus”. These terms and related notions of identity got
extrapolated to other regions as the Afghan and later Mogul empires expanded
southward post 13th century.

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Saka Dynasties: 500 BC - 1000 AD

Inscriptional, numismatic (coin) and literary evidence along with
anthropological and sociological information on Saka settlement, polity,
rule, administration and culture is succintly listed below. Saka authors
whose writings have survived the post-Buddhist transition include Sakachella,
Sakavarman, Sakavaridhi. The inscriptions also carry information on the Saka
polity and society and show that they were liberal towards their subjects
regarding religious practices, with Buddhism merged with Saka religious
traditions forming the religious mainstream. The priests of the Sakas were
known as Magas or Magians who seeked blessings from the Sun-god and sought
fertility for the earth (zamin). The records show that the Sakas
predominantly employed their own people and Buddhists in the court,
administration and army. Saka-Buddhist centers of learnings and universities
existed throughout the northwest with important sites at Jalandhara, Moga,
Sialkot, Taxila, Mathura, Multan, Sanchi and Ujjain. Buddhism always
received strong patronage from the Sakas throughout history, thereby the term
"Sakamuni" became endowed on the Buddha in Saka territories and society,
meaning "the spiritual Guide of Sakas".

Post 3rd century BC, Buddhism also spread to Saka lands above the Indus in
central asia. Gandhara constituted the present day regions of eastern
Afghanistan and Punjab and formed the hub of the ancient asian silk trade
routes and was economically, religiously and culturally well connected to
central asia, China, the middle east and southasia. Scholars came from all
over the known world to study Gandharan Buddhism, philosophy, sciences, and
arts at international centers of learning and commerce situated at
Jalandhara, Moga, Taxila, Mathura, Multan, Sialkot, Ujjain, Kaithwar, Kabul
and Balkh (Punjab, Western UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Afghanistan) and the
Sakasthan region was a center for international trade and learning.

At various points in history, the Sakas managed to unite and confederate
large tracts of their lands in the northwest under combined republican rule.
The larger of these Saka imperial orders to arise in the Sakasthana country
have left behind some of the most comprehensive inscriptional and coin
evidence found anywhere in the world. Even though most of the Saka
literature compiled over a 1500 years of their civilization was later
destroyed along with parallel Buddhist works by Brahmanist zealots, hard
archeological, inscriptional and coin evidence along with and early Greek,
Jain and Buddhist sources from China and Tibet has enabled modern historians
to recover the lost and suppressed history of the Saka people and their
descendents in the northwest spanning 500 BC to 1000 AD. Coinage and
inscriptions irrevocably proves that Sakas has political control in western
southasia during the 3rd century BC. Greek and Persian sources allow us to
put some period prior to the 5th century BC as the start of Saka power,
settlement and formation of Sakasthana in northwest southasia.

Sir Cunningham was one of the first scholars to study, catalogue and
interpret the Saka inscriptions and coins unearthed by the Indian
Archeological Survey in the later 19th century. The Mathura lion-capital
inscription contains a line "Sarvasa Sakasthanasa puyae" ("for the merit of
the people of Sakasthana"). Note that "sarva" as a political term still
survives in traditional Jat-Saka institutions such as "Sarva Khaap" (Khaap
derived from Satrap or its Sanskritized form Kshatrap).

Herodotus ("father of history") mentions that the Scythian tribes controlled
central asia down to the ganga river during the 5th century BC. Some of the
major Saka dynasties and rulers of Sakasthan reconstructed from archeological
inscriptions and coins are listed below. One of the longest Saka dynasty
(282 years) was that of the Chastanas which spanned from 204 BC to 78 AD and
consisted of 36 Satraps and MahaSatraps (see Cunningham) in central and
southern Sakasthan (i.e. Rajasthan and Gujarat). Their successors formed
political alliances with Kushana Sakas in northern and central Sakasthan
(Punjab, north Rajasthan, Mathura and eastern Afghanistan). The largest Saka
imperial dynasties of Sakasthana from the MassaGetae and Kushana Sakas
include the Satraps (204 BC to 78 AD), Kushanas (50 AD - 380), Virkas (420 AD
- 640) while others like the Mauryas (324 - 232 BC) and Dharan-Guptas (320 AD
- 515) expanded their empires towards the east.

A brief selected list of Saka rulers of Punjab and the northwest spanning 16
centuries includes Porus (4th century BC), Mauryas (3rd century BC),
Rudradaman, Azes, Maues, Soter Megas (2nd century BC), Azilises, Wima
Kadphises (1st century AD), Kanishka I, Haviska (2nd century), Vasudeva (3rd
century), Vyaghra rata , Yasovardhana (4th century), Naravardhana,
Rajyavardhana (5th century), Harshavardhan (6th century), AnangPala, JaiPala
(11th century AD), PrithviRaj (12th century). Saka settlements, cities,
coins and inscriptions have been discovered as far south as Ujjain (MP) and
Vidharbha (Maharasthra). The demise of the Mogul-Rajput empire in the late
17th and early 18th centuries was due largely to the Saka political revival

in the west and northwest as expressed by the rise of Maratha, Jat and Sikh

power under the leadership of Shivaji, Shambhaji, Shahu; Gokula, Churuman,
Badan Singh, Jawahir Singh, Suraj Mal; Banda Bahadur, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia,
Ala Singh, Bhagel Singh, Ranjit Singh, etc.

Four Saka imperial dynasties comprising the Mauryas (324 - 232 BC), Kushana
(50 AD - 400 AD), Dharan-Guptas (320 AD - 515) and Virka-Vardhana dynasties
(420-640 AD) of the northwest spanning the period from 3rd century BC to the
7th century AD are briefly discussed below and evidence supporting their Saka
origins is given. In between and in the aftermath of these imperial orders,
smaller independent Saka republics existed in the northwest until the dawn of
Afghan power in the 11-12th century.

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The Saka Virka Dynasty: 420-640 AD

The rulers of the Virk dynasty of Sakasthana (Indus-Ganga country) follow the
sequel:

Vyaghra rata 420 AD
Yasorata 453
Yasovardhana 480
Vishnuvardhana 506
Naravardhana 507
Rajyavardhana 530
Adityavardhana 555
Prabhakaravardhana 580
Harshavardhana 586-592 AD.

Based on analysis of coins from this era and the pre-8th century Buddhist
texts "Harshacarita" of Bana (Poet-Laureate of Harsha) and the Buddhist work
"Arya-Manjusri-Mula-kalpa" recovered from Buddhist Tibet, Sir Cunningham and
others conclude him to be from the Virk Jat-Saka tribes (Dahiya; Puniya,
137).

The etherial Bana gives some very interesting anthropological and
ethnological information on RajaVardhana Harsha and his nobles (p. 132).
After a passage praising the beauty of Harsha's mother Prabhakarvardhana, he
says "Think you, Harsha that any man ever did or will possess such a stable
and stately tall frame - tall as a golden palm, such a great lotus of a face
with its upturned looks abloom all day the overlooking sun's rays, such stave
like arms bright as diamond pillars, such smiles meeting the grace of the
lazy sot Haladhara" (Cowell and Thomas, p. 163).

Bana consumately continues about the Saka women of Thaneswar as follow: "They
possessed . . . bodies like crystals, limbs soft like acacia flowers, robed
in bodices, wide beautiful hips, thin waists, lovely honeyed in speech,
bright and captivating beauty, without curiosity, yet wedded. Their eyes a
natural mandamata wreath, the images of their curls in the convex of their
cheeks are ear pendents, their cheeks give a perpetual sunshine, and lamps by
night; their voices are their sweet flutes; their laughs, the fragrant
perfumes; the gleam of their hips a more brilliant cosmetics; their arms, the
softest of playfully smiting wands; the drops of sweat of youthful warmth,
their artful bosom ornaments; their laps board squares of crystal slabs for
their lovers" (Crowell, p 92).

The Saka Virka Dynasty: 420-640 AD

The rulers of the Virk dynasty of Sakasthana (Indus-Ganga country) follow the
sequel: Vyaghra rata 420 AD Yasorata 453
Yasovardhana 480 Vishnuvardhana 506 Naravardhana
507 Rajyavardhana 530 Adityavardhana 555
Prabhakaravardhana 580 Harshavardhana 586-592 AD.

Based on analysis of coins from this era and the pre-8th century Buddhist
texts "Harshacarita" of Bana (Poet-Laureate of Harsha) and the Buddhist work
"Arya-Manjusri-Mula-kalpa" recovered from Buddhist Tibet, Sir Cunningham and
others conclude him to be from the Virk Jat-Saka tribes (Dahiya; Puniya,
137).

The etherial Bana gives some very interesting anthropological and
ethnological information on RajaVardhana Harsha and his nobles (p. 132).
After a passage praising the beauty of Harsha's mother Prabhakarvardhana, he
says "Think you, Harsha that any man ever did or will possess such a stable
and stately tall frame - tall as a golden palm, such a great lotus of a face
with its upturned looks abloom all day the overlooking sun's rays, such stave
like arms bright as diamond pillars, such smiles meeting the grace of the
lazy sot Haladhara" (Cowell and Thomas, p. 163).

It is interesting to note that Jats and Gujar Sakas of the northwest are well
known for their height and size.

Bana consumately continues about the Saka women of Thaneswar as follow: "They
possessed . . . bodies like crystals, limbs soft like acacia flowers, robed
in bodices, wide beautiful hips, thin waists, lovely honeyed in speech,
bright and captivating beauty, without curiosity, yet wedded. Their eyes a
natural mandamata wreath, the images of their curls in the convex of their
cheeks are ear pendents, their cheeks give a perpetual sunshine, and lamps by
night; their voices are their sweet flutes; their laughs, the fragrant
perfumes; the gleam of their hips a more brilliant cosmetics; their arms, the
softest of playfully smiting wands; the drops of sweat of youthful warmth,
their artful bosom ornaments; their laps board squares of crystal slabs for
their lovers" (Crowell, p 92).

In addition to the Vardhana coinage examined by Cunningham, Dehiya (1980)
further discuses at length other literary evidence supporting the Jat-Saka
origin (Virk clan) of Harsha and the Vardhana dynasty. A brief surmise is
given below:

1) The rituals surrounding sun-worship by Harsha and his father are of
central asian Scythian origin. Bana records "solemly at dawn, at midday and
at eve (Prabhakarvardhana) muttered a prayer to the sun-god for offspring".
After bathing at sunrise, he "arrayed himself in white silk, wrapped his head
in white cloth, and kneeling eastward upon the ground" he prayed to the
sun-god of the MassaGetae. Devaduti (p. 64) remarks that "the later part of
the discussion seems to betray foreign, probably Persian influence".

2) In describing the birth of Harsha, Bana writes that
Prabhakarvardhana consulted an Magian priest and astrologer of central asian
origin. This also shows that aside from patronizing Buddhism, the
Sun-worshipping Sakas still during the 6th century employed their own Saka
priests (Magians) for important occasions such as birth, marraige and death
as opposed to the gangetic Brahmins.

3) Dehiya writes "The HarshaCharita of Bana describes that upon
Prabhakarvardhana’s death, a stone of brick platform was raised over his
remains. The system is typical of Central Asian Jats, an is mentioned by
Megasthenes in connection with the Malloi (Malli Jats) from the 4th century
BC. These grave mounds of the ancenstors are called ‘Jathera’ and are still
worshipped even today. "

4) Furthermore, Dehiya states "According to Ithihas Guru Khalsa, Guru
Gobind Singh stayed in the village of Dina in Malwa in 1761 AD. Even at that
time, a part of the Malwa was being ruled by the Virka clan of Jats.
Mahabhashya of Patanjali (2nd century BC) and the Punjabi Panini (4th century
BC), confirm that the Virkas had 12 main forts which included Sakala (i.e.
Sialkot), Varikagarh and Daspura (i.e. Mandsor). Thus, it is absolutely
clear that the Vishnuvardhana of Bijaygadh and Mandsor was the same and he
belonged to the Varika clan of Jats".

5) Chandragomin, a gramarian of 6th century AD, wrote "Ajay Jarto Hunan"
or "the invincible Jats defeated the Hunas". Dehiya [p. 22] writes "The
Jain author Vardhamana mentions Sakas and Jats in 1139-40 AD (Ganaratana
Mahodadhi, Kasika, 201)".

6) A contemporary inscription of Mandasor (558 AD) supports
Chandragomin’s account that under the command of Yashodharman Virk, "the Jats
not only defeated the Huns but also exterminated them" (Puniya, 178). This
is futher confirmed by Archarya Gopita, a Jain scholar of the 12th century
AD, according to whom "Huns were defeated by the Jats". Similarly, the
Artharva Veda says that god Rudra is the king of a people called
"Garta-Sada": "Gartasadam Jananam Rajanam".

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

The Kushana Sakas: 50 AD - 400

The Kushanas were a Scythian tribe bodering the western hinterlands of China
in the Pamir region of central asia (above Afghanistan). They continually
challenged China from control over their western Khotan province and are
refered to by Chinese sources as the "Yeuhchi" (Yuti or Getae). In 40 AD,
they acquired control over eastern Afghanistan, Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan and
Mathura and formed alliances with the Saka Satraps who retained Gujarat and
nothern Maharasthra (southern Sakasthan). In 230 AD, they acquired the
western Chinese province of Khotan and the Kushana King Vasudeva (276-293 AD)
sent an embassy to China.

Kujala became the first king of the Kushans in 40 AD and was known as
Kadphises I. He was succeeded by his son Wima Kadphises known as Kadphises
II. Kanishka, the most famous of the Kushana-Saka kings ascended the throne
in AD 120 and annexed the Parithan and Bactrian kingdoms as well as the
central provinces of Tashkand and Yarkhand. He ran his vast Saka empire from
central asia to the Ganga from his two capitals in Sakasthan - at Purushpura
(Peshawar) and Mathura (western Uttar Pradesh, formerly United Provinces).
The coin and inscriptional evidence of the Kushanas is confirmed by the Greek
geographer Ptolemy’s who writes in his 140 AD treastise on the political
geography of the known world that the Scythians had rule from central asia up
to the river Ganges (Herrodotus from the 5th century BC describes a similar
state of affairs prevailing 700 years earlier).

Kanishka's immediate successor was Vashiska who was then succeeded by
Huvishka. Many monuments were erected during Huvishka's reign. The Kushana
Sakas had friendly relations with the Dharan-Guptas who ruled eastern and
central southasia during the 4-5th centuries. At the height of their power
in 358 AD, they sent presents to Samudra Gupta as recorded on an inscription
on the Allahabad pillar.

The Kushanas followed their ancient Saka religion consisting of Sun worship
and patronized Buddhism, spending vast resources to support Gandharan
Buddhist centers, universities and sharamsalas. The Saka Kings were great
patron of the Gandharan arts and literature which excelled to new heights
during the Kushana period. Beautiful images of Buddha developed in a
Gandharan-Greek style have been discovered at various sites througout
Sakasthan (e.g. Peshawar, Sialkot, Jallandhar, Moga, Mathura, Sanchi).
Unlike eastern and southasian art, these images and statues were carved in a
realistic way, with graceful bodies, clear features and curly hair. The
political links of Sakasthan with central asia and China encouraged trade
between the corners of Asia and Sakasthan formed the hub of the silk trade
routes flowing through it connecting central asia, China, the middle east and
southasia. Kushana courts was adorned by many scholars like Ashvaghosha,
Vasumitra, Nagarjuna and Charaka. Ashvaghosha was a great poet and a master
of music. He wrote the Buddhacharita, a biography of the Buddha. Charak was
a great physician and he wrote a book Charak Samhita. These and other works
have been retrieved from Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist sources.

Along with universities of Buddhist philosophy and Gandharan arts and
sciences, international centers of trade and commerce existed throughout the
region and scholars and travellers came from all over the known world to seek
its knowledge. The eastern Brahmanical caste system and doctrines and laws
of gangetic Brahmins (e.g. Manu - the "Brahmin Law Giver") were not practised
by the Saka rulers and society in Sakasthan and Gandharan Buddhist
institutions of learning, arts, sciences and religion were open to all
segments of society in as well as scholars from other lands. In keeping with
ancient traditions since Vedic times (1500 BC), the rejection of gangetic
Brahmanism by the Kushana Sakas further earned the separate northwest country
and its people the terms "irreligious", "mlechhas", "vratyas" , "sudras" and
"Vahika-desa" in the foreign Puranic compositions of Gangasthan.

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

Saka Imperial Expansion: Mauryas (324-232 BC) and Dharan-Jartas (320 AD - 515)

The Saka imperial tribes historically settled the northwest Sakasthana
country comprising the modern-day regions of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
western UP/MP and northern Maharasthra in various waves where they came to
form the majority population. However, periodically Saka rulers and armies
extended their control into the central and easterly gangetic regions such as
the Mauryas, Kushanas and the Dharan-Guptas. Their control in this region
was fluid and their imperial systems were volatile as the Sakas expanding
outside their home base of Sakasthana into the gangetic and central zones
were a small minority in a sea of alien territory, culture and populations.
To govern these territories, they forged alliances with local tribes and
employed large numbers of indigenous communities (including Brahmins as
clerics) in the state machinery. The resulting heterogeneity made these
imperial governments highly unstable and conflicts arising from differences
in ethnicity, religion and social and cultural outlook and norms soon made
the imperial court and administration a hot-bed of political intrigues,
assasinations and coups soon lead to their collapse or overthrow.

Brahmanist historians and idealogues have claimed that the Mauryas and Guptas
were Brahmin dynasties from the gangetic region. However, coinage,
inscriptions and pre-11th century Buddhist, Arab and even Brahmanical
documents strongly contradict these claims. Intriguingly, neither the
Mauryan nor the Gupta rulers are listed as "Kshatriyas" (ruling and soldier
class) in the gangetic Puranas recompiled and revised in the post-Gupta and
later post-Buddhist periods. The evidence for the Saka-origin of both these
dynasties is briefly provided below.

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

Saka Maurya Dynasty: 324-232 BC

Maurya empire : 324 - 232 BC
Chandragupta Maurya - 324 - 301
Bindusara - 301 - 269
Ashoka - 269 - 232

There has been much controversy about the exact ethnicity of Chandragupta
Maurya (CGM). Professor Hari Ram Gupta argues that CGM was a native of
Punjab. Arrian, the historian of Alexander, wrote, "Alexander, however, did
not even on this show anger against Porus, and sent for Meroes having learnt
that Meroes had long been a friend of Porus". Professor Sinha writes: "Dr.
Buddha Prakash has identified Meroes with Chandragupta Maurya . . ". The
point is that since Porus was a Punjabi King of the upper Beas region, his
"friend" had to be a neighbor (from southern Punjab) and hence also a Punjabi
native. He, therefore, could not have been from Bihar, thousands of miles
away to the southeast.

The distance between the Beas in the Punjab and the Bihar region is over 2000
miles and the political landscape spanning these areas consisted of numerous
small republics and kingdoms. It is highly implausible that the ruling
orders of these principalities, who were frequently at conflict and war with
their neighbors, would all collectively let CGM march through their adjoining
territories to negotiate with Alexander in northern Punjab. On the other
hand, there is no reason for Alexander, who had conquered most of the the
known world in the west and middle-east, to wait for some supposed Bihari
friend of Porus to come and join the negotiations. From a political
perspective the whole story and motivation is inconceivable and, moreover,
time was the "achilles heel" of Alexander at this point who was facing mutiny
from his impatient Greeks who had left home 8 years earlier. He did not have
1-2 months to simply sit and wait for a Bihari CGM to arrive with his camp.

Therefore, it is more convincingly argued that Chadragupta, Bindusara and
Ashoka expanded their empire towards the southeast from Punjab with Magadha
as the first eastern capital which was later moved to Pataliputra as the
empire further expanded eastward. The core archeological, coin,
inscriptional and literary evidence for this view is the following:

1) Dehiya [p.147] states "Another indication of the foreign origin of
these people is . . . The Vishnu Purana calls them (Gupta rulers) Sudras.
The Markandeya Purana brands the Mauryas as Asura. The Yuga Purana called
them "utterly irreligious, though posing as religious". The Mudra Rakshasa
calls these people as mlecchas and Chandragupta himself is called 'Kulahina',
an upstart of unknown family".

In the gangetic Mahabharta, Puranas and the texts of Manu, Punjab is
repeatedly spoken of as the land of irreligious people (since Vedic times
Punjabis showed irreverence for Dravidian Brahmanism and would not admit the
gangetic Brahmins as their priests): "one should not go to Vahika-desa in
which the five rivers and the Indus . . . where the mlechas live . . "
(Mahabharta, verses 2063-2068, Karna Parva). So the labelling of Mauryas as
"sudras" and "mlechhas" in Brahmanical accounts supports the view that they
were westerners from the foreign non-Brahmanical lands of Sakasthana and the
Alexander connection puts them in the north-central zone of Saka territory
(Punjab).

2) As further noted by Dehiya [p.155], Mauryan coins have the symbol of
the sun, a branch, a humped bull and mountain. All these are pre-eminently
Scythian MassaGetae icons who were Sun worshippers with the high mount
symbolizing earth and the irregular curving lines alongside it, symbolizes
water. The tree branch is a symbol of productivity of the earth -
agriculture was the traditional occupation of the Sakas. The historians of
Darius record that when he attempted to attack the Scythian MassaGetae along
the Black sea in the 5th century BC, the Saka kings swore by the sun god and
refused to surrender “earth and water".

3) D.B. Spooner who evacuated Pataliputra was struck by his findings and
writes in his article "The Zoroastrian Period of Indian History" as follows
"For Chandragupta' s times, the evidences are more numerous and more
detailed, and indicate a following of Persian customs all along the line - in
public works, in ceremonial, in penal institutions, everything".

4) Sharma, Sinha and Dehiya and others have also noted that agrarian
Saka clans such as "Maur" still continue to exist in the south Punjab region
(the suffix "ya" in Maurya is the possesive tense found in the existing
Punjabi language of the region). This is exactly the region from which
Alexander called for Chandragupta Maurya, a friend of Porus, to come and join
in the ensuing negotiations with the Greeks.

The above archeological, coin and literary evidence clearly points to a
non-Brahmanical and non-Gangetic origin of the Mauryas. Moreover, the icons,
customs and dramatic introduction of new social, administrative, religious
and architectural styles and policies point to their Saka origin (an
old-Persian culture of central asia). These facts clearly rule out the
untenable claims of many pro-Brahmanist historians that the Mauryans were
"Brahmanas" from gangetic region. Hence, the first political unification of
northern southasia and its highest achievements took place under the
tolerant, secular and humanistic rule of the Saka Mauryas who expanded their
short-lived empire southeastward from Sakasthana in the 3rd century BC.

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

Saka Dharan-Jarta Dynasty (misnamed "Gupta"): 320 AD - 515

Gupta empire : 320 AD - 515
Chandragupta I - 320 - 335
Samudragupta - 335 - 375
Chandragupta II - 375 - 415
Kumaragupta - 415-455
Skanda Gupta - 455 - 467

Historical and archeological evidence supports the view that the Guptas were
a Scythian dynasty related to the Kushana Sakas. Evidence of Scythian
origins comes from coins, inscriptions and manuscripts examined by
Cunningham, Tod, Sinha, Jayaswal, Sharma, Gupta, Banerjea, Dahiya, Dhillon,
etc. The Guptas (have been derived from the Dharan clan of Jats which can be
found even today in the Mathura, Bikaner and adjoining regions of Punjab
(north-central Sakasthan). The primary source of this analysis is the
imperial Gupta coins and the pre-8th century Saka-Buddhist manuscript
Arya-Manjurasi-Mulakalpa which confirms that Chandragupta I was of Jat-Saka
nationality from Mathura who formed an alliance with the Licchavis tribe
through marraige to Kumaradevi.

The Poona plate of Prabhavati (Chandragupta II’s daughter), identifies her
also of the "Dharan" gotra. The archeological evidence (Scythian dress on
Gupta and Kushana coins) also supports the Scythic origin of the Guptas.
Dahiya devotes one entire chapter of his book to prove that the the Gupta
empire was indeed an empire of the Dharan Jats who expanded from
eastern-central Sakasthana to the gangetic and central region. Pivitol
evidence bearing the Dharana Saka origin of the Gupta dynasty from these
sources is summarized below:

1) Dr. P. L. Gupta writes "The most common gold coins of the Guptas
appear to be the direct descendents of the gold coins of the later Kushans .
. .". He adds that the standing pose of the Gupta kings at the altar is
almost identical to that of the Kushan kings, as is their dress - Kushan long
coats and trousers (uchkin, salwar/kameez). The Kushana or Kasvan tribe of
the Sakas had rule of northern and central Sakasthan in the period from 1st
century to 4rd century AD. The early Gupta coins are significantly called
"dinar" and their weight is the same as those of westerly Kushana coins.

2) Alberuni (an Arab who travelled to southasia in A.D. 1030) learnt
that “the Guptas were powerful but bad and the locals (in the gangetic
region) celebrated the end of their rule by starting a new "era" (Dehiya, p.
190). This again supports the "foreign" Indo-Scythian origin of the Guptas -
the end of the foreign Saka-empire in the eastern subcontinent was a cause of
celebration. Note that in the 11th century, Alberuni was consulting eastern
Brahmanical sources on the Guptas from 5-7 centuries earlier. If the Guptas
were a gangetic Brahmanical dynasty (e.g. S.R. Goyal), why would their rule
be proclaimed "powerful but bad" by the orthodox gangetic priests?

3) Kushanas (from Punjab/Rajasthan/Afghanistan - Gandhara region) at the
height of their power in 358 AD sent presents to Samudra Gupta according to
an inscription on the Allahabad pillar [5]. This means that the Guptas had
friendly relations with their Scythian cousins in Sakasthan (Indus-Ganga
country) to the west - an ethnic affinity ?

4) Gupta horse riders as per Gupta coins "wore long tunics fastened by
belts, helmets, buttoned-up boots, and trousers". This is a complete
Scythian outfit constantly appearing on Saka coins discovered all over the
northwest Sakasthana from the second century BC onward. Dehiya [p.181]
states "The coins of SamudraGupta, Chandragupta I, Kacha, Chandragupta II
Vikramaditya, Kumaragupta I, Skandagupta, etc. all have the central asian
long coat and trousers and boots and long swords. This is the most
significant fact proving that the Guptas were in fact central asian Jats . .
. ".

5) Interestingly, none of the Puranas (revised in the post-Gupta and
post-Buddhist era) do not mention the name of any of the Gupta rulers ! The
various Puranas merely mention that the "kings born of the Gupta rulers will
enjoy all the territories". The Guptas ruled the east and centre during the
4-5th centuries. The Puranas also mention that Magadha in the third century
was ruled by the Murunda dynasty who had 13 kings and further mention that
they raised "low caste people to high office and all these people were of
mleccha orgin". The Vishnu Purana gives their clan as Munda (a still
existing Jat clan, the "r" in Marunda is the sankritized form of Munda) and
according to Sten Konow, Murunda means "lord" (Dehiya, p. 190). Moreover,
the same Puranas mention that the Marundas were preceded by the Tukharas in
the Magadha region (Takhar is also a surviving Jat clan).

6) The term "Gupta" is a misnamed version of "Jarta" found in early
texts and inscriptions by pro-Brahmanist historians (e.g. Majumdar,
Belvelkar, Satavalekar, Angad Sharma, etc.). "Jarta" is again a sanskritized
form of "Jat" as the Saka names "Gujar" become "Gurjara" and Munda become
Marunda. In Rataranginin of Kalhana, "Goptri" is defined as "Guardian of the
Earth" and was a titile used as "military governor" as in the inscription of
Skandagupta (Dehiya, p 176). It was not a surname or clan name but a title.

Chandragomin, a gramarian of 6th century AD, wrote "Ajay Jarto Hunan" or "the

invincible Jartas defeated the Hunas".

Dehiya [p. 22] writes "The Jain author Vardhamana mentions Sakas and

Jartas in 1139-40 AD (Ganaratana Mahodadhi, Kasika, 201). Chandragomin,
therefore makes no mistake at all when he states that the invincible Jats
defeated the Hunas. Yasodharman as well as the so-called Guptas were Jats .
. . even though the Hunas were themselves late-comer Jats. The clan name of
Toramana and Mahirgula, viz Jauvla, is still available among Indian Jats who
are now called Jauhl. Majumdar and Belvelkar have to revise their revision.
Their is no need to change the word Jat (Jarta) into Gupta. The original is
quite correct and was mentioned by a contemporary writer".

7) A contemporary inscription of Mandasor (558 AD) supports

Chandragomin’s account that under the command of Yashodharman Virk, "the Jats
not only defeated the Huns but also exterminated them" (Puniya, 178). This
is futher confirmed by Archarya Gopita, a Jain scholar of the 12th century
AD, according to whom "Huns were defeated by the Jats". Similarly, the
Artharva Veda says that god Rudra is the king of a people called

"Garta-Sada": "Gartasadam Jananam Rajanam". Many modern Brahmanist
"historians" like Satavalekar, after numerous contortions (Dehiya, p. 310),
translates "Garta" as being equivalent to a cave (Guha) !

The above coin, inscriptional and literary evidence from Jain and Puranic
sources leads to the conclusion of a Saka origin (Dharan clan) for the
imperial Guptas and their predecessors who expanded their empire into the
eastern and central regions of the subcontinent from their home base in
northwest Sakasthana. Moreover, their dress and coins establish their ethnic
affinity to the Kushana Sakas who were firmly established in northern and
central Sakasthan between the 1-4th century AD and had alliances in southern
Sakasthana during this period with the earlier MahaSatrap (2nd century BC -
100 AD) and later Yadava Sakas (post 1st century).

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

Later Sakas (9-11th Century AD): Changes in Polity and Rajputs

Post 400 BC, Buddhism mixed with Saka religious traditions was the dominant
religious tradition of the northwest and they held out till the 9th AD. From
the 7th century onward, a continual series of devastating plunders and
onslaughts on Buddhist cities, shrines, universities and monastaries by newly
casteized Huns and their Brahmin instigators gave Buddhism its final death
knell. The most notorious of these Hun upstarts, Mahiragula, was worshipped
as a living Shiva by his Brahmin quislings. He destroyed and plundered the
thousand year old Gandharan Buddhist cities and centers of learning at
Sialkot, Jalandhara, Moga and Taxila and countless other sites in northern
and central Sakasthan. After a three decade binge of destruction and mayhem,
he was finally crushed by the Saka chiefs in the north but such on-going
attacks and predations on Buddhist institutions finally caused Buddhism to
wither and finally collapse in the northwest by the 9-10th century. With
these centers, temples, libraries and universities gone, learning,
philosophy, religion, sciences and the arts ceased to be public and societal
property and the newly resuscitated hereditary Brahmins attempted to
monopolize religion and knowledge till the arrival of Muslim rule and Sufism
in the 11th and 12th century.

With the decline of Buddhist institutions and political instability caused by
the Hun incursions, Brahmanism revived by Shankarcharya of Malabar in the
8-9th century and buttressed by new Hun "Kshatriya" recruits in north-central
subcontinent gained its first ever primary influence in the republican
Saka-Vedic country of the northwest. This country had been historically a
"foreign land of Barbarians" ("Vahika-desa" populated by “vahikas”,
"vratyas", "mlechhas" and “sudras”) to the Poorbia Brahmins. The Hunas are
considered by Tod and Cunningham to be the "last Scythian invaders", of the
same central asian ethnicity and origin as the earlier Sakas (e.g.
MassaGetae, Yuti, Kushanas). However, their entry and establishment in
south-central Sakasthana and western regions of central India caused
displacement of Saka regimes and tribes already existing there, contributed
to the demise of Buddhism and lead to the disintegration of the older
republican Saka political system.

After crossing the Bolan pass in the 5-6th century, the Hun tribes gained
control over central and southern Rajasthan, northern Gujarat and western MP.
The Yadava Sakas who controlled southern Sakasthan (Gujrat and southern
Rajasthan) were compressed towards eastern UP/MP and into northern
Maharashtra where they ruled (Devgiri Yadavs) until the absorption of their
territory by Afghan imperialists in the 14th century. During the 17th
century, these herding tribes were organized by Shivaji to emerge as the
Maratha Confederacy. The Gujar Sakas were compressed southward into Gujarat
and the east. The Jat Sakas clans such as the Virka, Dharanas and Aulikaras
in central Sakasthan were pushed upward and lost tracts in present-day
central Rajasthan and western UP. The fertile Punjab province of northern
Sakasthan remained relatively unaffected by these developments till the 11th
century AD when the Jats under Anangpala and Jaipala were defeated by Mahmud
Ghazni in 1025. An account of this war over the Punjab, which involved naval
engagements in the Punjab rivers, with the Jats is recounted by Ghazni’s
historian Feristha.

In their newly acquired tracts in central/southern Rajasthan and MP, a
Hun-Gujar conglomeration known as the Gujara-Parthiharas became established
by the 7th century. The Hun upstarts set themselves up in petty states along
monarchial lines (a form of government loved by the parasitic priests) as
opposed to tribal republican systems relatively immune to their
modus-operandi. Through schopancy and glorification of their new masters,
the priests used the political instability of the period to infiltrate and
entrench themselves among the royal houses of the Huns. Fanciful tales of
divine origin from solar and lunar lineages (agnikula, chandarhotri) and
Brahmanical gods were concocted for Hun chieftans by the ready witted priests
to gain favor and employment. With the passage of time, the influence of the
Brahmins among "casteized Huns" grew as the priests promoted their rituals,
mythologies and exploited the superstitions they developed among their Hun
overlords who by the 10th century began assuming the title of "Rajputs".
However, the term "Rajput" is not an ethnological term and nor is it limited
to Huns.

The earliest Rajput genealogies of the northwest date only to the 9-10th
century AD (post-Buddhist period) and arise from Saka (e.g. Jats/Gujars) and
Hun (5-6th century invaders) clans who formally accepted Shankarcharya's
revived Brahmanism (9th century) after the demise of Buddhism. Cunningham
and Tod consider the Hunas to be the "last Scythian wave". Conditions of
formal conversion: i) use only Brahmin as priest, ii) ban on widow
remarriage and iii) burning of widows (sati). Converted clans/villages who
relapsed on these conditions, rejoined "Jathood" or "Gujarhood". Despite
popular conceptions of caste rigidity and permanence promoted in modern
historical education, a high level of social and occupational mobility
existed in Sakasthan even in post Buddhist times. The traditional folklore of
the northwest is full of various Jat/Gujar villages/clans/families becoming
"Rajputs" or transmuting back into "Jathood" or "Gujarhood". Colonial census
data (e.g. 1871-1891) also records continual movements of Rajputs and Jats to
Tarkhan and Lohar castes as attested by the Director General of the 1881
Indian Census, Sir Ibbetson [p. 8] :

"The Sahnsars of Hushyarpur were admittedly Rajput till only a few
generations ago, when they took to growing vegetables and now rank with the
Arains. Some of the Tarkhans, Lohars and Nais of Sirsa are known to have
been Jats or Rajputs who within quite recent times have taken to the
hereditary occupations of these castes; and some of the Chauhans of Karnal
whose fathers were born Rajputs, have taken to weaving and become Shekhs. .
. . The process is going on around us, and it is certain that what is now
taking place is only what has always taken place during the long ages".

Although the Brahmins never acquired the political, economic or military
position in Sakasthan to bring the non-conformist Sakas under their
domination in the post 9th century period, they spared no opportunity to
portray them as "mlechas" and "sudras" in their revisionist texts (oldest
devnagri texts dating to post 11th century) and availed every effort to
divide and pit the converted or casteized Sakas (i.e. Rajputs) against their
non-Brahmanized bretheren. To flatter the "superiority" of their Rajput
patrons and spew their wrath on defecting Rajput clans and villages, the
Brahmins invented cock and bull stories to explain their "downfall" which
typically involves some Rana taking a Gujar or Jat woman as a wife and hence
losing his "Rajput status". Converts who lost their faith in Brahmanical
religio-social values and dogmas (e.g. burning their widows) came back home
to their more civilized and egalitarian Saka-Vedic roots and culture!

These "decline tales" spun by Bahmins themselves admit to a historical ethnic
connection between these Saka groups for the Brahmin's Rana overlords never
seem to fathom marrying a Bania, Chamar or Brahmin woman when taking their
plunge down the social grade. Moreover, the mischevious Brahmanist
propaganda against Jats has never been able to account for the fact that i)
vast majority of Jat/Rajput tracts, lands and villages in the northwest are
non-intersecting (northern Rajasthan, Mathura, Agra, Haryana, Punjab regions
under Jat-Saka control; central/south Rajasthan, western MP and hill regions
under Rajput-Saka control) and ii) Jats and other Sakas in the vast and
fertile Punjab plains never lived under Rajput upstarts (95% of whom are a
11-16th century phenomina) as attested directly by the 11th century historian
of Mahmud Ghazni. He clearly states in the Tarikh-i-Ferishta (Ferishta,
English Translation by Briggs) that the Afghan war in Punjab was "against the
Jats" and goes on to describe the engagements, which involved naval warfare,
that resulted in the defeat of Jat forces under Raja JaiPala near Attock in
1027. If Rajputs were ruling the Jats in the Punjab prior to 1027 AD - as
perpetually asserted in modern Brahmanist history texts - shouldnt the former
have been on the madan-e-jung with the Afghan army to defend their rule and
land and thus enter the accounts of the Afghan emporer's personal historian
as the rulers of Punjab?

Destroying real history and replacing it with revisionist bigoted fantasy and
canards, frequently involving imaginary reincarnating devtas, is a highly
perfected but transparent Brahmanical skill !

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

Spread of Gangetic Brahmanism into post-Buddhist Sakasthan (900 AD - 1100)

The model of a jati-based social caste system which "Brahmin Law
Givers" had envisioned in their gangetic homeland (Gangasthan) during the
times of Manu never existed in the northwest going back to the Vedic period
of Saptha Sindhva (1500-500 BC). The oldest Brahmanical temple in the
northwest dates to 10th century AD and is found in Kashmir. In the Punjab
itself, so ruins of any pre-18th century even exists. Sakasthan (Indus-Ganga
region) uptil the 10th century, had been politically united with the
subcontinent for only 92 years under the Buddhist Mauryan empire. During the
remaining 2400 years begining with the Vedic period of Saptha Sindhva
(1500-500BC), the Sakasthan country evolved along its own distinct
historical, ethnic, cultural and linguistic lines. The Dharan-Gupta empire
of the 4-5rd century was essentially regional to the eastern gangetic and
central regions.

From geographical information in the RigVeda, the Vedic Period (1500-500BC)
was confined to the northwest. The hyms composed by Vedic mystics/poets of
Punjab (Saptha Sindhva) tell that the Vedic peoples worshipped
non-Brahmanical Gods (Indra, Varuna, Mitra), ate cows, elected their chiefs,
drank liqor, considered the Punjab rivers to be sacred, and refer to people
living to the south in the gangetic region as "Dasyas"! None of the gangetic
Brahmanical gods (e.g Ram, Krishna, Vishnu, Brahma, etc.) are mentioned in
RigVeda hyms nor do they appear in connected Aryan Avestan texts and Hittite
tablets. Avestan terms for soldiers ("rathaestar") and citizens ("vastriyo")
are similar to Vedic-derived terms (kshatriyas, vasihyas) but the Avestan
term for priest ("athravan") is not even close to "Brahmanas". Moreover,
central Gangetic religious texts like the Mahabharta and VarnaAshramDharma of
Manu call the Vedic Aryans in Saptha Sindhva "mlechas", "sudras" and
"vratyas"; "forbid Brahmins” from even visiting the northwest country
("Vahika-desa"); and depict dark Dravidian Gods like Krishna fighting and
defeating Vedic Aryan gods like Indra (Mahabharta). Similarly, the RigVeda
contains taboos and injunctions against the "dasya-varta" region to the south
of Saptha Sindhva and praises Indra (god of thunderbolt) for victories over
"dasya-purahs" (dasya cities). The RigVeda (2-20-10) refers to "Indra, the
slayer of Vritra, destroying the Krishna Yoni Dasyus".

Both early RigVedic and gangetic Puranic sources clearly point to ethnic,
cultural and religious differences and a "clash of civilizations and nations"
at the ganga indicating that the Vedic people and culture of the northwest
did not accept the gangetic priests, their gods, shastras, religion, culture
and Brahmanical caste ideology. The eastern gangetic heartland is not only
historically a separate region, but geographically resides over 1500 miles to
the southeast of the Saptha Sindhva country.

Despite the racial complexes developed by Poorbia Brahmanist idealogues and
intellectuals during British rule, there is overwhelming evidence of
Brahmanism being of Dravidian origin from the historically separate gangetic
region. Most of these claims are based on outdated and discarded notions of
Philology (linguistic closeness) which is no longer accepted as either a
necessary nor a sufficient condition for some claimed or desired ethnic or
racial origin (for example, Angloized Indians, Chinese and Africans fluent in
English are not necessarily all ethnically Anglo-Saxons).

Even after the demise of Buddhism (9th century), casteism in the northwest
never made the in roads it acquired in the eastern and southern societies of
the subcontinent. The successful propagation of Brahmanism in Sakasthan
required adaptation of their original caste ideology to suit the more tribal,
republican and Saka-cultural aspects of the society and the modified system
never acquired the solely heriditary jati-based format fantasied in the texts
of Manu - the "Brahmin Law Giver". Even after gaining religious influence,
the gangetic/Malabari Brahmin migrants to Sakasthan remained the dependents
of the aggresive and dominant agrarian clans (Jats, Gujars, Rajputs, etc.)
who politically ruled the region, dominated their villages and owned the
land. The Brahmin livelihood depended on the goodwill and generosity of
their Saka employers and patrons. Moreover, with the rise of Sufism by the
11th century, the bulk of the population in Punjab had formally moved away
from Brahmanism and the remaining employed Brahmins for ritual and ceremonial
purposes while also patronizing Sufis, Fakirs, Yogis and other Sants who
followed the local secular and unorthodox spiritual traditions.

The version of Brahmanism that developed in post-Buddhist Sakasthan remained
within the framework of the Saka social and political order and never
materialized along the lines envisioned by "Brahmin Law Givers" like Manu and
Shankarcharya. This is also evidenced by archeological evidence. No
"ancient" or early Brahmanical temples or ruins exist in Punjab or and the
northwest. In fact, the oldest Brahmanical temple in all of southasia are
post-Buddhist and date only to 9th century AD and the majority of the
prominant sites (such as those appearing in tourist phamphlets) date to the
medieval period (12-14th century). The Sakas in the northwest began
employing the Brahmins as their priests but never became so enchanted with
Brahmanism that they laid open their coffers and lands to build elaborate
monuments and vast temples for their Brahmins and their gods.

This contrasts vididly with, for example, the Gandharan Buddhist period of
Sakasthan where massive archeological Buddhist-Saka sites, ruins and
artifacts have been unearthed dating to the region's Gandharan period (400 BC
- 900 AD). Some of these notable sites include the ancient cities of
Jalandhara (Jalandhar), Moga, Sakala (Sialkot), Taxila (near Islamabad),
Peshawar, Mathura, Sanchi, etc. The museums at Lahore and Islamabad are
teeming with Gandharan Buddhist-Saka artifacts from this period while no
historical Brahmanical ruins have ever been discovered; in fact, the oldest
Brahmanical temple ruins in the north are from Kashmir (Shaivism) and do not
precede the 10th century AD and are traceable to migrants Brahmins from the
gangetic region of that time as recorded in the geneologies of these Pandits
themselves. Interestingly, many historical Sikh shrines (e.g. Punja Sahib)
are situated at sites which were considered holy during the Gandharan
Buddhist era of Punjab and many letters in the Gurmukhi script used in the
Sikh literature have been traced to the early Saka-Gandharan scripts.

Jats, Gujars, Yadavs and other Sakas of the northwest never accepted the
"supremacy" of the Brahmin (like their Bania loyalists) and this earned these
unconverted and unorthodox Sakas an unending hostility of the frustrated
priesthood who in return were considered by them little more than soothsayers
and palm-readers who begged for their food. These unconverted Sakas retained
their traditional Saka culture, social philosophy and notions of social
hierarchy in which zamindari, cultivation and soldiering were considered the
"noblest" and "highest" professions and way of life.

This cultural heritage and social ideals are diametric opposites of the
gangetic Brahmanical social dogma in which those who worked the land were
designated "polluted" and "sudras". In many ways, these two social systems
and orders represent nothing less than a "clash of civilizations" - to the
east of the western ganga river lay the "Brahmanical culture" while to the
west of this frontier lay the "Saka-Vedic civilization". Moreover, since the
advent of the Vedic period in the northwest (1500 - 500 BC) and its successor
Saka-Buddhist period (500 BC - 1000 AD), the Sakasthan region was politically
separate from the gangetic country over 95% of its 2500 years known history
up to this point; even the "5% togethorness" of 92 years occured under the
Saka empire of the Mauryas. Hence, the two lands have experienced separate
and different historical and cultural processes and differ in terms of
ethnicity, culture, language and ethos.

Although the Brahmins never acquired the political, economic or military
position in Sakasthan to bring the non-conformist Sakas under their

domination in the post 9th century period, they spared no opportunity and
mischief to portray them as "mlecchas" and "sudras" behind their backs and in
revisionist texts (all post 11th century) and availed every effort to divide

and pit the converted or casteized Sakas (i.e. Rajputs) against their
non-Brahmanized bretheren.

The resurgence of Brahmanism in the northwest in the post Buddhist vaccum
did, however, lead to a process of social fragmentation and division of the
traditionally republican and tribal Saka society into quasi-castes based on
profession - especially among Sakas engaged in artisan and commercial
pursuits. The Saka social system gave central role to agriculture,
zamindari, artisanship and soldiering (as per se the Saka origin myth
recorded by Herrodotus). They also engaged in trade and religious
occupations (Magas). However, the former Saka social order did not
dicotomize these functions into separate hierarchical "jatis" based on the
fourfold castes as seen is Brahmanical social caste ideology. Members of the
same tribe and family chose their occupation according to ability, training
and preference but all participated in the political, military, religious and
social life of the tribe and state. From the same tribe, clan and family,
some took to the soil, others to trading, others to artisanship and still
others joined one of the local Saka-Buddhist universities, centers or
monastries. With these institutions gone and the rise of Brahmanical caste
influence, the traditional Saka social system began to erode. Members of the
same tribe and clan began fragmenting into heriditary groups based on
occupation and social interaction among them diminished. Under the increased
professional rigidity and foreign caste prejudices propagated by Brahmanism,
Jat-Sakas at the time engaged in artisan pursuits (e.g. Tarkhans, Lohars)
were edged downward according to Brahmanical "caste standing" while other
Saka groups lost their tribal and clan identity altogethor to emerge only as
occupational jatis. Despite popular conceptions of caste rigidity and
stability promoted in contemporary historical eduction, a high level of
social and occupational mobility has always existed in Sakasthan even in post
Buddhist times as attested by the Director General of the 1881 Indian Census,
Sir Ibbetson [p. 8] :

"The Sahnsars of Hushyarpur were admittedly Rajput till only a few
generations ago, when they took to growing vegetables and now rank with the
Arains. Some of the Tarkhans, Lohars and Nais of Sirsa are known to have
been Jats or Rajputs who within quite recent times have taken to the
hereditary occupations of these castes; and some of the Chauhans of Karnal

whose fathers were born Rajputs, have taken to weaving and become Shekhs. ,
, , The process is going on around us, and it is certain that what is now

taking place is only what has always taken place during the long ages".

Also, many of the so-called "Brahmins" of Sakasthan are not of the same
ethnic and cultural origin as for example the gangetic and Malabari priests
(mobolized by Shankarcharya, 8-9th century). While many are undoubtedly
imigrants from these regions, with the collapse of the Saka-Buddhist
religious order, the indeginous Saka priests (Magas) and Buddhist holy men
out of a livelihood began taking other professions. Many were also recruited
into the expanding Brahmin fold and assumed the "Brahmin" namesake.

This is attested by the fact that most Brahmin clans of the Punjab did not
inter-marry with Brahmins of Gangasthan, have totally separate gotras, ate
meat and were occupationally lax and traditionally engaged in diverse
occupations including agriculture. Brahmanism has been known to take
recruits from other communities during its revival and expansion under
Sankarcharya (8-9th century) from Malabar towards the north and the Brahmin
caste does not in any way form a common and homogenous ethnic, racial or
cultural community. Brahmins in the south take on the physical traits of
south Indians, in Nepal they look Nepali, in Burma and Thailand they are
mongoloid and in the Punjab, most share a Punjabi ethnicity derived from the
local Magian and Buddhist priesthood. After conversion to Brahmanism, these
Sakas were indoctrinated with the orthodox gangetic Brahmanical caste
ideology. The geographical distribution and geneologies of Brahmins
(Ibbetson, p. 218) indicates that the Saraswat, Gujara and Dakaut division of
Brahmins in Sakasthan are most probably of Saka-Maga or Buddhist background
while the Gaur division of Brahmins are post-9th century gangetic migrants to
the region. Ibbetson [p. 220] writes "He (Saraswat Brahmins) is said to be
less grasping and quarrelsome than the Gaur, and he is certainly less rigid
in his observance of caste rules, eating and smoking . . . He eats flesh in
the hills and perhaps in some parts of the plains also" .

The Sufies and Sikh Gurus of the Punjab rose to counter and arrest the
process of social denigration and caste division and re-unify society along
the traditional Saka-Vedic ideals of brotherhood, equality and spiritual
humanism.

Interestingly, among the Puranic tirades the gangetic caste-bigots unfurl
against the Saka-Vedic civilization and people of the northwest, one more
term used to denounce them (besides "mlecchas", "Sudra" and "Vahikas") is
"vratyas" meaning "brotherhood". The concept of a casteless society
propounded by the Saka-Vedic tradition in which no segment among them was
acknowledged as "superior" was an abomination to the dasya priesthood of
Gangasthan.

After the casteization of Saka society in the northwest, imperial control of
the Punjab was lost by the Jat Sakas to the Afghans in the 11th century. The
more southernly Rajput Sakas of Rajputana lost their political rule to the
Afghans under Muhammad Ghori after the collapse of Punjab during the 11-13th
century while others continued on as vassals and allies of the Afghan and
later Mogul empires. The Devgiri Yadavs, Maratha and Gujar Saka tribes
continued to battle and arrest the expansion of the Hindusthan empire of the
Moguls into their lands during the 14-15th century but were also defeated and
appended to the Mogul's "Hindusthan".

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

Development of Sufism and Sikhism in Sakasthan (11-18th century)

Punjabi Sufism centers began arising in the 11th century which tried to raise
the fractured and segmented society back to its humanistic, unorthodox and
egalitarian ideals of Gandharan times. At the Sufi centers, both the Qoran
as well as age-old Buddhist philosophies were taught, discusses and debated.
The Sufi masters wrote and preached in the local Vedic-Saki derived Punjabi
and Brij languages, opposed both Brahmanical and Islamic orthodoxy, and
attempted to rejuvinate the lost soul and light of the country by propagating
the egalitarian aspects ideals of Islamic theology mixed with the mystical
and humanistic traditions of the region’s Gandharan Buddhist civilization
(400BC-900AD) and laid the foundations for post-Gandharan Punjabiyat.

Sufism and the Sufi saints (known as Babas) were held in high esteem and had
a wide-based secular following among all segments of Punjabi society as their
teachings not only reinforced the traditional Saka-Buddhist spiritual and
social values and heritage but in a language and cultural milieu which was
Saka to the core. Among the earliest Sufi orders established in Punjab was
that of Makhdum Hujwirir (1092 AD) who due to his great generosity became
known as Data Ganj Baksh (“God’s treasure house”) and was venerated by all
Punjabis. His mausoleum was rebuilt by Ranjit Singh in marble in Lahore
after Punjabi independence from the Moguls. The 18-19th century Punjabi
sirkar and Sikh and Muslim zamindars gave generously for the upkeep of Sufi
shrines and tombs (K. Singh, p. 29). One of the most prominent Sufi Babas of
Punjab was Shaikh Farid Shakarganj (13th century) of the Chishti order. He
lived in Pak Pattan which became one of the main centers of Sufism in the
Punjab. Another important center of Sufism in the province was opened at
Multan by the Suhrawardhiyas, Bahaudhin Zakarya and Ruknuddin Zakarya in the
13th century. In the 15th century the Qadiriya order established a Sufi
centre in Sindh. Mian Mir, the famous divine of Lahore who became a personal
friend of the fifth Guru Arjan and laid the foundation stone of the
Harimandir at Amritsar was from the Qadiriya order. Many of the Sufis Orders
in Punjab were persecuted and their head Pirs executed by Aurengzeb alongside
his campaign to root out Sikhism.

Although the earlier 1300 year old Saka-Buddhist Gandharan institutions had
collapsed by the 10th century, the traditions and ideals from which they had
sprung had been retained by the society and its holymen. When the opportune
moment came with the development of Sufi orders and institutions throughout
the Punjab two centuries later, these ideals and the ancient light of
Gandharan-Saka civilization stored in the region's cultural traditions
reflowered through the prism of mystical and unorthodox Sufism.

In the late 15th century, political rule in the north changed from
the Afghan Lodis to the Moguls lead by Babar. The first Sikh Guru, Nanak,
was born on April 15, 1469 in a village now known as Nankana Sahib, West
Punjab. From early childhood, he was drawn to the company of Sufis, Sadhs,
Bhagats and Naths who formed the secular and mystical spiritual tradition of
the Punjab. In 1499, at the age of 30, he began the first of his four
spiritual-voyages to foreign lands in quest for spiritual knowledge. Nanak
is perhaps the most widely travelled spiritual founder who ever existed.
During his travels, he visited religious centers in Nepal, Ladakh, Mathura,
Rajasthan, Benaras, Assam, Maharasthra, Baghdad, Mecca and Medina and
distilled what he perceived to be the essense of spirituality, religion and
the purpose of life into his own unique path and in a language the common man
could understand. Upon his return, he preached in the villages and towns of
the Punjab and settled with his family at Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi.
He also periodically visited Shaikh Sharaf, Shaikh Ibrahim (the 10th
successor of the famous Farid Shakargunj) and other Sufi saints at Pak Pattan
and Multan and the compositions of 16 Sufis and Bhagats, alongside the Bani
of the Sikh Gurus, is found in the 1400 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib.
Meanwhile, the Sikh Gurus did not see any gangetic Brahmanical shastra
promoting the supremacist chatur-varna caste ideology fit for consumption by
their followers as no Brahmanical hyms is included in the Sikh Granth! As a
historical artifact, many of the Sufi and Bhagat hyms of the Granth Sahib
recorded by the Gurus in the 16-17th centuries form the only surviving
account of the post-Gandharan Punjabi spiritual renaissance to take root
between the 11-15th centuries. Nanak is remembered in the folklore of the
Punjab as follows:

"Baba Nanak shah-fakir (Baba Nanak, the king of holymen)
Hindu dha guru, musalman dha pir" (Guru of Hindus and Pir of the Mussalmans).

The main ingredient of Nanak’s whole philosophy of spirituality and meaning
of life can be put in the nut shell: "kirt kamao, naam japo, wand shakho"
("earn your living truthfully, reflect and meditate on the creator and share
your gains with other"). Like Buddhism, Sikh religious philosophy identifies
false ego (houma) and the untamed, wandering and unrelenting mind's "five
thiefs of the soul" as the foundation of "evil" and "dukh" (misery)
afflicting the personal and collective man. Nanak's path for overcoming and
conquering his "mana" (mind), and hence dukh, is through a monotheistic path
of "naam-simran" and "seva": reflection, meditation and repetition on "his
name" and the act of "service to mankind". He rejected the concept of
"sanyas" as the path of finding enlightenment and proscribes his followers
("Sikh" meaning “disciple” - Pali, "Sikkha") to live the life of a
"householder", actively engaged in the social and political life of the
community while pursing a spiritual life. He rejected the Brahmanical notion
of the world being "mithya" or "illusion" (Add Such, Jugad Such: "the primal
is true; the world is true") to be shunned by the saintly, but saw it as a
field of opportunity in which the divine truth could be proclaimed over
creation and in which the world of man could be elevated to the primal "noor"
of "sach" (light of truth). He rejected the notion of man-made
inferior/superior social categories sanctioned by God (e.g. caste system,
chatur-varna), man-made devtas and idols, believed in the equality of the
human soul (atma-parmatma) which was both "eminent and transdental", and
upheld the brotherhood and oneness of divinity and human-kind.

In many ways the Sufi and Sikh traditions of Punjab represent a renaissance
and continuity with the earlier egalitarian, unorthtodox and humanistic
spiritual and cultural traditions and heritage of the region's preceding
Gandharan Saka-Buddhist civilization (500 BC - 900 AD). Therefore, one
should not be surprised upon finding many Sufi and Sikh saints between
12-18th centuries with names like "Buddha Singh", "Gandha Singh", "Buddha
Shah", "Buddeh Shah", "Bulle Shah", etc; or that many of the Gurmukhi letters
were in use in earlier Gandharan scripts; or that many important historical
Gurdwaras ("Guru’s house") connected with the Gurus are situated on
historical Gandharan Buddhist shrines (e.g. Panja Sahib); or that the
institutionalization and very high regard given to socio-religious concepts
of "sangat meh pangat" in Sikhi also exists in Buddhism ("sanga"); or that
the institution of Guruship found in Sikhism (and Sufism) has its parallel in
the Buddhist tradition of "lammas" who were believed to inherit the
sacredness, piety and divine inspiration of their predecessor. Nanak never
presented himself as a Messenger or Prophet and believed that just as a
candle is able to depart light to another without diminishing its own light,
similarly a Guru could enlighten the soul and impart divine wisdom to the
sangat and his successors and bring them to be his spiritual equals.
Moreover, the institution of Khalsa Order established by the last Guru Gobind
Singh (with 5 elected "pyarras" and the elected Jathedar; analogous to
Panchayat and Sarpanch) in 1699 and the 12 misls (republics, Sarva Khaaps) to
arise in the middle of the 18th century in the post-Mogul period are based on
the traditional Saka republican democratic political system and insitutions
found throughout the history of Sakasthan and which survive to this day.

Contrary to current notions popularized by 20th century "one nation" and "two
nation" ideologies, Punjabis of all faiths belong to the same tribes and
clans and share the same Saka-Vedic ethnicity, culture, language and history.
With the start of Ghazni's conquest of Punjab in 1025 AD, everyone's power
and status suffered with the collaspse of Punjabi soverignty and self-rule.
Punjabi Muslims were treated by the Mogul elites as subjects - not partners
(whose primary allies were "Hindu" Rajputs from Rajputana, constituting over
50% of the Mogul army and administration!). The Muslim population of Punjab,
entered Islam through the evagelism of the Sufis between 12-15th century.
The revolt against imperial rule and oppression organized by the Khalsa took
on the dimensions of a larger Punjabi independence movement and
class-struggle against a foreign Mogul-Afghan ruling order and attracted
supporters, allies and converts from all martial clans and segments of
Punjabi society.

Contemporary Mogul historians who witnessed the 18th century struggle in the
Punjab like Nur Mohammed record large scale conversion of Muslim Punjabis,
especially of the agrarian and artisan classes, to the Khalsa while many
joined as allies. During the rise of the 12 misls or republics between
1730-1780, Sikh sardars and clans formed alliances with their Muslim
counterparts and the court, administration and army of Ranjit Singh (Lahore
Empire) was secular and well represented by Punjabis of all faiths and
persuasions including Napoleon's French and Italian generals and
administrators (e.g. Allard, Ventura, Avitable). Therefore, the division of
Punjabis as separate "nations" based on religious persuasion has little
historical basis and is more an artifact of foreign 20th century "One/Two
Nation" dogmas, identity creation and propaganda devised, spun and imported
into the region by neo-Brahmanist organizations and their Muslim counterparts
from the east - both nursing their own ambitions of empire outside
Gangasthan.

Punjabi Sufism and Sikhism which developed in the northwest between 12-17th
centuries are rooted in the humanistic and egalitarian spiritual traditions
and culture of Sakasthan and its preceding Gandharan civilization (400 BC-
900 AD). Sikhism produced its own separate holy book (including the hyms of
16 Sufis and "low caste" bhagats, e.g. Baba Farid, Kabir) and places of
worship and rejects Brahmanical claims of supremacy, gangetic chatur-varna
caste ideology, priests, shastras and gods. Like Buddhism and other
non-Brahmanical faiths, it has been seen as a latent threat to their
hegemonic and imperialistic ambitions by Poorbia Brahmanist idealogues,
organizations and politicians and had to be crushed as an independent
religious philosophy with its distorted remnants absorbed into the
Brahmanical "Hindu" fold.

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

The Saka Political Revival (17-19th century)

Afghan rule over northern Sakasthan began with the conquest of Punjab
by Muhammed Ghaznavi after his campaigns in central Punjab and the final
defeat of the combined Jat army under Raja JaiPala near Attock. During the
12th century, after the defeat of PrithviRaj Chauhan, northern Rajasthan and
the UP region fell under Afghan rule who during the 13th century expanded
their empire southward and easward and dubbed their domains “Hindusthan” and
subjects “Hindus”. Many of the Rajput states in the eastern gangetic and
southern Rajasthan region joined the Afghans as allies or tributary vasals
during this expansion. The Ghoris expelled the Ghaznivides in 1183 to be
supplanted by the Ibak Turks in 1206. Over the next 150 years, the Khijis
were followed by the Tughlaks and the Lodis. During the 15th century, the
Afghan dynasty was replaced by the Moguls under Babar with the Rajput
loyalists switching over to the winning side. The Moguls and Rajput allies
during the 16-17th centuries expanded the Hindusthan empire into regions to
the east and central subcontinent under Akbar, Himayun, Shah Jahan and
Aurangzeb.

Many historians have claimed that the so-called "Mogul Empire" should be
really dubbed the "Mogul-Rajput Empire". Even during the reign of Aurengzeb,
over 50% of the imperial army and administration (Sirkar) was made up of
“Hindu” Rajput officers and soldiers from Rajputanna. During the reign of
Himayun, Akbar and Shah Jahan, Rajput allies and loyalists had a even heavier
role in the empire and freely intermarried with the Mogul nobility. The most
notable of these marital alliances gave rise to emporer Akbar himself.
Akbar's maternal uncle - Raja Mann Singh of Jaipur - was the
Commander-in-Chief of the entire imperial Mogul army when Akbar came to the
throne at age 12. The greatest expansion of the Mogul empire occurred under
the tenure of Mann Singh and Rajput loyalists from southern Rajashthan
(states of Jaipur, Amber, Mewar, Bundi) played a significant role in the
expansion of the Mogul empire into central India and the conflicts that
ensued as the empire tried to absorb the territory of Gujar and Maratha
republican tribes in the west in the 14-15th centuries.

The decline of the Mogul empire by the end of the 17th century and rise of
Saka power throughout western and northwestern India is rooted in the
foundations for political revival set by Shivaji, Shambhaji, Rajaram, Tarabai
and Shahu for the Maratha tribes (southern Sakasthan); by Gokula, Brij,
Churaman, Badan Singh, Suraj Mal viz the Jat tribes of central; and Guru
Gobind Singh, Banda Bahadur, in the Punjab (northern Sakasthan). J.D.
Cunningham, British representive to Punjab and Bhawalpur in the 1840s, writes
[p. 68] “Sivaji has aroused the slumbering spirit of the Maratha tribes. He
had converted rude herdsmen into successful soldiers, and became a
territorial chief in the very neighbourhood of the emporer. Gobind added
religious fervour to warlike temper, and his designs of founding a Jat
Kingdom upon the waining glories of Aurangzeb’s dominion does not appear to
have been idly conceived or rashly undertaken”.

It should be added that the saint-soldier order of the Khalsa established in
1699 was open to all castes and religions and developed into a martial
socio-political institution uniting all segments of Punjabi society under
the secular ideals of brotherhood, equality and egalitarianism envisioned by
the spiritual founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak.

[sa...@my-dejanews.com]

References

Arrian (95-175 A.D.), Anabasis of Alexander, E.I. Robson, Harvard University
Press, Cambride, Massachusetts, 1966, pp.37,59,69-72.

Banerjea, J.N. (1987), The Scythians and Parthians in India, in a
Comprehensive History of India, edited by K.A.N. Sastri, Vol. 2,
Peoples Publishing House, New Delhi, India, 1987, pp 186-309, pp
830-838.

Banerji, R.D. (1909), The Scythian Period in Indian History, Indian
Antiquary, Vol. XXXVII, pp 25-74.

Bingley, A.H. (1978), History, Caste & Culture of the Jats and Gujars, Ess Ess
Publications, New Delhi, India (first published in 1899).

Cunningham, A. (1971), Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas, and Kushanas,
Reprinted by Indological Book House, Varanasi, India (first published
1888).
-------(1979), Later Indo-Scythians (Coins), No. 11, Reprinted by Indological
Book House, varanasi, India (first published 1893-94).
-------(1963), Coins of Ancient India: from the earliest times down to the
seventh century A.D., reprinted by Indological Book House, Varanasi,
India.

Dahiya, B.S. (1980), Jats: The Ancient Rulers, Sterling Publishers Pvt.
Ltd., New Delhi, India.

Dhillon, B.S. (1994), History and Study of the Jats, Beta Publishers
Inc., Ottawa, Canada

Eggmont, P.H.L. (1970), Alexander's Campaign in Ghandhara and Ptolemy's List
of Indo-Scythian Towns, Orientalis Lavaniensia Periodica I, pp 63-123.

Gupta, H.R. (1967). Chandragupta Maurya: A Native of Punjab, In Punjab past
and present: Essays in honour of Dr. Ganda Singh, edited by H. Singh
and N. Gerald Barrier, Published by Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, pp.
27-32.

Gupta, P.L. (1988), Coins, National Book Trust, New Delhi, India, pp 51-52.

Hewitt, J.F. (1894), The Ruling Races of Prehistorical Times in India,
South-Western Asia, and Southern Europe, Archibald Constable & Co. ,
London, pp. 481-487.

Herodotus (B.C. 490-425): The Histories, translated by de Selincourt,
Penguin Books, New York, 1988.

Jats, The New Encylopaedia Britannica, Vol. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.,
Chicago, pp. 510.

The Getae and the Dacians, and Sarmatae and Parthians, in The Cambridge
Ancient History, edited by S.A. Cook, F.E. Adcock, M.P. Charlesworth,
Vol. II, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1954.

Pradhan, M.C. (1966), The Political System of the Jats of Northern India,
Oxford University Press, London.

Ptolemy (90-168 A.D.), Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, translated and edited
by E.L. Stevenson, The New York Public Library, New York, 1932.

Mahil, U.S. (1955), Antiquity of Jat Race, Atma Ram & Sons, Delhi, India.

McCrindle, J.W. (1987), Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature,
reprinted by Eastern Book House, Patna, India, pp 164-165 (first
published 1901).

Mc Govern, W.N. (1939), The early Empires of Central Asia, he University of
North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, pp 419-21.

Pliny, (A.D. 23-79): Natural History, translated by H. Rackham, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1947.

Rolle, R. (1989), The World of the Scythians, University of California
Press, Berkeley.

Sara, I. (1978), The Scythian Origin of the Jat-SIkh (Part 1 & 2), The Sikh
Review, pp. 15-27, pp. 214-233.

Sinha, B.P., Journal of Bihar Research Society, XXXVII, parts 3-4, pp 142.

Sinha, B.C. (1973), Studies in Alexander's Campaigns, Bharitya Publishing
Hourse, Varanasi, India, pp. 35-36, 40.

Smith, V.A. (1967), The Oxford History of India, Oxford University Press,
London, pp. 173, 162-163.

Smith, V. A. (1903), The Kushana or Indo-Scythian Period in Indian History
(165 B.C.-320 A.D.), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great
Britain and Ireland, pp. 1-64.

Tod, J.(1972), Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. 1, Routledge &
Kegan Paul Ltd., London, pp. 623 (first published in 1829).

[gan...@my-dejanews.com]

History of Sakasthan (500BC-1900AD)
- by SakaChella

Contents:

Introduction

Loss of the History of Sakasthan, Buddhism and Reconstruction

Saka Origins and Early History (500 BC)

Saka Dynasties from 500 BC - 1000 AD

The Saka Virka Dynasty: 420 AD - 640

The Saka Kushanas: 50 AD - 400

Saka Imperial Expansion
Mauryas (324-232 BC)

Dharan-Jartas (320 AD - 515)

Later Sakas (9-11th Century AD): Changes in Polity and Rajputs

Spread of Gangetic Brahmanism in post-Buddhist Sakasthan (900 AD - 1100)

Rise of Sufism and Sikhism in Sakasthan (11-18th century)

Saka Political Revival (17-19th century)

Introduction to Sakas and Sakasthan
------------------------------------

"Sakasthana" is the historical name of northwest southasia (Indus-Ganga
country) including the present states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Western UP/MP,

regions represents nothing less than a "clash of civilizations" - to the
east of the western ganga river lay the "Brahmanical civilization" while to

the west of this frontier lay the "Saka-Vedic civilization".

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------

[Bholu]

Good history. You forgot 2 main chapters
though. Figure it out yet?

[Sai Alhuwalia]

coinage of mauryas and nandas were same and had elephants sun bull and magadha symbol
didnt had land,water,mountain
where do u find these in schthians/other places
their weight was same as that of persian and greek coins due to influence of archmedia
(in the origin of punched coins in india) in present day gandhara region.

[Sai Alhuwalia]

On Sunday, 7 February 1999 at 02:00:00 UTC-6, sa...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> History of Sakasthan (500BC-1900AD)
> - by SakaChella
> Contents:
> Introduction
> Loss of the History of Sakasthan, Buddhism and Reconstruction
> Saka Origins and Early History (500 BC)
> Saka Dynasties from 500 BC - 1000 AD
> The Saka Virka Dynasty: 420 AD - 640
> The Saka Kushanas: 50 AD - 400
> Saka Imperial Expansion
> Mauryas (324-232 BC)
> Dharan-Jartas (320 AD - 515)
> Later Sakas (9-11th Century AD): Changes in Polity and Rajputs
> Spread of Gangetic Brahmanism in post-Buddhist Sakasthan (900 AD - 1100)
> Rise of Sufism and Sikhism in Sakasthan (11-18th century)
> Saka Political Revival (17-19th century)
>

[Sai Alhuwalia]

traditions of rig veda were caried forward by brahmins/rishis
and it's the vedas that have mention of 3 upper catse..many historians think it was added on later but there's no concrete proof of the same
the earliest rig vedic written manuscript was found in CE not BCE(before christ/common era)
BRAHMINS WERE CUSTODIAN OF VEDIC CILIZATION AND CARIIED IN MEMORIES FOR CENTURIES UNTIL IT WAS WRITTEN DOWN MUCH MUCH MUCH LATER!!!
even tho later on it got relegated to minor gods
SANSKRIT IS AS OLD AS VEDIC PEOPLE ..IT WASN'T SPOKEN DURING BHUDDIST PERIOD..IT WAS VERY SIMILAR TO CRUDE AND ANCIENT INDO EUROPEAN LAGUAGES.
AND SANSKRIT MENTIONED IN RIG VEDA WAS VERY AND IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM PRESEENT DAY SPOKEN SANSKRIT..
LANGUAGE WOULD PROBABLY PALI

2)CHANDRA GUPTA MIGHT HAVE BEEN PUNJABI BUT SURE AS HELL WAS NOT SAKA..
HE PEOBABLY WAS SAKYA ..ANCIENT SUB HIMALYAN EASTERN COMMUNITTY/TRIBE..THIS IS SOMETHING MENTIONED IN BHUDDIST TEXTS AS WELL
MOURYA CLAN IS PRESENT AMONG RAJPUTS AS WELL.
MAURYAS HAD INCREDIBLE PERSIAN AND GREEK INFLUENCE DUE TO TRADING..THAT DOESNT MEAN THEY WERE PERSIAN
SO IF ARCHTITECHTURE RESEMBLED SOME PERSIAN INFLUENCE..THEN IT'S NO WONDER
the Buddhist custom says that the Chandragupta was an individual from the Maurya Kashtriya group of Pippi Halivana. The custom in this manner suggests that the Moriya faction was connected to the Sakya clan to which Gautma Buddha had a place. This infers that the Mauryas in some sense, were Kshatriyas. The Maurya title of the Chandragupta's family is said to have been obtained from the Moriya clan.

[Sai Alhuwalia]

ALSO THE SAME AUTHOR (GUPTA GUY) WHICH SAYS CHANDRA GUPTA WAS FROM PUNJAB..SAYS THAT HE WAS A KHATRI LOLLLL

[Sai Alhuwalia]

Avestan terms for soldiers ("rathaestar") and citizens ("vastriyo")
are similar to Vedic-derived terms (kshatriyas, vasihyas) but the Avestan
term for priest ("athravan") is not even close to "Brahmanas"

SO HOW DOES rathe-star RHYME with SHAT-RIYA
and athar-van not with brah-man
UNDERSTAND 'man and van' both rhyme
we usually see (middle to last letters) for to check the rhyming scheme..
i didn't even to do research to know the blatant lies ..anyone with a knowledge of rhyming scheme would know instantly


and vaishyas was for traders..(not for normal people...)
like u have said..the whole upper 3 caste is mentioned in RIG VEDA

[Sai Alhuwalia]

CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA WAS ALREADY IN TAXILA WHEN ALEXANDER INVADED..CHUTAD
HE DIDN'T CONSOLIDATE POWER BY THEN..
ONLY AFTER IS THAT HE DEFEATED NANDAS AND GREEK STOOGES LEFT IN INDIA
ALSO GREEK CONTEMPORARY SOURCES TELLS THAT CHANDRAGUPTA DIDN'T LEAVE BRAHMANICAL WAYS OF LIFE
IF HE WAS A JAAT..THEN WHY DID GREEKS WROTE THAT HE WAS STILL LIVING ACCORDING TO BRAHMANICAL WAYS OF LIFE

[Sai Alhuwalia]

PURANS CAME MUCH LATER..AND NONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT ARYANS BEING BAD PEOPLE..MAYBE PUNJABIS..BUT AT THAT TIME
THERE WAS NO HISTORIAN TO TELL THEM THAT VEDIC HOARDES LIVED IN PUNJAB..
THAT DOESN'T MEAN THERE WAS SOME SORT CLAS GOIN BETWEEN BRAHMIN IN GANGA AND VEDIC HOARDES..
CONSIDER IT AS EVOLUTION OF RELEGION/DHARMA..

[Sai Alhuwalia]

since both events coming of non-vedic dieties and vedic dieties are centuries apart..none would have know their forefathers were in fact vedic hoardes who came from north before relegating their gods to minor gods.
so u see there wasn't a clash but an evolution in their relegion/dharma

regards