INDO-GREEK DYNASTY
History of the Indo-Greeks
INDO-GREEK DYNASTY
History of the Indo-Greeks
The credit of discovery of Indo-Greek coins that had once been struck in India goes to Colonel Tod, in 1824. Probably no class of Indian coins attracted full attention than the Indo-Greek which marked first cultural mix of West and East. It is good to sketch in outline of the events took in Northern India and neighbouring countries from the time of Alexander to the first century AD.Alexander was the son of Philips, King of Macedonia, a small state in south east Europe. A man of remarkable energy became the King in 336 BC and within a span of two years, he formed a army of 3000 foot soldiers and 5000 horse-men to conquer the old Persian empire. Then he occupied Asia minor, Syria, Egypt, Kandahar and finally in 328 BC, Afghanistan too. In 327 BC, he occupied BACTRIA and garrisoned a number of forts in the area as a mark of conquest of India. The fight which took place between Poros and Alexander was remarkable and the toughest which he had ever experienced.
Impressed on the bravery of his enemy Poros, Alexander treated him generous and restored him to his throne. So great was the confidence which Poros inspired that Alexander left him in charge of all his dominions of India when he left back. Alexander then overran petty states in the vicinity and sangla, the capital of the Kathaioi (near modern Panjab) was captured. Finally when Alexander reached the bank of river Beyas beyond which Nandas had their huge empire, the soldiers of Alexander are said to have refused to go far. It was long time since they had left their home. Alexander finally began his retreat in 323 BC.
To commemorate his victories he struck a medal; about the same time an Indian prince, Sophytes (saubhuti), struck a silver coin in the Greek style. Probably, Alexander did not left any trace of his retreat other than these two exceptions. In 323 BC, the king in his youth went down with a irrecoverable fever and died prematurely in Babylon. Alexander's generals fought like dogs to inherit what Alexander had left behind, and the empire split into several kingdoms, four large - Selucid, Ptolemaic, Lysimachid and Antigonid and many smaller ones.
About 250 BC, Diodotos-I, Satrap of Bactria proclaimed independence from the Selucids and took the title of King. It was Diodotos-I who founded the new dynasty now called by the historians as Indo-Bactrian or Indo-Greek. Diodotos-II, the son of the former was overthrown by Euthydemos-I who founded a new dynasty by re conquering Bactria and became the king. Thus the fourth Bactrian King Demetrios-I (200 - 190 BC), the son of Euthydemos-I assumed the throne and extended his kingdom as far as Panjab as Maurya's power was declining by then. Soon after Demetrios assumed the title "King of Indians", he became the Indian folk hero called 'Dharma-Mithra' because of his successful campaign. Eventually, the throne was passed onto his sons who governed the kingdom jointly and expanded its boundaries to include modern Panjab (part of Northern India and Pakistan).
In 170 BC, the rival Eukratides-I (177 - 135 BC) overthrew Demetrios-II and Antimachus-II in the name of Selucids and governed the Kingdom. Thus Bactria and a portion of Gandhara was lost to Eukratides-I. Hence forward, there were two rival Greek Dynasties, the house of Eukratides and Euthydemos. The house of Eukratides included Heliokles, Antialkidas, and Hermaious. They mainly ruled Gandara, Kabul and Kandahar. The house of Euthydemos had Appollodotos, Menander, Strato-I, Zoilos and Hippostratos, ruling east Gandhara and the modern Panjab. In 145 BC, Eukratides-I was murdered by his son Eukratides-II.
Menander (called Milinda, 155 - 135 BC) was a Greek general born in India. He is considered to be a contemporary of Pushyamitra. His capital Sagala became very important centre of learning and art. Patanjali was all praise for this great town of trade like that of Pataliputra - old. His campaigns were so great that he could be compared to Alexander. The difference between Alexander the great and Menander is that Alexander begun his retreat just because his army mutinied, but Menander stopped because he became Buddhist and ceded back the conquered territories to Indian rulers. The Milinda Panha (Questions of Milinda) narrates the story of conversion of Menander to Buddhism after a long discussion with Nagasen. Like Gautama Buddha, the ashes of Milinda were said to be divided amongst the representatives of various states and stupas were erected over them. Amongst his successors, the best known was Antialkidas of Taxila.
In around 70 BC, the tribal groupings were paramount : The Sakas east of the Caspian (Often called Scythians), The Sai (further Sakas of the upper Ili river) and Yueh-Chihs. Yueh-Chihs under pressure from Hsiung Nu confederation wandered over to the upper Ili in 175-160 BC pushing the Sakas southward to Kashmir and Swat. In 70 BC, Hermaios was defeated. Heliokles was driven from the country by the Scythians in 40 BC and finally in 10 BC, the last Indo-Greek ruler Strato-II disappeared from the Panjab, the hold of the Greeks over the north-western districts of India gave way.
LAST UPDATED 1st Nov 2001
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