Post Mauryan Period

 Indo-Greek Kings

Alexander (327–325 BCE) invasion

• Conquest of the Punjab region
• Seleucus Nicator, Alexander most capable generals, succeeded in making himself the master of a vast territory from Phrygia (Turkey) to the river Indus after 311BCE. Within a few years, probably around 305 BCE, Chandragupta waged a war against Seleucus and defeated him.
• Seleucus Surrendered receive 500 elephants in return. Create Diplomatic Relation between Mauryan emperor.
• Rock Edict (13) mentions five Yona kings. Indicate relation of Ashoka to Greeks.

Demetrius

• Seleucid empire began to weaken.
• The governor of Bactria, Diodotus, revolted against Antiochus II and became the independent ruler of Bactria. In 212 BCE, the king of Bactria was a Greek named Euthydemus.
• Euthydemus’s son Demetrius succeeded him (c. 200 BCE), and another Demetrius, probably Demetrius II, was the first known Indo-Greek king (c. 175 BCE).
• Exquisite Coinage – Style of Greek coin of Silver.
• yavana invasion of Ayodhya (Saketa) and further east into the Magadha territory.
• Ceded land to Pushyamitra, the Sunga emperor who had usurped the throne after the last Mauryan ruler.
• about 165 BCE, Bactria was lost to the Parthians and Sakas.

Menander (165/145–130 BCE)

• Ruled North west of the Country.
• he is described as “king” and “soter” or saviour, and not as a great conqueror.
• He is mainly remembered as the eponymous hero of the Buddhist text, Milinda-pinha (questions of Milinda).
• Became a Buddhist and promoted Buddhism.

Antialcidas (or Antialkidas), c. 110

• He is known to us primarily because his emissary, Heliodorus.
• He sent to the court of King Bhagabhadra erected a pillar or garudadhvaja with its capital adorned by a figure of Garuda, in honour of God Krishna (Vasudeva).

Trade

• Overland trade route via north-west Afghanistan (Bactria) and also partly by the coastal route along the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

 Sakas, Parthians and Kushanas

• Nomadic Tribes are Sakas (Scythians), Parthians (Pahlavis) and Kushanas (yueh-chi or yuezhi tribes in Chinese).
• Yueh-chi pushed to westward by the Chinese who had built the Great Wall
• The Yueh-chi, in turn, turned westward and pushed the Sakas towards eastern Iran,
• Parthians ruled collapse of Seleucid empire, in 58 BCE, the independent Parthian kingdom of eastern Iran was established by the Parthian Vonones. Start of Vikram samvat era

Sakas

• The Sakas were pushed back from eastern Iran by the Parthian ruler Mithradates (188–123 BCE)
• Settled in the region between the Indus valley and Saurashtra.
• The first Saka ruler in India was Maues or Moa/Moga (20 BCE to 22 CE).
• His successor Azes who finally destroyed the last remnants of the Indo-Greek kingdoms and extended Saka rule as far as Mathura.
• The Sakas appointed kshatrapas or satraps as provincial governors.
• Many of the kshatrapas titled themselves mahakshatrapas (virtually independent rulers).
• Rudradaman (130–150 CE) – Famous kshatrapas. Rock inscription of Junagadh (in Gujarat) say he defeated the Satavahanas in battle

Kushanas

• The Sakas were displaced by the Parthian Gondophernes, who first conquered Kabul (c. 43 CE).
• He lost the Kabul valley to the Kushanas, but he was successful against the Sakas in India.
• The Sakas approached the Kushanas (yueh-chi) for war help against the Parthians.
• The two kings [Khujula Kadphises (conquered Afghanistan), Wima Kadphises] extended Kushana territory to Gandhara, Punjab and as far to the east as the Ganga-Jumna doab till Mathura.

Kanishka (78 CE till 101 or 102 CE)

• Follower of Buddhism and hosted the fourth Buddhist mahasangha or council (the third council had been held in Pataliputra during Asoka’s reign).
• Mission sent to China to preach Buddhism.
• Kushana coins standards of Roman coins.
• The rock of Hunza mentions the first two Kadphises and the Kusanadevaputra (son of God) Maharaja Kaniska.
• Inscription confirms kanishka’s stretched from central Asia till eastern India.
• The satraps (the Kushanas also continued the practice of appointing satraps to govern the provinces) were able to set themselves up as independent rulers in various regional capitals.

Art & Literature

• Literature flourished due to royal patronage. Ascendancy of Mahayana Buddhism.
• Buddha in Human form
• The Greek influence led to an Indo-Greek style of sculpture and art commonly referred to as Gandhara art.
• Religious centres with chaityas and viharas.
• Kanishka was the patron of Buddhist philosophers such as Asvaghosha, Parsva and Vasumitra, as well as the great Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna. Asvaghosha is known for his Buddhacharita and is celebrated as the author of the first Sanskrit play, Sariputraprakarana, in nine acts.
• Manusmriti, Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra and Kautilya’s Arthasastra taking final shape by the second century CE.

Gandhara Art

• Gandhara region was influenced by Greek and Roman culture.
• Gandhara school of art developed in the first century Common Era.
• The techniques of Roman art were assimilated and applied in north-western India.
• The Gandhara art is famous for the portrayal of Buddha in a spiritual state, eyes half-closed in meditation.

The Tamil Kingdoms

• First century CE, the Satavahana kingdom was established in the Deccan area comprising Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• Provincial governor’s considerable degree of autonomy.
• The Tamil region was ruled by muvendar,
• The Pandyas from their capital Madurai,
• The Cholas from their capital Uraiyur (now a suburb of the city of Tiruchi), and
• The Cheras from Vanji (modern-day Karur).
• Mauryas kingdom bording his empire.
• War lords and chiefs (often referred to as velir) who were ruling over smaller principalities in the region.
• Sangam literature, dating from the third century BCE to the third century CE. To these we can add the epics Silappadikaram and Manimekalai, which were written somewhat later.

Contours of International Trade
Two major development

1. Trade between Europe and India towards the beginning of the Common Era
• Rome emerged as the superpower of the Mediterranean world, displacing the Greek kingdoms, and the republic became an empire in 27 BCE under Emperor Augustus.
• Especially the spices and textiles of the Tamil country, resulting in a great expansion of trade.
2. Discovery of the pattern of monsoon winds in the Arabian Sea in the first century CE by Hippalus, an Egyptian sailor.

• Arabs had a monopoly of the knowledge of the source regions of products such as cinnamon and pepper, which formed the main export to Rome.
• Roman ships began to sail directly to the western coast of India.
• Attacked by pirates & Parthians in Iran.

Trade Between Tamizhagam and Rome

• Rome coins excavated at Arikamedu.
• Ports on the west coast (Naura (Cannanore) and Tyndys/Tondi (Ponnani).) were the main ports involved in trade with Rome.
• Chennimalai near Erode produced iron and steel exported to Rome.
• Roman ships had begun to sail to ports on the Coromandel (east) coast of Tamil Nadu.
• Musiri or Muziris was an important port located further south.
• Trade agreement written on papyrus between a merchant of Muziris and a merchant of Alexandria.
• Sangam poetry, Musiri was the centre of two circuits of trade
1. Carrying rice and took backs fish.
2. Sacks of pepper exchange of gold.
• Coromandel coast – fine cotton textiles.
• Volume of trade peaked in the second half of the first century CE, during the reign of Emperor Tiberius.
• Trade to India caused a drain of 55 million sesterces to Rome. Ultimately Emperor Vespasian passed laws to curb the luxury consumption of the wealthier classes in Rome, and imports from India
• Constant interaction with Java and Sri Lanka

Foreign merchants (yavanas)

• Yavana – Denote person from the eastern Mediterranean region. Refer to metal workers and carpenters. Described as “hard-eyed”
• Puhar was the most important port on the Coromandel coast. Here, yavana merchants lived in especially ear-marked residential quarters in the harbour area.
• The fortress of Madurai was guarded by yavanas carrying large swords.

Trade and the Economy: The Larger Picture

• Expansion of trade achieved only through major changes to the production base of the economy like germstones...
• Increase in weaving activity.
• barter was an important medium of exchange for Salt merchants.
• Imitations of Roman coin increase supply of money circulation.
• Chera coins found in the bed of Amaravati river.
• Greek and Kushana coins found in North India.
• This period both for the north and the south was the great expansion of trade.