Post Mauryan Foreign And Indegenious Invasion

In this section, we will learn about the various foreign rulers that attacked India.

Many foreigners came to India during this period and settle down in India. These foreigners are:

In some parts of India there were indigenous kingdoms, these were:

They were the rulers of “Bactria”, a place in Afghanistan. Indo-Greeks were originally called Bactrian Greeks.
Most important Indo-Greek ruler was:
- Menander also known as Milinda. Prior to Menander, there was another king called, Demetrius who issued gold coins.
- He was a Buddhist king.
They introduced the System of Curtains in drama.
Old name of curtain: Yavanika.

Rudradaman was the gradson of Chastana, the founder of Kshatrapas dynasty.
He was instrumental in the decline of the Satavahana empire.
He also conquered the Yaudheya tribes of Haryana.
He took the title of Maha-kshtrapa (Great Satrap).
The Sanskrit Junagadh Inscription dated 150 CE credits Rudradaman for supporting the cultural arts and Sanskrit literature and repairing the dam built by the Mauryans.
It was the first inscription in ‘Sanskrit’ language in India.
The script used was -> Sharda script which later developed into ‘Devnagiri’.

Their original homeland: ‘Persia’.

Most important Parthian ruler was ‘Gondophernes’

During Gondophernes time, for the first time, a new religion came to India – ‘Christianity’.

Christianity was introduced by ‘St. Thomas’

St. Thomas came to India from Palestine.

The Kushans were one of the five clans into which the Yu-Chi tribe was divided.

We came across 2 successive dynasties of the Kushanas.

First dynasty was founded by a House-of-Chiefs who were called ‘Khadphises, and ruled for 28 years from about 50 AD. It had 2 kings, namely:

Kujula Khadphises I
Vima Khadphises II
Khadphises I: Issued coins south of Hindukush. He minted the coins as imitation of Roman coins,
Khadphises II: he issued a large number of gold coins and spread his kingdom in east of the India.
House of Khadphises was succeeded by that of Kanishka.

Second Dynasty was founded by Kanishka (78 AD).

Kanishka became ruler in 78 A.D., to mark his coronation, he started a new calendar “Saka Era”.
Kanishka is known to history for two reasons:
- He started an era in AD 78 (Saka Era) and is still used by the Government of India.
- His whole-hearted patronage to Buddhism.

Foreign rulers made a large impact on India, some of which are given below:

Better Cavalry

Sakas and Kushans introduced better cavalry and the use of the horse-riding on large scale.
They made common the use of – Reins and Saddles.
They introduced: Turban, Tunic, Trousers and Heavy-Long coat.
Sherwani is a successor of the long coat.
The Central Asian also brought in – Cap, Helmet and Boots, which were used by the warriors.

Polity

Development of ‘feudatory organizations’.
The Sakas and the Kushans strengthen the idea of ‘divine origin of Kingship’.
The Kushans also introduced ‘Satrap system’ of government.
The empire was divided into numerous Satrapies and each Satrapy was placed under the rule of a Satrap.
The Greeks also introduced the practice of ‘military- governorship’.

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