History of Punjab – According to Greek Historians
Phase II (Fourth Century B.C.)
Alexander’s itinerary as preserved by the ancient Greek historians, gives
a fairly clear idea of the character of the peoples inhabiting Gandhara, the west
Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan regions. They even endeavour to describe the conditions of certain unnamed peoples living further east. Though claimed to
have been based on the writings of Generals, who participated in Alexander’s campaigns, the account is evidently biased in favour of the Greek. Still it throws light on the political and economic conditions prevailing in those times. Alexander found the north west Jndia divided into a large number of
states. Some were monarchical and occupied the northern Punjab. These states lay between the rivers Ravi and Indus. Their southern boundary roughly
coincided with the 3.5 degree longitude. The districts Punchh and Amb were included in the monarchical system of the Punjab. The other states were republican in character and occupied the rest of the west Punjab as well as Sindh and Afghanistan. Even east Punjab which Alexander did not penetrate was under Janapadas. The Greeks were highly impressed with the well -built tall and handsome figures of the Punjabis of those days.
Alexander reduced most of the republics to submission, and transferred the authority to the one or the other of the northern monarchies. But his arrangements were short-lived. As soon as he turned his back, these
monarchies, or rather the Satrapies, that he had created, were wiped out by
Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya. The assertions of Alexander historians to the effect that Alexander annihilated many of the tribes, should be rejected
outright. Some of them are known to have maintained their existence through the stresses and strains of subsequent centuries, long after Alexander and his successors disappeared into the wombs of history They continued to enjoy various degrees of autonomy under the suzerainty of benevolent Indian
emperors. Under the pressure of foreign invasions they sometimes had to give up old homes and seek pastures now. But wherever they settled they kept the flame of independence burning. Under such pressure it sometimes happened
that the neighbouring tribes were wielded into larger ones the smaller ones completely losing their identity in the process so that in later times some of the tribes of fourth century B.C. are not heard of again. The prominent ones
among them. however, find mention even as late as the fourth century A.D. in the Pryagry Prasasti of Samudragupta. Some can be recognised in the present day castes of the Punjabis.
1. Ambhi and Pauraya
In the spring of 326 B. C. Alexander crossed the Indus at a place now
alled Ohind (ancient name udabhandapura) about sixteen miles away..
Simple type of un-inscribed coins, appear to date since maurya period, were discovered from this region.
D. R. Bhandarkar, has shown that negama or naigamah must be taken to mean township and the body of towns men, in which, sense this word occurs in the Vivadaratnakara and other works on Hindu Law. The five names occurring on the reverse of these coins must be the names of the five towns which issued them, namely, Talimata or Ralimata, Dojaka, Atakataka and two others whose names are only partially legible. Atakataka probably stands for the existing town of Attock (pronounced Ataka). Dr. Marshall conjectures that these five
townships joined together in issuing the pancanekame coins. Taxila was not
one of them, since it does not figure in any of the legends. If negama meant a
Mofussil town as distinguished from the capital city or pura these negama
coins must have been Issued by certain of the lesser towns in the Sind Sagar
doah, and accepted as legal tender at Taxila, notwithstanding the fact that the
after City was issuing a copper coinage of its own. Dr. Marshal further
believes that after severing connection with Magadha, Taxila and other cities
of the Taxilan kingdom between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers had formed some sort of Confederacy of republican states under the leadership of Taxila. Each member having the right of issuing its own coinage. I believe, however, that issuing of coins by these cities does not signify a formal declaration of independence on the part of their citizenry. Firstly, we
are not sure whether at this remote period in lndia minting was considered to be the prerogative of the suzerain actually we do not possess any coins
bearing Mauryan legends. Secondly, there is no other evidence to warant such a conclusion. What is probable is that the Maurya administration having
broken down, the cities were reduced to devisIng their own machinery to keep the economic and political life of the community going.
7. The Status of Punjab Tribes under the Maurya and Sunga Rule
With respect to the tribes things must have been slightly different from
those of the cities. Asokan edicts make it clear that some, at least, of the
tribes were self-governing. Others. such as the Yaudheyas, Malavas etc
must have been allowed some sort of autonomy over minor local affairs.. in fact local self government through panchayat was the chief feature of ancient Indian polity. This when the Maurya administration broke down in these parts and the tribal people like
their uban brethren in the Sind Sagar Doab, were left to their own devices for an orderly life and the local political and economic institutions assumed
increasing responsibilities. There is no evidence to support the view that the
Punjab republics were free during the Mauryan rule or that they rose in
revolt after the death of Asoka. As were, have already seen of all the Punjab republics only the Gandharas and Nabhakas and Nabha-Panktis survived as autonomous units. If we hear of any revolt it was at Taxila, twice during the life-time of Bindusara, when Asoka was sent to quell it and once during the reign of Asoka when his son Kunala was sent to establish order. In either case it was a tame affair, the citizens having welcomed the princely viceroys with statements for the effect that their protest was against the corrupt local officers and not against the emperor. No punitive measure are mentioned to have been taken on any of these occasions.
The Sungas, the imperial successors of the Mauryas, too, retained
effective hold over the empire the first two Emperors of this dynasty, namely
Pushyamitra and Agnimitra, are known to have controlled the whole country as
far west as the Swat valley. About the beginning of the first century B.C., as
the Sunga power declined, a number of Punjab tribes sprang into fresh political
activity But it must be noted that many of the old familiar republics had, by
now vanished for ever from the political map of the Punjab.
First Century B.C.)
1 The Last Flicker
There is no further literary notice taken of the tribal republics. But about
the beginning of the first century B.C. there was a sudden outburst of minting
activity of a number of familiar tribes. Their coins are found scattered all over
the eastern Punjab, including Haryana, from the Ravi to Yamuna. The find-spots extend through the Jaipur gap and Madhyamika, i.e. Nagari near Chittor, right to the Malava country around the city of Ujjain. There are, in addition, a few stray epigraphical references to the most important of the old tribes.
Rudradaman refers to the proud Yaudheyas in his Junagarh inscription, and Samudragupta mentions some in his Allahbad parsasti. But about the time of these inscriptions, the tribes had already migrated to Rajasthan, presumably under the pressure of foreign invasions. The coins referred to above and a few inscriptions reveal the evidence in the Punjab of the following tribal republics as flourishing in the first century B.C.
2. The Yaudheyas
The Yaudheyas coins of about first century BC, are found all over eastern Punjab from satluj to yamuna rivers. Two large finds have been discovered from Sonipat between Delhi and karnal.
Dr. Birbal Sahni discovered in Khokra Kot mounds a Rohtak (ancient Rohitaka) a hoard of
coin-moulds which he describes as richer than any yet recorded from any part of the world. All were Yaudheya moulds. Thus Rohtak was one of their
strongholds. Some of their coin moulds discovered by Dr. Birbal Sahni at
Rohtak, bear the Brahmi legend, Yaudheyanam bahudhanake. (Sanskrit. Bahudhaake.) According to the Mahabharata, Rohitaka was the capital city of the bahudhanake country, and the inhabitants of this region were known as the Matta-Mayurakas, which term means people possessing enraptured peacocks. It appears Mattamayuraka was an alternative name of the Yaudhevas. As evidenced by their coins, they worshipped lord Karttikeya who rides a peacock. This bird is considered sacred in Rohtak district even today.
U. S. Rao reports the discovery of another Yaudheya mint not far from
Rohtak on the Rohtak-Bhiwani road near a village named Naurangabad. This Site is a chain of mounds at a distance of about five miles from Bhiwani town.
.
Yaudheya coins and coin-moulds are also found from Sunet or Ucha Pinda
(Sunetra of Panini) near Ludhiana. This was another of their mint cities at one
time. In fact, their coins are found in an extensive area on either side of the
Satluj. The find-spots on the west of this river are Depalpur, Satgarha,
Ajudhan, Kahror and Multan and those on east are Bhatner, Abohar, Sirsa,
Hansi, Panipat and as already stated, Sonipat. Hence Cunningham locates the Yaudheyas, in a wide area extending from Bhatner in the east, right up to the Ravi and its confluence with the Chenab in the west and from Uchh, i. e. from near the confluence of the Indus. With the combined waters of the Punjab rivers, up to the place called Bhakar. Thei modern representatives, the Johia Rajputs still occupy the lines of the Sutlej, along the Bahawalpur frontier. The area is now known as Johiabar (Sanskrit. Yaudheyavara)
According to Dr Jayaswal, the Coins belong to the period commencing
from the Sunga times, Second century BC and ending about the fourth century AD. The legends on their coins dIscovered in the Punjab, however
are invariably in Brahmi charcters of the first century B.C. Dr. Birbal Sahni
testifies to the great skill of the Yaudheya workmen and the superiority of their moulds, in the words, lt is interesting to know that in India, a hundred years before the Roman era, we had evolved complete multiple mould of a type considerably more efficient than any yet discovered in Europe. The Yaudheya coins are of three classes, of which the first bears the simple inscription Jaya-Yaudheya-Ganasya.
That meanss,
“money of the victorious Yaudheya tribe”
The second class has “dvi” at the end of the legend, and the third has “tri”. Cunningham take these to be contractions for dvitiyasya and tritiyasya
i. e. the money of the second and third tribes of the Yaudheyas. Thus these coins appear to refer to three sections of this tribe like Patanjalis, Trikah and
Salankiyanah. Cunningham pointed out that the Johiya Rajputs are even
today divided into three tribes, named Langavira or Lakivira Madhovira or
Madhera and Adamvira or Admera. Certain records found in Hoshiarpur
district, perhaps inpression of official seals or coins are in the name of the
Yaudhevas and their cabinet or executive committee, the legend being,
Yaudheyanam jaya-mantradharanam. Mantradharas are in the opinion of
Dr. Jayaswal, those vested with the policy of state, But the whole legend can as well be interpreted in the sense of the Yaudhevas was devoted to victory “jaya”
as their mantra. These records extend their territory far to the north.
Later about first century B.C. the Yaudheyas seem to have shifted south
to Rajasthan, most probably under Saka pressure. An inscription on a stone
found at Vjayagarh, near Bharatpur, contains an order from their President,
who styles himself as Maharaja and Mahasenapati and claims to have been
made, or elected, leader by the Yaudheya Parliament According to Dr. B.C Law, palaeogaphically, this inscription belong to the lndo Scythian period.
By the second century A D the Yaudheyas had moved further south, so
as to come into clash with Manaksatrapa Rudradaman. who in his Junagarh inscription boasts of having uprooted the proud Yaudheyas, who had manifested their title of heroes among all Kshatriyas though they reappear in the fourth century A D in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta as one of the tribal states, who paid him homage. Evidently they had shaken off Kusana yoke about the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. A variety of Yaudheya copper coins showing affinity with Kusana money, must have heen copied from the same and issued after regaining independence. We do not hear
of them after Samudragupta as a self-ruling community
The Rajanyas reappeared as a self-governing republican tribe about
100 B.C. Their coins were struck about this date. They bear the legend,
Rajanya janapada. They are found in Hoshiarpur district and Mathura.
Indicating movement from the former to the latter Region durng this period of
foreign invasions. One of their coins is die-struck and bears legend in
Kharosthi characters. It is closely allied to the north Satrap coins, bearing the
same figure as the latter. From this coin Dr Jayaswal deduced their final
absorption in the Mathura Satrapy. This deduction however iss fallacious.
This coin merely proves that up to 100 B.C. or little later, when they struck
these coins, they were independent. though for want of better skill they
imitated designs from the north Satrap. After absorption they could not
have retained the right of minting coins.
Dr Jayaswal has assumed the existence of another republican tribe in
the Punjab, namely, the Muhurajt-Janaptla, on the basis of coins bearing the
legend, Maharaja janapada in Brahmi as well as in Kharosthi. But according
to Allan this theory is based on an erroneous reading of the legend by
Cunningham on what really are Rajaniya-Janapada coins. Jayaswal’s
assertion that the Maharaja-Janapada is mentioned by Panini (IV I. 15I) is
also wrong. Neither the Sutra nor the (Ganapatha make any reference to them, though, of course, Rajanya figures in Panini and his Ganapatha.
Bull with crescent appears on the reverse of some ot the Rajanya Coins indicating that Saivism was the state religion of the Rajanya people.
The Audumbras
With the decline of the Sunga power, the Audumbras seem to have
resumed autonomy. Their coins of the first century B.C. have been discovered
from sites in the northern Punjab, e. g. from Pathankot in Gurdaspur district,
from Jwalamukhi and Hamirpur in Kangra district and from Hoshiarpur
district. Thus they occupied the low hills and sub-mountain region between
the Ravi and the Satluj rivers in the first century B.C. They had remained in
uninterrupted occupation of this region since the days of Panini, who impliedly
located them here. Varahamihira, too, seems to place them in this region, since he associates them with the Kapisthalas, a tribe living in the southern part of Gurdaspur district The Buddhist texts agree with this location of the Audumbaras. A branch of theirs seems to have migrated to Cutch, as Pliny locates the Adomboeres there. Brahmanas of Audumbara caste are to this day living in Gujrat.
Przyluski has shown that the coins and the Buddhist texts agree about the
high material prosperity, that the Audumbaras, had attained before the
commencement of the Christian era. This was inevitable since great trade
routes, connecting Kashmira and Kulūta and Taxila (via Sakala) with the rest of India, passed through their country, They issued even silver coinage. Besides Silver the Audumbaras issued copper and billon coins. The coins are both square as well as round. Legends on them indicate that in course of time the Audumbaras had developed into some sort of elected monarchy.
Some of these coins are struck in the name of the community and the king and bear the legends like Mahadevasa Rana Dharaghosasa / Odumharisa. The
square pieces, which were perhaps the earliest to be struck bear legends both
in Brahmi as well as Kharosthi. On these coins occur the names of four kings, namely, Sivadasa, Rudradasa, Mahadeva and Dharaghosa; and a fifth king, Rudravarma figures on some of the rare silver coins. Though the word,
Mahadeva, is also used on some of the Audumbara coins as a regal title, the
existence of a ruler of this name is proved beyond doubt by the legend on a silver coin, where he is described as Bhagavata by faith. But it is fallacious to conclude from an overstrike of his, on a coin of Uttamadatta, that he led
Successful expedition to Mathura. Overstrikes, as I have explained in
another work were caused by minting mistakes. They were not a conscious
History of Punjab – According to Greek Historians
Phase II (Fourth Century B.C.)
Alexander’s itinerary as preserved by the ancient Greek historians, gives
a fairly clear idea of the character of the peoples inhabiting Gandhara, the west
Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan regions. They even endeavour to describe the
206
conditions of certain unnamed peoples living further east. Though claimed to
have been based on the writings of Generals, who participated in Alexander’s campaigns, the account is evidently biased in favour of the Greek. Still it throws light on the political and economic conditions prevailing in those times. Alexander found the north west Jndia divided into a large number of
states. Some were monarchical and occupied the northern Punjab. These states lay between the rivers Ravi and Indus. Their southern boundary roughly
coincided with the 3.5 degree longitude. The districts Punchh and Amb were included in the monarchical system of the Punjab. The other states were republican in character and occupied the rest of the west Punjab as well as Sindh and Afghanistan. Even east Punjab which Alexander did not penetrate was under Janapadas. The Greeks were highly impressed with the well -built tall and handsome figures of the Punjabis of those days.
Alexander reduced most of the republics to submission, and transferred the authority to the one or the other of the northern monarchies. But his arrangements were short-lived. As soon as he turned his back, these
monarchies, or rather the Satrapies, that he had created, were wiped out by
Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya. The assertions of Alexander historians to the effect that Alexander annihilated many of the tribes, should be rejected
outright. Some of them are known to have maintained their existence through the stresses and strains of subsequent centuries, long after Alexander and his successors disappeared into the wombs of history They continued to enjoy various degrees of autonomy under the suzerainty of benevolent Indian
emperors. Under the pressure of foreign invasions they sometimes had to give up old homes and seek pastures now. But wherever they settled they kept the flame of independence burning. Under such pressure it sometimes happened
that the neighbouring tribes were wielded into larger ones the smaller ones completely losing their identity in the process so that in later times some of the tribes of fourth century B.C. are not heard of again. The prominent ones
among them. however, find mention even as late as the fourth century A.D. in the Pryagry Prasasti of Samudragupta. Some can be recognised in the present day castes of the Punjabis.
1. Ambhi and Pauraya
In the spring of 326 B. C. Alexander crossed the Indus at a place now
alled Ohind (ancient name udabhandapura) about sixteen miles away..
Simple type of un-inscribed coins, appear to date since maurya period, were discovered from this region.
D. R. Bhandarkar, has shown that negama or naigamah must be taken to mean township and the body of towns men, in which, sense this word occurs in the Vivadaratnakara and other works on Hindu Law. The five names occurring on the reverse of these coins must be the names of the five towns which issued them, namely, Talimata or Ralimata, Dojaka, Atakataka and two others whose names are only partially legible. Atakataka probably stands for the existing town of Attock (pronounced Ataka). Dr. Marshall conjectures that these five
townships joined together in issuing the pancanekame coins. Taxila was not
one of them, since it does not figure in any of the legends. If negama meant a
Mofussil town as distinguished from the capital city or pura these negama
coins must have been Issued by certain of the lesser towns in the Sind Sagar
doah, and accepted as legal tender at Taxila, notwithstanding the fact that the
after City was issuing a copper coinage of its own. Dr. Marshal further
believes that after severing connection with Magadha, Taxila and other cities
of the Taxilan kingdom between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers had formed some sort of Confederacy of republican states under the leadership of Taxila. Each member having the right of issuing its own coinage. I believe, however, that issuing of coins by these cities does not signify a formal declaration of independence on the part of their citizenry. Firstly, we
are not sure whether at this remote period in lndia minting was considered to be the prerogative of the suzerain actually we do not possess any coins
bearing Mauryan legends. Secondly, there is no other evidence to warant such a conclusion. What is probable is that the Maurya administration having
broken down, the cities were reduced to devisIng their own machinery to keep the economic and political life of the community going.
7. The Status of Punjab Tribes under the Maurya and Sunga Rule
With respect to the tribes things must have been slightly different from
those of the cities. Asokan edicts make it clear that some, at least, of the
tribes were self-governing. Others. such as the Yaudheyas, Malavas etc
must have been allowed some sort of autonomy over minor local affairs.. in fact local self government through panchayat was the chief feature of ancient Indian polity. This when the Maurya administration broke down in these parts and the tribal people like
their uban brethren in the Sind Sagar Doab, were left to their own devices for an orderly life and the local political and economic institutions assumed
increasing responsibilities. There is no evidence to support the view that the
Punjab republics were free during the Mauryan rule or that they rose in
revolt after the death of Asoka. As were, have already seen of all the Punjab republics only the Gandharas and Nabhakas and Nabha-Panktis survived as autonomous units. If we hear of any revolt it was at Taxila, twice during the life-time of Bindusara, when Asoka was sent to quell it and once during the reign of Asoka when his son Kunala was sent to establish order. In either case it was a tame affair, the citizens having welcomed the princely viceroys with statements for the effect that their protest was against the corrupt local officers and not against the emperor. No punitive measure are mentioned to have been taken on any of these occasions.
The Sungas, the imperial successors of the Mauryas, too, retained
effective hold over the empire the first two Emperors of this dynasty, namely
Pushyamitra and Agnimitra, are known to have controlled the whole country as
far west as the Swat valley. About the beginning of the first century B.C., as
the Sunga power declined, a number of Punjab tribes sprang into fresh political
activity But it must be noted that many of the old familiar republics had, by
now vanished for ever from the political map of the Punjab.
First Century B.C.)
1 The Last Flicker
There is no further literary notice taken of the tribal republics. But about
the beginning of the first century B.C. there was a sudden outburst of minting
activity of a number of familiar tribes. Their coins are found scattered all over
the eastern Punjab, including Haryana, from the Ravi to Yamuna. The find-spots extend through the Jaipur gap and Madhyamika, i.e. Nagari near Chittor, right to the Malava country around the city of Ujjain. There are, in addition, a few stray epigraphical references to the most important of the old tribes.
Rudradaman refers to the proud Yaudheyas in his Junagarh inscription, and Samudragupta mentions some in his Allahbad parsasti. But about the time of these inscriptions, the tribes had already migrated to Rajasthan, presumably under the pressure of foreign invasions. The coins referred to above and a few inscriptions reveal the evidence in the Punjab of the following tribal republics as flourishing in the first century B.C.
2. The Yaudheyas
The Yaudheyas coins of about first century BC, are found all over eastern Punjab from satluj to yamuna rivers. Two large finds have been discovered from Sonipat between Delhi and karnal.
Dr. Birbal Sahni discovered in Khokra Kot mounds a Rohtak (ancient Rohitaka) a hoard of
coin-moulds which he describes as richer than any yet recorded from any part of the world. All were Yaudheya moulds. Thus Rohtak was one of their
strongholds. Some of their coin moulds discovered by Dr. Birbal Sahni at
Rohtak, bear the Brahmi legend, Yaudheyanam bahudhanake. (Sanskrit. Bahudhaake.) According to the Mahabharata, Rohitaka was the capital city of the bahudhanake country, and the inhabitants of this region were known as the Matta-Mayurakas, which term means people possessing enraptured peacocks. It appears Mattamayuraka was an alternative name of the Yaudhevas. As evidenced by their coins, they worshipped lord Karttikeya who rides a peacock. This bird is considered sacred in Rohtak district even today.
U. S. Rao reports the discovery of another Yaudheya mint not far from
Rohtak on the Rohtak-Bhiwani road near a village named Naurangabad. This Site is a chain of mounds at a distance of about five miles from Bhiwani town.
.
Yaudheya coins and coin-moulds are also found from Sunet or Ucha Pinda
(Sunetra of Panini) near Ludhiana. This was another of their mint cities at one
time. In fact, their coins are found in an extensive area on either side of the
Satluj. The find-spots on the west of this river are Depalpur, Satgarha,
Ajudhan, Kahror and Multan and those on east are Bhatner, Abohar, Sirsa,
Hansi, Panipat and as already stated, Sonipat. Hence Cunningham locates the Yaudheyas, in a wide area extending from Bhatner in the east, right up to the Ravi and its confluence with the Chenab in the west and from Uchh, i. e. from near the confluence of the Indus. With the combined waters of the Punjab rivers, up to the place called Bhakar. Thei modern representatives, the Johia Rajputs still occupy the lines of the Sutlej, along the Bahawalpur frontier. The area is now known as Johiabar (Sanskrit. Yaudheyavara)
According to Dr Jayaswal, the Coins belong to the period commencing
from the Sunga times, Second century BC and ending about the fourth century AD. The legends on their coins dIscovered in the Punjab, however
are invariably in Brahmi charcters of the first century B.C. Dr. Birbal Sahni
testifies to the great skill of the Yaudheya workmen and the superiority of their moulds, in the words, lt is interesting to know that in India, a hundred years before the Roman era, we had evolved complete multiple mould of a type considerably more efficient than any yet discovered in Europe. The Yaudheya coins are of three classes, of which the first bears the simple inscription Jaya-Yaudheya-Ganasya.
That meanss,
“money of the victorious Yaudheya tribe”
The second class has “dvi” at the end of the legend, and the third has “tri”. Cunningham take these to be contractions for dvitiyasya and tritiyasya
i. e. the money of the second and third tribes of the Yaudheyas. Thus these coins appear to refer to three sections of this tribe like Patanjalis, Trikah and
Salankiyanah. Cunningham pointed out that the Johiya Rajputs are even
today divided into three tribes, named Langavira or Lakivira Madhovira or
Madhera and Adamvira or Admera. Certain records found in Hoshiarpur
district, perhaps inpression of official seals or coins are in the name of the
Yaudhevas and their cabinet or executive committee, the legend being,
Yaudheyanam jaya-mantradharanam. Mantradharas are in the opinion of
Dr. Jayaswal, those vested with the policy of state, But the whole legend can as well be interpreted in the sense of the Yaudhevas was devoted to victory “jaya”
as their mantra. These records extend their territory far to the north.
Later about first century B.C. the Yaudheyas seem to have shifted south
to Rajasthan, most probably under Saka pressure. An inscription on a stone
found at Vjayagarh, near Bharatpur, contains an order from their President,
who styles himself as Maharaja and Mahasenapati and claims to have been
made, or elected, leader by the Yaudheya Parliament According to Dr. B.C Law, palaeogaphically, this inscription belong to the lndo Scythian period.
By the second century A D the Yaudheyas had moved further south, so
as to come into clash with Manaksatrapa Rudradaman. who in his Junagarh inscription boasts of having uprooted the proud Yaudheyas, who had manifested their title of heroes among all Kshatriyas though they reappear in the fourth century A D in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta as one of the tribal states, who paid him homage. Evidently they had shaken off Kusana yoke about the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. A variety of Yaudheya copper coins showing affinity with Kusana money, must have heen copied from the same and issued after regaining independence. We do not hear
of them after Samudragupta as a self-ruling community
The Rajanyas reappeared as a self-governing republican tribe about
100 B.C. Their coins were struck about this date. They bear the legend,
Rajanya janapada. They are found in Hoshiarpur district and Mathura.
Indicating movement from the former to the latter Region durng this period of
foreign invasions. One of their coins is die-struck and bears legend in
Kharosthi characters. It is closely allied to the north Satrap coins, bearing the
same figure as the latter. From this coin Dr Jayaswal deduced their final
absorption in the Mathura Satrapy. This deduction however iss fallacious.
This coin merely proves that up to 100 B.C. or little later, when they struck
these coins, they were independent. though for want of better skill they
imitated designs from the north Satrap. After absorption they could not
have retained the right of minting coins.
Dr Jayaswal has assumed the existence of another republican tribe in
the Punjab, namely, the Muhurajt-Janaptla, on the basis of coins bearing the
legend, Maharaja janapada in Brahmi as well as in Kharosthi. But according
to Allan this theory is based on an erroneous reading of the legend by
Cunningham on what really are Rajaniya-Janapada coins. Jayaswal’s
assertion that the Maharaja-Janapada is mentioned by Panini (IV I. 15I) is
also wrong. Neither the Sutra nor the (Ganapatha make any reference to them, though, of course, Rajanya figures in Panini and his Ganapatha.
Bull with crescent appears on the reverse of some ot the Rajanya Coins indicating that Saivism was the state religion of the Rajanya people.
The Audumbras
With the decline of the Sunga power, the Audumbras seem to have
resumed autonomy. Their coins of the first century B.C. have been discovered
from sites in the northern Punjab, e. g. from Pathankot in Gurdaspur district,
from Jwalamukhi and Hamirpur in Kangra district and from Hoshiarpur
district. Thus they occupied the low hills and sub-mountain region between
the Ravi and the Satluj rivers in the first century B.C. They had remained in
uninterrupted occupation of this region since the days of Panini, who impliedly
located them here. Varahamihira, too, seems to place them in this region, since he associates them with the Kapisthalas, a tribe living in the southern part of Gurdaspur district The Buddhist texts agree with this location of the Audumbaras. A branch of theirs seems to have migrated to Cutch, as Pliny locates the Adomboeres there. Brahmanas of Audumbara caste are to this day living in Gujrat.
Przyluski has shown that the coins and the Buddhist texts agree about the
high material prosperity, that the Audumbaras, had attained before the
commencement of the Christian era. This was inevitable since great trade
routes, connecting Kashmira and Kulūta and Taxila (via Sakala) with the rest of India, passed through their country, They issued even silver coinage. Besides Silver the Audumbaras issued copper and billon coins. The coins are both square as well as round. Legends on them indicate that in course of time the Audumbaras had developed into some sort of elected monarchy.
Some of these coins are struck in the name of the community and the king and bear the legends like Mahadevasa Rana Dharaghosasa / Odumharisa. The
square pieces, which were perhaps the earliest to be struck bear legends both
in Brahmi as well as Kharosthi. On these coins occur the names of four kings, namely, Sivadasa, Rudradasa, Mahadeva and Dharaghosa; and a fifth king, Rudravarma figures on some of the rare silver coins. Though the word,
Mahadeva, is also used on some of the Audumbara coins as a regal title, the
existence of a ruler of this name is proved beyond doubt by the legend on a silver coin, where he is described as Bhagavata by faith. But it is fallacious to conclude from an overstrike of his, on a coin of Uttamadatta, that he led
Successful expedition to Mathura. Overstrikes, as I have explained in
another work were caused by minting mistakes. They were not a conscious
operation, far less a proclamation of Victory. RudraVarma, however, may have gained some success against his close neighbours, to justify his claim in coin legends to being a vIctorious king. The rare silver coins bear a bearded figure labelled Vispamitra i.e the name of the sage Visvamitra, from whom the
Audumbaras presumably. traced their descent.
Some coins, bearing on the obverse a male deity, presumed by K. A. N.
Sastri to be Karttikeya, have been discovered. They are suspected to be
Audumbara’s coins, though legends are silent on this point. The legends are in
Brahmi and Kharosthi, and vouchsafe the existence of some more kings, e.g
Aryamitra (Ajamita), Mahimitra, Bhanumitra and Mahabhutimitra. The Mitra ending of their names points to Sunga influence, of not Sunga connection. It must be remembered in this context that both were ot Brahman stock. Palaeographically the Audumbara coins, like those of the other Punjab tribes, belong to the first century BC. They seem to have adopted Kharosthi as an alternate script under the influence of the Saka kings, Maues and his Successors. Under Saka pressure they broke up and scattered over a wide area.
Pliny who lived in the first century after Christ placed a branch of the
Audumbaras in Cutch. The 7th century dramatist, Bhavabhuti, who claims to
be a Brahmana of the Audumbara clan, hailed from Padmapura in Vidarbha
(Berar)
The Ksudrakas
This republican tribe seems to have maintained their identity till the time
of Patanjali, who refers to a victory that the Ksudrakas won single-handed.
Though the reference seems to be a past event. e.g. the VIctory they won against Alexander, the identity of the tribe, seems to be a contemporary fact. This is the last they are heard of. Most probably, hey were absorbed by their bigger associates, the Malavas, during the course of migration. The process had already started in Alexander’s time. Diodorus records that before meeting Alexander’s onslaught, the Ksudrakas and the Malavas cemented an alliance by intermarriages, each nation giving in exchange 1000 women as wives.
The Malavas
The Malavas country lay on both side of lower Sutlej. The western boundary was
formed by the lower Ravi and Jhelum and the south eastern by
the Sarasvati. Later, probably under the Indo.Greek pressure, they move
north-east to the Ludhiana- Patiala region, which even now is designated as Malava. The dialect spoken in these districts is called Malvai.
Malava coins bearing the legend Malaranam jayah were found from
Nagar in the erstwhile Jaipur state, indicating a movement in another
direction. Allan Vincent Smith, Cunningham and Prof. Rapson are
agreed that initial date for these coins is about 150 B.C. The
commencement of Malava migration towards Jaipur as also Ludhiana region,
therefore, synchronised with the Indo-Greek invasions during the preceding half century. Dislodged from their old homes the tribe appears to have split up in two branches One moving east to Ludhiana-Patiala country and the other
towards Jaipur. We cannot assume that
the tribe first migrated to Malava tract
in the Punjab, and after a brief stay they were again driven out by a fresh wave
of foreign invaders. A brief stay could not have justified the area and its
dialect being permanently associated with their name On law and order
having been restored by the Sungas, the Ludhiana- Patiala branch continued to live in these parts. Once again I do not agree with he opinion of Dr.
Jayaswal that they merely migrated via Bhatinda (Erstwhile Patiala
state) where they have left their name etc. nor with that of Dr. B.C. Law
e. g. First settled in the Punjab, the Malvas gradually spread themselves over.considerable portions of the north India and established their Settlements in Rajputana, Central India, in different localities of United Provinces, in the
country known as Lata-desa (comprising Broach, Cutch,Vadnagar and Ahmadabad) and finally in modern Malwa Nor can we assert that they were.occupying all the country from Ludhiana to Jaipur at this time for we have already seen that a more powerful tribe, the Yaudheyas, was in possession of the intervening territory, particularly the Haryana region The Malavas were a
fairly big tribe, and even when split up in two branches, would have remained
powerful severally in the two areas. Probably it was the Jaipur branch that
ultimately shifted to Malwa in western Madhya Pradesh i.e. the country around
Ujjain. Before 58 B.C. the Malavas are found besieging the Uttamabhadras to
the west of Ajner (not far from Jaipur) which was relieved by Nahapana.
Samudragupta mentioned them in his Allahabad pillar inscription as one of his
opponents along With some other republican tribes, namely, the Yaudheyas, the Madras, the Arjunayana etc. He subdued them all, they are not heard of again as an autonomous republican unit.
The Sibis
The circumstances that led tie Malavas in the second century B.C. to
migrate towards Rajasthan seem to have compelled their neighbours, the Sibis, also to do the same. The Jatakas mention a Sibi king and his country with
two of its cities, Arițthapura and Jetuttara. Aritthapura (Sanskrit. Aristapura) is probably identical with Ptolemy’s Aristobothra in the north Punjab and may perhaps be the same as Dvaravati. Jetuttara is identified by N. L. Day with
Nagari, a town eleven miles north of Chittor. It is evidently the Jattararur of
Alberuni, the capital of Mewar. Evidently the Jatakas are confusing two
Sivis, one ruling at Aristapur in an earlier period and the. second at Jetuttara in first century B.C. The tribe was not large enough to be at once present all over this country.
The presence of the Sibis in Rajasthan is known from their coins also,
found at Nagari, near Chittor. The coins are struck in the name of the
country (or nation) of the Sibis of Madhyamika, the text of the legend being “Majhamikaya Sibi janapadasaa” This legend also testifies to the fact that the Sibis formed a Janapada.
Dr. Tarn’s hypothesis that the Sibis must, it seems, have been settled at
Madhyamika by Apollodotus, is neither warranted by any evidence nor does
it sound convincing. Simultaneous migration of neighbouring tribes to
adjoining areas can be attributed to identical causes. Nor is there any basis for assuming that Apollodotus ever occupied Madhyamika. Patanjali refers only to a siege, which became renowned among the people, apparently for the heroism of the defenders.
Still later the Sibis, or a branch thereof, seem to have migrated to the
extreme south of India. The Cholas in the distant Tamil country count a Sibi
king among their ancestors.