Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 143

JULY, 1933]
PLACES AND PEOPLES IN AŚOKA'S INSCRIPTIONS
131
(Yona-Kambojusu). 8 These Yavana-Kambojas of the PAli texts had no Brahmans according to the canon and Asoka (R. P. XIII): they had only free men and slaves, which is an accurate description of a Greek community. The Páli form, Yona-Kamboja, would mean that these Yonas were in the Kamboja country and a part thereof. In 1919 I had pointed out that these were pre-Alexander Yavanas, the Yavanas of Panini and Manu, for Manu treats thom as & Hindu tribe; and I identified them with the community at Nysa, below the Hindukush (Meru), with their president Akoubi (A.Kaubhi). The latter official presided over the people who dwelt between the Hindukush and the Kubh& (Kábul) river, i.e., to the north of that river. They claimed kinship with Alexander's Greeks, which was acknowledged. Patañjali notes their janapada: Naisyo nama janapadah (M. IV. I. 4 on P. 4. 1. 170). From Arrian we get some light on the identification of
The Yona-Karnboja-Gandhåras of Asoka (R.V). In the edicts those are grouped together, which means, they were all neighbours situated in this order. The enumeration is scientific, being in geographical sequence, from west to east, which is confirmed by Arrian (I):
"The regions beyond the river Indus on the west are inhabited, up to the river Kophen, by two Indian tribes, the Astakenoi and the Assakenoi, who are not men of great stature like the Indians on the other side of the Indus, nor so brave, nor yet so swarthy as most Indians...... The Nysaioi, however, are not an Indian race, but descendants of those who came into India with Dionysos..... The district in which he planted this colony he named Nysain (=the Naibya janapada of Patanjali) ...... and the city itself Nysa. But the mountain close by the city, and on the lower slopes of which it is built, is designated Méros (Meru)........ In the dominions of the Assakenoi there ig a great city called Massaka, the seat of the sovereign power which controls the whole realm. And there is another city, Peukelaītis (Puşkalavati), which is also of great size and not far from the Indus. These settlements lie on the other side of the river Indus, and extend in a western direction as far as the Kophon."
Arrian, in the above passage, indicates that Puşkalavati was easternmost in this enumeration, and his Assakenoi, or the Asvakas, were on the Kabul river and between the Nysa Yavanas and Puşkalâvati. Now Puşkalâvati was in Gandhára. Asoka's Kambojas were between the Yavanas and Gandhâra. The Kambojas of Asoka and of the Sanskrit and Pali texts thus occupy exactly the same position as Arrian's Assakenoi (Ašvakas). We thus get another name for the Kambojas, i.e., Asvakas. The Kambojas were famous for their horses, and as cavalry-men (asva-yuddha-kusalah);60 Asvakas, horsemen,' was the term popularly applied to them.
Gandhara. 24. Arrian, starting his enumeration from the Indus westwards, mentions the Astakenoi first, which means that they were in Gandhârs. The Astakaa are the well-known Astakarajya, the Confederacy of Eight.'51 They are now represented by Hashtnagar, the
Eight Cities' tract on the lower Swat in the neighbourhood of Puskaldvati (Chårsadda). The Gandhára of Asoka was divided into two parts, (1) on the eastern side of the Indus, with Takşasilá as capital, which was an Imperial Province, and (2) the Båjaur and Swat region under autonomous (city) states, with Puşkalâvati as the biggest town amongst them. They formed a league of eight city-states. Now, in Rock P.V. we have the Gandharas, and in Rock P. XIII we have in their place in the arája-vigaya group) the Nabhaka-Nabhapamtis(=parkti). Here the section of Gandhåra which was not under direct imperial rule was distinguished by these two names. Precisely in this region (Bajaur-Swat) we have now the Nahaka community and the Nahaki Pass. Nåhaka is the exact equivalent of Nabhaka.
18 Majjhima, ii, 149 (pointed out by Mr. C. D. Chatterji). These Yonas-Kambojas had only two varna. (castee), vie., drya (free men) and dása (elare); and one could change to the other.
49 While delivering my Tagore Law Lectures before the Calcutta University. See Tagore Lectures, (1919), p. 83 ; Hindu Polity, i. 147-148.
60 Mahd-Bhdrata, Santi p., 105. 6 (Kumbakonam ed:) 61 Cf. C.H.I., p. 355, n.