History of Punjab.
Empires.
Achaemenid Empire
The western parts of ancient Gandhara, Kamboja and Taxila in North Punjab lay at the easternmost edge of the
The Hellenistic temple with Ionic columns at Jandial, Taxila, is usually interpreted as a Zoroastrian fire temple from the period of the Indo-Parthians.The upper Indus region, comprisingGandhara and Kamboja, formed the 7th satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, while the lower and middle Indus, comprising Sindhu (Sindh)
and Sauvira, constituted the 20th satrapy, both part of the easternmost
territories of the Achaemenids. They are reported to have contributed
170 and 360 talents of gold dust in annual tribute. It was said that the
then Indian provinces of Sindh and Punjab were the richest satraps of the Persian empires generating vast revenues and even providing foot soldiers for the empire.
The upper Indus region, comprising Gandhara and Kamboja, formed the 7th satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, while the lower and middle Indus, comprising Sindhu (Sindh)
and Sauvira, constituted the 20th satrapy, both part of the easternmost
territories of the Achaemenids. They are reported to have contributed
170 and 360 talents of gold dust in annual tribute. It was said that the
then Indian provinces of Sindh and Punjab were the richest satraps of the Persian empires generating vast revenues and even providing foot soldiers for the empire.
The western parts of ancient Gandhara, Kamboja and Taxila in North Punjab lay at the easternmost edge of the Achaemenid Empire.
The upper Indus region, comprising Gandhara and Kamboja, formed the 7th satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, while the lower and middle Indus, comprising Sindhu (Sindh)
and Sauvira, constituted the 20th satrapy, both part of the easternmost
territories of the Achaemenids. They are reported to have contributed
170 and 360 talents of gold dust in annual tribute. It was said that the
then Indian provinces of Sindh and Punjab were the richest satraps of the Persian empires generating vast revenues and even providing foot soldiers for the empire.
A coin of the Indo-Scythian king Azes.
The ancient Greeks also had some knowledge of the area. Darius I appointed his Greek subject Scylax of Caryanda to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to Suez. Scylax provides an account of this voyage in his book Periplous. Hecataeus of Miletus (500 BCE) and Herodotus (483–431 BCE) also wrote about the Indus Satrapy
of the Persians. In ancient Greek texts and maps, we find mention of
the "mightiest river of all the world", called the Indos (Indus) of
northern Indian subcontinent.
Silver tetradrachm of the Indo-Scythian king Maues (85–60 BCE).
The presence of the Scythians in north-western India during the 4th century BCE was contemporary with that of the Indo-Greek Kingdoms there, and it seems they initially recognized and joined the power of the local Greek rulers.
Indo-Scythians
Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila around 80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. In the east, the Indian king Vikrama retook Ujjain
from the Indo-Scythians, celebrating his victory by the creation of the
Vikrama Era (starting 57 BCE). Indo-Greek kings again ruled after
Maues, and prospered, as indicated by the profusion of coins from Kings Apollodotus II and Hippostratos. Not until Azes I, in 55 BCE, did the Indo-Scythians take final control of northwestern India, with his victory over Hippostratos.
Alexander's invasion
A painting by Charles Le Brun depicting The Battle of the Hydaspes, between Alexander the Great and Hindu King Porus of the Paurava kingdom in the Punjab.
"The Kambhojas on the Indos (Indus), the Taksas of Taksila(Taxila), the Madras and Kathas (Kathaioi) on Akesines (Chenab), the Malla (Malloi) on the Hydraotis (Iravati or Ravi), the Tugras on the Hesidros (Sutlej) had formed important populations of the Punjab in the pre-Alexandrian age and stubbornly opposed Alexander on the Indus and, in spite of his victories on Hydaspes (Jhelum) and Sakala (Sangala, Sialkot), had finally led him and his soldiers to abandon his planned conquest of India and retire to Babylonia".[29]
Campaigns and landmarks of Alexander's invasion of the Indus River Basin of modern-day Pakistan.
After overrunning the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BCE, Alexander marched into present-day Afghanistan with an army of 50,000. His scribes do not record the names of the rulers of the Gandhara or Kamboja;
rather, they locate a dozen small political units in those territories.
This rules out the possibility of Gandhara and/or Kamboja] having been
great kingdoms in the late 4th century BCE. In 326 BCE, most of the
dozen-odd political units of the former Gandhara/Kamboja fell to
Alexander's forces.
Greek historians refer to three warlike peoples, viz. the Astakenoi, the Aspasioi[30] and the Assakenoi,[31][32]
located in the northwest west of river Indus, whom Alexander had
encountered during his campaign from Kapisi through Gandhara. The
Aspasioi were cognate with the Assakenoi and were merely a western
branch of them.[27][33][34] Both Aspasioi and Assakenoi were a brave peoples.[35]
Alexander had personally directed his operations against these hardy
mountaineers who offered him stubborn resistance in all of their
mountainous strongholds. The Greek names Aspasioi and Asssakenoi derive
from Sanskrit Ashva (or Persian Aspa). They appear as Ashvayanas and Ashvakayanas in Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi[36][37] and Ashvakas in the Puranas. Since the Kambojas were famous for their excellent breed of horses as also for their expert cavalry skills,[38][39][40] hence, in popular parlance, they were also known as Ashvakas.[27][33][41][42][43][44][45] The Ashvayanas/Ashvakayanas and allied Saka clans[46] had fought the Macedonians
to a man. At the worst of the war, even the Ashvakayana Kamboj women
had taken up arms and fought the invaders side by side with their
husbands, thus preferring "a glorious death to a life of dishonor.".[33][47]
Alexander then marched east to the Hydaspes, where Porus, ruler of the kingdom between the Hydaspes (Jhelum)near Bhera and the Akesines (Chenab) refused to submit to him. The two armies fought the Battle of the Hydaspes River
outside the town of Nikaia (near the modern city of Jhelum) and Poros
became Alexander's satrap. Alexander's army crossed the Hydraotis and
marched east to the Hyphasis (Beas).
However, Alexander's troops refused to face the vastly superior
imperial army of Magadh Empire, Persoi refused to go beyond the Hyphases
(Beas) River near town Beas.
The Battle with Porus depressed the spirits of the Macedonians, as too
many valiant comrades died helplessly by Porus' war elephants, and made
them very unwilling to advance farther into India. Moreover, when they
learned that a vastly superior imperial army of Magadh, Gangaridai and
Prasii are waiting for the Greeks, all the generals of Alexander refused
to meet them for fear of annihilation. Therefore, Alexander had to
return. He crossed the river and ordered to erect giant altars to mark
the eastern most extent of his empire thus claiming the territory east
of Beas as part of his conquests. He also set up a city named Alexandria
nearby and left many Macedonian veterans there, he himself turned back
and marched his army to the Jhelum and the Indus to the Arabian Sea, and
sailing to Babylon.
Alexander left some forces along the Indus river region. In the Indus territory, he nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap, a position he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BCE, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in charge of the army, at the side of the satraps Porus and Taxiles. Eudemus became ruler of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BCE with their armies, and Chandragupta Maurya established the Maurya Empire in India.
Maurya Empire
Main article: Maurya Empire
The portions of the Punjab that had been captured under Alexander were soon conquered by Chandragupta Maurya.
The founder of the Mauryan Empire incorporated the rich provinces of
the Punjab into his empire and fought Alexander's successor in the east,
Seleucus, when the latter invaded. In a peace treaty, Seleucus ceded all territories west of the Indus, including Southern Afghanistan while Chandragupta granted Seleucus 500 elephants. The Sanskrit play Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parishishtaparvan talk of Chandragupta's alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, sometimes identified with Porus.[48] This Himalayan alliance is thought to given Chandragupta a composite and powerful army made up of the Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Shakas (Scythians), Kiratas, Parasikas (Iranic tribe) and Bahlikas (Bactrians).[49][50]
The Punjab prospered under Mauryan rule for the next century. It became
a Bactrian Greek (Indo-Greek) territory in 180 BCE following the
collapse of Mauryan authority.
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