Pahlavas
ThePahlavasare a people mentioned in ancient Indian texts. According to Patrick Carnegy,[3]a Raj-era ethnographer, the 4th-century BCEVartikaofKatyayanamentions theSakah-Parthavah,demonstrating an awareness of these Saka-Parthians, probably by way of commerce.[4]Knowledge of the Pahlavas is distilled from the literary references in texts like theManu Smriti,variousPuranas,theRamayana,theMahabharata,and theBṛhat Saṃhitā.
In Puranic texts
[edit]Pahlavas are referenced in various Puranic texts such asVayu Purana,theBrahmanda Purana,theMarkandeya Purana,theMatsya Purana,and theVamana Purana.
Kirfel's list ofUttarapathacountries of theBhuvanakoshalocates the Pahlavas along with theTocharians(orTusharas),Chinas,Angalaukikas, Barbaras,Kambojas,Daradas,Bahlikas and other countries of the "Udichya" (Sanskrit: "northern" ) division of ancient India:[citation needed]
ete desha udichyastu
Kambojashchaiva Dardashchaiva Barbarashcha Angaukikah
Chinashchaiva TusharashchaPahlavadhayata narah— From Kirfel's text ofBhuvanakosha
TheVayu Purana,Brahmanda Puranaand several other Puranas mention the Pahlavas with the tribes of Uttarapatha or north-west. The 6th-century CE textMarkandeya Purana[α]lists the Pahlavas, Kambojas, Daradas, Bahlikas, Barbaras, Tusharas, Paradas, Chinas, Lampakas, as the countries of Udichya division (Uttarapatha). However, the 58th chapter of theMarkandeya Puranaalso refers to yet other settlements of the Pahlavas and the Kambojas and locates them both specifically in the south-west of India as neighbors to theSindhu,Sauviraand Anarta (northSaurashtra) countries. The 6th-centuryBṛhat SaṃhitāofVarāhamihiraalso locates the Pahlavas andKambojakingdoms in south-west India, aroundGujarat-Saurashtra.[9]
Puranas likeVayualso state that theUttarapatha(Udichyas) including the Pahlavas, Paradas, Gandharas, Sakas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Kambojas, Khasas, Lampakas, Madhyadesis, Vindhyas, Aprantas, Dakshinatyas, Dravidas, Pulindas, Simhalas, would be proceeded against and annihilated by Kalki inKali Yuga.And they are stated to have been annihilated by king Pramiti at the end of Kali age as perPuranicevidence.
According toVayu PuranaandMatsya Purana,the river Chakshu (OxusorAmu Darya) flowed through the countries of Pahlavas,Tusharas,Lampakas,Paradasand theSakas.[β]
Pānca Ganahasor five hordes
[edit]Puranas associate the Pahlavas with the Kambojas, Sakas, Yavanas andParadasand brands them together asPanca-ganah(five hordes). These five hordes were military allies of the Haihaya or Taljunga Kshatriyas ofYadavaline and were chiefly responsible for dethroning king Bahu of Kosala.
Later, king Sagara, son of king Bahu, was able to defeat the Haihayas or Taljungas together with these five-hordes. According to Puranic accounts, king Sagara had divested the Paradas and other members (the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas) of the well-known Pānca-gana of their Kshatriyahood and turned them into the Mlechchas. Before their defeat at the hands of king Sagara, these five-hordes were called Kshatriya-pungava ('foremost among the Kshatriyas').
In theRamayanaandMahabharata
[edit]The Balakanda of theRamayanagroups the Pahlavas with the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Mlechhas and theKiratasand refers to them as military allies ofsageVasishthaagainst Vedic sage kingVishwamitra.[γ]
TheKiṣkindhā Kāṇdaof theRamayanaassociates the Pahlavas with theYavanas,Shakas,Kambojas,Paradas(Varadas),Rishikasand theUttarakurus,and locates them all in the trans-Himalayanterritories, that is, in the Sakadvipa.[δ]
TheUttarapatha
[edit]Mahabharataattests that Pandava-putraNakulahad defeated the Pahlavas in the course of his western expedition. The kings of Pahlava were also present at theRajasuyasacrifice of kingYudhishtra.
TheMahabharataalso associates the Pahlavas with theSakas,Yavanas,Gandharas,Kambojas,Tusharas,Sabaras, Barbaras, and addresses them all as the barbaric tribes ofUttarapatha.
TheUdyoga-Parva
[edit]But the Udyoga-Parva ofMahabharatagroups the Pahlavas with theSakas,Paradasand theKambojas-Rishikasand locates them all in or around Anupa region in western India.
Mahabharata[ε]reads: These kings of the Shakas, Pahlavas and Daradas (i.e. the Paradas) and the Kamboja Rshikas, these are in the western riverine (Anupa) area.
This epic reference implies that sections of the Pahlavas, Sakas, Paradas, Kambojas were also located in western India nearSaurashtra-Maharashtra.
The Kurukshetra War
[edit]The Pahlavas along with the Sakas, Kiratas, Yavanas, amongst others, joined Saradwat's son Kripacharya, the high-souled and mighty bowman, and took up their positions at the northern point of the army.[ζ][b]
In other texts
[edit]Manusmriti
[edit]TheManusmriti[η]states that the Pahlavas and several other tribes like theSakas,Yavanas,Kambojas,Paradas,Daradas,Khasas.were originally noble Kshatriyas, but later, due to their non-observance of valorous Kshatriya codes and neglect of chivalry, they had gradually sunken to the status of Mlechchas.
TheMudrarakshasadrama
[edit]TheBuddhistdramaMudrarakshasabyVisakhaduttaand theJainaworksParishishtaparvanrefer toChandragupta's alliance withHimalayanking Parvatka. This Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a powerful composite army made up of the frontier martial tribes of theShakas,Kambojas,Yavanas,Pahlavas, Bahlikas, which he utilized to expanded hisMauryan Empirein northern India.[θ]
Brihat-Katha-Manjari
[edit]TheBrihat-Katha-ManjariofKshmendra[ι]relates that around 400, the Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the barbarians" like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, by annihilating these "unrighteous people" completely.
Kavyamimamsa
[edit]The 10th century Kavyamimamsa[c]of Pt Raj Shekhar still lists the Sakas, Tusharas, Vokanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Tangana, Turukshas, together and states them as the tribes located in theUttarapathadivision.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^According to Gupta (1980)[1]this is a non-Indian face of a foreigner with a conical hat: "If there are a few faces which are non-Indian, such as one head from Sarnath with conical cap, they are due to the presence of the foreigners, their costumes, tastes and liking for portrait art and not their art styles."Regarding theMasarh lion,Gupta (1980) says:[2]"This particular example of a foreign model gets added support from the male heads of foreigners from Patna city and Sarnath since they also prove beyond doubt that a section of the elite in the Gangetic Basin was of foreign origin. However, as noted earlier, this is an example of the late Mauryan period since this is not the type adopted in any Ashoka pillar. We are, therefore, visualizing a historical situation in India in which the West Asian influence on Indian art was felt more in the late Mauryan than in the early Mauryan period. The term West Asia in this context stands for Iran and Afghanistan, where the Sakas and Pahlavas had their base-camps for eastward movement. The prelude to future inroads of the Indo-Bactrians in India had after all started in the second century B.C.... "
- ^Since the armies of the Sakas, Yavanas, Tukharas, Khasas, Daradas had fought under the supreme command of Sudakshin Kamboja,[11]it is highly likely that the Pahlavas too fought under Sudakshina Kamboj.
- ^In Chapter 17
Ancient texts cited
[edit]| History of South Asia |
|---|
 |
- ^Markandeya Purana57.35.
- ^Vayu PuranaI.58.78-83
- ^Ramayana,55/2-3
- ^Ramayana § Kiṣkindhā Kāṇda,43-12.
- ^Mahabharata5.4.15
- ^MahabharataBhishma Parva,Ch. 20.
- ^Manu-samhita,X.43-44
- ^Mudrarakshasa,II
- ^Brihat-Katha-Manjari10/1/285-86[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^Gupta 1980,p. 318.
- ^Gupta 1980,p. 122.
- ^
- Carnegy, Patrick (1868).Notes on the races tribes and castes inhabiting the province of Avadh[Oudh].Lucknow: Government of Oudh. p. 4.
Native ethnologists... say that of the six remaining original races of which they take cognizance[...] that the Pahluv are probably those people who spoke Pahluvi or Pehlvi, a language of Persia...
[failed verification] - Notes on the Races, Tribes and Castes Inhabiting the Province of Avadh[Oudh].Lucknow: Oudh Government Press. 1868. p. 4.
- See:
- Singh, M. R. (1972).Geographical data in the early Purāṇas: A critical study.Calcutta: Punthi Pustak.LCCN72903450.OCLC736935.A revision of the author's thesis, University of Rajasthan, 1967.
- "Introduction".The Laws of Manu, with extracts from seven commentaries.Sacred Books of the East.Vol. XXV. Translated byBühler, Georg(1886 ed.). p. cxv.
- Rapson,Coins of Ancient India,p. 37, n. 2.
- Carnegy, Patrick (1868).Notes on the races tribes and castes inhabiting the province of Avadh[Oudh].Lucknow: Government of Oudh. p. 4.
- ^V. S. Agarwala (1954).India as Known to Panini.p.444
- ^Sen 1999,pp. 116–117.
- ^Philip's Atlas of World History(1999)
- ^O'Brien, Patrick Karl (2002).Atlas of World History.Oxford University Press. p. 43.ISBN9780195219210.
- ^Barraclough, Geoffrey (1989).The Times Atlas of World History.Times Books. p. 79.ISBN9780723009061.
- ^Singh 1972,pp. 134–135.
- ^abVishnu, Asha (1993).Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C.Mittal Publications. p. 141.ISBN9788170994107.
- ^F. E. Pargiter (1908). "The Nations of India at the Battle Between the Pandavas and Kauravas",Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.pp. 313, 331 (Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland).
Sources
[edit]- Gupta, Swarajya Prakash(1980).The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan.B.R. Publishing Corporation. pp. 88, 122.ISBN978-0-391-02172-3.
- Sen, Sailendra Nath (1999).Ancient Indian History and Civilization.New Age International.ISBN9788122411980.