Hindush

Hindush
𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁
Hindush 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁
Satrapyof theAchaemenid Empire
c. 513 BCE–c. 325 BCE
	Standard of Cyrus the Great
	; Approximate territorial extent of the Achaemenid realm in theIndus Valley
Demonym	Indian
Government
• Type	Monarchy
Monarchs
• 513–499 BCE	Darius I(first)
• 336–330 BCE	Darius III(last)
Historical era	Iron Age
•Persian conquest of the Indus Valley	c. 513 BCE
•Indian campaign of Alexander the Great	c. 325 BCE
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Sindhu-Sauvīra
Macedonian Empire
Today part of	Pakistan; India

Hindush(Old Persian:𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁Hidūš)^[a]was an administrative division of theAchaemenid Empire.According to the Greek historianHerodotus,it was the "easternmost province" governed by theAchaemenid dynasty.Established through thePersian conquest of the Indus Valleyin the 6th century BCE, it is believed to have continued as a province for approximately two centuries, ending when it fell to theMacedonian Empireduring theIndian campaign of Alexander the Great.

Etymology

Persia and India

Hindush was written in Persian inscriptions asHidūsh(Old Persian cuneiform:𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁,H-i-du-u-š). It is also transliterated asHiⁿdūšsince the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified asHindush.^[2]^[3]

It is widely accepted that the nameHindushderives fromSindhu,theSanskritname of theIndus riveras well as the region at the lower Indus basin. TheProto-Iraniansound change*s>hoccurred between 850–600 BCE, according toAsko Parpola.^[4]The-shsuffix is common among the names of many Achaemenid provinces, such asHarauvatish(the land ofHarauvatiorHaraxvaiti,i.e.,Arachosia) orBakhtrish(Bactria). Accordingly,Hindushwould mean the land ofSindhu.

Greece

The Greeks ofAsia Minor,who were also part of the Achaemenid empire, called the province 'India'. More precisely, they called the people of the province as 'Indians' ('Ινδοι,Indoi^[5]) The loss of theaspirate/h/was probably due to the dialects of Greek spoken inAsia Minor.^[6]^[7]Herodotus also generalised the term "Indian" from the people of Hindush to all the people living to the east of Persia, even though he had no knowledge of the geography of the land.^[8]

Geography

The territory of Hindush may have corresponded to the area covering the lower and centralIndusbasin (present daySindhand the southernPunjabregion of Pakistan).^[9]^[10]^[11]Hindush borderedGandāra(spelt asGaⁿdāraby the Achaememids) to the north. These areas remained under Persian control until theinvasion by Alexander.^[12]Alternatively, some authors consider thatHindushmay have been located in thePunjabregion.^[10]^[13]

Integration

Hindush soldier of the Achaemenid army

Xerxes Itomb, Hindush soldier of theAchaemenid army,circa 480 BCE.^[14]^[15]

Xerxes Itomb, Hindush soldier circa 480 BCE (enhanced detail).

The nameHidūš(𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁inOld Persian cuneiform) as an Achaemenid territory in theDNa inscriptionofDarius the Great(c. 490 BC).

Second Persian invasion of Greece

According toHerodotus,the 'Indians' participated to theSecond Persian invasion of Greececirca 480 BCE.^[16]At the finalBattle of Platea(479 BCE), they formed one of the main corps of Achaemenid troops (one of "the greatest of the nations" ).^[17]^[18]Indians were still supplying troops and elephants for the Achaemenid army at theBattle of Gaugamela(331 BCE).^[19]They are also depicted on the Achaemenid tombs ofNaqsh-e RostamandPersepolis.

Demographic representation

Representatives of Hindush are depicted as delegates bringing gifts to the king on the Apadana staircases, and as throne/ dais bearers on the Tripylon and Hall of One Hundred Columns reliefs at Persepolis The representatives of Hindush (as well as Gandara and Thatagus) in each in- stance are characterized by their loincloths, sandals, and exposed upper body, which distinguish them from the representatives of other eastern provinces such as Bactria and Arachosia.^[20]

Notes

^Transcribed asHiⁿdūšbecause the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified asHindūš.

References

^"Arachosia, Sattagydia, and India are represented and named among the subject nations sculptured on the base of the Egyptian statue of Darius I from Susa."Yar-Shater, Ehsan (1982).Encyclopaedia Iranica.Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 10.ISBN 9780933273955.
^Some sounds are omitted in the writing of Old Persian, and are shown with a raised letter.Old Persian p.164 Old Persian p.13.In particular Old Persian nasals such as "n" were omitted in writing before consonantsOld Persian p.17 Old Persian p.25
^DNa - Livius.
^Parpola, Asko (2015).The Roots of Hinduism.Oxford University Press. Chapter 9.
^'Ινδοι,Greek Word Study Tool, Tufts University
^Horrocks, Geoffrey (2009),Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers(Second ed.), John Wiley & Sons, pp. 27–28,ISBN 978-1-4443-1892-0:"Note finally that the letter H/η was originally used to mark word-initial aspiration... Since such aspiration was lost very early in the eastern Ionic-speaking area, the letter was recycled, being used first to denote the new, very open, long e-vowel [æ:]... and then to represent the inherited long e-vowel [ε:] too, once these two sounds had merged. The use of H to represent open long e-vowels spread quite early to the central Ionic-speaking area and also to the Doric-speaking islands of the southern Aegean, where it doubled up both as the marker of aspiration and as a symbol for open long e-vowels."
^Panayotou, A. (2007),"Ionic and Attic",in A.-F. Christidis (ed.),A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity,Cambridge University Press, p. 410,ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3:"The early loss of aspiration is mainly a characteristic of Asia Minor (and also of the Aeolic and Doric of Asia Minor)...In Attica, however (and in some cases in Euboea, its colonies, and in the Ionic-speaking islands of the Aegean), the aspiration survived until later... During the second half of the fifth century BC, however, orthographic variation perhaps indicates that 'a change in the phonetic quality of [h] was taking place' too."
^Arora, Udai Prakash (2005),"Ideas of India in Ancient Greek Literature",in Irfan Habib (ed.),India — Studies in the History of an Idea,Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, p. 47,ISBN 978-81-215-1152-0:"The term 'Indians' was used byHerodotusas a collective name for all the peoples living east of Persia. This was also a significant development overHekataios,who had used this term in a strict sense for the groups dwelling in Sindh only. "
^Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (1974).The Civilizations of Monsoon Asia.Angus and Robertson. p. 24.ISBN 978-0-207-12687-1.... that he annexed parts of India as Hindush, the twentieth satrapy of his empire.
^^a ^bSethna, Kaikhushru Dhunjibhoy (2000).Problems of Ancient India.Aditya Prakashan. p. 127.ISBN 978-81-7742-026-5.Olmstead's Hindush is the Punjāb east of the Indus - as his first Map, "Satrapies of the Persian Empire", makes perfectly clear.
^M. A. Dandamaev. "A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire" p 147. BRILL, 1989ISBN 978-9004091726
^Rafi U. Samad,The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys.Algora Publishing, 2011, p. 33ISBN 0875868592
^"Hiduscould be the areas of Sindh, or Taxila and West Punjab. "inCambridge Ancient History.Cambridge University Press. 2002. p. 204.ISBN 9780521228046.
^Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica.
^Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica List of nationalities of the Achaemenid military with corresponding drawings.
^HerodotusVII 64-66
^"A Sindhu contingent formed a part of his army which invaded Greece and stormed the defile at Thermopylae in 480 BC, thus becoming the first ever force from India to fight on the continent of Europe. It, apparently, distinguished itself in battle because it was followed by another contingent which formed a part of the Persian army under Mardonius which lost the battle of Platea"Sandhu, Gurcharn Singh (2000).A military history of ancient India.Vision Books. p. 179.ISBN 9788170943754.
^LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book IX: Chapters 1‑89.pp. IX-32.
^Tola, Fernando (1986). "India and Greece before Alexander".Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.67(1/4): 165.JSTOR 41693244.
^Magee, Peter; Petrie, Cameron; Knox, Robert; Khan, Farid; Thomas, Ken (October 2005)."The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations in Northwest Pakistan".American Journal of Archaeology.109(4). University of Chicago: 713.doi:10.3764/aja.109.4.711.JSTOR 40025695.S2CID 54089753.

[1] Transcribed asHiⁿdūšbecause the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified asHindūš.

[EI-2] "Arachosia, Sattagydia, and India are represented and named among the subject nations sculptured on the base of the Egyptian statue of Darius I from Susa."Yar-Shater, Ehsan (1982).Encyclopaedia Iranica.Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 10.ISBN 9780933273955.

[Old_Persian-3] Some sounds are omitted in the writing of Old Persian, and are shown with a raised letter.Old Persian p.164 Old Persian p.13.In particular Old Persian nasals such as "n" were omitted in writing before consonantsOld Persian p.17 Old Persian p.25

[4] DNa - Livius.

[5] Parpola, Asko (2015).The Roots of Hinduism.Oxford University Press. Chapter 9.

[6] 'Ινδοι,Greek Word Study Tool, Tufts University

[7] Horrocks, Geoffrey (2009),Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers(Second ed.), John Wiley & Sons, pp. 27–28,ISBN 978-1-4443-1892-0:"Note finally that the letter H/η was originally used to mark word-initial aspiration... Since such aspiration was lost very early in the eastern Ionic-speaking area, the letter was recycled, being used first to denote the new, very open, long e-vowel [æ:]... and then to represent the inherited long e-vowel [ε:] too, once these two sounds had merged. The use of H to represent open long e-vowels spread quite early to the central Ionic-speaking area and also to the Doric-speaking islands of the southern Aegean, where it doubled up both as the marker of aspiration and as a symbol for open long e-vowels."

[8] Panayotou, A. (2007),"Ionic and Attic",in A.-F. Christidis (ed.),A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity,Cambridge University Press, p. 410,ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3:"The early loss of aspiration is mainly a characteristic of Asia Minor (and also of the Aeolic and Doric of Asia Minor)...In Attica, however (and in some cases in Euboea, its colonies, and in the Ionic-speaking islands of the Aegean), the aspiration survived until later... During the second half of the fifth century BC, however, orthographic variation perhaps indicates that 'a change in the phonetic quality of [h] was taking place' too."

[9] Arora, Udai Prakash (2005),"Ideas of India in Ancient Greek Literature",in Irfan Habib (ed.),India — Studies in the History of an Idea,Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, p. 47,ISBN 978-81-215-1152-0:"The term 'Indians' was used byHerodotusas a collective name for all the peoples living east of Persia. This was also a significant development overHekataios,who had used this term in a strict sense for the groups dwelling in Sindh only. "

[Basham1974-10] Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (1974).The Civilizations of Monsoon Asia.Angus and Robertson. p. 24.ISBN 978-0-207-12687-1.... that he annexed parts of India as Hindush, the twentieth satrapy of his empire.

[Sethna2000-11] Sethna, Kaikhushru Dhunjibhoy (2000).Problems of Ancient India.Aditya Prakashan. p. 127.ISBN 978-81-7742-026-5.Olmstead's Hindush is the Punjāb east of the Indus - as his first Map, "Satrapies of the Persian Empire", makes perfectly clear.

[12] M. A. Dandamaev. "A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire" p 147. BRILL, 1989ISBN 978-9004091726

[13] Rafi U. Samad,The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys.Algora Publishing, 2011, p. 33ISBN 0875868592

[14] "Hiduscould be the areas of Sindh, or Taxila and West Punjab. "inCambridge Ancient History.Cambridge University Press. 2002. p. 204.ISBN 9780521228046.

[15] Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica.

[16] Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica List of nationalities of the Achaemenid military with corresponding drawings.

[17] HerodotusVII 64-66

[GS-18] "A Sindhu contingent formed a part of his army which invaded Greece and stormed the defile at Thermopylae in 480 BC, thus becoming the first ever force from India to fight on the continent of Europe. It, apparently, distinguished itself in battle because it was followed by another contingent which formed a part of the Persian army under Mardonius which lost the battle of Platea"Sandhu, Gurcharn Singh (2000).A military history of ancient India.Vision Books. p. 179.ISBN 9788170943754.

[H9-32-19] LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book IX: Chapters 1‑89.pp. IX-32.

[FT165-20] Tola, Fernando (1986). "India and Greece before Alexander".Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.67(1/4): 165.JSTOR 41693244.

[21] Magee, Peter; Petrie, Cameron; Knox, Robert; Khan, Farid; Thomas, Ken (October 2005)."The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations in Northwest Pakistan".American Journal of Archaeology.109(4). University of Chicago: 713.doi:10.3764/aja.109.4.711.JSTOR 40025695.S2CID 54089753.

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