Indo-Greeks in North-West India

At a Glance

• Origin Greeks of Bactria
• Arrival From about 200 BC
• Famous king Menander (Milinda)
• Capital Sakala (Sialkot)
• Legacy Coins, Kanishka Gandhara Graeco-Roman style Buddha Mathura Indigenous, red sandstone South Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati…">Gandhara art, Milinda Panho
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Post-Mauryan Period and Early South India

Where Does It Fit?

This is the first topic of the category on the post-Mauryan period and early South India. The previous category ended with the Shungas and Kanvas, and this topic introduces the first foreign invaders. The next topic covers the Shakas and Parthians. Previous topic: Shungas and Kanvas – Post-Mauryan Rule in the Ganga Valley.

Why Did the Greeks of Bactria Invade India?

In short: weak Seleucid control and pressure from Central Asian tribes pushed the Bactrian Greeks into India.

A series of invasions began in about 200 BC. The first to cross the Hindu Kush were the Greeks who ruled Bactria, or Bahlika, south of the Oxus in north Afghanistan. One important cause was the weakness of the Seleucid empire in Bactria and Parthia. Another account says the Seleucid empire began to weaken after 250 BCE, when Diodotus, the governor of Bactria, revolted and became independent, and by 212 BCE a Greek named Euthydemus ruled Bactria. Pressure from Scythian tribes made it hard for later Greek rulers to keep power. When the Chinese wall pushed the Scythians back from the Chinese border, they turned to the neighbouring Greeks and Parthians. Ashoka’s successors were too weak to stop the tide. Ashoka’s own edicts had mentioned five yona kings, and the Indian term yavana came to denote Greeks and later all foreigners. The earlier Greek contact is in Alexander’s Invasion and its Effects, and the weakness of the Mauryas is in Causes of the Decline of the Mauryan Empire.

How Did the Indo-Greeks Rule?

In the early second century BC the Indo-Greeks occupied a large part of north-west India, an area much larger than Alexander’s. It is said they went as far as Ayodhya and Pataliputra, but the Greeks failed to establish united rule: two Greek dynasties ruled the north-west simultaneously on parallel lines, and names of over thirty kings are known from coins. According to another account, Euthydemus’s son Demetrius succeeded about 200 BCE, and another Demetrius, probably Demetrius II, was the first known Indo-Greek king about 175 BCE. Bactria was lost to the Parthians and Shakas about 165 BCE, after which the Indo-Greeks continued in southern Afghanistan and north-western India, with small autonomous pockets.

Menander is dated 165 to 45 BC in one account and about 165/145 to 130 BCE in another. He had many cities, including Sakala (modern Sialkot) and Mathura, and his coins are known for their variety and wide spread. Another account notes that he raided the Gangetic region along with the kings of Panchala and Mathura and attacked Pataliputra, but retreated without consolidating. His coins call him king and saviour (soter), not a great conqueror. He was converted to Buddhism by the monk Nagasena, and their questions and answers were recorded in the Milinda Panho.

What Did the Indo-Greeks Leave Behind?

Indo-Greek rule is important for its large number of coins. They were the first rulers in India to issue coins that can be attributed definitely to particular kings, which the early punch-marked coins cannot be. The coins are in the Greek style, in silver with the king’s portrait and name, which allows the lineage of the kings to be reconstructed with certainty. The Indo-Greeks were also the first to issue gold coins in India, which increased under the Kushans. Greek rule introduced Hellenistic features of art in the north-west frontier, not purely Greek but the product of Greek contact with non-Greek conquered peoples, the best example being Gandhara art, covered in Mahayana Buddhism and the Gandhara and Mathura Schools of Art. The Greeks used the Brahmi script and Indian motifs on coins and gave India ideas in astronomy, and the Greek term drachma became drama. They exported dogs, cattle, spices and ivory. The wider borrowing is in Cultural Consequences of Central Asian Contact.

As an analytical point, the Indo-Greeks never built an empire, but they linked the Mediterranean, Central Asia and India, and their coinage and religious tolerance shaped later rulers. Later powers who displaced them are in Shakas and Parthians and Kushanas and Kanishka.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Coinage First attributable coins
• Buddhism Menander and Nagasena
• Art Origin of Gandhara style

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the Shakas and Parthians. Next topic: Shakas and Parthians.

Key People and Terms

• Indo-Greek Greek ruler of north-west India
• Bactria Greek kingdom in north Afghanistan
• Yavana Greek, later any foreigner
• Milinda Panho Questions of Milinda
• Soter Saviour
• Hellenistic art Greek-influenced art after Alexander

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask for impact of the Indo-Greeks. These points add depth.

• Politics Parallel dynasties
• Coinage Attributable coins
• Culture Gandhara