Aśvaka Explained

Asvakas (Sanskrit:Aśvaka) were an ancient Indo-Aryan people from Gandhara in the present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.^{[1] [2]} The region in which they lived was also called Aśvaka.^[3]

Etymology

The Sanskrit term aśva, Prakrit assa and Avestan aspa means horse. The name Aśvaka/Aśvakan or Assaka is derived from the Sanskrit Aśva or Prakrit Assa and it denotes someone connected with the horses, hence a horseman, or a cavalryman.^{[4] [5] [6]} The Asvakas were especially engaged in the occupation of breeding, raising and training war horses, as also in providing expert cavalry services.^[7] The name of the Aśvakan or Assakan is believed by some scholars to have been preserved in that of the modern Pashtun, with the name Afghan being derived from Asvakan.^[1]

Ethnology

In the Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka, Asvakas are described as Gandhāras (Gandharians)^[2] who are recorded separately from Kambojas. Ancient Greek historians who documented the exploits of Alexander the Great refer to the Aspasioi and Assakenoi (Ἀσσακηνοί) tribes among his opponents. The historian R. C. Majumdar considers these words to be corruptions of Asvaka.^[8] It is possible that the corruption of the names occurred due to regional differences in pronunciation.^[9] Rama Shankar Tripathi thinks it possible that the Assakenoi were either allied to or a branch of the Aspasioi.^[10] The Greeks recorded the two groups as inhabiting different areas, with the Aspasioi in either the Alishang or Kunar Valley and the Assakenoi in the Swat Valley.

History

The Assakenoi fielded 2,000 cavalry, 30 elephants and 30,000 infantry against Alexander during his campaign in India, which began in 327 BCE, but they eventually had to surrender after losses at places such as Beira, Massaga and Ora. The Aspasioi chose to flee into the hills but destroyed their city of Arigaion before doing so; 40,000 of them were captured, along with 230,000 oxen.^[11] Diodorus recorded the strength of the Aśvaka opposition, noting that the women took up arms along with the men, preferring "a glorious death to a life of dishonour".^[12] Queen Cleophis was the main leader of Asvakas during their war against Alexander.

The Asvayanas have been attested to be good cattle breeders and agriculturists by classical writers. Arrian said that, during the time of Alexander, there were a large number of bullocks - 230,000 - of a size and shape superior to what the Macedonians had known, which Alexander captured from them and decided to send to Macedonia for agriculture.^[13]

References

NotesCitations

Further reading

• A Geographical Introduction to the History of Central Asia . K. de B. . Codrington . The Geographical Journal . 104 . 1/2 . July–August 1944 . 27–40 . 1790027 . 10.2307/1790027.
• The Aśvakas: an Early Indian Tribe . Kalyan Kumar Das . Gupta . East and West . 22 . 1/2 . March–June 1972 . 33–40 . 29755742 .

Notes and References

1. Book: Bosworth, C. Edmund . The Turks in the Early Islamic World . 2017 . Routledge . 978-1-351-88087-9 . 33 . en.
2. Book: Tarn, William Woodthorpe . The Greeks in Bactria and India . 2010-06-24 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-108-00941-6 . 170 . en.
3. Book: Gupta, Parmanand . Geography from Ancient Indian Coins & Seals . Concept Publishing Company . 1989 . 978-8-17022-248-4 . 17–18 .
4. Book: Chaudhuri, Sashi Bhusan . Ethnic Settlements in Ancient India: A Study on the Puranic Lists of the Peoples of Bharatavarsa . General Printers and Publishers . 1955 . 51 .
5. Book: Lamotte, Etienne . History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Saka Era . 1988 . Trans. Webb-Boin, Sara . Université Catholique de Louvain . 978-9-06831-100-6 . 100 .
6. Book: The History and Culture of the Indian People . 2001 . 2 . 45 . Ramesh Chandra . Majumdar . Achut Dattatrya . Pusalker . Bharatiya Vidya . Bhavan . A. K. . Majumdar . Dilip Kumar . Ghose . Vishvanath Govind . Dighe.
7. Tucci . Giuseppe . 1977 . On Swāt. The Dards and Connected Problems . East and West . 27 . 1/4 . 9–103 . 29756375 . 0012-8376.
8. Book: Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra . Ancient India . Ramesh Chandra Majumdar . Reprinted . Motilal Banarsidass . 1977 . 1952 . 978-8-12080-436-4 . 99 .
9. Book: Bevan, E. R. . The Cambridge History of India . 1 . Edward James . Rapson . Cambridge University Press . 1955 . 352 . https://books.google.com/books?id=gYg8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA352 . Alexander the Great .
10. Book: Tripathi, Rama Shankar . History of Ancient India . Reprinted . Motilal Banarsidass . 1942 . 1992 . 978-8-12080-018-2 . 119 .
11. Book: Heckel, Waldemar . A Companion to the Classical Greek World . Konrad H. . Kinzl . Reprinted . John Wiley & Sons . 2010 . 2006 . 978-1-44433-412-8 . 577 . https://books.google.com/books?id=loeWIRBo3isC&pg=PA577 . The Conquests of Alexander the Great .
12. Book: History of Civilizations of Central Asia . 1999 . 76 . Ahmad Hasan . Dani . Vadim Mikhaĭlovich . Masson . János . Harmatta . Boris Abramovich . Litvinovskiĭ . Clifford Edmund . Bosworth . UNESCO .
13. Book: Achaya, K. T. . cf: A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food . Oxford India Paperbacks . 91 . 2001.