भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

seemed to have surrendered completely to the Indian civilization. From the
common man to their royal families, the Sakas abandoned their own
original Saka names and adopted purely Indian ones like Satyasingh,
Rudrasen and others. It is strange to note that most of them embraced the
Vedic religion. In fact, ever since the Sakas crossed the Hindukush and
entered Baluchistan and Sindh and settled there permanently, they had come
in constant contact with the Buddhist population and the Buddhist centres
there, preaching and propagating the tenets of Lord Buddha from the time
of Ashoka and Menander. Moreover, the Malava-Youdheya republics,
which fought with them furiously at that time and defeated them, and also
the valiant armies of the Satavahans were Vedic Hindus. The Buddhists had
never resisted them with or without arms. Under these circumstances, it
would have been but natural, had the Sakas hated the Vedic religion of their
powerful enemies and accepted the Buddhist cult of those who
ungrudgingly submitted to their political domination. But what happened
was exactly the opposite of this natural expectation. The majority of the
Sakas, right from the commoner to the royal prince, got themselves
converted, most willingly to the Vedic religion. The raison d'etre perhaps
was that the Sakas being originally of a warlike disposition, whose blood
always rushed violently through their veins at the thought of a battle, looked
with awe and respect at the valiant Vedic warriors, who fought and defeated
them, enemies though they were, and the Vedic religion, which inspired
such fighting spirit amongst its votaries, that it must have exerted a great
fascination for them.
233. The Sakas came to love the Sanskrit language too. The kings of two
or three feudal Saka principalities that were left in their hands, patroinized
Sanskrit studies. One of the Saka kings made Sanskrit the official language
for all correspondence of his court and administrative department. Their
correspondence with the other Indian states, big or small, was also carried
on in Sanskrit. Their social customs and manners too, underwent rapid
changes and they got themselves attuned to Indian Social life.
The Kushan Invasion
234. While the Indians were, thus, gaining victories over the Sakas in
military, as well as cultural fields and were uprooting their aggression, the
locust-like hordes of the Kushans dashed against the northern frontier of
India towards the Hindukush. These Kushans were ousted from their
homeland by the Huns along with their women and children. As such,