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

owing to Ashoka’s ban, the Vedic Hindus had not been able to perform any
sacrifice whatsoever for the last forty or fifty years. But soon after the Vedic
states were established in Kalinga and Andhra, this horse-sacrifice, the first
of its kind, was celebrated in total defiance of all the injunctions of Ashoka
on the Vedic religious practices, immortalising the crushing defeat inflicted
on the Greeks, the national enemies of India.
Another Greek Invasion
182. Seeing that Kharvela had returned to the south, Menander, who had
so far stabilized his position in Kamboj and Gandhar, and who was furious
at the disaster met with by Demetreos on his march against Magadha, once
again invaded India within a period of four years. As at the time of the
invasion of Demetreos, so also at this time, the Greeks did not meet with
any opposition worth the name in Panchnad, which was dominated by the
Buddhists and, as such, had become pacifist, the weak descendant of
Ashoka on the throne of Magadha, too, offered no effective resistance.
The Buddhists Sympathize with the Greeks
183. On the contrary, Menander could enlist the sympathy of many of the
Buddhists in his campaign. For, he openly said that he approved of many
of the Buddhist principles and that he was soon going to become a convert
to it. So, many Buddhist preachers began to publicise that the Greeks had
come to fight with the Vedic Hindus alone, and that if they conquered
India, there would be a Buddhist rule! The Buddhists were not much
concerned with the alien nationality or the Greeks. Buddhism did not
recognize the differences of caste, race or nationality! This was the anti-
national and anti-Indian wicked way in which the Buddhist preachers
began to delude the people of India! As their sympathetic assistance was
so useful to Menander, he too began to circulate through his Greek agents,
that this campaign of his was directed solely to nip in the bud the
conspiracy of the Vedic Hindus to snatch away the imperial power from
the hands of the weak Buddhist rulers of Magadha. Menander came once
again, reducing Panchnad and other provinces right up to Ayodhya. In
order to avoid the repetition of the sad plight of Demetreos, who had made
undue haste at an inopportune time, Menander spent some time in
Ayodhya, consolidating the newly won territories and replenishing his
army before he launched an attack on Magadha and waited for the
auspicious moment.
But there in Pataliputra...?

184. The Vedic community and their leaders in North India had already
     experienced a surge of heroic spirit because of the victory of the brave
     Kharvela of Kalinga. To add to it, the news arrived of Menander’s
     menacing invasion! Besides, the Indian Buddhist populace showed clear
     signs of defection and betrayal of their co-nationalists to Menander. The
     nationalist Indian leaders, therefore, formed a revolutionary body with a
     view to dethroning the vacillating and weak Brihadrath Maurya from the
     royal seat of Magadha, and replace him with one of the Vedic sect, who was
     of proven mettle like Chandragupta Maurya. But everybody was confronted
     with the difficult question, as to who was there so bold and powerful, to
     take the lead in this national revolution and to destroy the Yavanas (the
     Greeks) completely.
     Pushyamitra
185. Amongst the remnants of the Magadhan warriors in the army of the
     above-named Brihadrath Maurya was one, named Pushyamitra. He was a
     Brahimin by birth. He was, moreover, a staunch supporter of the Vedic
     religion and Indian nationality, and a devotee of Lord Shiv. His family name
     was Shung. Even in the Magadhan army, he had attained so much
     importance because of his military exploits that Brihadrath Maurya himself
     had appointed him, not very willingly but only out of necessity, to the office
     of the Commander-in-Chief of the forces in the face of the deadly war with
     the invading Greeks. The moment he got the reins of the highest military
     authority, Pushyamitra began to enlarge and reorganize the army of
     Magadha, and equipped it with all the weapons. This focussed the attention
     of all the patriotic Vedic populace on Pushyamitra, the general of the army.
     Everybody anxiously hoped, if General Pushyamitra should lead the
     political coup...? Who else, they thought, was at that time fitter and abler
     than this valiant hero, to ascend the traditional imperial throne of the Indian
     empire?
186. From the historically established facts of this Magadhan political
     revolution, which are going to be related very shortly, it will be amply clear
     that General Pushyamitra must have accepted the leadership of the future
     conspiracy. It is very likely that he must have secured, in advance, at least
     tacit consent of his army and some of its leaders before he acted openly.
     Assassination of Brihadrath Maurya
187. While all these preparations were going on, one day it was decided to
     hold a grand military review in the vast courtyard of the royal palace in the

capital city of Pataliputra. Emperor Brihadrath Maurya was present there to
witness the march-past and receive the salute of the army. But while as per
Pushyamitra’s orders, the ceremonial movements of the four-fold army and
their different formations were going on with all pomp and show and noise
and bustle, for some reason, not known to history, some trouble arose near
the place where King Brihadrath was sitting. In the excitement of the
moment, General Pushyamitra marched on Brihadrath Maurya, who had
come to be merely the titular head of the empire, and beheaded him.
188. This chopping-off of the head of Brihadrath put a stop to the dynasty
of the Mauryas! The Buddhistic Mauryan Empire met its doom that day.
189. This unexpected and horrible turn of events caused a great furore in
the large crowd assembled there. But did any of the armed warriors or
anyone from those of the royal household, who were sitting near King
Brihadrath attack General Pushyamitra? No, not at all. On the contrary, the
whole army hailed him as their leader.
190. For, General Pushyamitra had done exactly what the soldiers
themselves and many others wanted to do but could not, as nobody in the
whole of India dared shoulder the responsibility for such an hazardous
deed. Pushyamitra had simply done the unavoidable national duty of killing
Ashoka’s descendant, Brihadrath Maurya, who had proved himself
thoroughly incompetent to defend the independence of the Indian empire.
Pushyamitra and Chandragupta
191. Chandragupta and Chanakya had to assassinate, as an unavoidable
national duty, Samrat Mahapadmananda, who had proved himself
thoroughly incapable of repulsing the Greeks for the protection of the
Indian empire and its independence, at the time of the first Greek invasion
of Alexander. Just for the same reason, Pushyamitra had to cut off the head
of Brihadrath Maurya, the nominal Buddhist emperor, simply as a national
duty.
Emperor Pushyamitra Shung
192. This momentous event took place round about 184 B.C., and with all
the Vedic rituals, Pushyamitra was appointed Emperor of India on the
throne of Ashoka in Pataliputra. It marked the end of the Maurya dynasty
and the beginning of the reign of the Shungas.
Emperor Pushyamitra’s Campaign Against the Greeks!
193. First of all, Pushyamitra stabilized the administrative set-up and
consolidated his position in his capital and the regions around it, and after

mobilizing a strong four-fold army, eager to fight, he fell upon Menander,
who had so far dug in his feet safe in Ayodhya. Finding it extremely
difficult to hold their ground before the mighty arms of the Indian army, the
Greek general Menander began to retreat. Earlier, Demetreos had not been
pursued, but this time, Pushyamitra was not going to be slack. He chased
and hunted down the Greek army. Inflicting defeat after defeat on the Greek
army and causing confusion in their ranks, Pushyamitra drove the dispirited
and vanquished Menander far beyond the Indus. The Indian empire right up
to the Indus was once again set free from the Greek political dominance.
The Greek sword was broken, the Greek shield shattered, the very
root of their Political power dug up and Destroyed!
194. This was the last of the Greek aggressions on India. This terrible
defeat inflicted on the Greeks by Pushyamitra consumed their strength so
much, that they never had the heart to strike again at Bharat any time in
future! Bharat, thus, annihilated this Greek enemy that had been a source of
constant trouble since the time of Alexander.
195. Pushyamitra annexed all the territory liberated from the Greek hands
to his own empire. He appointed at Ujjain his son, Agnimitra, as the viceroy
of the region. General Agnimitra was a brave and able commander like his
father. He forced the land up to Vidarbha in the South, to acknowledge his
overlordship. But later Vidarbha refused to do so. Hence, Agnimitra
attacked it. In the battle, Vidarbadhish (the lord of Vidarbha) was defeated.
Amidst all this confusion, Princess Malavika, the daughter of the
Vidarbharaj, was enamoured of the bravery and other virtues of Agnimitra,
and was very eager to marry him. So with the consent of Pushyamitra, the
King of Vidarbha celebrated her marriage with Agnimitra. This not only
created the bonds of friendship but also the bonds of blood-relation between
the two royal families. On this romantic theme itself, Kalidas composed his
famous play Malavikagnimitra.
A Horse-Sacrifice in the very Pataliputra of Ashoka!
196. Pushyamitra, who had completely destroyed the Greeks, the age-old
alien enemies of the nation, and rejuvenated the Indian empire, had acquired
with his own splendid victories, the right to perform a horse-sacrifice
according to the Vedic tradition. About this right of Samrat Pushyamitra,
Vincent Smith writes in his Early History of India (1924), “The Yavanas and
all other rivals having been disposed of in due course, Pushyamitra was
justified in his claim to reign as the paramount power of north India, and

straightaway proceeded to announce his success by a magnificent celebration
of the Ashvamedha sacrifice at his capital (p. 212).”
197. This declaration of celebrating a horse-sacrifice by Samrat
Pushyamitra thrilled the whole country, barring the minority community of
the Buddhist with national pride and martial triumph. In the very capital of
Ashoka, who had deprived the Vedic Hindus of their religious freedom by
means of his supreme political authority, was this Ashvamedha of Samrat
Pushyamitra to be performed. This horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra was, in
fact, a public imperial proclamation of Samrat Pushyamitra, that all the
restrictions imposed by Ashoka on the religious freedom of the Vedic
Hindus were withdrawn.
198. Emperor Pushyamitra’s grandson, Vasumitra, was also a spirited
young prince, as his father, Pushyamitra’s son, Agnimitra was a veteran
army-leader and an efficient royal administrator. When Samrat Pushyamitra
let his sacrificial horse loose on its triumphal march throughout the land, the
task of protecting that horse with a strong army was entrusted to this brave
young grandson, General Vasumitra. The horse was not obstructed in his
free ramble right up to the banks of the Indus. But on the banks of the
Indus, he was opposed by a certain Yavan King which, according to the
conventions of the time, meant that the sovereignty of Pushyamitra was
challenged. So the young General Vasumitra fought with the ‘Yavan’ enemy
and after defeating him completely, got released the ceremonial horse. The
boundless joy that was universally felt in the capital, when after a year the
invincible and unconquered General Vasumitra tiumphantly marched into
the city, can very well be seen in the formal invitation sent by Pushyamitra
to his son, Agnimitra, which is still available to us in almost the very same
words of the Emperor. Kalidas has practically reproduced it verbatim et
literatim in his aforesaid play, ‘Malavikagnimitra.’ That letter in the drama
is so interesting, that everybody might read it with pleasure. It is a living
document of the thoughts of Samrat Pushyamitra and the common feelings
of the people of those triumphant days.
A National Festival
199. The festive occassion of the horse-ceremony was graced with the
presence of the great sages and ascetics of India, Brahmins, well-versed in
all the Vedic lore, the high-born Kshatriya kings and princes, the prominent
officers and administrators of the empire, eminent citizens and leaders in
towns. Patanjali, who was renowned as the greatest of the scholars, and who

has now come to be listed with universal approval, among the world’s
greatest scholars—including the western ones—was also present on that
glorious occasion. With the blessings and participation of such celebrities
the festival of that horse-sacrifice naturally came to acquire the dignity and
grandeur of the Indian national victory over the Mlenchchas.
Totally Annihilated Asian Greek Stock
200. After the Greeks were driven away beyond the Indus by Samrat
Pushyamitra round about 190 to 180 B.C. and India was rid of all Greek
dominance, the Greek race saw the beginning of their extinction. Beyond
the Indus in Gandhar and Bactria (Balhik), they had some small states
dragging on their uncertain existence. And about the beginning of the first
century of the Christian era, when a great tide of the fierce war-like race of
the Sakas from Central Asia dashed against Bactria, Persia and Gandhar, the
Greeks knew not where to flee in order to escape the terrible impact of
‘Sakas’ sharp swords. They fled with wives and children, the old and the
infant. At last, they crossed the Indus and entered India to save their lives.
But now they came as displaced persons seeking shelter! What a tragic
irony! This influx of theirs was a far cry from the triumphant entry of their
forefathers under Alexander and Seleucos! The latter rushed in crying
hoarse for war, while the present Greeks came in begging for shelter!!
201. But India gave them shelter very graciously in those most
unfortunate days, forgetting all enmity. These runaway Greeks settled
severally, wherever and whenever their separate batches could find any
shelter. Some of them became converts to Buddhism while some courted
Hinduism. But as Vedic Hindus alone had their states everywhere in India,
these Greeks, whether they were Buddhists or Vedic Hindus, were not able
to cause any sort of political trouble. They adopted the Indian languages,
Indian customs and swiftly, they were merged completely in the Indian
society. And because they had marital and other social relations with the
Indians, within a century or two, they completely lost the sense of their
separate existence as Greeks—the sense of their separate nationality! Just as
a lump of salt dissolves swiftly into the torrential current of the Ganges, in
the same way, their Greek extraction was totally merged into the tidal wave
of Indian life.
The Mlenchchas Merged into our Civilization
202. Most of the western historians, and our own too, have completely
missed one point in this connection, which, for that very reason, must be

made explicit here. It is this, whether it was the Greeks or other foreign
aggressors, whoever came flashing their swords, were ultimately conquered
and engulfed, and completely submerged in our society, leaving not a trace
of their separate existence behind. In every case, it has been amply proved
that it was only when the aggressor’s insolent sword was beaten down—it
was only when the aggressor was vanquished completely in the deadly
armed conflict on the battlefield—that those foreigners became so very
tame and pliable as to be easily overwhelmed and dissolved in our society.
This was achieved not by peaceful persuasion, but by the stronger and
deadlier weapons.
No Religious Persecution—but the most Appropriate Punishment for
Treason!
203. Some of the old Buddhist books, in the loquacious style of the
Puranas, enlarge upon the cruel treatment meted out by Pushyamitra to
Buddhist bhikksus, upon the outright massacre of some of them, and the
destruction of some of the Buddhist monasteries. Even the European
historians have set aside all these references as exaggerated ones! Still, some
of them have stated, that there should be some grain of truth at the root of
these exaggerated accounts that Pushyamitra might have been guilty of some
slight persecution of the Buddhists by way of revenge. We also feel that
Samrat Pushyamitra might have taken good many of the Buddhists to task,
but not for any philosophical or theological difference of opinion.
204. The Buddhists were not persecuted as a class simply because they
believed in nihilism or agnosticism, or because some of them were atheists
while others were non-violent on principle and condemned the Vedas, or
because their religious rituals were in many ways different from those of the
Vedic Hindus. Lord Buddha himself experienced no obstacle in the
propagation of his faith! Let that alone! The Buddhist faith had been more or
less three hundred years old by the time of Chandragupta’s succession to the
throne! In his undivided all-India Hindu empire and also during the tenure of
the ministerial office of the staunch Arya Chanakya, no Buddhist
persecution of any sort was reported by the Greek ambassador,
Megasthenes, who had stayed at the court of the first Maurya Emperor for
years together. Megasthenes does not refer to Buddhism even by name, for
they had not till then formed any anti-national and political alliances
detrimental to the interests of the nation, either with Alexander or with
Seleucos. It was not then possible for them! That is why, along with many

other religionists, the Buddhists also could observe their own rituals
according to their own beliefs and likings. Besides, they could openly
preach by sweet persuasion and discussion.
205. Subsequent to the invasions of Alexander and Seleucos, when the
Greeks came raiding for the second time under Demetreos and Menander,
and when advancing as far as Ayodhya, they were about to dethrone the
reigning king of Magadha and endanger the independence of the Indian
empire, the Indian Buddhists played a brazen-faced treacherous role, as is
seen from the fact that these Buddhists swore their loyalty to the Greek
Emperor, Menander, whom they called Milind. When the latter adopted the
Buddhist cult, they accepted him as the King of the region conquered by
him. The Buddhist scholars and 'bhikksus' proudly struted in the Indian
courts of those Greeks, as if they were moving in some national court. In
order to put down as sternly as possible these highly objectionable
treacherous acts of these Indian Buddhists, the plots hatched to undermine
the national independence, and the open instigation to do anti-national acts,
which went on incessantly through various Buddhist monasteries and
viharas, Pushyamitra and his generals were forced, by the exigency of time
when the war was actually going on, to hang Indian Buddhists, who were
guilty of seditious acts and to pull down the monasteries, that had become
the centres of sedition. It was a just punishment for high treason and for
joining hands with the enemy, in order that Indian independence and
empire might be protected. It was no religious persecution. As the supreme
authority in the imperial administrative structure of India, it was
Pushyamitra’s duty—a religious and kindly duty, according national legal
code—to chastise perfidy, whether it was on part of the Buddhists or on
that of the Vedic Hindus!
Ashoka and Pushyamitra
206. In traditional historical writings, mainly based on Buddhist myths,
Ashoka has been extolled as tolerant of different religious sects, while
Pushyamitra wholly conniving at his efforts to establish religious freedom,
is generally imputed with intolerence and persecution of the Budhists. This
false notion has to be corrected. If any body is at all guilty of religious
intolerance, it was Ashoka himself. For not only with verbal propaganda but
with the abuse of his regal authority, he declared illegal all the fundamental
religious rituals, such as sacrifice and hunting by the Vedic Hindus, who
formed the majority of his subjects. But Pushyamitra did not issue any royal

decree enforcing any performances of sacrifices in the Buddha Viharas or
the worship of Vaishvadeva in every Buddh household, even as a fitting
retort to Ashoka’s junctions. The Buddhists were as absolutely free as all
other religious sects, to perform their religious rites and enjoy religious
freedom, so long as they abstained from any anti-national foreign contact. It
is likely that in the troubled times of national war, the chastisement of the
disloyal Buddhists might have affected some of the innocent ones. But it
was not a rule—but an inevitable exception!
207. What Pushyamitra really did was to reinstate the religious freedom,
which was annulled by Ashoka. If anybody is to be called intolerant of
religious difference, it should be Ashoka and not Pushyamitra.
208. In this context, the words of Vincent Smith, who shows no particular
partiality for the Vedic Hindus, and yet writes judiciously, are worth
remembering.
209. However, Vincent Smith, too, like other historians, has not realized
that the main reason of the general animosity that the Vedic Hindus feel
towards the Buddhists, and the persecutions that the latter suffered at their
hands from time-to-time, culminating in the total annihilation of Buddhism
in India, is that the Buddhists, often times betrayed the cause of Indian
independence and Indian empire. In spite of the fact that Vincent Smith
never realized this main reason of the downfall of Buddhism, he has held
the Buddhists responsible for the religious persecution mentioned in various
Buddhist writings. An extract from his Early History of India (1924) (P.
213-14) will bear out the above remarks:
209A. “The memorable horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra marked the
beginning of Brahmanical (Vedic?) reaction which was fully developed by
centuries later in the time of Samudragupta and his successors... if credit
may be given to semi-mythological stories of Buddhist writers, Pushyamitra
was not content with the peaceful revival of Hindu rites, but indulged in a
savage persecution of Buddhism.... it will be rash to reject this tale as
wholly baseless, although it may be exaggerated.... That such outbursts after
all should have occurred is not wonderful, if you consider the extreme
oppressiveness of the Jain and Buddhist prohibition, when ruthlessly
enforced, as they certainly were by some Rajas and probably by Ashoka.
The wonder rather is that the persecutions were so rare, and that as a rule,
the various sects managed to live together in harmony and in the enjoyment
of fairly impartial official favour.”

210. Pushyamitra who, with his armed might, completely exterminated the
     Greek intrusion, which from the time of Alexander had often caused great
     harm to India, and who, therefore, rightly deserves the title, ‘Yavan-
     destroyer’, protected ably for 36 years not only the independence of India,
     which he himself had won, but brought about the many sided development
     of his country, and then died peacefully in 149 B.C.
211. In the sense in which Chandragupta’s rout of the Greek pockets of
     influence in India is said to be the first glorious epoch of Hindu victories
     over aggressors, this total extinction of the greeks in India at the hands of
     Yavan-destroyer PUSHYAMITRA becomes necessarily, THE SECOND
     GLORIOUS EPOCH of Indian History.
     ❑
     .

3^RD^ GLORIOUS EPOCH
3.
Vikramaditya, the Annihilator of
Saka-Kushan Menace
212. After the total destruction of the Greeks, India saw another foreign
aggression, which has to be reckoned with in the Indian history rather
conspicuously, and which was in some respects more ominous and
extensive than those of the armies of Alexander or other Greek generals. I
mean the incursions of the Sakas and Kushans.
213. Although the Sakas and the Kushans in some respects differed very
widely and although they fought each other very furiously, from the Indian
point of view, they had such a striking similarity that they appeared almost
identical. Hence their hordes, which dashed against India, like tidal waves,
one after another, were generally called Sakas by the common Indian
people. At some places in the Indian literature, they are referred to as
‘Kushs’. For this very reason, in this book too, both of them are mentioned
as Sakas.
214. The Sakas lived in Central Asia beyond Bactria (Balhik) in large wild
gangs. The region beyond them was occupied by tribes, equally wild and
ferocious. Even beyond this region right in China, there were still wilder,
more ferocious, but braver nomadic tribes of the millions of Huns (Hsiung
Nus), which were always at war with one another. These Sakas, Kushans
and Huns entertained bitter enmity towards one another and were constantly
at war.
215. About a hundred-and-fifty years before Christ, tribal feuds amongst
these nomadic tribes flared up in such terrible manner as were never heard of
before. One of these tribes, the Huns or Hsiung Nus of China, who were the
most pertinacious desperados of all, fell with all their ferocity and might
upon the neighbouring tribe of the Kushans, driving them off completely out
of their homeland towards the west. So the Kushans in their turn, fell in
repeated violent tidal waves upon their next neighbours, the Sakas, who were
then happily ensconced to the north of Bactria (Balhik), and after
exterminating the latter from their abode, they founded there their own
kingdom, instead. The Sakas faithfully forwarded that kick to the adjoining

Bactrians, whom they attacked instantly. In Bactria (Balhik) were at this
time, small Greek states, maintaining their precarious existence since the
time of Alexander. But against the repeated attacks of these wild tribes in
which the women too, on horseback, fought shoulder-to-shoulder with men,
these Bactrian Greeks were absolutely unable to hold on any longer and
were, therefore, completely destroyed, their land being overrun and occupied
entirely by the Sakas. But even there and within a short span of a hundred
years or so, came in hot pursuit their inveterate enemies, the Kushans, whose
lives were spent, as those of the Sakas, more on campaigning on horses and
in fully armed military camps, than in stabilized and prosperous cities. The
Huns again attacked the Saka-Kushan and ousting them even from Bactria
and other countries, established their own rule there. The exterminated Saka-
Kushan, being blocked from behind and from the sides, had to descend into
the region of Baluchistan, and along the route through the Bolan Pass they
dashed avalanche-like on the Indian territories of Sindh, Kathiawad and
Gujarat. They trampled under their horses’ hoofs adjoining Indian territory,
rushing violently, plundering and burning towns and cities, sparing neither
women nor children. History, unfortunately, does not know for certain what
Indian states existed there at that time, or whether or not, they could arrest
this irrepressible aggression of these Mlenchchas. However, it is not
necessary to discuss the problem here as it does not fall within the scope of
this book, which has been outlined in Paragraph 7. It is enough to state here
that round about the beginning of the Christian era, these Sakas had occupied
the Indian territory of Baluchistan, Sindh, Kathiawad, Gujarat and some parts
of Aparantak (Konkan) to the south, right upto Ujjayini. And the whole of
India was extremely uneasy at the gruesome prospect of the possible
incursions of the Kushans and Huns, who were to follow the Sakas!
South India was absolutely free from the Mlenchcha Aggression
216. Foreign aggressions, at least in the ancient period of our history,
being launched through the north-western frontiers, it was mostly our north
Indian brethren, who had to bear the whole brunt, opposing them as best as
they could and in the long arduous run, destroyed them completely. That is
why during this period, no foreign enemy could cross the Vindhyas and
penetrate into the Southern half of India. Barring one solitary, transient and
half-hearted Arab invasion. Southern India continued to enjoy unhampered
complete liberty, sovereign imperial authority, and material prosperity; for
almost since 500 B.C., no foreign aggressor had been able to cross the

Vindhyas and stop into the South. Right from Kalinga to the Pandyas, the
Cheras, the Cholas and other South Indian rulers of the time had always
kept in readiness, strong naval forces, fleets and flotillas to protect the
Western, Eastern and Southern seas against all foreign incursions. Naturally,
the Indian seafronts remained absolutely inviolable throughout all this
period. On the contrary, the strong South Indian naval powers had carried
their invincible and conquering armadas to Burma, Siam and other
countries right up to the Philippines and established their overseas political,
cultural and commercial empire.
217. As the foreign aggressions through the north-west frontier were
successfully opposed there and then, by our north-Indian heroes, those
various enemies could not even reach the Narmada river. But the Sakas
having entered India through the Bolan Pass in Baluchistan, the coastal
provinces of Sindh, Kathiawad and Gujarat were comparatively exposed to
their attacks. This foreign aggression on South India also proved abortive.
Why?
The Awakening of the Andhras
218. Fortunately, at that very time, were rising to prominence the two
States of Kalinga and Andhra, who were staunch followers of the Vedic
religion and were nationalist in their outlook. Like all other nationalist
Indians, the Andhras were beside themselves with mortification and
indignation at the foreign Saka attack on the vast Indian region from Sindh
to Ujjain, and at the sad and humiliating fact that there should be no Indian
power to resist it. Moreover, since some of the Saka hordes had reached as
far as Aparantak (Konkan) after having crossed the Narmada river, the
safety of the Andhra kingdom itself was seriously endangered. For these
various reasons, the rulers of Andhra marched with a mighty army against
the Sakas with a view to annihilating them completely, and for the first time
they challenged the Saka might, driving them back beyond the Narmada
river. Simultaneously, with this impact of the Andhras, the Sakas, who had
till then spread upto Ujjain in the north, suffered another defeat at the hands
of the Youdheyas and Malavas. It has already been described (in paragraphs
38 to 40 and 50 to 62) with what invincible valour, these two republics had
offered sanguinary battles in the defence of Indian liberty, even at the time
of Alexander’s invasion. So, being attacked by the Andhras from the South
and in the North by Youdheya-Malavas, the very sting of the aggressive
fang of the Sakas was completely blunted and devenomed. Their progress

stopped forever, they were never able to establish a unitary and powerful
rule of all the Sakas anywhere in India, Whatever stray kingdoms they had
founded so far in India were unable to face successfully the two-pronged
drive of the Indian retaliation.
The Victorious Malavas
219. The above-mentioned Youdheyas and the Malavas attacked the
Sakas, who had spread round about Ujjayini. An allusion has been found to
have been made to the fact that the Malavas had invested the fort of
‘Uttambhadra’ round about the year 57 B.C. The then celebrated King of
Sakas, named Nahapan, had forced the Malavas to lift the siege. But soon
after, the Malava forces encircled Nahapan with his whole army from all
quarters. Naturally, a decisive battle was joined, wherein the Malava
republican army showed the limit of its valour, but not being content with
the destruction of the Saka forces, which were considered to be second-rate,
they killed in the war, their very King Nahapan.
Malava Samvat
220. Because of this crushing defeat at the hands of the Malavas, the Saka
military might’s morale was so much shaken that they seemed to have taken
a fright of their lives to face pitched battles with the Indian armies. This
battle is conspicuous in another respect too, inasmuch as the Malavas
started a new era of their own in the year of this victory, to commemorate
their signal success over the Sakas, which had resounded throughout the
length and breadth of India. They named this era as ‘Krut’, but on the coins
that they struck on this occasion, are inscribed in the Brahmi script, legends
such as ‘Malavajayah’, ‘Malavanam Jayah’, ‘Malava Ganasya’ and so on.
This is the Same Vikram Samvat of ours
221. In our country, good many emperors started new eras in their own
names. It was a traditional ambition, and a kind of right of such victorious
kings and emperors to style themselves as ‘Shakakartas’ (the starters of
new eras). The latest instance that can be cited is that of Shri Shivaji
Maharaj. He too commenced his own era, the ‘Shiva-Saka’. Most of these
various eras ended with the termination of these royal dynasties. However,
of the two of three eras, which have attained a national character and which
have been adopted by the Hindu world, although region-wise, and by
which not only our mundane affairs but our religious rites also are dated
for more or less two thousand years, the Malava Samvat should be

remembered rather particularly, because this very Malava Samvat later on
became our famous Vikram Samvat.
222. The celebrated historian, Dr. Jayaswal, in his ‘Hindu Polity’, has
ably upheld the view that Malava Samvat is the same era as our Vikram
Samvat. However, he maintains that Malava Samvat was also called
Vikram Samvat (era celebrating a victory) from the very beginning. But
from the historical incidents that we are going to cite here, it should be
clear that another view of the matter is more acceptable. This second view
claims that it was to celebrate the all-India character of the Gupta Emperor,
Vikramaditya’s victory over the Saka-Kushan, which wiped out their
separate existence from the Indian soil, when the victorious king began to
rule from Ujjayaini. That Vikram Samvat became, as years elapsed, more
and more widely known throughout the nation and equally popular, so that
throughout the whole of north India, millions of Hindus are even now
observing it in their religious rites and ceremonies.
Origin of Vikram Samvat and Shalivahan Saka
223. It must be made clear here and now, that there is yet no agreement
reached amongst the historians about the origin of this Vikram Samvat.
There are very wide differences of opinion about the chronology of various
important events in our ancient history. So are they on this point too! Even
in respect of the birth of Gautam Buddha, the dates suggested by different
historians vary at times by fifty or even a hundred years. The same can be
said of Kanishka’s times. Some maintain that he ascended the throne in 78
A.D., while others put up the date of his succession to the throne as 120
A.D. Even about this Vikram Samvat a third opinion is still sponsored by
some historians that the Vikram Samvat, had nothing to do with the era
started by the Malava Republic; that it was the one started in 58 B.C. by
Azes I, one of the Chief Kshatraps (Satrap) of the Sakas, who had by then
entered India, and the one which later on people renamed as Vikram Samvat
when the Gupta Emperor, Vikramaditya completely uprooted the power of
the Saka-Kushan. There is also the fourth one that in 58 B.C., a certain
valiant emperor, named Vikramaditya, who ruled there at the time, won a
great victory over the Sakas and started this era in his own name to
commemorate that victory of his. It had again nothing whatever to do with
the Malava era or that started by Saka Satrap, Azes I. But as no rock
inscription or any other evidence has been found that refers to
Vikramaditya, who ruled at that time, or again as no coins of the Vikram

Samvat have yet been found, this myth about the aforesaid era had not so
far attained the veracity of a historical event.
224. If, however, any coins or rock inscriptions or other evidence were to
come forth any time and if anybody were to propound a new theory about
the origin of this Vikram Samvat, we shall be glad to accept it.
225. What is said about the Vikram Samvat can very well be said about
the Shalivahan (Salivahan) Saka. The advocates of the first opinion about
this era say that when the first King of the Kushans in India, Wima
Kadphises [Wemo (Ooemo) in his Greek coin legends and Yenkao-ching of
the Chinese historians—of Smith OHI p. 147], whom our people considered
no other than a Saka, ascended the throne (of his father) in 78 A.D., it was
he who started this ‘Saka’ era. But another class of historians hold that it
was not Wima Kadphises, who ascended the throne in 78 A.D. but it was
his successor Kanishka who did that, and that it was that Emperor Kanishka
who started the Saka era in order to perpetuate the memory of his accession
to the throne. Later on, when the Salihavan emperors of Paithan conquered
the Sakas, they turned the Saka era into the Salivahan Saka to signalize
their victory. Besides these two, there is a third opinion held by some
historians that the Salivahan Saka is in no way connected with that of
Kanishka or any other Kushan King. They maintain that about 78 A.D.,
King Hal, who wrote the Gatha Saptasati, himself won a glorious victory
over a Saka Satrap in Gujarath or Sourashtra, and to perpetuate this
monumental success over these Sakas, he started the Salivahan Saka.
226-229. Since there is no need to discuss this topic here at any great
length, it will be quite enough to mention two or three important points from
whatever little is written here about the Saka era. They are:
(a) Whatever opinion about the Saka and Vikram eras is accepted, it is
agreed beyond doubt that both the eras signify the decisive victories the
Indians won over the Saka-Kushan.
(b) In our count of time, Samvat is a more acceptable term than Saka—We
have all along been using right from the Vedic times, Samvatsar and Samvat
for the measurement of time. The word ‘Saka’ has not been generally used
in that sense. It is quite clear, therefore, that the word must be a corruption
of the name of foreign aggressors like the Sakas and the Kushans.
‘Shalivahan (Salivahan) Saka’ is not a pure name of Sanskrit extraction as
Vikram Samvat is. So the name ‘Saka’ of our Mlenchcha enemies should be
eliminated and only ‘Salivahan Samvat’ should be used at the time of the

celebration of our religious rites and the words ‘Shalivahan Saka’ or merely
‘Saka’ as wrongly used in our religious ceremonies, should be banned.
(c) That both the national eras, namely the Vikram Samvat and the
Salivahan Samvat, should be closely connected with the glorious memory
of Indian victories over the Saka-Kushan is not merely a queer coincidence;
it is of great significance. Many eras like those of the imperial Guptas and
others, although greatly honoured during those particular periods, are lost in
the abyss of time. Only these two, which recorded the Indian victories over
the Saka-Kushan, have enjoyed immortality. This may give us a fair idea as
to how our Indian Vedic people had to suffer grievously at the hands of the
ungovernable hordes of the Saka-Kushan. For, otherwise, these Vikram and
Salivahan Samvats, which were started to perpetuate the memory of the
victories of the Salivahan and Gupta emperors over the diabolic atrocities
of, and political subjection by, the Saka-Kushans, would never have
attained so much importance vis-a-vis the extinction of many other
victorious eras, and could never have been observed even after the lapse of
two thousand years as the chief national eras of the Hindus.
Indian’s Martial & Religious Victory over the Sakas
230. Just as the Malavas firmly checked the aggression of Sakas by killing
their king, Nahapan (cf: Para 219), in a similar way and at the same time,
did our Andhra warriors march from the south towards the north and
destroy the Saka kingdoms in Gujarat, Sourashtra, and Sindh. Harassed by
the repeated offensives opened against them by the valiant Salivahan Kings
like Vilinayankur, Gautamiputra Satkarni:, Vashishthputra Pulamayi and
others, the Saka kings upto Ujjain ultimately reconciled themselves to the
sovereignty of the Salivahan Emperors. There exists a rock inscription that
tells us that a Saka Satrap ‘Rudra’ even gave his daughter in marriage to a
Salivahan King as the Greek King Seleucos had years before given his
daughter to Emperor Chandragupta!
231. It must also be borne in mind that because of incessant fighting with the
Indians on various battlefields and the consequent destruction during this
century or a half, of thousands of their original number of soldiers that came to
India, the Saka power suffered great numerical losses.
232. As the Saka military might thus began to lose strength because of the
Indian resistance, the highly developed Indian civilization began more and
more effectively to impress itself on the foreign Sakas. As a natural result of
the constant warfare with the Indians for over a hundred years, the Sakas

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,

fighting troops of millions of Kushan, men and women violently entered
Southern Asia shedding blood, plundering and burning towns and cities and
spreading destruction everywhere. Throughout the whole Asiatic region,
right from the Chinese frontier beyond the Hindukush to that of Greece in
the west, they literally played havoc. Some of their troops in hot pursuit of
their old enemies, the Sakas, overran the Bactrian Kingdom, and, crossing
the Hindukush, entered the Indian north-western provinces of Gandhar, and
extirpating the smaller Saka principalities that still were there at the time,
they pushed themselves ahead into Punjab. They founded there a kingdom
of their own. The name of their first king in India was Wima Kadphises.
235. The might of the northern Youdheyas, Malavas and other republics
and that of the Salivahanas in the South having been put to its last extremity
of endurance in successfully resisting and ultimately putting down the Saka
aggresion for more or less a hundred years, they could not immediately and
successfully stem the overwhelming onslaught of the Kushans, who were
crueller and more bloodthirsty than even the Sakas, till they came to occupy
Punjab. However, even in those miserable days, the Indian resistance to
Kushan aggression gradually became so hot and determined, that the
Kushan hordes could not make any headway in the Indian territories this
side of Punjab.
Emperor Kanishka
236. After the death of Wima Kadphises, Kanishka ascended the Kushan
throne in 78 A.D. (in the opinion of some historians in 120 A.D.). His
achievements were unrivalled; his ambition was boundless.
It is needless to give any detailed account in these pages. Some events,
however, have to be recounted here so far as they fall within the scope of
this book. Kanishka subdued all the nomadic, plundering and marauding
bands of the Saka-Kushans on both sides of the Himalayas (Hindukush?),
as also all the smaller or bigger centres of political power, and forged them
all into an extensive empire. He proclaimed himself as the Emperor of the
Kushans and founded his capital at Purushpur (Peshawar of today).
Thereupon, he marched on the Sakas, who had established their power from
Malava to Sindh and who, being defeated by the Andhras, had
acknowledged their paramountcy. But the same Indian states that had been
incessantly fighting the Sakas for over a century and had been by now
thoroughly exhausted in their attempt to put down these aggressors, had to
face this new calamity of the Kushan onslaughts and, as such, they found it

extremely difficult to do so. Being defeated in one or two battles, the
Satavahanas themselves had to withdraw their forces from the north of the
Narmada river to the south, in order to build up a strong defence for their
own territory against Kanishka’s conquests. By that time, Kanishka had
conquered all the Saka states of Malava, Gujarath, Sourashtra and Sindh.
Naturally, the Sakas in those regions renounced their allegiance to the
Andhras and paid the obeisance to their new lord, Emperor Kanishka. Over
and above, Kanishka’s army crossed the Narmada in order to march upon
the Andhras themselves and subdued a corner of Aparantak (north Konkan).
But mindful of the concentrated armed might of the Andhras, Kanishka
dared not attack them. So, he withheld his southern conquests forthwith.
Thereafter, he marched with a huge army to oppose the Chinese general
who had invaded his north-Himalayan territories. After a series of battles,
he vanquished even the Chinese general and annexed the Chinese provinces
of Kashgar (Tashkand), Chaskand, and Khotan to his empire.
The test of a Nation’s Prowess and its right to live
237. The propriety of recounting this whole incident here is to show
clearly that this sudden eruption of the Saka-Kushans throughout Asia did
not convulse India alone; it discomfited even the then strongly-built and
well-organised empire like China too for a time on the battlefield. But just
as it is torn-foolery, born out of jealousy, to say that the Chinese nation had
been weak throughout all these years and had never been better fitted for
anything else than to be rotting in slavery simply because they suffered
temporary defeats against the Saka-Kushans or at some such other times, it
is equally foolish and jealously blind to say, as some of our enemies do, that
the Indian national life was a series of defeats. It only shows that they
cannot read history properly.
238. It is not the number of foreign aggressions over a nation that is the
last criterion of deciding its vitality or virulity or the absence of both, but
the query, whether that nation was destroyed as a result of those
aggressions, or whether in the final phase of that national struggle, that
nation was able to overcome those foreign aggressions, that determines a
nation’s prowess, its vitality and its right to live.
239. Let us see which of the three, the Sakas, the Kushans or the Indians,
passed this test successfully, and who passed out of existence.
Kanishka Embraces Buddhism?