The Greater Indic Civilization

[Guest]

At the time when Christ was born, the Indic civilization pervaded a vast area of Asia , bounded on the north by the steppes of Central Asia, on the west by the Persian empire and on the east by by what is now known as South East Asia. Contrary to what is popularly believed it was the Indic civilization that had far greater currency in most of Asia rather than the Sinic (even in China). This topic will attempt to explore what we are uncovering from recent studies. we start of with this vignette from HH on the Parthian empire. The word Iran is a derivative of Arya and it is clear that the modern Iranian considers himself descended from Aryans. It is another matter that i have a problem with the category of Aryan as an ethnic designator, but that is a topic for another thread.



When i use the word Greater it is more in a geographical sense and not to imply superiority over other civilizations. The French author Coedes uses the term 'Farther India' to describe such geographies where the Indic civilization was the predominant one. Furthermore, it does not imply that the entire area was under one central suzerainty. What it does mean is that a traveller could go from one corner of this vast area to another and find himself in linguistic and cultural affinity wherever he went

The Seleucid kingdom was founded by one of Alexander's generals

Seleukos Nikator, who had led his troops with much perseverance during

the former's Indian campaign. The Seleucid kingdom started

degenerating in 245BCE as Indo-Greek kshatrapa, Andragoras declared

himself an independent monarch. About this time and Iranian tribe

termed the Parni organized a massive cavalry army in the steppes,

broke free from another Iranian tribe, the Daha, that was their

overlord, and moved into Southern Turkmenistan. From here the Parni

launched a massive invasion of Andragoras' satrapy under the

leadership of their famed leader Arshaka (Arsaces in Greek).

Andragoras was killed in the battle against the Parni and the Greeks

forces scattered, allowing the invaders to conquered the territory to

the southeast of the Caspian corresponding to Hyrcania and Parthia.

After this they acquired the name Parthians in the West after the

territory they had conquered. This sparked off a see-saw struggle with

the Macedonians that turned to their advantage after the death of the

Arshaka who had a prolonged war with Seleukos II. Arshaka II his son

was beaten in battles by Antiochus III and had to sue peace after

losing Hyrcania. However, in 171BC, the Parthian king Mithradata I

came to power, who(Mithridates in Greek) raised them to the height of

their glory. In 148 BC he crushed the Seleukids in crucial battle,

sacking Media, in 141 he followed it up with the conquest of Babylon.

Then he struck to his east outflanking the Indo-Greek army and

destroying it at Margiana and annexed their territory to found what

may be called the Parthian empire. He settled the Shaka tribe that

aided him in these conquests in Seistan (Shakastan) and took on the

title Kshatyatama- emperor. His son Phraetra II (Phratres) finally

destroyed the Seleukid empire completely by smashing them completely

in 129 BC. This was followed by a struggle with their onetime allies

the Shakas, and the Massagetaen tribes of the Daha confederacy that

nearly destroyed the Parthians. Their capital was established in Nisa

near today's Ashkhabad and studies show that within a few years of

their conquest of the new territory they became quite urban in their

economy. Excavation reports by Russians at Nisa reveal large fortified

constructions, with Fire temples. This suggests that we should not be

so prompt in claiming that the oasis civilizations and the mature/late

Harappan had nothing to do with the early Indo-Iranians- the parallel

to the Parthians is very clear. The Indo-Iranians could have occupied

these centers and become urban in a very short time: note the Fire

temples were not an acquired cult for these Parthians but merely

expanded on urban settlement. Hence, what we see is a near complete

Aryan domination of both Persia and the steppes till they were

ultimately decimated and absorbed by the great expansion of the

Altaics under Motun-tegin of the first Hun Kha'khanate.