The Indo-Scythians or Sakas or Northern Satraps of Mathura
sarvasa Sakasta
nasa puyae
sarvabudhana puya
(In
the whole of Sakastan’s honour, may all the Buddhas be honoured)
The
Mathura Lion Capital
The few centuries leading to and beyond Christ are not easy to set into a timeline and chronology. To a hobbyist historian these centuries on either side of Christ are a big muddle. And it is just not you. Going through the scholarly book ‘The Scythian Period’ it is apparent that even the academicians and archaeologists are perplexed. So much so, the first chapter is named “The Eras” and how they have been a stumbling block in understanding the remarkable art of Mathura. The author laments the contradictory hypotheses regarding the eras and specially the date of Kushan era. According to Dr Sten Konow, a Norwegian Indologist and former Government of India Epigraphist, five eras were in place at that time, and as expected overlapping just like the kingdoms then – Old Saka Era, Vikram Era, Azes Era, Saka Era, and Kanishka Era. Oh yes there are more – Caesarian and Saptarisi eras too! Now, try figuring out which kingdom, which king and which inscription came first as the starting point of each calendar is different. Well we will leave this job to the experts.
 |
A Saka Man wearing a Conical Cap - found in Mathura, 1st-3rd century AD, Mathura Museum |
 |
Saka Warrior, Termez Museum, Uzekistan
The culprit for this great muddle was the Khyber Pass. Kyber Pass would be the conveyor belt that continued to bring people as they made their journey southwards from Central Asia to Oxus, Bactria and Taxila. There will be lot of pushing and shoving. Some people will be elbowed-out, displaced and replaced almost immediately and some will fall off the conveyor belt. Most will simply blend in the great melting pot that India was and remains till today.
.jpg) |
Khyber Pass - 1848
The nomads of the great Steppes, called the Sakas (by Indians) and Scythians (by Greeks) are the most directly linked group of Central Asians to come to India. Their ancestors, the Aryans, came gradually before them trading in horses. Along with the horses, they will bring new technologies like bronze metallurgy, seasonal cattle breeding, two-wheeled chariots, and farming. Their successors, the Sakas maybe are not that well known or popular as the Kushans but as we are discovering now, the Indo-Scythians of Northern and Western Satrap Sakas will enrich India, their adopted country, in their own way, just like other foreign and indigenous dynasties before and after them.
Let us go to Central Asia first to get introduced to Sakas and then we will pick it up from your neighbourhood of Mathura.
Face to Face with Sakas of Kyrgyzstan
The museum just behind the towering Manas statue is immense.
Inside, it is what museums should be like – well lit, filled with well-curated
artefacts & galleries and full of surprises.
From one of the last entrants into India, the Hunas, we are now going back into the early times; the time of Early Nomads (8th to 3rd Century BC) before the Great Migration (1st to 5th Century CE). The Early Nomads were Eurasian nomadic animal breeders. Their predecessors, the Andronovo (Cn Siberia to Uzbekistan) and Chust (Fergana Valley) tribes who invented bronze metallurgy, two-wheeled Chariots, seasonal animal breeding and farming and who lived between 3rd to beginning of 1st millennium BC, were perhaps the Aryans who would come to India trading in horses and chariots.
 |
Sculptural Portraits of Sakas, 5th-3rd cent BC, Bishkek Museum, Kyrgyzstan |
The galleries devoted to the Sakas or Scythians are immaculate – bronze helmets, weaponry, horse equipment, assorted ceramics, recreated bow and hat and sacrificial tables. Most artefacts are enclosed in glass cases with detailed descriptions in English, Russian and Kyrgyz. Some have QR codes that take you to the museum website. Everything looks bright and beautiful with helpful staff.
 |
Tribute Bearing Sakas after their Defeat - Persepolis
There is a wall mural with a contingent of Saka soldiers marching with their horses probably before being vanquished by Darius I or Darius the Great (r 522-486 BC) of Achaemenid Empire that stretched from North Africa to Indus. Darius I says, “Then I went to conquer the Saks with the army. Then the Saks, who wear a pointed hat, came out to fight. I arrived at the river boundary (Oxus?), then, with the whole army, I swam it across onto the other side. Then I defeated one part of the Saks, and the other captured…Their leader, Skunkh, was captured and brought to me. Then I brought another leader for them, as it was my desire. Then the country became mine.”
 |
Conical Bronze Helmet, Weapons, Ceramics - Early Iron Age, The National History Museum, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan |
So, were Darius cavalry’s horses better than Sakas’? Did the
Persian horses come from Central Asia too? And did this defeat further lead to
migration of Sakas southwards? All interesting questions. And that’s what good
museums do – provide some answers and lead you to ask some more questions.
Sakas of Early Iron Age, 8th to 3rd Century BC, The National History Museum, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
………………………………………………….
Brief timeline of people who would come into India once the Mauryan Empire had declined when assorted Persians, Greek and Central Asians would swarm the Khyber Pass - a period of roughly 700 years:
[Indo-Aryans - 2000 BC to 1500 BC]
Indo-Greeks or Yavanas – 200 BC to 10 CE – after the fall of the Mauryan Empire - did not come from Central Asia – they would come by sea also as traders to Muziris, the greatest city that disappeared.
Sakas or Indo-Scythians – 1st Cen BC to 2nd Cen CE (Arrive in India from Sakastan in Iran) – ‘Northern Satraps’ of Mathura – will later become vassals of Kushans. Western Satraps will rule in Gujarat & Rajasthan
Indo-Parthian Kingdom or Pahalavas – 1st CE to 226 CE – Sassanians who came from Iran – centred around Taxila – not much impact in subcontinent
Kushans or Yuezhi – 30 CE to 275 CE – the most prominent and the most prolific of art lovers
[Gupta Empire – 240 to 579 CE]
Hunas – 4th to 6th Cen CE - the Alchon Huns (Red Huns?) who succeeded the Kidarites Huns and were succeeded by Hephthalites (White Huns?) & Nezak Huns
…………………………………………………..
From Kyrgyzstan let us move into the great steppes where the pastoral nomads lived their, well pastoral nomadic life in the vast open grasslands. The different tribes will have their nobility; their Kings & Queens and Princes & Princesses – a class of Chieftains called the Royal Scyths. When a member of the nobility died, the deceased will be sent off with riches and gold; horses and slaves will be sacrificed to accompany them. The Kazakh movie ‘Tomiris’ has a beautiful scene on this Kurgan ritual of their Massagetae Saka tribe. One such Kurgan, near Almaty was excavated to reveal the magnificence of this burial.
The Saka Tutankhamun
The Golden Man (or Woman?) (Prince or Princess?) of Kazakhstan
Nobody is quite sure about the identity of Kazakhstan’s most visible national heritage symbol. But what we are certain is that about 2300 years ago, here in this land of Sakas (as Indians called them) or Scythians (as Greeks called them) lived as pastoral nomads in the vast steppes of Central Asia, a young person of about 17 years of age was buried in an earthen burial mound called a kurgan.
Just like Egypt, where most pyramids and tombs were ransacked for
their riches but one tomb survived, here too in the steppe, a smaller side
mound escaped the attention of tomb raiders. In 1969, the mound was excavated
to reveal something similar if not of the same scale of what happened in the
Valley of Kings. A body was found dressed in a ceremonial golden cataphract – a
garment ornamented with hundreds of sewn-on golden plaques, complete with a
conical cap adorned with jewellery, dagger, sword and other precious funerary
goods.
 |
The Golden Man in "Animal" Style Jewellery, National Museum, Astana, Kazhakastan |
So, who was this person – male or female, prince or princess? A
non-elite person will not get these burial rituals called kurgan. In the
excitement of finding the riches, the bones were stored in a cardboard box and
were recently found. All hopes of DNA testing are gone and it is said, the
remains will be placed in a time capsule with the hope that some future
technology will help unravel details about the identity.
Kazakhs take pride in their Sakas and the Golden Man. In Almaty, the Golden Man rides a snow leopard atop the Independence Monument – his ride has been switched to suit the modern times. Did the Sakas have similar funerary traditions in India too? You are not sure but you are pretty sure you are not too fond of things gold – some Sakas seem to have evolved. But there is no harm in digging up a little in your village. Who knows?
 |
Model of a Kurgan, National Museum of Kazhakstan
What you are sure is that you just bought the most expensive museum
ticket ever – British Museum was free while the Egyptian Museum was cheaper.
You could have bought some gold instead with that money – couple of granules
maybe.
The Golden Man, Iron Age, Scythe-Saka “Animal” Style Jewellery,
buried in 4th Cen BC or about 2300 years ago, found in 1969-70 in Issyk Burial
Ground, reconstructed in 1980s, Hall of Gold in National Museum of Republic of
Kazakhstan, Astana, Kazakhstan
Now let’s go back to Greater India region. Saka history in India is not easy to understand with parallel kingdoms of Persians, Greeks, and the mighty Kushans in play. So, we will keep it simple. One branch of Sakas from Cn Asia will veer off west to harass the Persians and one branch after being harassed by Yuezhis will move from Bactria and settle in the Baluchistan region, bordering present Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, to set up their own Stan – Sakastan; presently called Sistan. This was the Drangiana region, part of Achaemenid Empire. Is this why Sakas are said to be Iranian or were they Iranian to begin with before they migrated to the steppes in antiquity and coming to Sakastan was homecoming? And that they have Iranian genes? It is possible. Will need to study this some more.
Darius the Great, the nemesis of Sakas, in his Naqs-i-Rustam inscription distinguishes three groups of Sakas:
1) Saka Tigraxauda:
"Sakas wearing the pointed cap" who are portrayed in a sculpture at
Behistun and described by Herodotus as "clad in trousers" and
having "on their heads tall stiff caps rising to a point"; these
Sakas lived between the Caspian Sea and the Jaxartes River (Syr Daria);
Skunkha was a Saka Tigraxauda king depicted in the Behistun relief wearing a pointed cap who was captured by Darius I in 519 BC and the vanquished Sakas as tribute bearers depicted in a mural in the Bishkek museum. Are they the ones who landed in Taxila through Pamirs and Gilgit?
 |
King Skunkha - last person in the row wearing the conical cap - Behistun, Iran |
2) Saka Haumavarga: "hauma-drinking" or "hauma-preparing" Sakas (hauma is a type of alcoholic beverage) identified with the Amyrgian Scythians of Greek sources, possibly located in the southeastern Iranian province of Drangiana, which later became known as Sakastan or Seistan;
They are the ones who founded the Western Satraps. Did some of them also come to Taxila to establish the Northern Satraps? Did one of these hauma-drinkers end up in a bar in Mathura and is infamously depicted in the Bacchanalian sculpture?!
3) Saka Paradraya: Sakas "across the sea" who probably lived
north of the Black Sea and in the Russian steppes, although some groups reached
the Danube Valley in central Europe, Syria, and upper Mesopotamia.
This branch went to Persian and beyond to Europe.
 |
Saka Queen Tomiris
Now these Sakas living here in Sakastan would have belonged to different hordes or tribes or clans of Central Asia. Did they still have their separate tribal cohorts after all these years? The movie ‘Tomiris’ mentions tribes like Massagetae and Dahae. Or, by then the different Sakas would have coalesced into a common community that would have inter-bred with local population of Drangiana? By now, were the Sakas of Sakastan different genetically and culturally to their ancestors of Central Asia? Is this the reason why more Indians have Iranian genes than steppe genes? Did the Sakas give up their nomadic lifestyle here in Sakastan? Did they turn into sedentary agrarians raising cattle instead of horses? Or did they just stopped moving around while raising horses and crops? Balochistan landscape would be quite similar to the steppes. They would have felt at home here. It sure would be mighty nice to time travel to Sakastan.
Saka Sculptural Portrait, National Museum of Kazhakstan, Astana
But one thing is for sure. Sakas accustomed to riding across vast open steppes will soon grow restless. They would need some excitement and India has been offering excitement to assorted people since times immemorial. Tired of wars with Parthian King Mithradates II (124-88 BC), a part of the Sakas decided to find themselves a new home.
At the end of 1st century BC, around 88 BC, one branch of Sakas will head to North-West India and seize Taxila from Indo-Greeks. Yes, the pushing & shoving will continue, and the Sakas will establish their Indo-Scythian Kingdom. From Taxila, they will move down through Punjab by displacing Indo-Greeks and to Mathura perhaps by displacing the Mitra and Datta dynasties. In Mathura, they will be called Northern Satraps. It is possible, the Mathura satraps were reporting to their Taxila headquarters and not wholly autonomous.
.jpg)
Another bunch of Sakas not
too fond of climbing the mountains, will go east into Gujarat and Rajasthan,
where they will be called Western Satraps. To further simplify things, we will only
talk about our Saka ancestors settled in the Mathura region this time – the
region that was the theatre of all three Central Asian rulers – Sakas, Kushans
and Huns. Huns will further branch out into Malwa. The Western Satraps and Rudradaman I, for
now, will have to wait.
 |
A (Royal?) Scythian attired (conical cap, tunic, belt, trousers) Devotee, Railing Pillar, 1st-2nd cen CE, found in Kota, Mathura, now in Mathura Museum
Maues or Moga, of probably Kamboja lineage, will canter from Sakastan through the Khyber Pass to subdue the Indo-Greeks (Archebios was the last Greek king of Taxila) and establish the Indo-Scythian Kingdom in Taxila in 1st century BC (90-80 BC). Konow opined that he came through the Gilgit area in the Karakoram; route confirmed by the petroglyphs left by his marching army. Yes, it is all confusing. Now you are not sure if the founder of Indo-Scythian Kingdom Maues came from Sakastan or Bactria. Even if Maues came from Bactria, he would have come through the Lataband and Khyber passes. Or, was deviating to Karakoram a tactical decision by Maues to capture Taxila by surprise?
 |
Maues wearing full armour and riding his horse into India - wait a minute, is the horse wearing a conical Saka cap?!
 |
Machene - Queen of Maues - Greek and Kharosthi Legends
Another possibility is that Maues simply came from Cn Asia after being expelled by Yuezhis, the forerunners of Kushans. In that case Maues will be a recent émigré unlike the settled Sakas of Sakastan. All interesting possibilities that make history so wonderful!
 |
Gold Artefacts, 5th-4th Cen BC, Issyk Burial Grounds, National Museum of Kazakhstan, Astana
Prof Jason Neelis says:
Saka migrations were not
led by a single king, but were probably gradual movements of acephalous groups
to Jibin, a region apparently corresponding to Gandhara or to northwestern
India in general.
At the beginning of the
first century BC, two or possibly three groups of Sakas migrated to India from
Central Asia:
a) Sakas from the north (perhaps coming from Khotan) took the 'Pamir routes' through the Karakorum Mountains to Swat and Gandhara - Did Maues come from Khotan?
b) Sakas crossed the Hindu Kush under pressure from the Yuezhi to mountain valleys of northeastern Afghanistan;
c) Sakas coming from the southwest (Sakastan) took control of modern Sindh in southern Pakistan.
 |
Taxila or Moga Copper Plate, 1st cen BC-1st cen CE, Greek and Kharosthi
Maues’s reign in early 1st century BC is confirmed by his Moga Copper Plate found in Taxila making him the first recorded ruler of Sakas. For all their might, horsemanship and the splendid gold offerings in Kurgans, Sakas do not seem to have a written script. No Saka inscriptions have ever been found in Central Asia. It is here in Taxila, that Sakas will finally learn to write – in Kharosthi script derived from Aramaic. The inscription mentions the dedication of a relic of Buddha to a monastery by Patika Kusulaka, a satrap, near Taxila. Patika will also make an appearance in the Mathura Lion Capital inscription.
Independent Saka rule in Taxila will last from 58 BC to 19 CE before they will be displaced by Kushans. Yes, the inexorable conveyor belt at it again.
 |
Great King of Kings Azes - Greek Legend, British Museum
Azes I would rule over Gandhara from 48-25 BC (or 58 BC) and is best known for starting the Azes Era, that some say is same as Vikram era. By the end of Azes II rule (Azes I & II could be the same ruler), Gondophares, the founder of Indo-Parthian kingdom will come to power. Yes, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Greeks and now Indo-Parthians seemed to be ruling in these parts of India about at the same time.
It is amazing how entire
histories are figured out on the basis of these few inscriptions. Inscriptions
helped us understand the Hunas and now these inscriptions will help us learn
about the Sakas in India.
 |
See it? there on the right sitting on the pedestal, Room 33, South Asia, British Museum
Where is the Moga Copper
Plate today? Of course, in the British Museum. What else is there in the
British Museum – the Mathura Lion Capital! That one afternoon you spent in the
British Museum was only about the Amaravati Marbles. Everything else was a blur.
You go through your photos. Did you manage to click the Lion Capital? No, but
you do see it displayed in the aisle leading to the Amaravati Gallery in one of
the photos.
 |
Mathura Lion Capital, Room 33, South Asia, British Museum
The Mathura Lion Capital was India’s earliest Kharosthi inscription. The mottled red sandstone capital has two stylised adorsed lions (sitting back-to-back) and supporting a rectangular abacus. Except the faces and the abacus, entire surface is covered with Prakrit inscriptions in Kharosthi script. The Lion capital was consecrated under the rule of Rajuvula, a ruler of Northern Satraps of Mathura around 30 AD. The Sakas had moved from Taxila to Mathura displacing the Mitras and Dattas. The lion capital was made on the occasion of the funeral of the illustrious king Muki and his horse. Muki is conjectured to be Maues and the royals were always buried with their horses. The capital mentions the gift of a stupa with a relic of Buddha by the chief queen of Rajuvula.
 |
Rajuvula, Indo-Scythian King
Rajuvula was a great satrap (Mahakshatrapa) ruling over Mathura around 10 CE. Rajuvula is believed to be the successor of
earlier satraps Hagamasha and Hagana who took over Mathura around 60 BC. Rajuvula
will also conquer the last Greek bastion of Sialkot in Punjab and under Strato
II, Greek rule will finally come to an end in India.
 |
The Incredible statue of Kambojika, the queen of Maha Satrap Rajuvula - found in the same Saptarishi Mound in Mathura where the Mathura Lion Capital was found, now in Mathura Museum (and you absolutely missed seeing her!)
 |
Rajuvula Coins with Greek Legend
Soon both Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthians will collapse with the new entrants, the Kushans, appearing in this rapidly changing power landscape.
 |
Sodasa Coins
Another name mentioned in the Lion Capital is that of Sodasa. He was the son of Rajuvula and a possible Jainism follower. A votive tablet called Amohini Ayagapata was found in Kankali Tila. A three-line inscription says that the tablet was offered by a lady Amohini to a Jain shrine during the reign of Sodasa.
 |
Possibly the earliest anthropomorphic depiction of Buddha, railing pillar, circa 15 CE, found in Isapur, Mathura, now in Mathura Museum
 |
In-the-round Statuary (free-standing 3D) Torso figure posibly of one of the five Vrishni Heroes called Bhagavatam, mentioned in the Mora Well Inscription, found in Mora, Mathura, Circa 15 CE, now in Mathura Museum
 |
Bacchanalian Group, apparently the In-the-round Statutory style, 1st Cen CE, now in Mathura Museum
A lot seem to have happened during Sodasa’s reign. Eight inscriptions have been found dedicated to Sodasa. Scholars believe the earliest Sanskrit inscription found in Mora Well (early 1st cen CE) attributed to Sodasa is the most significant. The inscription mentions a temple, murtis and the five Vrishnis in the Vaishnavism tradition. It seems Bhagavatism was prevalent then with its origin in Mathura around 2nd cen BC centered on worship of Vasudev-Krihna who later merged with Narayana and Vishnu. The later Sakas like Sodasa would willingly adopt the local practises and traditions including inscriptions in Brahmi and Sanskrit.
 |
Seated Surya, 3rd CE, quite similar to Mathura Lion Capital, now in Mathura Museum
All good things are coming to an end. Sodasa would be the last Saka ruler to have left coins. Vima Kadphises, father of Kanishka, will displace the Sakas around 90-100 CE. It seems the days of Saka satraps were over. Or did the Sakas become vassals of Kushans? Wait, it gets interesting.
 |
The huge Boddhisattava, early 1st cen CE, the lovely Sarnath Museum (the museum where phone camera is not allowed but a regular camera is allowed!)
On a Boddhisattva image in
the Sarnath Museum (it is one of the better maintained museums that you visited
during the covid era), an inscription can be seen of Great Satrap Kharapallana
and Satrap Vanaspara who were probably Governors of these eastern provinces of
Kushan Empire. The inscription is dated to 3rd year of Kanishka or
130 CE. So instead of disappearing into the mist of Yamuna, the Sakas would
continue to rule for Kanishka. And the overlapping and interplay of all these
Indo-Scythians, Indo-Greeks, Indo-Parthians and now the Kushans will continue
from the arid deserts of Balochistan, to majestic mountains of Gandhara to the fertile
plains of Yamuna & Ganga.
Now coming to the
existential question!
Did the Sakas turn into Jats? The probability is quite promising! Alexander Cunningham thinks so and he is the only British guy you trust! The Saka theatre of play was from North-West to Mathura. Your village in Mathura is where all these Central Asian nomadic tribes would end up from the early Aryans to Sakas to Kushans to Hunas in a period of about 700 years.
 |
A Scythian Nobleman, found in Palikhera, Mathura, now in Mathura Museum
Alexander Cunningham thinks Jat word evolved from Getae or Massagetae (the Queen Tomiris belonged to this tribe!). Several Jat Gotras (clans) sound similar to Cn Asia tribes. However, some recent studies point out that the Jats share greater DNA characteristics with the Bronze Age Indo-Aryans (2000-1500 BC) of the steppes than the later Scyths or Kushans or Hunas.
If some early Aryans had turned into Jat communities, it is entirely possible that Jats were already living in this Punjab to Mathura region when the Indo-Scythians or Sakas arrived. The Sakas in their over two hundred years of rule would have assimilated into these Jat clans who came from similar ancestral background and tribes in Central Asia. In addition to blending with earlier Jat clans, some Sakas would have formed new Jat clans in this Punjab to Haryana to Mathura region which today has the maximum concentration of Jats.
As a Jat you identify strongly with certain Jat personality characteristics. Prof KR Qanungo in ‘History of the Jats’ says of Jats: “They are indeed a bold peasantry, their country’s pride, accustomed to guide the ploughshare and wield the sword with equal readiness and success – second to no other Indian race in industry or courage. He is tough, slow, unimaginative, and unemotional, lacking brilliance, but possessed of great solidity, dogged perseverance and eminently practical turn of mind.” Yes, quite true! Jats are brave, attracted to military service, strong headed (euphemism for being obstinate), hold on fiercely to independent views and individualism, are usually indifferent to authority, and put low emphasis on idol worship or rituals (not too fond of Brahmins and their supplanting ways).
Khushwant Singh in his ‘A History of the Sikhs’ says, “The Jat was born the worker and the warrior. He tilled his land with sword girded round his waist. He fought more battles for the defence of his homestead than the Kshatriya, for unlike the martial Kshatriya the Jat seldom fled from his village when the invaders came. And if the Jat was maltreated or if his women were molested by the conqueror on his way to Hindustan, he settled his score by looting the invaders’ caravans on their return journey and freeing the women he was taking back.” “…he assumed a somewhat condescending attitude towards the Brahmin, whom he considered little better than a soothsayer or a beggar...” Khushwant Singh sure knew how to speak his mind.
 |
A Jat Farmer - Early 19th Cent Painting |
However, Prof Qanungo
trashes the theory of Indo-Scythian origin of Jats. He believes Jats were
Indo-Aryans who lived in Rajasthan, Awadh and Central Provinces. As Indian
empires expanded – Chandragupta’s era Maurya Empire stretched to Hindu Kush -
Buddhism took roots in Central Asia & China, and trade developed on the
Silk Road, the Jats would migrate to Central Asia as a people, soldiers and
mercenaries to support and protect trade, pilgrims, scholars & missionaries. Later
as the Great Migration began from 100-600 CE, the Jats would be swept back to
Sind. Jats of Indo-Aryan origin, moved out of India and then were pushed back
to India. Jats were already in India when later Indo-Scythians would arrive.
And it would be the Central Asian tribes who adopted Jat clan names of their
ancestors like Dahae and Massagetae and not the other way around, as popularly
believed. Now you chew on that and your buffaloes on that cud.
Related Posts on this Blog
References:
Northern Satraps -
Wikipedia – detailed Ready Reckoner on the Northern Satraps
North
in Turmoil: The Saka and Pahlava Waves (100 BCE–100 CE) – livehistory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Scythian_Kingdom
https://kureansiklopedi.com/en/detay/scythians-sakas-abf1e
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistan
- the place of origin of Indian Sakas
https://sarvajeet.in/2026/06/17/the-sakas-from-barbarians-to-builders-of-india/
- some powerful writing setting the context of contribution of Sakas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Mathura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxila_copper_plate
- Maues’s Inscription
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1889-0314-1
- British Museum - Mathura Lion Capital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathura_lion_capital
- Rajuvula’s Lion Capital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajuvula
Kankali Tila
tablet of Sodasa - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirzapur_stele_inscription
- Sodasa’s reign
Scythian Period by Lohuizen
De Leeuw, pages 324-387 – a book only these Europeans can write
From Bactria to Taprobane –
Selected Works of Osmund Bopearachchi, Vol I – Central Asian and Indian
Numismatics – another masterful book on everything coins and the chronology of
all these kings and empires
History of the Jats by
Prof. K. R. Qanungo
A History of the Sikhs by
Khushwant Singh
Sakas – An Essay by Jason
Neelis
Maues at Taxila: Problems
of His Arrival Route and Political Allegiance, Journal of Central Asia, VII:
5-14 by Jason Neelis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_inscription
- Darius I Inscription in Iran
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1002/12_Parzinger_1836_Final_0.pdf
- a paper on Kurgans or Burial Mounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNNBuJGZ6CQ
– remarkable film about Saka Queen Tomiris who is alleged to have killed Cyrus
the Great in a battle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saka%E2%80%93Satavahana_Wars
– a detailed page that lists all the interplays and battles of those confusing
times
https://www.genoconnect.co/communities/jat
- detailed description of Jats and their origin
https://www.sikhphilosophy.net/threads/the-scythians-and-the-jutts.42418/
- an interesting take on Scythians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomyris
- the Saka Queen who slayed Cyrus
https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/khyber-pass/
- Khyber Pass through all conquering armies marched into India
