The Pahlavas are a people mentioned in ancient Indian texts. According to Patrick Carnegy, [3] a Raj-era ethnographer, the 4th-century BCE Vartika of Katyayana mentions the Sakah-Parthavah, demonstrating an awareness of these Saka-Parthians, probably by way of commerce. [4] Knowledge of the Pahlavas is distilled from the literary references in texts like the Manu Smriti , various Puranas, the Ramayana , the Mahabharata , and the Bṛhat Saṃhitā .
Pahlavas are referenced in various Puranic texts such as Vayu Purana , the Brahmanda Purana , the Markandeya Purana, the Matsya Purana , and the Vamana Purana .
Kirfel's list of Uttarapatha countries of the Bhuvanakosha locates the Pahlavas along with the Tocharians (or Tusharas), Chinas, Angalaukikas, Barbaras, Kambojas, Daradas, Bahlikas and other countries of the "Udichya" (Sanskrit: "northern") division of ancient India:[ citation needed ]
ete desha udichyastu
Kambojashchaiva Dardashchaiva Barbarashcha Angaukikah
Chinashchaiva Tusharashcha Pahlavadhayata narah— From Kirfel's text of Bhuvanakosha
The Vayu Purana, Brahmanda Purana and several other Puranas mention the Pahlavas with the tribes of Uttarapatha or north-west. The 6th-century CE text Markandeya Purana [lower-greek 1] lists the Pahlavas, Kambojas, Daradas, Bahlikas, Barbaras, Tusharas, Paradas, Chinas, Lampakas, as the countries of Udichya division (Uttarapatha). However, the 58th chapter of the Markandeya Purana also refers to yet other settlements of the Pahlavas and the Kambojas and locates them both specifically in the south-west of India as neighbors to the Sindhu, Sauvira and Anarta (north Saurashtra) countries. The 6th-century Bṛhat Saṃhitā of Varāhamihira also locates the Pahlavas and Kamboja kingdoms in south-west India, around Gujarat-Saurashtra. [9]
Puranas like Vayu also state that the Uttarapatha (Udichyas) including the Pahlavas, Paradas, Gandharas, Sakas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Kambojas, Khasas, Lampakas, Madhyadesis, Vindhyas, Aprantas, Dakshinatyas, Dravidas, Pulindas, Simhalas, would be proceeded against and annihilated by Kalki in Kali Yuga . And they are stated to have been annihilated by king Pramiti at the end of Kali age as per Puranic evidence.
According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, the river Chakshu (Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the countries of Pahlavas, Tusharas, Lampakas, Paradas and the Sakas. [lower-greek 2]
Puranas associate the Pahlavas with the Kambojas, Sakas, Yavanas and Paradas and brands them together as Panca-ganah (five-hordes). These five hordes were military allies of the Haihaya or Taljunga Kshatriyas of Yadava line and were chiefly responsible for dethroning king Bahu of Kosala.
Later, king Sagara, son of king Bahu, was able to defeat the Haihayas or Taljungas together with these five-hordes. According to Puranic accounts, king Sagara had divested the Paradas and other members (the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas) of the well-known Pānca-gana of their Kshatriyahood and turned them into the Mlechchas. Before their defeat at the hands of king Sagara, these five-hordes were called Kshatriya-pungava ('foremost among the Kshatriyas').
The Balakanda of the Ramayana groups the Pahlavas with the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Mlechhas and the Kiratas and refers to them as military allies of sage Vasishtha against Vedic sage king Vishwamitra. [lower-greek 3]
The Kiṣkindhā Kāṇda of the Ramayana associates the Pahlavas with the Yavanas, Shakas, Kambojas, Paradas (Varadas), Rishikas and the Uttarakurus, and locates them all in the trans-Himalayan territories, that is, in the Sakadvipa. [lower-greek 4]
Mahabharata attests that Pandava-putra Nakula had defeated the Pahlavas in the course of his western expedition. The kings of Pahlava were also present at the Rajasuya sacrifice of king Yudhishtra.
The Mahabharata also associates the Pahlavas with the Sakas, Yavanas, Gandharas, Kambojas, Tusharas, Sabaras, Barbaras, and addresses them all as the barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha.
But the Udyoga-Parva of Mahabharata groups the Pahlavas with the Sakas, Paradas and the Kambojas-Rishikas and locates them all in or around Anupa region in western India.
Mahabharata [lower-greek 5] reads: These kings of the Shakas, Pahlavas and Daradas (i.e. the Paradas) and the Kamboja Rshikas, these are in the western riverine (Anupa) area.
This epic reference implies that sections of the Pahlavas, Sakas, Paradas, Kambojas were also located in western India near Saurashtra-Maharashtra.
The Pahlavas along with the Sakas, Kiratas, Yavanas, amongst others, joined Saradwat's son Kripacharya, the high-souled and mighty bowman, and took up their positions at the northern point of the army. [lower-greek 6] [lower-alpha 2]
The Manusmriti [lower-greek 7] states that the Pahlavas and several other tribes like the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Paradas, Daradas, Khasas. were originally noble Kshatriyas, but later, due to their non-observance of valorous Kshatriya codes and neglect of chivalry, they had gradually sunken to the status of Mlechchas.
The Buddhist drama Mudrarakshasa by Visakhadutta and the Jaina works Parishishtaparvan refer to Chandragupta's alliance with Himalayan king Parvatka. This Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a powerful composite army made up of the frontier martial tribes of the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Bahlikas, which he utilized to expanded his Mauryan Empire in northern India. [lower-greek 8]
The Brihat-Katha-Manjari of Kshmendra [lower-greek 9] relates that around 400, the Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the barbarians" like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, by annihilating these "unrighteous people" completely.
The 10th century Kavyamimamsa [lower-alpha 3] of Pt Raj Shekhar still lists the Sakas, Tusharas, Vokanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Tangana, Turukshas, together and states them as the tribes located in the Uttarapatha division.[ citation needed ]
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The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians", who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India.
Ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts use Uttarapatha as the name of the Northern part of Jambudvipa, one of the "continents" in Hindu history. In modern times, the Sanskrit word uttarapatha is sometimes used to denote the geographical regions of North India, Western India, Central India, Eastern India, Northeast India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal in just one term. The pronunciation of the word varies depending on the regional language of the speaker.
The Mahājanapadas were sixteen kingdoms and aristocratic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the second urbanisation period.
Uttarakuru is the name of a dvipa ('continent') in ancient Hindu and Buddhist mythology as well as Jain cosmology. The Uttarakuru country or Uttara Kuru Kingdom and its people are sometimes described as belonging to the real world, whereas at other times they are mythical or otherworldly spiritual beings. The name Uttara Kuru means "North Kuru". The Kurus were a tribe during the Vedic civilization of India. The Uttara Kuru were therefore a population to the north of the Kurus, or north of the Himalayas.
The Rishikas was an ancient Kingdom of Central Asia and South Asia, who are mentioned in Hindu and Sanskrit literary texts, including the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Brhat-Samhita, the Markendeya Purana and Patanjali's Mahabhashya.
Khasas were an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe and a late Janapada kingdom from Himalayan regions of northern Indian subcontinent mentioned in the various historical Indian inscriptions and ancient Indian Hindu and Tibetan literature. European sources described the Khasa tribe living in the Northwest Himalayas and the Roman geographer Pliny The Elder specifically described them as "Indian people". They were reported to have lived around Gandhara, Trigarta and Madra Kingdom as per the Mahabharata.
Daradas were an ancient people who lived north and north-west to the Kashmir Valley. This kingdom is identified to be the Gilgit region, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region along the river Sindhu or Indus. They are often spoken along with the Kambojas. The Pandava hero Arjuna had visited this country of Daradas during his northern military campaign to collect tribute for Yudhishthira's Rajasuya sacrifice.
The Chinas are a people mentioned in ancient Indian literature, such as the Mahabharata, Manusmriti, and the Puranic literature.
Pāradas was an Iron Age kingdom described in various ancient and classical Indian texts. The exact location of the kingdom is unknown. The Vayu Purana locates the tribe on the upper course of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in Central Asia. The Mahabharata, however, associates the Paradas with the tribes of Uttarapatha, and places them on the Sailoda River in the Xinjiang province of China. Additionally, the Ramayana locates the people in the Himalayas.
The kingdom of Tushara, according to ancient Indian literature, such as the epic Mahabharata, was a land located beyond north-west India. In the Mahabharata, its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as mlechchas ("barbarians") and fierce warriors.
Sakas are described in Sanskrit sources as a Mleccha tribe grouped along with the Yavanas, Tusharas and Barbaras. There were a group of Sakas called Apa Sakas meaning water dwelling Sakas, probably living around some lake in central Asian steppes. Sakas took part in Kurukshetra War.
Khasas were a north western tribe mentioned in the epic Mahabharata.
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Parvata Kingdom refers to the territory of a tribe known as Parvatas (Mountaineers), mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. Most of the descriptions of Parvata kingdom in the epic refer to a mountainous country in the Himalayas. Tribes belonging to other mountainous regions in the north west, west and the east of the Indo-Gangetic Plain were also known as Parvatas, when used as a collective name. Parvatas took part in the Kurukshetra War. The epic also mentions a sage named Parvata who was a companion of sage Narada.
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Central Asia and Ancient India have long traditions of social-cultural, religious, political and economic contact since remote antiquity. The two regions have common and contiguous borders, climatic continuity, similar geographical features and geo-cultural affinity. For millennia, there has been a flow of people, material and ideas between the two.
Native ethnologists ... say that of the six remaining original races of which they take cognizance [...] that the Pahluv are probably those people who spoke Pahluvi or Pehlvi, a language of Persia ...[ failed verification ]