Product Code Database
The word Yona in Pali and the , and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek language speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India.
Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. Yavana appears, for instance, in the Mahabharata, while Yona appears in texts such as the chronicle Mahavamsa.
The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves.
Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include:
In general, the words "Yoṇa" or "Yoṇaka" were the current Greek Hellenistic forms, while the term "Yavana" was the Indian word to designate the Greeks or the Indo-Greeks.The Greeks in Bactria and India by William Woodthorpe Tarn p.257
After Alexander the Great's invasion, the Greek settlements had existed in eastern parts of Achaemenid Empire, northwest of India, as neighbours to the Kambojas. The references to the Yonas in the early Buddhist texts, and Menander I (), may be related to the same.
The Yavanas are mentioned by the grammarian Pāṇini, probably in reference to their writing.
In the Gandhari original of Rock XIII, the Greek kings to the West are associated unambiguously with the term "Yona": Antiochus is referred as "Amtiyoko nama Yonaraja" (lit. "The Greek king by the name of Antiochus"), beyond whom live the four other kings: "param ca tena Atiyokena cature 4 rajani Turamaye nama Amtikini nama Maka nama Alikasudaro nama" (lit. "And beyond Antiochus, four kings by the name of Ptolemy, the name of Antigonos, the name of Magas, the name Alexander").
Another Yona thera, Mahādhammarakkhita, is mentioned as having come from Alexandria on the Caucasus in the country of the Yonas, to be present at the building of the Ruwanwelisaya. (Mahawamsa XXIX)
There are important references to the warring Mleccha hordes of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, the Pahlavas and others in the Bala Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana.
Indologists like Dr H. C. Raychadhury, Dr B. C. Law, Dr Satya Shrava and others see in these verses the clear glimpses of the struggles of the Hindus with the mixed invading hordes of the barbaric Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas etc. from north-west.The Śakas in India, 1981, p 12, Satya Shrava; Journal, 1920, p 175, University of Calcutta. Department of Letters; India & Russia: Linguistic & Cultural Affinity, 1982, p 100, Weer Rajendra Rishi; Indological Studies, 1950, p 32, Dr B. C. Law; Political History of India from the Accession of Parikshit to the Coronation of Bimbisara, 1923, Page iii, Hemchandra Raychaudhuri; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 4, Raychaudhury; Indological Studies, 1950, p 4, Dr B. C. Law. The time frame for these struggles is 2nd century BCE downwards.Political History of Ancient India, 1996, pp 3–4.
The other Indian records prophecies the 180 BCE Yona attacks on Saket, Panchala, Mathura and Pataliputra, probably against the Shunga Empire, and possibly in defence of Buddhism: "After having conquered Saketa, the country of the Panchala and the Mathuras, the Yavanas, wicked and valiant, will reach Kusumadhvaja ("The town of the flower-standard", Pataliputra). The thick mud-fortifications at Pataliputra being reached, all the provinces will be in disorder, without doubt. Ultimately, a great battle will follow, with tree-like engines (siege engines)."Gargi-Samhita Paragraph 5, Yuga Purana. "The Yavanas will command, the Kings will disappear. (But ultimately) the Yavanas, intoxicated with fighting, will not stay in Madhadesa (the Middle Country); there will be undoubtedly a civil war among them, arising in their own country, there will be a terrible and ferocious war."Gargi-Samhita, Yuga Purana Chapter, No 7. The "Anushasanaparava" of the Mahabharata affirms that the country of Majjhimadesa was invaded the Yavanas and the Kambojas who were later utterly defeated. The Yona invasion of Majjhimadesa ("middle country, midlands") was jointly carried out by the Yonas and the Kambojas. Majjhimadesa here means the middle of Greater India which then included Afghanistan, Pakistan and large parts of Central Asia.
The Mahavamsa also attests Yona settlement in Anuradhapura in ancient Sri Lanka, probably contributing to trade between East and West.
Buddhist texts like Sumangala Vilasini class the language of the Yavanas with the Milakkhabhasa i.e. impure language.
Ancient Rome traders in Tamilakkam were also considered Yavanas.
Three inscriptions are known from Yavana donors at Sanchi, the clearest of which reads " Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam" ("Gift of the Yona of Setapatha"), Setapatha being an uncertain city.
The city of Dhenukakata is thought to be Danahu near the city of Karli. It is described by other donors in other inscriptions as a "vaniya-gama" (A community of merchants).
The Yavanas are also known for their donation of a complete cave at the Nasik Caves (cave No.17), and for their donations with inscriptions at the Junnar.
Udyogaparva of MahabharataMahabharata 5.19.21–23. says that the composite army of the Kambojas, Yavanas and Sakas had participated in the Mahabharata war under the supreme command of Kamboja king Sudakshina. The Hindu Epics numerously applauds this composite army as being very fierce and wrathful.
Balakanda of Ramayana also groups the Yavanas with the Kambojas, Sakas, Pahlavas etc. and refers to them as the military allies of sage Vishistha against Vedic king VishwamitraRamayana 55.2–3. The Kishkindha Kanda of Ramayana locates the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas and Paradas in the extreme north-west beyond the Himalaya (i.e. Hindukush).Ramayana 43.12.
The Buddhist drama Mudrarakshasa by Visakhadutta as well as the works Parishishtaparvan refer to Chandragupta's alliance with Himalayas king Parvataka. This Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a powerful composite army made up of the frontier martial tribes of the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Parasikas, Bahlikas etc.See: Mudrarakshas, Act II. which he may have utilised to aid defeat the Classical Greece successors of Alexander the Great and the Nanda dynasty rulers of Magadha, and thus establishing his Mauryan Empire in northern India.
ManusmritiManusmriti X.43–44. lists the Yavanas with the Kambojas, Sakas, Pahlavas, Parada kingdom etc. and regards them as degraded (Hindu caste). Anushasanaparva of MahabharataMahabharata 13.33.23. also views the Yavanas, Kambojas, Shakas etc. in the same light. Patanjali's MahabhashyaMahabhasya II.4.10. regards the Yavanas and Sakas as Anirvasita (pure) . Gautama-DharmasutraGautama-Dharmasutra IV.21. regards the Yavanas or Greeks as having sprung from Shudra females and Kshatriya males.
The Assalayana Sutta of Majjhima Nikaya attests that in Yona and Kamboja nations, there were only two classes of people... and ...the masters and slaves, and that the Arya could become Dasa and vice versa. The Vishnu Purana also indicates that the "Chaturvarna" or four class social system was absent in the lands of Kiratas in the East, and the Yavanas and Kambojas etc. in the West.
Numerous Puranic literature groups the Yavanas with the , Kambojas, and Parada kingdom and refers to the peculiar hair styles of these people which were different from those of the . Ganapatha on Pāṇini attests that it was a practice among the Yavanas and the Kambojas to wear short-cropped hair ( Kamboja-mundah Yavana-mundah).
Vartika of Katayayana informs us that the kings of the Shakas and the Yavanas, like those of the Kambojas, may also be addressed by their respective tribe names.
Brihatkathamanjari of KshmendraBrihat-Katha-Manjari 10.1.285-86. informs us that king Vikramaditya had unburdened the sacred earth of the like the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas etc. by annihilating these sinners completely.
The Brahmanda PuranaBrahmanda Purana, Upodghatapada, 16–17. refers to the horses born in Yavana country.
The MahaniddesaMahaniddesa, pp 155, 415. speaks of Yona and Parama Yona, probably referring to Arachosia as the Yona and Bactria as the Parama Yona.
The Chams of Champa are thought referring Đại Việt as "Yavana". However this statement is largely vague. Cham sources refer Dai Viet as nagara Yuen (Cham language: nagara yvan, lit. "Viet state"), and the Viets as Yuen (yvan). Both terminologies in Cham materials were written in Cham script and Cham language, the first dated 1142 during the reign of Harivarman I, showing little linguistic evidence to prove that Cham Yuen and Indian Yavana are connected. (1999). 9789748434568, White Lotus Press. ISBN 9789748434568 Similarly for Kiernan's argument to Khmer Yuon, the Cham reference for the Viet should have been derived from "Yue" or "Viet".
The Khmer language word "Yuon" (yuôn) យួន /yuən/ was thought to be an ethnic slur for Vietnamese, derived from the Indian word for Greek, "Yavana", however, it is actually the transcription of the word "Viet" or "Yueh" rather than "Yavana", because the Khmer word Yuon spelled with the diphthong uo, not v in "Yavana". According to Kiernan, "the Pol Pot regime, following French orientalists, mythologized its conflict with Hanoi as part of a millennial ethnic epic"; therefore they altered the meaning of yuon that being misleading implied as savages, foreigners.
The Sinhalese term Yonaka referring to the Sri Lankan Moors, is thought to have been derived from the term Yona.
|
|
