Scythia was filled with Greek colonies and Herodotus has recorded a fascinating story about the origin of Scythians. He says: "According to them, Heracles, when he was carrying off the cows of Geryon, arrived in the region which is now inhabited by the Scyths, but which was then a desert. Geryon lived outside the Pontus, in an island called by the Greeks Erytheia, near Gades, which is beyond the Pillars of Heracles upon the Ocean.
"Heracles came from there into the region now called Scythia, and, being overtaken by storm and frost, drew his lion’s skin about him, and fell fast asleep. While he slept, his mares, which he had freed from his chariot to graze, by some wonderful chance disappeared."
" Upon waking, he went in quest of them, and after wandering over the whole country, came at last to the district called ‘the Woodland’, where he found in a cave a strange being, between a maiden and a serpent, whose form from the waste upwards was like that of a woman, while all below was like a snake. He looked at her wonderingly; but nevertheless inquired, whether she had chanced to see his strayed mares anywhere.
"She answered him, 'Yes', and they were now in her keeping but never would she consent to give them back, unless he took her for his mistress.
"So Heracles, to get his mares back, agreed, but afterwards she put him off and delayed restoring the mares, since she wished to keep him with her as long as possible. He, on the other hand, was only anxious to secure them and to get away.
"At last, when she gave them up, she said to him, ‘When thy mares strayed hither, it was I who saved them for thee: now thou has paid their salvage; for lo! I bear in my womb three sons of thine. Tell me therefore when thy sons grow up, what must I do with them? Wouldst thou wish that I should settle them here in this land, whereof I am mistress, or shall I send them to thee? Thus questioned, they say, Heracles answered, ‘When the lads have grown to manhood, do thus, and assuredly thou wilt not err. Watch them, and when thou sees one of them bend his bow as I now bend it, and gird himself with this girdle thus, choose him to remain in the land. Those who fail in this trial, send away. Thus wilt thou at once please thyself and obey me.
"Hereupon he strung one of his bows – up to that time he had carried two – and showed her how to fasten the belt. Then he gave both bow and belt into her hands. Now the belt had a golden goblet attached to its clasp. So after he had given them to her, he went his way; and the woman, when her children grew to manhood, first gave them severally their names.
"One she called Agathyrsus, one Gelonus, and the other, who was the youngest, Scythes. Then she remembered the instructions she had received from Heracles, and, in obedience to his orders, she put her sons to the test. Two of them, Agathyrsus and Gelonus, proving unequal to the task enjoined, their mother sent them out of the land; Scythes, the youngest, succeeded, and so he was allowed to remain.
This event may have taken place soon after the Great War (of Mahabharata). These people must have multiplied over a period of time and with many kings before entering India and founding Taxila.The entire tribe most probably may not have migrated to Taxila and a large part of it must still have continued to live in Scythia.
These people after a time may have made second inroad into India of which Herodotus is speaking here. Those who penetrated many countries like Baktria, Sogdiana, etc. and then India must have belonged to a second wave of penetration. This process must have continued for many years, as the Scythians reached Samarkand.
These people settled at Taxila, Samarkand, Bokhara, Bactria, Kabul, Kandahar, Sind, and Punjab.
Herodotus says: "It appears likewise that the Cimmerians, when they fled into Asia to escape Scyths, made a settlement in the peninsula where the Greek City of Sinope was afterwards built. The Scyths pursued them, and missing their road, poured into Media (Media is identified with Azerbaijan). For the Cimmerians kept the line which led along the sea-shore, but the Scyths in their pursuit held the Caucasus upon their right, thus proceeding inland, and falling upon Media. This accounts one that is common both to Greeks and barbarians ( Scythians).”
Strabo mentions that Heracles travelled to the East and the West, reaching the extremities of the known world.Alexander the Great took pride in belonging to the mortal bloodline of Heracles- the Greek hero who roamed the world and His achivements made Him a God in Greece, India, and other countries.
Edited from: Indian People's Congress
