Modern day Kashmir was called by the Ancient Greeks Kasperia, which has also been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus of Miletus (apud Stephanus of Byzantium) and Kaspatyros of Herodotus (3.102, 4.44). Kashmir is also believed to be the country meant by Ptolemy's Kaspeiria.
Apart from being well-known for its cashmere pashmina shawls, which even Roman emperors favored, the beautiful region of Kashmir in India was once ruled by more than eleven Greek kings.
Kashmir
The Hellenic history of Kashmir ended with the fall of the Indo-Greek Kingdom but continued with substantially Hellenized Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians, and the Kushan kingdoms that replaced the Indo-Greeks. The Indo-Greeks patronized Indo-Greek art, architecture, clothing, and the Greek language and script.
Greek inspired 1200 years old temple in Kashmir known as Martand temple.
A 1,200-year-old, Greek-inspired temple in Kashmir known as Martand Temple. Image source: Arunansh B. Goswami.
In total, there were about thirty-two known Greek kings who ruled the Indian sub-continent one after the other or sometimes as contemporaries.
In Kashmir, the rule of the Indo-Greek Kingdoms began in the second century BCE and continued until the early first century CE. Several Greek kings of Kashmir have been identified through the Kharosthti inscriptions and statues in the Lolab Valley.
These have been found by Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, a trained numismatist from Kashmir, and numerous Greek coins have been preserved in the Srinagar Museum.
Euthydemus, Eukratides, Menander, Demetrius, Appollodotus, and Hippostratus were some of the Greek Kings of Kashmir. Menander’s discussion with Nagasena, the Buddhist saint, recorded in the Milndaphana—a Buddhist book—is believed to have taken place in the laps of Zabarwan Hills near present-day Harwan, which is about 19 kilometers from Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir.
It is noted that before his return, Alexander the Great had permitted his people, who were mostly comprised of Greek garrisons, to settle in the land he conquered during his military campaigns.
Several frontier tribes of the Kashmir region consisting of Gups and Dards are believed to be the descendants of soldiers of Alexander the Great. These people lived in the Gilgit, Hunza, Gurez, and Kargil areas of Kashmir.
A Greek inspired 1200 years old temple in Kashmir called Martand.
Ionian Greeks are said to have been the first to arrive in India. The term Yava which originated from Yavan, meaning Ionian—due to the Ionian inhabitants of the region—has been used in local Kashmiri folk literature, and it is still very popular in communication in the upper reaches of the Kashmir Valley, as per Mr. Iqbal Ahmad.
Similarly, when Kashmiris have to refer to a man or woman with a fair complexion, they say he or she is Yava. For them, Yava is one with a fair complexion and light-colored eyes. This was the characteristic feature of ancient Greek people.
Individuals of the Gupis and the Brokpas, famous tribes of Hunza, possess such a complexion. They are believed to be the descendants of Greeks.
There are several villages and places that are believed to possess the names of Hellenistic order to this day. These include, for example, Damudar, Nics in the Pulwama District, Munand in the Shopian District, and Memender and Harman. Others still include Mendar in the Poonch District and Lious in the Kulgam District. These places or villages represent the corrupt form of the names of the Indo-Greek princes, such as Demetrious, Nicias, Menander, and Lyasis.
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Plenty of coins of Menander and Appolodotus have been in Southern Kashmir. Prior to its excavation, Semithan (Bijbehara) yielded several Indo-Greek coins. There are still reports arriving from the Semithan regarding the discovery of such coins, but, unfortunately, many such coins go into hands of antique dealers who are hardly concerned with the historic value. Other archeological evidence also throws some light on the presence of Indo-Greek rulers in the valley.
A deposit of forty cans consisting of several floor levels was revealed at Semithan. The pottery is distinguished by a thin fabric with bright red, orange, or light-colored slip. A clay seal depicted an Indo-Greek deity. A significant find was the discovery of a pot with the inscription consisting of five letters externally engraved below the rim portion of the pot. It reads as Dharmorai or Dharmo (Rajai). Menander was very familiar in the region, and there are several places which carry his name. Two such places are also identified in southwest Kashmir—one as Mendhar in Poonch District and another as Meander in the Pulwama District.
Hellenism in Post Indo-Greek Kashmir
The Kushan conquest of Kashmir took place around 50 CE. Apparently, the Kushan aristocracy attempted to adopt the royal ideology of the Greco-Bactrian Kings (the Greek Kings of Central Asia) and its religious implications. It is, therefore, no accident that in the sculptural decoration of the Kushan manor-house at Khalchayan, the enthroned ruler and his wife appear yet again with Nike, as per archeologist Galina Pugachenkova.
At the time when Vima Kadphises became Kushan emperor, religious life came to be characterized by two interesting features. One was the adoption of the forms of Greek religious art and the other the Greek iconographic interpretation of Kushan divinities as mentioned in the research paper “Religions in the Kushan Empire,” by J. Harmatta, B. N. Puri, L. Lelekov, S. Humayun, and D. C. Sircar.
Kashmir was a significant province of the Hellenized Kushan Empire from the first century CE to the fourth century CE. It was in the period of Kanishka that the Fourth Buddhist Council was held somewhere in this land.
The Greek Kings of Kashmir were been tolerant and enlightened rulers, even though archeological finds and the coinage of the GrecoBactrian, IndoGreek and Kushan kings attest to worship of the major Greek Gods and Goddesses. These divinities included Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Helios, Hercules, Dionysus, the Dioscuri, Athena, Artemis, Hecate, and Nike.
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