Saka

The Sakas are a peoples that lived in what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Iran, Ukraine, and Altay Mountains and Siberia in Russia, in the centuries before 300 AD. They are considered to be a branch of Scythians by most scholars. Saka is the usual Persian term, while Scythian is a Greek term. Some of their neighbours included the Sarmatians, Issedones and Massagetae. Their language is poorly known, but seems to have originally been a member of the Iranian family (though some question whether this applied to all strata of their society, or only the ruling class at various times). They were known to the Chinese as the Sai (Chinese: 塞, Old Sinitic *sək).

In Akkadian, the Saka were called the Ashkuza and were closely associated with the Gimirri, who were the Cimmerians known to the ancient Greeks.

Connection theories

The following sections deal mostly with popular traditions of Saka descent found among numerous Asian and European peoples. The Saka/Scythians are considered by mainstream historians and linguists as being speakers of a language in the Northern branch of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian family of the Indo-European languages. The two surviving modern languages closest to Scythian are Ossetian in the Caucausus mountains and Pashto in Afganistan and Pakistan.

The Northern Iranian Aryan speakers including the Saka/Scythians were slowly overwhelmed by the Mongol-Turkic expansion in Central Asia beginning in the 4th century AD. Despite significant deaths in the invasions and further loss of population as survivors moved to other areas, Saka/Scythians and other ethnic groups formerly speaking the Northern Iranian language groups today form an ethnic substratum of contemporary Central Asian Turkic peoples, including the Kazakhs.

Iranian peoples

Saka (Scythian) horseman from Pazyryk in Central Asia, c. 300 BC.

Mainstream historians and linguists consider Sakas as speakers of northern sub-branch of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian family of the Indo-European languages. The two surviving modern languages closest to Scythian are Ossetian in the Caucausus mountains and Pashto in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Iranian province of Sistan was settled by Sakas beginning in the 2nd century BCE. The middle Persian name for this province was Sakestan (meaning the Land of the Sakas). Remains of a large Sakan city is under study in Pakistan, in an area in Baluchistan called Shahr-e Sūkhta (Persian: the Burned City). Names of several Sakan vassal kings of Sakestan are known to us. Among them Andragor, and one suggestive name, Xristo. During the rule of the Sassanid dynasty, the one of the princes of the Imperial family would be installed as the Sakan Shah, acting as the governor of Sakastan and the areas that Sassanids captured after defeating the Kushan empire in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Parthians were considered members of one of the Sakan confederations by the name of Dahae. The ruling clans of Persia during the Parthian and Sassanid eras were of Sakan origin.

Ashkanian is the dynasty name of Parthian empire and sources indicate that the parthians semi revolution against Greek dominance of Persia started in Semnan regions.

Ashkanian means Sakan people or whom originated from Saka, an Arab source adresses Sagsar as the place where Ashkanians originated from.

Sagsar or according to varies sources "Saka sar" or "Sagasar" is now modern Sangsar, a city in mountainous region of Semnan Province, north of Iran.

Semnan too is derived from Sakastan which during Parthian empire was one of the largest provinces connecting mountains of Caspean north to eastern Iran bordering Kushan empire, now Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Moreover, many of the legends recorded in the national Persian epic, Shahnameh are believed to be a mixture of Persian, Sogdian and Saka legends.

Sagsar and Semnan are meantioned in Firdosis Shahnameh, particularly honoring brave people of Sagsar and their curragous uprising against injustice.

Sangsaris are still famous for being sensitive people, proud of their culture and language which is indeed one of oldest and best preserved of ancient Iranian languages.

There is a Sangsari dictionary containing 18000 words which is published in Persian, English and French and an investigative ratification of the language may help to find valuable clues , keys concerning the Sakas.

Asian peoples

Among others, modern Kazakhs (especially the branch known as "Saks") claim descent from the Sakas. The Sakha people of Siberia (see Yakuts) also claim descent from a remnant of the earlier Saka people. Additionally, although the evidence is dated and the technology utilized still in its infancy, DNA analysis conducted at the Novosibirsk Institute of Cytology and Genetics has found Kazakhs and Altaic peoples to be the nearest relatives among competing Mongol-Turkic clans of a Scythian from the Pazyryk burial in Siberia.

The most notable Saka burial to date, whose occupant is referred to as the "Golden Man", was found in Kazakhstan. The silver dish found with the "Golden Man" is of a type common to other Germanic finds and is inscribed with a form of runic writing related to that found in Germanic and Scandinavian runic writing. However full knowledge of Germanic and Scandinavian runic writing is still not complete and combined with the likelihood of linguistic distance between Indo-European and Indo-Iranian, the language and content of the "Golden Man" dish have not yet been satisfactorily deciphered.

Archeological evidence and histographies shows a worldview of Sakas, similar to that of ancient German and Scandinavian traditions and closely related to that of present-day Kazakhs and Mongols. It is theorized that they believed Man was a part of the Universe, Cosmos, Heaven, Sun, mountains, river, in total nature, and shows close affinities with Shamanism and Tengriism which are still practiced today, from Kazakhstan to Siberia which conceive of God as related to Cosmic laws and forces. However, modern Kazakhs are Muslim, most modern Mongols are Buddhists, and Siberian shamanism is not known to be directly connected to Indo-European religion.

It has been further claimed that Saka (or Scythian) animal-stylized art closely resembles Sumerian art, and that the contemporary Kazakh language has about 500 words in common with the Sumerian language. This is one of a number of claims about the Sumerian language not recognized by mainstream scholars.

Saka era

''Main article: Shalivahana era

The Sakas were also one of several tribes that conquered India from the northwest, where they established the rule of the Indo-Scythians. The Saka Era is used by the Indian national calendar, a few other Hindu calendars, and the Cambodian Buddhist calendar—its year zero begins near the vernal equinox of 78. See Kushan Empire article for more complex description of Kushan-Scythian dating.

There has been no strong genetic link discovered between the Kazakhs and peoples of India; however, the marker R1a1 accounts for more than 50% of Altay, Slavic and NW Indian/Pakistani males.

It is likely that by about 600 BC, Central Asia was occupied by a number of ethnic groups, all nomadic equestrians sharing simple cultural traits.

European peoples

Some researchers have argued that both the Celtic and Germanic people came from an area southeast of the Black Sea and migrated westward to the coast of Europe, starting with the reign of the Persian king Cyrus the Great when they declined to help him in his conquest of the Babylonian empire. Herodotus (440 BC) mentions a division of Persians known as Germanioi (Hist. 1.125). However, this is probably an imprecise rendering of the name Kerman (later Greek sources have Karmanioi), and it has nothing to do with the Latin name of the Germanic people.

The adherents of the Saka theory point out that the burial customs of the Scythians and the Vikings show certain similarities. Furthermore, the Old English chroniclers write that when the Saxons invaded England ca. 400 AD together with the Angli, they "sent back to Scythia for reinforcements". The implication is that the Saxons considered themselves to be Scythians -- the name having traveled with them even though they were far away from the region the Greeks had labelled "Scythia". However, the chroniclers have most probably taken over the name Scythia and its somewhat imprecise usage from the Latin literature; Scythia was identified with Sweden because of a superficial similarity of the two names (due to the fact that Scythia was pronounced [sitia] in Medieval Latin).

According to some traditions, the Saka race, with an affiliated tribe under a different name, migrated to the area of the Baltic Sea, and supposedly gave rise to the Saxon tribe in the area of present day Germany. This claim was cited in favour of Nazi claims that Germans were "original descendants of the Aryan race". However, contemporary philologists have rejected this notion, questioning the archaeological evidence for major cultural contacts between anyone in Uzbekistan or Iran, and the Baltic area. Nevertheless, many Germans believe that there was a connection between people in Central Asia and their own ancestors who were migrants from the East.

Paul Pezon supports this theory, claiming that the Saka Scythians and the seemingly related Cimmerians were ultimately ancestors to the Celts and Germans, and that the Germans fled the Baltic area when it was flooded by the rising sea level after the Ice age. He believes that the German tribe Cimbri have descended from a branch of the Cimmerians.

It must emphasised that most philologists studying the Germanic languages disagree with this hypothesis. There is a distant relationship between the Iranic Saka and the Germanic people due to the fact that both speak Indo-European languages. Their common forefathers, or better: the people speaking the proto-language which gave rise to Germanic and Iranian probably lived somewhere near the Black Sea. However, the two languages have nothing in common in addition to their common origin, and therefore the contact between them must have terminated at an early stage.

Sakas in Ancient Indian Literature

The Indo-Scythians were named "Shaka" in India, an extension on the name Saca used by the Persians to designate Scythians. Shakas receive numerous mentions in texts like the Puranas, the Manusmriti, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Mahabhasiya of Patanjali, the Brhat Samhita of Vraha Mihira, the Kavyamimamsa, the Brihat-Katha-Manjari, the Katha-Saritsagara and several other old texts. The Shakas are described as part of an amalgam of other war-like tribes from the northwest.

"Degraded Kshatriyas" from the northwest

The Manusmriti, written about 200 CE, groups the Shakas with the Yavanas, Kambojas, Paradas, Pahlavas, Kiratas and the Daradas, etc., and addresses them all as "degraded warriors" or Kshatriyas" (X/43-44). Anushasanaparava of the Mahabharata also views the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas etc... in the same light. Patanjali in his Mahabhashya regards the Shakas and Yavanas as pure Shudras (II.4.10).

The Vartika of the Katyayana informs us that the kings of the Shakas and the Yavanas, like those of the Kambojas, may also be addressed by their respective tribal names.

The Mahabharata also associates the Shakas with the Yavanas, Gandharas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Tusharas, Sabaras, Barbaras, etc. and addresses them all as the Barbaric tribes of Uttarapatha. In another verse, the same epic groups the Shakas and Kambojas and Khashas and addresses them as the tribes from Udichya i.e north division (5/169/20). Also, the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana locates the Shakas, Kambojas, Yavanas and Paradas in the extreme north-west beyond the Himavat (i.e. Hindukush) (43/12).

Military actions

Ancient wars (1500-500 BCE)

According to numerous Puranas, the military corporations of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Paradas, known as "five hordes" (pānca-ganah), had militarily supported the Haihaya and Talajunga Kshatriyas in depriving Ikshvaku king Bahu (the 7th king in descent from Harishchandra), of his Ayodhya kingdom.

A generation later, Bahu's son Sagara managed to recapture Ayodhya after defeating these foreign hordes. Sagara punished them by meting out to them weird punishments. He made the Shakas shave half of their heads, the Kambojas and the Yavanas the totality, the Pahlavas to keep their beards and the Paradas to let their hair go free.

The Kalika Purana, one of the Upa-Puranas of the Hindus, refers to a war between Brahmanical king Kalika (supposed to be Pusyamitra Sunga) and Buddhist king Kali (supposed to be Maurya king Brihadratha (187-180 BCE)) and states the Shakas, Kambojas, Khasas, etc. as a powerful military allies of king Kali. The Purana further states that these Barbarians take the orders from their women (Ref: Kalika Purana, III(6), 22-40).

The Balakanda of the Ramayana also groups the Shakas with the Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas and Mlechhas and refers to them as military allies of sage Vishistha against Vedic king Vishwamitra (55/2-3).

The Udyogaparava of the Mahabharata (5/19/21-23) tells us that the composite army of the Kambojas, Yavanas and Shakas had participated in the Mahabharata war under the supreme command of Kamboja king Sudakshina. The epic repeatedly applauds this composite army as being very fierce and wrathful.

Military alliance with Chandragupta (circa 320 BCE)

The Buddhist drama Mudrarakshas by Visakhadutta and the Jaina works Parisishtaparvan 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, Parasikas, Bahlikas etc which he utilised to defeat the Greek successors of Alexander the Great and the Nanda rulers of Magadha, and thus establishing his Mauryan Empire in northern India (See: Mudrarakshas, II).

Invasion of India (circa 180 BCE)

The Vanaparava of the Mahabharata contains verses in the form of prophecy that the kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas and Abhiras etc shall rule unrighteously in Kaliyuga (MBH 3/188/34-36).

This reference apparently alludes to the precarious political scenario following the collapse of Mauryan and Sunga dynasties in northern India and its occupation by foreign hordes of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas.

See main article: Invasion of India by Scythian Tribes

Extinction

The Brihat-Katha-Manjari of the Kshmendra (10/1/285-86) relates that around 400 AD, the Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the barbarians" like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, etc., by annihilating these "sinners" completely.

The 10th century Kavyamimamsa of Chander Shekhar (Ch. 17) still lists the Sakas, Tusharas, Vokanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Pahlavas, Tangana, Turukshas, etc. together, and states them as the tribes located in the Uttarapatha division.

Sakas Today

Many communities in India claim or are speculated to be descendants of the Sakas. These include:
*Marathas
*Pashtuns
*Rajputs
*Jats
*Tarkhans
*Kammas
*Nairs
*Lohars

See also

*Kambojas
*Yona
*Pashtun
*Jat
*Tarkhan

References

* Bailey, H. W. 1958. "Languages of the Saka." Handbuch der Orientalistik, I. Abt., 4. Bd., I. Absch., Leiden-Köln. 1958.
* Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. 2002. Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, New York. 1st Trade printing, 2003. ISBN 0-446-67983-6 (pbk).
* P'iankov, I. V. 1994. "The Ethnic History of the Sakas." Bulletin of the Asia Institute: The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia. Studies From the Former Soviet Union. New Series. Edited by B. A. Litvinskii and Carol Altman Bromberg. Translation directed by Mary Fleming Zirin. Vol. 8, (1994), pp. 37-46.
* Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.[1]
* Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [2]
* Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1970. "The Wu-sun and Sakas and the Yüeh-chih Migration." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 33 (1970), pp. 154-160.
* Puri, B. N. 1994. "The Sakas and Indo-Parthians." In: History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 191-207.
* Thomas, F. W. 1906. "Sakastana." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1906), pp. 181-216.
* Yu, Taishan. 1998. A Study of Saka History. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 80. July, 1998. Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
* Yu, Taishan. 2000. A Hypothesis about the Source of the Sai Tribes. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 106. September, 2000. Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

External links

* The Ethnic of Sakas (Scythians)
* The origin of the pre-Imperial Iranian peoples
* Legends of giants in western Europe
*Scythians/Sacae: Article by Jona Lendering
*Article by Kivisild et al on genetic heritage of early Indian settlers