Man, Past and PresentKeane, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
History
Man, Past and Present
Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
Anthropology; Ethnology
Indo-Scythian state, extended his conquests to Kabul and succeeded
Hermaeus, last of the Greek dynasty (40-20 B.C.?). Kadphises' son
Kadaphes (10 A.D.) added to his empire a great part of North India,
where his successors of the Yue-chi dynasty reigned from the middle of
the first to the end of the fourth century A.D. Here they are supposed
by some authorities to be still represented by the _Jats_ and _Rajputs_,
and even Prichard allows that the supposition "does not appear
altogether preposterous," although "the physical characters of the Jats
are very different from those attributed to the Yuetschi [Yue-chi] and
the kindred tribes [Suns, Kushans, etc.] by the writers cited by
Klaproth and Abel Remusat, who say that they are of sanguine complexion
with blue eyes[684]."
We now know that these characters present little difficulty when the
composite origin of the Turki people is borne in mind. On the other hand
it is interesting to note that the above-mentioned Ta-Hia have by some
been identified with the warlike Scythian Dahae[685], and these with the
Dehiya or Dhe one of the great divisions of the Indian Jats. But if
Rawlinson[686] is right, the term _Dahae_ was not racial but social,
meaning _rustici_,--the peasantry as opposed to the nomads; hence the
Dahae are heard of everywhere throughout Irania, just as _Dehwar_[687]
is still the common designation of the Tajik (Persian) peasantry in
Afghanistan and Baluchistan. This is also the view taken by de Ujfalvy,
who identifies the Ta-Hia, not with the Scythian Dahae, or with any
other particular tribe, but with the peaceful rural population of
Baktriana[688], whose reduction by the Yue-chi, possibly Strabo's
Tokhari, was followed by the overthrow of the Graeco-Baktrians. The
solution of the puzzling Yue-chi-Jat problem would therefore seem to be
that the Dehiya and other Jats, always an agricultural people, are
descended from the old Iranian peasantry of Baktriana, some of whom
followed the fortunes of their Greek rulers into Kabul valley, while
others accompanied the conquering Yue-chi founders of the Indo-Scythian
empire into northern India.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account