Persian and Greek Invasion of India Notes for UPSC

Persian and Greek Invasion of India

In the 6^th century BCE, India’s northwest was a site of conflict between various principalities. Kambojas, Gandharas and Madras fought with each other. Since there was an absence of a powerful overarching kingdom, the principalities of the northwest could not be organized into one kingdom. This area was also wealthy and easily entered through passes in the Hindukush. Due to these reasons, foreign rulers invaded India. 

Persian invasion of India

Achaemenid Empire, also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC.

Persian Rulers and their invasions

1. Darius (reign from522 BC until his death in 486 BC)

• He was the 3^rd king of the Achaemenid Empire.
• He penetrated northwest India in 516 BC. 
• He annexed Punjab, west of the Indus, and Sindh.
• The conquered part was the 12^th province (called Satrapy) of Iran. It was the most populated and fertile region of the empire.
• Three hundred sixty talents (a unit of weight) of gold tribute were paid, representing one-third of Iran’s total income from its Asian provinces.
• The Iranian army enrolled Indian subjects.

2. Xerxes (486 to 465 BC)

• He continued to rule over the Indian Satrapy.
• He employed Indian subjects in the long war against the Greeks. 

Effect of Persian invasion on India

• Trade and commerce –

  • Persian Royal road: The Indo-Iranian trade flourished due to the establishment of the Persian Royal road, which acted as a precursor to the silk route.
  • Iranian coins were used in the conquered part.

• Cultural – 

  • Kharosthi script was introduced. It was written right to left like Arabic. Some Ashokan inscriptions of the 3^rd century BC in Northwestern India were written in Kharosthi script.
  • Mauryan sculptures were greatly influenced by Iranian art. For example – The bell-shaped capitals of Ashokan pillars were similar to the Iranian capitals.
  • The preamble of Ashokan edicts had Iranian influence. For example – the Iranian term dipi was used as lipi in Ashokan edicts.
• Further invasion – Iranian invasion paved the way for other attacks on India. For example – Greeks came to know about Indian wealth through Iranian sources.

Greek Invasion of India

Ancient Greece was a Northeastern Mediterranean civilization that spanned the period of the Greek Dark Ages in the 12th and 9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (around AD 600). However, it was only ever united once, for 13 years, under the rule of Alexander the Great’s empire (336-323 BC).

Alexander’s Invasion (336 to 323 BC) of India

After defeating the Persian empire in the 4^th century BC, he invaded the Indus valley in 326B.C through the Khyber Pass.