India and Persian and Greek civilisations
People of the next village come to us and we go to them; new foods, words and ways come to us that way. The same happens between countries.
Ancient India had trade, political and art connections with Persia (Iran) and Greece. Through them some influence fell on Indian art, administration and scripts.
Key idea 1 : Influence of Persian culture — The Persian empire was called the ‘Achaemenid Empire’. The north-western part of the subcontinent (Gandhara and Sindh) was part of it. The empire was divided into provinces; taxation, intelligence network and the ladder of officials were based on these. Some influence of this system is seen on Mauryan administration. The Kharoshthi and Aramaic scripts in some Ashokan inscriptions show Persian influence, and the figures of lion, horse and bull on the capitals of Ashokan pillars show Persian style. India sent textiles, pearls, spices and elephants to Persia; precious metals came from there.
Key idea 2 : Alexander and the Indo-Greeks — In 326 BCE Alexander, King of Macedonia, after conquering Persia, came to the north-western part of India. He brought many small kingdoms of the Indus region under his control. After his death his empire split into small kingdoms; they are called Indo-Greek kingdoms. The Mauryan emperors Chandragupta, Bindusara and Ashoka had political relations with Greek kings. Megasthenes was the Greek ambassador at Chandragupta’s court; he wrote ‘Indica’, which gives information about Mauryan society, administration, agriculture and trade.
Key idea 3 : Gandhara art and Indo-Greek coins — In the Kushana period a new art style called ‘Gandhara Art’ arose in India. It was influenced by Greek sculptural tradition. Many images of Gautam Buddha in Gandhara style have been found and their faces resemble Greek faces. Coins struck by the Greek kings of Bactria are known as ‘Indo-Greek coins’ and show clear Greek influence.
- Easy : Whose was the Achaemenid Empire? — Persia’s (Iran’s).
- Medium : Who wrote ‘Indica’? — Megasthenes.
- Exam-type : Alexander came to India in 326 BCE; how many years ago from 2026 CE? — 326 + 2026 = 2352 years.
In the figure: Four marks: scripts, pillar capitals, Gandhara art and Megasthenes’ ‘Indica’.
Ashoka’s Rock Edict XIII names five Greek kings: Antiochus (Syria), Ptolemy (Egypt), Antigonus (Macedonia), Magas (Cyrene) and Alexander (Epirus). Ashoka wrote that his victory of Dhamma had reached six hundred yojanas (thousands of kilometres) away, as far as where Antiochus rules. So in his own words carved on rock we see India’s contact with distant Greek kings. An inscription of Ashoka in the Greek language has been found at Kandahar too.
Persia = scripts, pillar capitals, administration; Greece = Gandhara art, coins, Megasthenes.
Gandhara art has Greek influence but its subject is Buddha; it is a blend of Indian and Greek ideas.
Persia = script + pillar; Greece = art + coin + Indica. Memory clue: ‘Per-Li-Stam, Gree-Ka-Na-In’.
Spot the difference
| Civilisation | Influence on India | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Persian | Script, administration, art | Kharoshthi, Aramaic, pillar capitals |
| Greek | Art and coins | Gandhara art, Indo-Greek coins |
| Greek | Writing | Megasthenes’ Indica |
Practice questions
- 1Which part of India was connected with the Achaemenid Empire?
- 2State two things that show Persian influence.
- 3Which animals are on the capitals of Ashokan pillars?
- 4When did Alexander come to India?
- 5Who was Megasthenes and what did he write?
- 6What is Gandhara art?
- 7What does Ashoka’s Rock Edict XIII tell about contact with Greek kings?
- 8Write one thing (a food, word or game) you learnt through contact with another country.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1The north-west — Gandhara and Sindh.
- 2Kharoshthi-Aramaic scripts; animal figures on pillar capitals.
- 3Lion, horse and bull.
- 4In 326 BCE.
- 5The Greek ambassador at Chandragupta Maurya’s court; ‘Indica’.
- 6An art style of the Kushana period influenced by Greek sculpture; Buddha images with Greek-like faces.
- 7In Ashoka’s time India was in contact with far Greek kingdoms like Syria, Egypt and Macedonia.
- 8E.g. tea, bread or cricket — came from another country; write the name and how it came.
India and Rome: sea trade
In a market an item from a far country is costly. In ancient times too things from far countries were highly valued and goods from India went as far as Rome.
In the 1st-2nd centuries CE a large sea trade ran between India and Rome. The ports of South India and the west coast were important in it.
Key idea 1 : The Roman trade network — In the 1st and 2nd centuries CE India-Rome trade flourished. The port of Alexandria in Egypt had a big role; Arab merchants took Indian goods there and from there they went to many countries of Europe. Some Roman merchants came directly to India via South Indian ports and bought textiles, spices, precious gems and medicinal herbs in large quantities. Even today thousands of Roman coins are found in India’s coastal regions, which shows the scale of that trade.
Key idea 2 : Places of evidence — Excavations at Kolhapur yielded bronze objects of Roman make. At Arikamedu in Tamil Nadu many objects of Roman origin were found. Ter (Dharashiv district) was an important centre of Indo-Roman trade in the Satavahan period; Roman coins, jars, glass beads and ivory objects were found there. Ter’s textiles, pearls, jewellery and handicrafts were popular in Roman markets.
Key idea 3 : Black gold — pepper — Black pepper exported from India was considered extremely valuable in Europe; in Rome it was so costly that it was called ‘Black Gold’. Roman cooking lacked variety of spices and pepper was important for taste and health. Pepper went in large quantities from South Indian ports to Rome and Roman merchants bought it with gold coins. The Roman writer Pliny wrote that a great deal of gold leaves Rome every year for spices.
- Easy : What did the Romans call pepper? — Black gold.
- Medium : Where were Roman-make bronze objects found? — At Kolhapur.
- Exam-type : With what did Roman merchants buy pepper? — With gold coins.
In the figure: Goods went from India via ports to Alexandria and Rome; gold coins came to India in return.
In the middle of the 1st century CE a Greek-speaking merchant of Roman Egypt (his name is unknown) wrote a sea-voyage guidebook, the ‘Periplus of the Erythraean Sea’. In it he noted the ports of India’s west coast: Barygaza (today’s Bharuch) in the north-west and Muziris in the south. He also told what to sell and what to buy in each port; pepper went in large quantity from Muziris and a great deal of coin came in. So the names of our ports were in a book in the hands of foreign merchants.
Goods — cloth, spices, gems, herbs; route — ports → Alexandria → Rome; evidence — coins, Kolhapur, Arikamedu, Ter.
Pepper went from India to Rome and gold came to India; not the other way.
Black gold = pepper; evidence = Kolhapur, Arikamedu, Ter. Memory clue: ‘Pepper means gold’ — sold at gold’s price!
Spot the difference
| Place | Find / role |
|---|---|
| Kolhapur | Bronze objects of Roman make |
| Arikamedu | Many objects of Roman origin |
| Ter | Roman coins, jars, beads, ivory |
| Alexandria | Port in Egypt; goods to Europe |
Practice questions
- 1In which centuries did India-Rome trade flourish?
- 2State the role of the port of Alexandria.
- 3What did Roman merchants buy from India?
- 4What was found at Kolhapur and Arikamedu?
- 5For what was Ter famous?
- 6Why was pepper called ‘Black Gold’?
- 7What does the Periplus book tell about India’s ports?
- 8Which goods does India sell to other countries today? Write three names.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1In the 1st and 2nd centuries.
- 2Indian goods came here and went from here to European countries.
- 3Textiles, spices, precious gems and medicinal herbs.
- 4Bronze objects of Roman make and objects of Roman origin.
- 5As a centre of Indo-Roman trade; Roman coins and objects were found there.
- 6Because it was so costly in Rome and was bought in large quantity in exchange for gold.
- 7The ports Barygaza (Bharuch) and Muziris were known and important to foreign merchants.
- 8E.g. tea, spices, cloth, rice or software services.
India and neighbouring countries
Neighbouring friends come to our home, we see their festivals and tell them about ours. Ancient India and its neighbours had such relations too.
Through sea trade, spread of Buddhism and Hinduism, and exchange of literature and art, Indian cultural influence spread in Sri Lanka, China and Southeast Asia.
Key idea 1 : Sri Lanka — To spread Buddhism Emperor Ashoka sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra to Sri Lanka. Both names occur in the Sri Lankan Buddhist text ‘Mahavamsa’. According to local tradition the Bodhi tree of Anuradhapura grew from the branch of the Bodhi tree that Sanghamitra carried. Pearls and precious raw material of Sri Lanka were in great demand in India. At Sigiriya in the 5th century CE King Kashyapa excavated a cave; the style of the murals there is like the paintings of Ajanta. The Pali texts ‘Mahavamsa’ and ‘Dipavamsa’ give information on relations between the two countries.
Key idea 2 : China and the Silk Route — India and China had trade and cultural contacts since ancient times. Emperor Harshavardhana sent his representative to the Chinese court. China’s silk cloth was known in India as ‘Chinanshuka’ and was in great demand in India; Indian merchants sent it west. This land route through India, Afghanistan and Central Asia is known as the ‘Silk Route’; Nalasopara in Palghar district near Mumbai was a town on this route. The monks Fa Hien and Yuan Chwang came to India by the Silk Route. In the 1st century CE at the invitation of Chinese Emperor ‘Ming’ the monks Dharmarakshit and Kashyapa Matanga went to China and translated many Buddhist texts into Chinese; after that the spread of Buddhism in China gathered pace.
Key idea 3 : Southeast Asia — Indian merchants went by sea to Southeast Asia with spices, textiles, gems and metals; some settled there and some founded independent kingdoms. Monks spread Buddhist philosophy. The kingdom of ‘Funan’ in Cambodia was founded in the 1st century CE; according to Chinese tradition it was founded by an Indian named Kaundinya and its people knew Sanskrit; a Sanskrit inscription still exists there. The ‘Srivijaya’ empire in Indonesia was a centre of study of Buddhist texts and of Sanskrit. Later temples of Shiva and Vishnu were built. The Angkor Wat temple and the Borobudur stupa bear witness to Indian influence, and in Indonesia even today dance-dramas based on the Ramayana and Mahabharata are popular.
- Easy : Where did Mahendra and Sanghamitra go? — To Sri Lanka.
- Medium : By what name was China’s silk in India? — Chinanshuka.
- Exam-type : Where is Srivijaya? — In Indonesia.
In the figure: Relations in four directions: Sri Lanka, China, Cambodia and Indonesia.
In 671 CE the Chinese monk Yi Jing set out for India. He boarded a Persian merchant ship returning from China and stayed six months in the Srivijaya kingdom to learn Sanskrit. Then he reached India by sea. He told Chinese monks to stay one or two years in Srivijaya to master Sanskrit before going to India; according to him about a thousand monks lived in the viharas there. So a school of an Indian language was running on the islands of Indonesia.
In the 7th century CE the Chinese scholar monk Yuan Chwang (Xuanzang) came to India for Buddhist study. He studied for many years at Nalanda University. On return he had over 600 manuscripts. He went to China by the desert route of Central Asia, and there the emperor set up a special centre for translation. According to the textbook he himself translated more than 75 Buddhist texts into Chinese. His travel account is even today an important source for India’s history.
According to Chinese tradition the founder of the Funan kingdom of Cambodia was an Indian named Kaundinya. A local legend says he founded the kingdom by marrying Soma, a daughter of a naga king. This is a legend; the marriage story is not proven history, but it is established fact that the Sanskrit language and Sanskrit inscriptions are found there.
Sri Lanka = Mahendra, Sanghamitra, Mahavamsa; China = Silk Route, Fa Hien, Yuan Chwang; Southeast Asia = Funan, Srivijaya, Angkor Wat, Borobudur.
Fa Hien and Yuan Chwang were Chinese travellers who came to India; they were not Indians. The monks who went to China were Dharmarakshit and Kashyapa Matanga.
Sri Lanka = Dhamma envoys; China = silk + texts; Southeast Asia = temples + dance-drama. Memory clue: ‘Shri-Dha, Chi-Re, Aa-Man’ — three pairs.
Spot the difference
| Country | Mark of relation |
|---|---|
| Sri Lanka | Mahendra-Sanghamitra, Mahavamsa, Sigiriya murals |
| China | Silk Route, Chinanshuka, Fa Hien, Yuan Chwang |
| Cambodia | Funan, Sanskrit inscription, Angkor Wat |
| Indonesia | Srivijaya, Borobudur, Ramayana dance-dramas |
Practice questions
- 1Whom did Ashoka send to Sri Lanka and why?
- 2In which language are ‘Mahavamsa’ and ‘Dipavamsa’ and what do they tell?
- 3What is the Silk Route?
- 4What is Chinanshuka?
- 5What did Dharmarakshit and Kashyapa Matanga do in China?
- 6Why did Yuan Chwang come to India and what did he take back?
- 7What did Yi Jing learn at Srivijaya and how did he go?
- 8Write three examples of Indian influence in Southeast Asia.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1His son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra; to spread Buddhism.
- 2Pali; information on the relations between India and Sri Lanka.
- 3The land trade route through India, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
- 4China’s silk cloth.
- 5They translated many Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese.
- 6For Buddhist study; with over 600 manuscripts.
- 7Sanskrit; by a Persian merchant ship.
- 8The Angkor Wat temple, the Borobudur stupa and Ramayana-Mahabharata dance-dramas.