The migration of the Sakas to the Northern India: outlining the key issues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24852/2587-6112.2026.1.267.281Keywords:
archaeology, the Pamir Sakas, the Tian Shan Sakas, migrations, the Yuezhi, Northern India, Pamir, Chinese Pamir, petroglyphs, surface finds, epigraphyAbstract
To date, there are various scholarly opinions regarding which specific Saka tribes migrated into Northern India and which of the migrating Saka unions founded the Indo-Scythian kingdom. The key issue in studying this topic is the uneven archaeological investigation of the border areas of Northern India. As a result, it is difficult to determine which of the Saka unions used the "western" and "eastern" migration routes. No archaeological excavations have been conducted in Gilgit-Baltistan; only surface finds have been collected and rock art sites have been studied. In Afghanistan, settlement complexes have been mainly studied. This paper aims to reconstruct and establish the sequence of Saka migration waves into Northern India that preceded the founding of the Indo-Scythian kingdom. The objectives include systematizing archaeological and written evidence concerning the movements of the Pamir Sakas, associated with the Saka-haumavarga, and the Tian Shan Sakas, associated with the Saka-tigrahauda. The main research methods employed are: historiographical analysis, the problem-chronological method, and GIS technologies. The source base consists of written sources: Achaemenid inscriptions, Chinese chronicles, Roman encyclopedic and historical works, inscriptions in the Kharosthi script from Chilas II (Gilgit-Baltistan). Archaeological sources are represented by surface finds (copper pots, bronze rhyton, censer, zoomorphic plates, gold torque, a bracelet, appliqués) and petroglyphs. Results. It has been revealed that the Pamir Sakas, who inhabited the border region of Northern India (VII–II centuries BC), had cultural ties with the population of South Asia, as evidenced by finds of Indian items in their burials. In the II century BC, the Pamir Sakas were displaced on the one side by the Greco-Bactrian kings, and on the other by the movement of other Saka unions through their area. Based on the geographical location of petroglyphs, inscriptions and chance finds, the "eastern" migration route of the Sakas has been identified, as well as the "western" one was preliminarily determined. The "core" of the formation of the Indo-Scythian kingdom was located in the Karakorum region, as confirmed by three inscriptions from Chilas II mentioning the first Indo-Scythian ruler - Moga (Maues).
References
Arrian. 1962. Pokhod Aleksandra (Alexander's Campaign). Moscow; Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR (in Russian).
Bernshtam, A. N. 1952. Istoriko-arkheologicheskie ocherki Tsentral'nogo Tian'-Shania i Pamiro-Altaya (Historical and Archaeological Essays on the Central Tien Shan and Pamir-Altai). Series: Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii (Materials and Studies in the Archaeology) 26. Moscow; Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR (in Russian).
Bubnova, M. A. 2010. In Alekshin, V. A. et al. (eds.). Drevnie kul'tury Evrazii (Ancient cultures of Eurasia). Saint-Petersburg: “Info-ol” Publ., 135–141 (in Russian).
Bongard-Levin, G. M., Il'in, G. F. 2001. Drevnyaya Indiya. Istoriya i kul'tura (Ancient Indiia. History and culture). Saint Petersburg: “Aleteiia” Publ. (in Russian).
Grantovskii, E. A. 1963. In Il'in, G. F. (ed.). Kratkie soobshcheniia instituta narodov Azii (Brief reports of the Institute of Asian Peoples) 61. Moscow: “Vostochnaia literatura” Publ., 8–30 (in Russian).
Denisenko, V. L. 2023. In Vestnik Novosibirskogo Gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriia, filologiya (Bulletin of the Novosibirsk State University: History, Philology) 22 (10), 136–167 (in Russian).
Denisov E. P. 1984. In Litvinskiy, B.A. (ed.). Arkheologicheskie raboty v Tadzhikistane (Archaeological works in Tajikistan) 18. Dushambe: “Donish” Publ., 131–138 (in Russian).
Deben-Frankfor, K. 1989. In Masson, V. M. (ed.). Vzaimodeistvie kochevykh kul'tur i drevnikh tsivilizatsii (Interaction of Nomadic Cultures and Ancient Civilizations). Alma-Ata: “Nauka” Publ., 246–257 (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2016. In Stratum Plus (3), 67–87 (in Russian).
Ivanov, S. S. 2018. In Vestnik Novosibirskogo Gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriia, filologiya (Bulletin of the Novosibirsk State University: History, Philology) 17 (8), 9–19 (in Russian).
Zelinskii, A. N. 1964. In Korolev, A. V., Sakharov, I. V. (eds.). Strany i narody Vostoka (Countries and peoples of the East) 3. Moscow: “Nauka” Publ., 99–119 (in Russian)
Litvinskii, B. A. 1972. Drevnie kochevniki «Kryshi mira» (Ancient Nomads of the “Roof of the World”). Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
Litvinskii, B. A. 2000. Olkhovskii, S. V. (ed.). Arheologiya, paleoekologiya i paleodemografiya Evrazii (Archaeology, palaeoecology and palaeodemography of Eurasia). Moscow: “GEOS” Publ., 277–294 (in Russian).
Mandel'shtam, A. M. 1957. Materialy k istoriko–geograficheskomu obzoru Pamira i pripamirskikh oblastei. S drevneishikh vremen do X v. n.e. (Materials for the historical and geographical survey of the Pamirs and the Pamir regions. From ancient times to the X century AD). Series: Trudy Instituta istorii, arheologii i etnografii AN TadzhSSR (Proceedings of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of Tajik SSR) 3. Stalinabad: Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan (in Russian).
Masson, V. M., Romodin, V. A. 1965. Istoriia Afganistana (The history of Afghanistan). Vol. 1. Moscow: “Nauka” Publ. (in Russian).
Nemirovskii, A. A. 2005. In Dandamaeva, M. M. (comp.). Edubba vechna i postoianna (Edubba is eternal and constant). Saint Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum, 217–224 (in Russian).
Polien. 2002. Strategemy (Strategems). Saint Petersburg: “Evraziia” Publ. (in Russian).
P'iankov, I. V. 2013. Sredniaia Aziia i Evraziiskaia step' v drevnosti (Middle Asia and the Eurasian Steppe in Antiquity). Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg Linguistic Society, 202–241 (in Russian).
Ranov, V. A. 2016. Begushchie po skalam: Naskal'nye risunki Pamira (Running on the rocks: Rock paintings of the Pamirs). Dushanbe: “Danesh” Publ. (in Russian).
Rufus Curtius Quintus. 1993. Istoriia Aleksandra Makedonskogo (The history of Alexander the Great). Moscow: Moscow State University (in Russian).
Strabon. 1994. Geografiia (Geography). Stratanovskii, G. A. (transl.). Moscow: “Ladomir” Publ. (in Russian).
Chugunov K. V., Partsinger G., Nagler A. 2017. Tsarskii kurgan skifskogo vremeni Arzhan-2 v Tuve (The royal barrow of the Scythian period Arzhan–2 in Tuva). Novosibirsk: Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography (in Russian).
Justin Mark Junian. 2005. Epitoma sochineniya Pompeya Troga «Historiae Philippicae» (Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi). Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg State University (in Russian).
Ball, W. 1997. In South Asian Archaeology. Cambridge, 439–450.
Bandini-König, D., Fussman, G. 1999. Die Felsbildstation Hodar, Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans. Band 3, Mainz, Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German).
Bandini-König, D., Fussman, G. 2011. Die Felsbildstation Thalpan. Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans, Band 10: Mainz (in German).
Bivar, A. D. H. 1984. In Journal of Central Asia (7), 5–15.
Chavannes, E. 1905. In T’oung Pao. (6/5), 519–571 (in French)
Dani, A. H. 1998. In Journal of Central Asia. Vol. 21. No. 1, 158–170.
Dani, A. H. 1983. Chilas: The City of Nanga Parvat (Dyamar). Centre for the Study of Civilisations of Central Asia, Quaid–i–Azam Univ. Publ.
Dani, A. H. 1991. History of northern areas of Pakistan. Islamabad: National Institute of Historical & Cultural Research.
Denwood, P. 2009. Die Felsbildstation Thalpan. Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans. Band 9. Mainz: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German).
Falk, H. 2015. Kushan Histories: Literary Sources and Selected Papers from a Symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013. Bremen, Hempen Verlag.
Fussman, G. 2007. Die Felsbildstation Thalpan. Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans. Band 8, Mainz: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German).
Hauptmann, H. 2024. Lords of the Mountains: Pre-Islamic Heritage along the Upper Indus in Pakistan. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing.
Jettmar, K. 1985. In Asian Perspectives. Vol. 24. No. 2, 145–162.
Jettmar, K. 1991. In South Asian Studies. Vol. 7, 1–20.
Jettmar, K., Thewalt, V. 1987. Between Gandhāra and the Silk Roads. Rock-carvings Along the Karakorum Highway. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.
Konow, S. 1929. Kharoshthi Inscriptions with the Exception of Those of Asoka. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Vol. 2. P. 1. Calcutta: Government of India.
Narain, A. K. 1957. The Indo-Greeks. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Neelis, J. 2007. In On the Cusp of an Era-Art in the Pre-Kushana World. Leiden: Brill’s Inner Asian Library, 55–94. DOI:10.1163/ej.9789004154513.i-548.22
Peteсh, L. 1950. Northern India according to the Shui-Ching-Chu. Roma.
Pulleyblank, E. G. 1970. In Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Vol. 3, 154–160.
Puri B. N. 1994. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. II. Quetingy: UNESCO Publishing, 239–255.
Rahman, S. 1990. In Journal of Central Asia. Vol. 13, 5–17.
Rawson, J. 2006. In Arts asiatiques (61), 75–86. DOI:10.3406/arasi.2006.1640
Tarn, W. W. 1951. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press.
Wang, B., Sen, T. 2011. In India and China: Interactions through Buddhism and Diplomacy: A Collection of Essays by Professor Prabodh Chandra Bagchi. Anthem Press, 145–154.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 V.L. Denisenko, E. A. Filatov, V.A. Lyamina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
