Kushanas The Indo-Greek kingdoms in north- western India were ousted by various nomadic tribes from Central Asia, known as the Sakas (Scythians), Parthians (Pahlavis) and Kushanas (yueh-chi or yuezhi tribes in Chinese). In spite of the fact that they followed the Greek practice of issuing vast amounts of coinage with their names and titles (mostly “king of kings”), this is a very confusing period in our history. It is a daunting task to try and work out the lineage association with India. He issued bi-lingual square coins with Greek on the obverse and Kharoshti (the local language of north-western Pakistan) on the reverse.
At about BCE, Bactria was lost to the Parthians and Sakas. After this, the yavanas continued to rule in central and southern Afghanistan and north-western India. The Greeks continued to be beset with internal squabbles among many claimants to power, and the names of more than thirty kings can be identified from their coins. It is possible that they all ruled small pockets as autonomous rulers and issued their own coinage.
Menander Menander (c. / – BCE) was the best known of the Indo-Greek kings. He is said to have ruled a large kingdom in the north-west of the country. His coins have been found over an extensive area ranging from the valleys of the Kabul and Indus rivers to as far as western Uttar Pradesh.
This gives a good indication of the extent of his kingdom. He is said to have raided the Gangetic region along with the kings of Panchala and Mathura. King Kharavela of Kalinga, mentioned in the Hathigumpa inscription, was not able to stop him. Menander successfully attacked Pataliputra, but retreated without consolidating his conquest.
Interestingly, in his coins, he is described as “king” and “ soter ” or saviour, and not as a great conqueror. Menander is mainly remembered as the eponymous hero of the Buddhist text, Milinda- pinha (questions of Milinda), in which he is engaged in a question-and- answer discussion on Buddhism with the teacher Nagasena. He is believed to have become a Buddhist and promoted Buddhism. Menander Junagath Inscription of