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114-479: The Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas ) were a group of nomadic people of Iranic Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the northwestern Indian subcontinent : the present-day South Asian regions of Afghanistan , Pakistan , Eastern Iran and northern India . The migrations persisted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE. The first Saka king in India

228-623: A domino effect , displacing other central Asian tribes in their path. According to these ancient sources, Modu Shanyu of the Xiongnu tribe of Mongolia attacked the Yuezhi (possibly related to the Tocharians , who lived in the eastern Tarim Basin ) and evicted them from their homeland between the Qilian Shan and Dunhuang c.  175 BCE. Leaving a few people behind, most of

342-480: A considerable number of Vedic and Old Iranian words are traced back to a Central Asian substrate language (1999, 2003, 2004, 2006). This research is constantly updated, in collaboration with F. Southworth and D. Stampe, by the SARVA project including its South Asian substrate dictionary. In recent years, he has explored the links between old Indian, Eurasian and other mythologies (1990, 2001–2010) resulting in

456-541: A country where 85% of its inhabitants were nomadic herders. Today only 15% remain nomads. As many as 2 million nomadic Kuchis wandered over Afghanistan in the years before the Soviet invasion , and most experts agreed that by 2000 the number had fallen dramatically, perhaps by half. A severe drought had destroyed 80% of the livestock in some areas. Niger experienced a serious food crisis in 2005 following erratic rainfall and desert locust invasions. Nomads such as

570-563: A couple of kilometres from each other. The geographical closeness of families is usually for mutual support. Pastoral nomad societies usually do not have large populations. One nomadic society, the Mongols , gave rise to the largest land empire in history. The Mongols originally consisted of loosely organized nomadic tribes in Mongolia, Manchuria, and Siberia. In the late 12th century, Genghis Khan united them and other nomadic tribes to found

684-418: A derogatory sense. According to Gérard Chaliand , terrorism originated in nomad-warrior cultures. He points to Machiavelli 's classification of war into two types, which Chaliand interprets as describing a difference between warfare in sedentary and nomadic societies: There are two different kinds of war. The one springs from the ambition of princes or republics that seek to extend their empire; such were

798-438: A desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders. A century ago, nomadic Bedouin still made up some 10% of the total Arab population. Today, they account for some 1% of the total. At independence in 1960, Mauritania was essentially a nomadic society. The great Sahel droughts of the early 1970s caused massive problems in

912-620: A fixed annual or seasonal pattern of movements and settlements. Nomadic people traditionally travel by animal, canoe or on foot. Animals include camels, horses and alpaca. Today, some nomads travel by motor vehicle. Some nomads may live in homes or homeless shelters, though this would necessarily be on a temporary or itinerant basis. Nomads keep moving for different reasons. Nomadic foragers move in search of game, edible plants, and water. Aboriginal Australians, Negritos of Southeast Asia, and San of Africa, for example, traditionally move from camp to camp to hunt and gather wild plants. Some tribes of

1026-499: A group of Sabalas. After Azes' death, Indo-Scythian rule in northwestern India ended with the rise of the Indo-Parthian ruler Gondophares late in the first century BCE. For the following decades, A number of minor Scythian leaders maintained themselves in local strongholds on the fringes of the loose Indo-Parthian empire over the next few decades, some paying allegiance to Gondophares I and his successors. Indo-Parthian rule

1140-521: A lengthy paper by Richard Sproat, "Corpora and Statistical Analysis of Non-Linguistic Symbol Systems" (2012). Shorter papers provide analyses of important religious (2004) and literary concepts of the period, and its Central Asian antecedents as well as such as the oldest frame story (1986, 1987), prosimetric texts (1997), the Mahabharata (2005), the concept of rebirth (1984), the 'line of progeny' (2000), splitting one's head in discussion (1987),

1254-517: A new scheme of historical comparative mythology that covers most of Eurasia and the Americas ("Laurasia", cf. the related Harvard, Kyoto, Beijing, Edinburgh, Ravenstein (Netherlands), Tokyo, Strasbourg, St.Petersburg, Tübingen, Yerevan conferences of IACM). This approach has been pursued in a number of papers. A book published in late 2012, The Origins of the World's Mythologies , deals with

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1368-760: A new translation of the Rigveda into German (Books I-II, 2007, Books III-V 2012), Books VI-VII (2022). After 1987, he has increasingly focused on the localization of Vedic texts (1987) and the evidence contained in them for early Indian history, notably that of the Rgveda and the following period, represented by the Black Yajurveda Samhitas and the Brahmanas. This work has been done in close collaboration with Harvard archaeologists such as R. Meadow, with whom he has also co-taught. Witzel aims at indicating

1482-458: A part of the secondary-products revolution proposed by Andrew Sherratt , in which early pre-pottery Neolithic cultures that had used animals as live meat ("on the hoof") also began using animals for their secondary products, for example: milk and its associated dairy products , wool and other animal hair, hides (and consequently leather ), manure (for fuel and fertilizer ), and traction. The first nomadic pastoral society developed in

1596-435: A pattern of transhumance . Since the 1990s, as the cash economy shrank, unemployed relatives were reabsorbed into family farms, and the importance of this form of nomadism has increased. The symbols of nomadism, specifically the crown of the grey felt tent known as the yurt , appears on the national flag, emphasizing the central importance of nomadism in the genesis of the modern nation of Kyrgyzstan . From 1920 to 2008,

1710-681: A promising future, but that it has arrived and that finally one can actually speak of a science of mythology. Bruce Lincoln concluded that Witzel in this publication theorizes "in terms of deep prehistory, waves of migration, patterns of diffusion, and contrasts between the styles of thought/narration he associates with two huge aggregates of the world's population [which] strikes me as ill-founded, ill-conceived, unconvincing, and deeply disturbing in its implications." Witzel published articles criticizing what he calls "spurious interpretations" of Vedic texts and decipherments of Indus inscriptions such as that of N.S. Rajaram . Witzel has questioned

1824-576: A separate dialect or language is spoken. They are speaking languages of Indic origin and many are structured somewhat like an argot or secret language, with vocabularies drawn from various languages. There are indications that in northern Iran at least one community speaks Romani language , and some groups in Turkey also speak Romani. In Afghanistan, the Nausar worked as tinkers and animal dealers. Ghorbat men mainly made sieves , drums, and bird cages, and

1938-510: A service community to the Jamshedi , after they fled Baluchistan because of feuds. Still some groups such as Sarıkeçililer continues nomadic lifestyle between coastal towns Mediterranean and Taurus Mountains even though most of them were settled by both late Ottoman and Turkish republic. The Bukat people of Borneo in Malaysia live within the region of the river Mendalam , which

2052-814: A specific state or ethnic group; Saka tribes were part of a cultural continuum of early nomads across Siberia and the Central Eurasian steppe lands from Xinjiang to the Black Sea. Like the Scythians whom Herodotus describes in book four of his History ( Saka is an Iranian word equivalent to the Greek Scythes , and many scholars refer to them together as Saka-Scythian), Sakas were Iranian-speaking horse nomads who deployed chariots in battle, sacrificed horses, and buried their dead in barrows or mound tombs called kurgans . The Saka of western India spoke

2166-647: A substrate related to, but not identical with, the Austro-Asiatic Munda languages , which he, therefore, calls para-Munda, might have been the language of (part of) the Indus population. Asko Parpola , reviewing the Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel thesis in 2005, states that their arguments "can be easily controverted". He cites the presence of a large number of rare signs in Chinese and emphasizes that there

2280-411: A variety of commercial or service activities. Formerly, all or a majority of their members were itinerant, and this largely holds true today. Migration generally takes place within the political boundaries of a single state these days. Each of the peripatetic communities is multilingual, it speaks one or more of the languages spoken by the local sedentary populations, and, additionally, within each group,

2394-460: A winged Indo-Scythian horseman riding a winged deer and being attacked by a lion. The Indo-Scythians seem to have supported Buddhism, with many of their practices continuing those of the Indo-Greeks.They had an active role in the dissemination of Buddhism beyond India. Several Indo-Scythian kings after Azes made Buddhist dedications in their name on plaques or reliquaries: Excavations at

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2508-440: Is tsampa and they drink Tibetan style butter tea . Pala will eat heartier foods in the winter months to help keep warm. Some of the customary restrictions they explain as cultural saying only that drokha do not eat certain foods, even some that may be naturally abundant. Though they live near sources of fish and fowl these do not play a significant role in their diet, and they do not eat carnivorous animals, rabbits or

2622-432: Is "little reason for sign repetition in short seal texts written in an early logo-syllabic script". Revisiting the question in a 2007 lecture, Parpola takes on each of the 10 main arguments of Farmer et al., presenting counterarguments. He states that "even short noun phrases and incomplete sentences qualify as full writing if the script uses the rebus principle to phonetize some of its signs". All these points are rejected in

2736-964: Is a German-American philologist , comparative mythologist and Indologist . Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–100). He has significantly researched a number of Indian sacred texts, particularly the Vedas . Michael Witzel was born July 18, 1943, in Schwiebus , Germany (modern Świebodzin, Poland). He studied indology in Germany from 1965 to 1971 under Paul Thieme , H.-P. Schmidt, K. Hoffmann , and J. Narten, as well as in Nepal (1972 to 1973) under Mīmāmsaka Jununath Pandit. From 1972 to 1978, he led

2850-617: Is also a lifestyle adapted to infertile regions such as steppe , tundra , or ice and sand , where mobility is the most efficient strategy for exploiting scarce resources. For example, many groups living in the tundra are reindeer herders and are semi-nomadic, following forage for their animals. Sometimes also described as "nomadic" are various itinerant populations who move among densely populated areas to offer specialized services ( crafts or trades ) to their residents—external consultants , for example. These groups are known as " peripatetic nomads ". The English word nomad comes from

2964-481: Is also debased; the silver content becomes lower and bronze content higher, an alloying technique suggesting a lack of wealth. The Mathura lion capital inscriptions attest that Mathura came under Saka control. The inscriptions refer to Kharahostes and Queen Ayasia , the "chief queen of the Indo-Scythian ruler of Mathura, satrap Rajuvula." Kharahostes was the son of Arta , as attested by his own coins. Arta

3078-469: Is generally of high quality, although the coins of Rajuvula deteriorate near the disintegration of Indo-Scythian rule c.  20 CE. A fairly high-quality, stereotypical coinage was continued by the Western Satraps until the fourth century. Indo-Scythian coinage is generally realistic, artistically between Indo-Greek and Kushan coinage. It has been suggested that its coinage benefited from

3192-706: Is known for certain about the past of these communities; the history of each is almost entirely contained in their oral traditions. Although some groups—such as the Vangawala—are of Indian origin, some—like the Noristani—are most probably of local origin; still others probably migrated from adjoining areas. The Ghorbat and the Shadibaz claim to have originally come from Iran and Multan, respectively, and Tahtacı traditional accounts mention either Baghdad or Khorāsān as their original home. The Baluch say they were attached as

3306-655: Is mentioned by Isidore of Charax in "The Parthian Stations". According to Isidore, they were bordered by Greek cities on the east ( Alexandria of the Caucasus and Alexandria of the Arachosians ) and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia on the south: Beyond is Sacastana of the Scythian Sacae, which is also Paraetacena, 63 schoeni . There are the city of Barda and the city of Min and

3420-487: Is served in bowls, possibly with sugar or milk . Milk and other dairy products, like cheese and yogurt , are especially important. Kumiss is a drink of fermented milk. Wrestling is a popular sport, but the nomadic people do not have much time for leisure. Horse riding is a valued skill in their culture. Ann Marie Kroll Lerner states that the pastoral nomads were viewed as "invading, destructive, and altogether antithetical to civilizing, sedentary societies" during

3534-484: Is thought to have developed in three stages that accompanied population growth and an increase in the complexity of social organization . Karim Sadr has proposed the following stages: The pastoralists are sedentary to a certain area, as they move between the permanent spring, summer, autumn and winter (or dry and wet season) pastures for their livestock . The nomads moved depending on the availability of resources. Nomadic pastoralism seems to have developed first as

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3648-802: The Mahābhāṣya , the Bṛhat Saṃhitā by Varāhamihira , the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, the Bṛhatkathāmañjarīi, and the Kathāsaritsāgara . They are described as part of a group of other warlike tribes from the northwest. There are references to the warring mleccha hordes of Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas in the Balakanda of the Ramayana . H. C. Raychadhury saw in these verses the struggles between

3762-584: The Avesta (1972-), including its homeland in Eastern Iran and Afghanistan (2000). Witzel has organized a number of international conferences at Harvard such as the first of the intermittent International Vedic Workshops (1989,1999,2004; 2011 at Bucharest, 2014 at Kozhikode, Kerala), the first of several annual International Conferences on Dowry and Bride-Burning in India (1995 sqq.), the yearly Round Tables on

3876-572: The Butkara Stupa in Swat by an Italian archaeological team have yielded Buddhist sculptures thought to belong to the Indo-Scythian period. An Indo-Corinthian capital of a Buddhist devotee in foliage has been found which had a reliquary and coins of Azes buried at its base, dating the sculpture to c.  20 BCE. A contemporary pilaster of a Buddhist devotee in Greek dress has been found at

3990-694: The Fulani of the Sahel , the Khoikhoi of South Africa and Namibia , groups of Northeast Africa such as Somalis and Oromo , and the Bedouin of the Middle East. Most nomads travel in groups of families, bands, or tribes . These groups are based on kinship and marriage ties or on formal agreements of cooperation. A council of adult males makes most of the decisions, though some tribes have chiefs. In

4104-840: The Gadia Lohar blacksmiths of India, the Roma traders, Scottish travellers and Irish travellers. Many nomadic and pastorally nomadic peoples are associated with semi-arid and desert climates ; examples include the Mongolic and Turkic peoples of Central Asia , the Plains Indians of the Great Plains , and the Amazigh and other peoples of the Sahara Desert . Pastoral nomads who are residents of arid climates include

4218-1011: The Harvard Oriental Series . Witzel has been president of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory since 1999, as well as of the International Association for Comparative Mythology since 2006. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003 and was elected honorary member of the German Oriental Society in 2009. In 2013 he was appointed Cabot fellow of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University , receiving recognition for his book on comparative mythology . The main topics of scholarly research are

4332-541: The Middle French nomade , from Latin nomas ("wandering shepherd"), from Ancient Greek νομᾰ́ς ( nomás , “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), which is derived from the Ancient Greek νομός ( nomós , “pasture”). Nomads are communities who move from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. Most nomadic groups follow

4446-552: The Mongol Empire , which eventually stretched the length of Asia. The nomadic way of life has become increasingly rare. Many countries have converted pastures into cropland and forced nomadic peoples into permanent settlements. Modern forms of nomadic peoples are variously referred to as "shiftless", " gypsies ", " rootless cosmopolitans ", hunter-gatherers, refugees and urban homeless or street-people , depending on their individual circumstances. These terms may be used in

4560-859: The Saka language (also known as Khotanese), first documented in the Tarim Basin . During the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley c.  515 BCE, the Achaemenid army was not Persian and the Saka probably participated in the invasion of northwest India. The Achaemenid army was composed of a number of ethnic groups who were part of the Achaemenid Empire . The army included Bactrians, Saka, Parthians , and Sogdians . Herodotus listed

4674-656: The Tuareg and Fulani , who make up about 20% of Niger's 12.9 million population, had been so badly hit by the Niger food crisis that their already fragile way of life is at risk. Nomads in Mali were also affected. The Fulani of West Africa are the world's largest nomadic group. Pala nomads living in Western Tibet have a diet that is unusual in that they consume very few vegetables and no fruit. The main staple of their diet

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4788-865: The Wusun and the Xiongnu . They were forced to move south, again displacing the Scythians (who migrated south towards Bactria and present-day Afghanistan and south-west towards Parthia . A tribe known to ancient Greek scholars as the Sacaraucae (probably from the Old Persian Sakaravaka , "nomadic Saka") and an allied people, the Massagetae , came into conflict with the Parthian Empire in Parthia between 138 and 124 BCE. The Sacaraucae-Massagetae alliance won several battles and killed

4902-553: The dialects of Vedic Sanskrit , old Indian history , the development of Vedic religion , and the linguistic prehistory of the Indian subcontinent . Witzel's early philological work deals with the oldest texts of India, the Vedas, their manuscripts and their traditional recitation; it included some editions and translations of unknown texts (1972). such as the Katha Aranyaka. He has begun, together with T. Goto et al.

5016-714: The pointed hat typical of the Scythians . Kushan men seem to wear thick, rigid tunics, and are generally represented more simplistically. Indo-Scythian soldiers in military attire are sometimes represented in Buddhist friezes in Gandharan art, particularly in the Buner reliefs . They are depicted in loose tunics with trousers, with heavy, straight swords. They wear pointed hoods or the Scythian cap; this distinguishes them from

5130-513: The Americas followed this way of life. Pastoral nomads, on the other hand, make their living raising livestock such as camels, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, or yaks; these nomads usually travel in search of pastures for their flocks. The Fulani and their cattle travel through the grasslands of Niger in western Africa. Some nomadic peoples, especially herders, may also move to raid settled communities or to avoid enemies. Nomadic craftworkers and merchants travel to find and serve customers. They include

5244-405: The Baluch were musicians and dancers. The Baluch men were warriors that were feared by neighboring tribes and often were used as mercenaries. Jogi men and women had diverse subsistence activities, such as dealing in horses, harvesting, fortune-telling , bloodletting , and begging . In Iran, the Asheq of Azerbaijan, the Challi of Baluchistan, the Luti of Kurdistan, Kermānshāh, Īlām, and Lorestān,

5358-451: The Basseri were smiths and tinkers, traded in pack animals, and made sieves, reed mats, and small wooden implements. In the Fārs region, the Qarbalband, the Kuli, and Luli were reported to work as smiths and to make baskets and sieves; they also dealt in pack animals, and their women peddled various goods among pastoral nomads. In the same region, the Changi and Luti were musicians and balladeers, and their children learned these professions from

5472-517: The Erythraean Sea describes the Scythian territories: Beyond this region ( Gedrosia ), the continent making a wide curve from the east across the depths of the bays, there follows the coast district of Scythia, which lies above toward the north; the whole marshy; from which flows down the river Sinthus , the greatest of all the rivers that flow into the Erythraean Sea, bringing down an enormous volume of water (...) This river has seven mouths, very shallow and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except

5586-687: The Ethnogenesis of South and Central Asia (1999 sqq) and, since 2005, conferences on comparative mythology (Kyoto, Beijing, Edinburgh, Ravenstein (Netherlands), Tokyo, Harvard, Tokyo). as well as at Strasbourg, St.Petersburg, Tübingen and Yerevan. At the Beijing conference he founded the International Association for Comparative Mythology. In 2005, Witzel engaged other academics and activist groups to oppose changes to California state school history textbooks proposed by US-based Hindu groups, mainly "the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-linked organisations" The Vedic Foundation and Hindu Education Foundation (HEF). Witzel and his allies argued that

5700-515: The Eurasian steppe ( c.  3300–2600 BCE), and of the Mongol spread in the later Middle Ages . Yamnaya steppe pastoralists from the Pontic–Caspian steppe , who were among the first to master horseback riding , played a key role in Indo-European migrations and in the spread of Indo-European languages across Eurasia. Trekboers in southern Africa adopted nomadism from the 17th century. Some elements of gaucho culture in colonial South America also re-invented nomadic lifestyles. One of

5814-426: The HEF and the VF, claiming "that Witzel knew little about Hinduism and ancient Indian history," and accusing him of "leftist leanings" and being biased against Hinduism, allegations he rejects. While the expert panel rejected most of the changes, the CBE nevertheless accepted most of them, under pressure of Hindu-organisations. After further protest by scholars of South Asia, the CBE eventually rejected most of

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5928-403: The Hindus and the invading hordes of mleccha barbarians from the northwest beginning in the second century BCE, and fixed the date of the Ramayana around (or after) the 2nd century CE. The Mahabharata also alludes to the invasion of mixed hordes from the northwest, with prophetic verses that "...the Mlechha (barbaric) kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas , Bahlikas  ... shall rule

6042-440: The Indo-Greek practice (since Menander I ) of depicting gods forming the vitarka mudra with their right hand (like Zeus on the coins of Maues or Azes II ), the Buddhist lion on the coins of those two kings, or the triratana symbol on the coins of Zeionises . Other than coins, few works of art are known to indisputably represent Indo-Scythians. Several Gandharan sculptures show foreigners in soft tunics, sometimes wearing

6156-449: The Indo-Parthians, who wore a simple fillet over their bushy hair, and which is worn by Indo-Scythian rulers on their coins. With their right hand, some form the karana mudra to ward off evil spirits. In Gandhara, such friezes were used to decorate the pedestals of Buddhist stupas . They are contemporary with other friezes representing people in Greek attire, hinting at an intermixing of Indo-Scythians and Indo-Greeks. In another relief,

6270-461: The Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant role in the history of the subcontinent and nearby regions. The Indo-Scythian war was triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with tribes such as the Xiongnu in the second century CE, which had lasting effects on Bactria , Kabul and the Indian subcontinent and Rome and Parthia in the west. Ancient Roman historians, including Arrian and Claudius Ptolemy , have mentioned that

6384-416: The Indo-Scythians. Following military pressure from the Yuezhi (predecessors of the Kushana), some Indo-Scythians moved from Bactria to Lake Helmond (or Hāmūn) and settled in or near Drangiana ( Sigal ). The region came to be known as "Sakistana of the Skythian Sakai  [ sic ]" towards the end of the first century BCE. The presence of the Saka in Sakastan in the first century BCE

6498-414: The Mehtar in the Mamasani district, the Sazandeh of Band-i Amir and Marv-dasht, and the Toshmal among the Bakhtyari pastoral groups worked as professional musicians. The men among the Kowli worked as tinkers, smiths, musicians, and monkey and bear handlers; they also made baskets, sieves, and brooms and dealt in donkeys. Their women made a living from peddling, begging, and fortune-telling. The Ghorbat among

6612-445: The Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project and the Nepal Research Centre in Kathmandu . He has taught at Tübingen (1972), Leiden (1978–1986), and at Harvard (1986~2022), and has been the Wales Research professor (2022-): he had visiting appointments at Kyoto (twice), Paris (twice), and Tokyo (twice). He has been teaching Sanskrit since 1972. Witzel is editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies and

6726-401: The Parthian kings Phraates II and Artabanus I . The Yuezhi tribes migrated east into Bactria after their defeat, from which they conquered northern India to establish the Kushan Empire . The Saka settled in Drangiana , a region of southern Afghanistan, western Pakistan and southern Iran which was then named Sakastan or Sistan . The mixed Scythian hordes who migrated to Drangiana and

6840-407: The Sai country (Central Asia) to Chipin. The Scythian groups who invaded India and established kingdoms included, in addition to the Saka, allied tribes such as the Medii , Xanthii , and Massagetae . These peoples were absorbed into mainstream Indian society. The Shakas were from the trans-Hemodos region—the Shakadvipa of the Puranas or the Scythia of classical writings. At the beginning of

6954-484: The Sai-Wang as the Śaka Murunda of Indian literature; murunda is synonymous with wang (king, master or lord). Bagchi interprets Wang as the king of the Scythians, but distinguishes the Sai Sakas from the Murunda Sakas. The Sai Scythians may have been Kamboja Scythians; the Sai-Wang were part of the Parama Kamboja kingdom of Transoxiana , and returned after being evicted from their ancestral land. Maues might have belonged to this group of Scythians who migrated from

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7068-432: The Saka rulers began to decline during the 2nd century CE after the Indo-Scythians were defeated by the Satavahana emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni . Indo-Scythian rule in the northwestern subcontinent ended when the last Western Satrap, Rudrasimha III , was defeated by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II in 395 CE. The invasion of the northern Indian subcontinent by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as

7182-525: The age of 7 or 8 years. The nomadic groups in Turkey make and sell cradles, deal in animals, and play music. The men of the sedentary groups work in towns as scavengers and hangmen; elsewhere they are fishermen, smiths, basket makers, and singers; their women dance at feasts and tell fortunes. Abdal men played music and made sieves, brooms, and wooden spoons for a living. The Tahtacı traditionally worked as lumberers; with increased sedentarization, however, they have taken to agriculture and horticulture. Little

7296-406: The ancient Sakas ("Sakai") were nomadic people . The first rulers of the Indo-Scythian kingdom were Maues (c. 85–60 BCE) and Vonones (c. 75–65 BCE). The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to have been Saka ( Scythian ) tribes. One group of Indo-European speakers that makes an early appearance on the Xinjiang stage is the Saka (Ch. Sai). Saka is more a generic term than a name for

7410-441: The animals can graze. Most nomads usually move within the same region and do not travel very far. Since they usually circle around a large area, communities form and families generally know where the other ones are. Often, families do not have the resources to move from one province to another unless they are moving out of the area permanently. A family can move on its own or with others; if it moves alone, they are usually no more than

7524-454: The camp and most do not eat again until they return to camp for the evening meal. The typical evening meal may include thin stew with tsampa , animal fat and dried radish . Winter stew would include a lot of meat with either tsampa or boiled flour dumplings . Nomadic diets in Kazakhstan have not changed much over centuries. The Kazakh nomad cuisine is simple and includes meat, salads, marinated vegetables and fried and baked breads . Tea

7638-408: The case of Mongolian nomads, a family moves twice a year. These two movements generally occur during the summer and winter. The winter destination is usually located near the mountains in a valley and most families already have fixed winter locations. Their winter locations have shelter for animals and are not used by other families while they are out. In the summer they move to a more open area in which

7752-412: The changes were not of a scholarly but of a religious-political nature, reflecting a limited view on Hinduism which excludes non-Vaishna traditions. Parents supportive of the changes said they wanted a "fair representation of their culture," explaining that "the current textbooks make their children ashamed." Witzel was appointed to an expert panel set up to review the changes, which was opposed by

7866-565: The city of Palacenti and the city of Sigal ; in that place is the royal residence of the Sacae; and nearby is the city of Alexandria ( Alexandria Arachosia ), and six villages. From petroglyphs left by Saka soldiers at river crossings in Chilas and on the Sacred Rock of Hunza in Pakistan, Ahmad Hassan Dani and Karl Jettmar  [ de ] have established the route across the Karakoram mountains used by Maues (the first Indo-Scythian king) to capture Taxila from Indo-Greek King Apollodotus II . The first-century CE Periplus of

7980-499: The development of agriculture, most hunter-gatherers were eventually either displaced or converted to farming or pastoralist groups. Only a few contemporary societies, such as the Pygmies , the Hadza people , and some uncontacted tribes in the Amazon rainforest , are classified as hunter-gatherers; some of these societies supplement, sometimes extensively, their foraging activity with farming or animal husbandry. Pastoral nomads are nomads moving between pastures. Nomadic pastoralism

8094-519: The development of the Vedic canon (1997), and of Old India as such (2003, reprint 2010). The linguistic aspect of earliest Indian history has been explored in a number of papers (1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2009) dealing with the pre-Vedic substrate languages of Northern India. These result in a substantial amount of loan words from a prefixing language ("Para-Munda") similar to but not identical with Austroasiatic ( Munda , Khasi , etc.) as well as from other unidentified languages. In addition,

8208-674: The early Saka layer (layer number four, corresponding to the period of Azes I , in which a number of his coins were found). Several of them are toilet trays roughly imitative of finer Hellenistic examples found in earlier layers. Azes is connected to the Bimaran casket , one of the earliest representations of the Buddha. The reliquary was used for the dedication of a stupa in Bamiran, near Jalalabad in Afghanistan , and placed inside

8322-690: The earth un-righteously in Kali Yuga  ..." A portion of Central Asian Scythians under Sai-Wang reportedly moved south, crossed the Pamir Mountains and entered Chipin (or Kipin) after crossing the Xuandu (懸度, Hanging Pass) above the valley of Kanda in Swat . Chipin has been identified by Pelliot, Bagchi, Raychaudhury and others as Kashmir , but other scholars identify it as Kafiristan . Sai-Wang established his kingdom in Kipin. Konow interprets

8436-655: The east, the Indian king Vikrama retook Ujjain from the Indo-Scythians and celebrated his victory by establishing the Vikrama era in 58 BCE. Indo-Greek kings again ruled and prospered after Maues, as indicated by the profusion of coins from Kings Apollodotus II and Hippostratos . In 55 BCE, under Azes I , the Indo-Scythians took control of northwestern India with their victory over Hippostratos. Excavations organized by John Marshall found several stone sculptures in

8550-602: The emergence of the Kuru Kingdom in the Delhi area (1989, 1995, 1997, 2003), its seminal culture and its political dominance, as well as studying the origin of late Vedic polities and the first Indian empire in eastern North India (1995, 1997, 2003, 2010). He studied at length the various Vedic recensions ( śākhā ) and their importance for the geographical spread of Vedic culture across North India and beyond. This resulted in book-length investigations of Vedic dialects (1989),

8664-470: The ethnicities of the Achaemenid army, which included Ionians (Greeks) and Ethiopians . These groups were probably included in the Achaemenid army which invaded India. Some scholars (including Michael Witzel ) and Christopher I. Beckwith suggested that the Shakya  – the clan of Gautama Buddha  – were originally Scythians from Central Asia, and the Indian ethnonym Śākya has

8778-580: The first century CE, Isidore of Charax notes their presence in Sistan. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 70–80 CE) documents a Scythian district in the lower Indus Valley, with Minnagra its capital. Ptolemy (c. 140 CE) also documents an Indo-Scythia in south-western India which consisted of the Patalene and Surastrene (Saurashtra) territories. The second-century BCE Scythian invasion of India

8892-481: The first century CE, describes in Kharoshthi script the gift of a stupa with a relic of the Buddha by Nadasi Kasa (Rajuvula's queen). The capital also mentions the genealogy of several Indo-Scythian Mathura satraps. Rajuvula apparently eliminated Strato II (the last Indo-Greek king) c.  10 CE and took Sagala , his capital city. Coinage of the period, such as that of Rajuvula, tends to be crude. It

9006-634: The first millennium; Kathiawar and Gujarat were under Western Satrap rule until the fifth century. Rudradaman I 's exploits are inscribed in the Junagadh rock inscription . During his campaigns, Rudradaman conqured the Yaudheyas and defeated the Satavahana Empire . The Western Satraps were conquered by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (also known as Vikramaditya). Indo-Scythian coinage

9120-425: The fissures of Dryobalanops aromaticus); several types of rotan of cane ( Calamus rotan and other species); poison for blowpipe darts (one source is ipoh or ipu : see Nieuwenhuis 1900a:137); the antlers of deer (the sambar, Cervus unicolor); rhinoceros horn (see Tillema 1939:142); pharmacologically valuable bezoar stones (concretions formed in the intestines and gallbladder of the gibbon, Seminopithecus, and in

9234-442: The help of Greek coin-makers. Indo-Scythian coins continue Indo-Greek tradition by using the Greek alphabet on the obverse and Kharoshthi script on the reverse. A portrait of the king is absent, with depictions of the king on a horse (sometimes on a camel) or sitting cross-legged on a cushion instead. The reverse of their coins typically show Greek gods. Buddhist symbolism is present in Indo-Scythian coinage. The Indo-Scythians adopted

9348-740: The holy cow (1991), the Milky Way (1984), the asterism of the Seven Rsis (1995, 1999), the sage Yajnavalkya (2003), supposed female Rishis in the Veda (2009,) the persistence of some Vedic beliefs, in modern Hinduism (1989 2002, with cultural historian Steve Farmer and John B. Henderson), as well as some modern Indocentric tendencies (2001-). Other work (1976-) deals with the traditions of medieval and modern India and Nepal, including its linguistic history, Brahmins, rituals, and kingship (1987) and present day culture, as well as with Old Iran and

9462-583: The largest nomadic populations in the world, an estimated 1.5 million in a country of about 70 million. In Kazakhstan where the major agricultural activity was nomadic herding, forced collectivization under Joseph Stalin 's rule met with massive resistance and major losses and confiscation of livestock. Livestock in Kazakhstan fell from 7 million cattle to 1.6 million and from 22 million sheep to 1.7 million. The resulting famine of 1931–1934 caused some 1.5 million deaths: this represents more than 40% of

9576-577: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to Lerner, they are rarely accredited as "a civilizing force". Allan Hill and Sara Randall observe that western authors have looked for "romance and mystery, as well as the repository of laudable characteristics believed lost in the West, such as independence, stoicism in the face of physical adversity, and a strong sense of loyalty to family and to tribe" in nomadic pastoralist societies. Hill and Randall observe that nomadic pastoralists are stereotypically seen by

9690-733: The linguistic nature of the so-called Indus script (Farmer, Sproat, Witzel 2004). Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel presented a number of arguments in support of their thesis that the Indus script is non-linguistic, principal among them being the extreme brevity of the inscriptions, the existence of too many rare signs increasing over the 700-year period of the Mature Harappan civilization, and the lack of random-looking sign repetition typical for representations of actual spoken language (whether syllable-based or letter-based), as seen, for example, in Egyptian cartouches. Earlier, he had suggested that

9804-593: The natives call Buköt . Bukat is an ethnonym that encapsulates all the tribes in the region. These natives are historically self-sufficient but were also known to trade various goods. This is especially true for the clans who lived on the periphery of the territory. The products of their trade were varied and fascinating, including: "...resins (damar, Agathis dammara; jelutong bukit, Dyera costulata, gutta-percha, Palaquium spp.); wild honey and beeswax (important in trade but often unreported); aromatic resin from insence wood ( gaharu, Aquilaria microcarpa); camphor (found in

9918-445: The newly proposed method of historical comparative mythology at length; (for scholarly criticism see and for periodic updates see ) It has been called a magnum opus , which should be taken seriously by social anthropologists, and was praised by professor of Sanskrit Frederick Smith, who wrote that Witzel's thesis changes the outlook on all other diffusionist models [...] His interdisciplinary approach not only demonstrates that it has

10032-436: The one in the middle; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum . Before it there lies a small island, and inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara ; it is subject to Parthian princes who are constantly driving each other out ... The Indo-Scythians established a kingdom in the northwest near Taxila , with two satraps : one at Mathura in the east, and the other at Surastrene ( Gujarat ) in

10146-519: The period from 8,500 to 6,500 BCE in the area of the southern Levant . There, during a period of increasing aridity, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) cultures in the Sinai were replaced by a nomadic, pastoral pottery-using culture, which seems to have been a cultural fusion between them and a newly-arrived Mesolithic people from Egypt (the Harifian culture), adopting their nomadic hunting lifestyle to

10260-569: The population moved west to the Ili River region. They displaced the Saka, who migrated south into Ferghana and Sogdiana . According to the Chinese historical chronicles (who call the Saka "Sai" 塞): "[The Yuezhi] attacked the king of the Sai, who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands." Sometime after 155 BCE, the Yuezhi were again defeated by an alliance of

10374-399: The population of nomadic pastoral tribes slowly decreased from over a quarter of Iran 's population. Tribal pastures were nationalized during the 1960s. The National Commission of UNESCO registered the population of Iran at 21 million in 1963, of whom two million (9.5%) were nomads. Although the nomadic population of Iran has dramatically decreased in the 20th century, Iran still has one of

10488-526: The preceding Mauryan layers or the succeeding Kushan layers. The palettes often depict people in Greek dress in mythological scenes; a few have Parthian dress (headbands over bushy hair, crossed-over jacket on a bare chest, jewelry, belt, baggy trousers), and fewer have Indo-Scythian dress (Phrygian hat, tunic and straight trousers). A palette found in Sirkap , now in the New Delhi Museum , shows

10602-450: The purpose of seeking a new home in a new country, not for the purpose of subjecting it to their dominion as in the first case, but with the intention of taking absolute possession of it themselves and driving out or killing its original inhabitants. Primary historical sources for nomadic steppe-style warfare are found in many languages: Chinese, Persian, Polish, Russian, Classical Greek, Armenian, Latin and Arabic. These sources concern both

10716-524: The raising of stock. This lifestyle quickly developed into what Jaris Yurins has called the circum- Arabian nomadic pastoral techno-complex and is possibly associated with the appearance of Semitic languages in the region of the Ancient Near East . The rapid spread of such nomadic pastoralism was typical of such later developments as of the Yamnaya culture of the horse and cattle nomads of

10830-693: The results of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent political independence and economic collapse of its Central Asian republics has been the resurgence of pastoral nomadism. Taking the Kyrgyz people as a representative example, nomadism was the centre of their economy before Russian colonization at the turn of the 20th century, when they were settled into agricultural villages. The population became increasingly urbanized after World War II, but some people still take their herds of horses and cows to high pastures ( jailoo ) every summer, continuing

10944-545: The same origin as "Scythian". This would explain the strong Saka support of Buddhism in India. The Persians, the Saka and the Greeks may have participated in the later campaigns of Chandragupta Maurya to gain the throne of Magadha c.  320 BCE. The Mudrarakshasa says that after Alexander the Great 's death, Chandragupta Maurya used a Shaka - Yavana - Kamboja - Parasika - Bahlika alliance in his campaign to take

11058-664: The same spot, again suggesting a mingling of the populations. Reliefs at the same location show Indo-Scythians , with characteristic tunics and pointed hoods, with reliefs of standing Buddhas. The Indo-Scythians were named "Shaka" in India, a variation of the name "Saka" used by the Persians for Scythians. Shakas are mentioned in the Purāṇas , the Manusmṛti , the Rāmāyaṇa , the Mahābhārata ,

11172-540: The same type of soldiers are playing musical instruments and dancing; in Gandharan art, Indo-Scythians are typically depicted as reveling devotees. A number of stone palettes in Gandhara are considered representative of Indo-Scythian art. The palettes, which combine Greek and Iranian influences, often have a simple, archaic style. Stone palettes have only been found in archaeological layers corresponding to Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian rule, and are unknown in

11286-454: The settled populace in Africa and Middle East as "aimless wanderers, immoral, promiscuous and disease-ridden" peoples. According to Hill and Randall, both of these perceptions "misrepresent the reality". Peripatetic minorities are mobile populations moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade . Each existing community is primarily endogamous, and subsists traditionally on

11400-473: The southwest. The presence of the Scythians in modern Pakistan and north-western India during the first century BCE was contemporaneous with the Indo-Greek kingdoms there, and they apparently initially recognized the power of the local Greek rulers. Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan c.  80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. In

11514-481: The stupa with several coins of Azes. This may have happened during the reign of Azes (60–20 BCE), or slightly later. The Indo-Scythians were connected with Buddhism. In northern India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the Mathura region c.  60 BCE. Some of their satraps were Hagamasha and Hagana, who were followed by Rajuvula . The Mathura lion capital , an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital which dates to

11628-487: The surrounding regions later spread into north and south-west India via the lower Indus valley. They spread into Sovira , Gujarat, Rajasthan and north India, including kingdoms on the Indian mainland. The Arsacid emperor Mithridates II (c. 123–88/87 BCE) pursued an aggressive military policy in Central Asia and added a number of provinces to the Parthian Empire . This included western Bactria, which he seized from

11742-691: The third year of Kanishka (c. 130 CE), when they pledged allegiance to the Kushans. The Yuga Purana describes an invasion of Pataliputra by the Scythians during the first century BCE, after seven kings ruled in succession in Saketa following the retreat of the Yavanas. According to the Yuga Purana , the Saka king killed one-fourth of the population before he was slain by the Kalinga king Shata and

11856-809: The throne in Magadha and found the Maurya Empire . The Saka were the Scythians; the Yavanas were the Greeks , and the Parasikas were the Persians . During the second century BCE, a nomadic movement began among the Central Asian tribes. Recorded in the annals of the Han dynasty and other Chinese records, the movement began after the Yuezhi tribe was defeated by the Xiongnu and fled west; this created

11970-566: The total Kazakh population at that time. In the 1950s as well as the 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East, especially as home ranges have shrunk and population levels have grown. Government policies in Egypt and Israel , oil production in Libya and the Persian Gulf , as well as

12084-433: The true steppe nomads ( Mongols , Huns , Magyars and Scythians ) and also the semi-settled people like Turks , Crimean Tatars and Russians , who retained or, in some cases, adopted the nomadic form of warfare. Hunter-gatherers (also known as foragers) move from campsite to campsite, following game and wild fruits and vegetables . Hunting and gathering describes early peoples' subsistence living style. Following

12198-464: The wars of Alexander the Great, and those of the Romans, and those which two hostile powers carry on against each other. These wars are dangerous but never go so far as to drive all its inhabitants out of a province, because the conqueror is satisfied with the submission of the people... The other kind of war is when an entire people, constrained by famine or war, leave their country with their families for

12312-469: The wild asses that are abundant in the environs, classifying the latter as horse due to their cloven hooves. Some families do not eat until after the morning milking, while others may have a light meal with butter tea and tsampa . In the afternoon, after the morning milking, the families gather and share a communal meal of tea, tsampa and sometimes yogurt . During winter months the meal is more substantial and includes meat. Herders will eat before leaving

12426-702: The women peddled these as well as other items of household and personal use; they also worked as moneylenders to rural women. Peddling and the sale of various goods was also practiced by men and women of various groups, such as the Jalali, the Pikraj, the Shadibaz, the Noristani, and the Vangawala. The latter and the Pikraj also worked as animal dealers. Some men among the Shadibaz and the Vangawala entertained as monkey or bear handlers and snake charmers; men and women among

12540-458: The wounds of porcupines, Hestrix crassispinus); birds' nests, the edible nests of swifts ( Collocalia spp.); the heads and feathers of two species of hornbills ( Buceros rhinoceros, Rhinoplax vigil) ; and various hides (clouded leopards, bears, and other animals)." These nomadic tribes also commonly hunted boar with poison blow darts for their own needs. Figurative use of the term: Michael Witzel Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943)

12654-757: Was Maues/Moga (first century BCE) who established Saka power in Gandhara , the Indus Valley , and other regions. The Indo-Scythians extended their supremacy over the north-western subcontinent, conquering the Indo-Greeks and other local peoples. They were apparently subjugated by the Kushan Empire 's Kujula Kadphises or Kanishka . The Saka continued to govern as satrapies , forming the Northern Satraps and Western Satraps . The power of

12768-575: Was gradually replaced with that of the Kushans , one of the five Yuezhi tribes who lived in Bactria for over a century and expanded into India during the late first century CE. The Kushans regained northwestern India c.  75 CE and the Mathura region c.  100 , where they prospered for several centuries. Indo-Scythians continued to hold the Sistan region until the reign of Bahram II (276–293 CE), and held several areas of India well into

12882-454: Was probably carried out jointly by the Saka, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas , Rishikas and other allied tribes from the northwest. Nomad Nomadic hunting and gathering—following seasonally available wild plants and game—is by far the oldest human subsistence method. Pastoralists raise herds of domesticated livestock, driving or accompanying them in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Nomadism

12996-666: Was the brother of King Maues . The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the Northern Satraps to distinguish them from the Western Satraps ruling in Gujarat and Malwa . After Rajuvula, several successors are known to have ruled as vassals of the Kushans . They include the "Great Satrap" Kharapallana and the satrap Vanaspara , who are known from an inscription discovered in Sarnath and dated to

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