Origin-
Belonged to central asia
Basically a nomadic tribes, pastoralists and good horsemans
Often attacked on territories in search of pastoral grasslands for their cattles
Migration-
Driven out by yuezhi tribes from the steppe (grasslands)
Some of them migrated to bactria and sogdia or sogdiana
Setteled in bactria and parthia
Sakas forced to overrunning the parthians
Some of the sakas migrated to different parts of china and some of them worked as vassals to chinese dynasties
Some of the sakas also moved to the northwestern part of indian subcontinent in 2nd century bc
Sakas came to india after greeks
Also known as indo-scythians after they reached in india
Saka tribes entered through north west india one after the other
Established kingdoms–
Took the advantage of the diminishing empire of alexander the great
Created territories on the eastern areas of the alexander’s empire after his death
Setup their kingdoms in different regions of india in 1st century bc
Sakas have 5 branches in different parts of india-
1st branch in afganistan
2nd branch in punjab region
3rd branch in mathura
4th branch in western india
5th branch in upper deccan area
2 branches of them had their influence on history are most important–
- Kardamaka dynasty of ujjain–
Ruled the parts of malwa and parts of gujrat region
Their capital was ujjain
Kardamaka dynasty was founded by satrap castana
They are also called ujjain sakas
- Kshahatrata dynasty of bharukachha–
Ruled the modern day bharuch of gujrat
Their capital was nasik
They are also called bharukachha sakas
Saka’s in india–
First saka ruler in india was maues or moga of kshahatrata dynasty
His capital was ‘sirkap’ punjab (present pakistan)
Indian saka rulers called themselves ‘satrap’
Southern indian branch of sakas ruled for 4 centuries
Nahapana assumed the title of-
Satrap
Mahasatrap
Saka samvat–
Vikramaditya ruler of ujjain expelled sakas from their territory and held the title of ‘vikramaditya’
To commemorate this victory, he started a new year called ‘vikram samvat’ in 57 bc
Official calender of nepal (bikram sambat) introduced in 1901 in nepal
Rudradaman-i -(150 bc-130 bc)
Famous and powerful ruler of kardamaka dynasty
Ruled over on the large part of gujrat
Grandson of chastana
We got information about him by its inscription of junagarh (gujrat) which was written in sanskrit
He was a patron of sanskrit literature
Sudarshan lake–
Sudarshan lake of kathiawad was repaired by him
This lake was contructed by chandragupt maurya and rebuilt by ashoka
Victory-
Defeated kushanas and capture the region of sind
Rudrasena-ii- (256 ad- 278 ad)
Rudrasena-ii was the last ruler of kardamaka dynasty.
- Sakas and pahlavas used the satrap system in their ruling.
Causes for the decline of sakas–
Defeat from satvahana ruler gautamiputra satakarni
Entry of kushanas in northwest india
The saka rule was came to an end in western india when the last saka satrap rudrasimha-iii was defeated by chandragupta –ii of gupta dynasty in 4th century ad