The legacy of the Indo-Greeks starts with the formal end of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from the 1st century AD, as the Greek communities of central Asia and northwestern India lived under the control of the Kushan branch of the Yuezhi, Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthian Kingdom."Though the Indo-Greek monarchies seem to have ended in the first century BC, the Greek presence in India and Bactria remained strong", McEvilley, p. 379. The Kushans founded the Kushan Empire, which was to prosper for several centuries. In the south, the Greeks were under the rule of the Scythian Western Kshatrapas.
It is unclear how much longer the Greeks managed to maintain a distinct presence in the Indian sub-continent.
Society
Politics
The 36 Indo-Greek kings known through epigraphy or through their coins belong to the period between 180 BC to AD10–20.Boppearachchi, "Monnaies Indo-Grecques". There are a few hints of a later Indo-Greek political presence in the Indian subcontinent. Theodamas, known from an inscription on a signet, may have been an Indo-Greek ruler in the Bajaur area in the 1st century AD. In the 3rd century, the Scythian Western Satraps seem to have relied on Greeks, such as Yavanesvara ("Lord of the Greeks"), who may have been organized in more or less independent poleis.McEvilley, p. 385.
Some sort of Greek political organization is thought to have existed in the first half of the 4th century after the rule of the Satavahanas.David Pingree, "The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja", p4. Quotes in McEvilley, p. 385. This is also suggested by the Puranas (the Matsya Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana) which give a list of the dynasties who ruled following the decline of the Satavahanas: this list includes 8 Yavana kings, thought to be some dynasty of Greek descent, although they are not otherwise known.Comments given in Rapson "Catalogue of the Indian coins in the British Museum. Andhras etc...", Rapson, p LXVIII: "These must, no doubt, belong to some dynasty of Greek descent, but it is impossible to determine which dynasty this could have been"The full list, with comments, is given in Rapson "Catalogue of the Indian coins in the British Museum. Andhras etc...", Rapson, p LXVIII:
7 other Andhras kings (called "Andhrabhrytias", or "Servant of the Andhras", probably the Chutus in the Western and Southern districts. 10 Abhira kings, who ruled in the area of Nasik. 7 Gardabhila kings, who ruled in the area of Ujjain 18 Saka kings, probably the Western Satraps. 8 Yavana kings, thought to be some dynasty of Greek descent. 14 Tusara kings (also called Tuhkara, Tuskara), thought to be the Kushans (who are called "Turuska" in the Rajatarangini). 13 Murunda or Gurunda kings. 21 Huna kings (also called Maunas), probably the Indo-Hephthalites. According to one theory however, the Southern Indian dynasty of the Chalukyas was named after "Seleukia" (the Seleucids),Dr. Lewis Rice, S. R. Sharma and M. V. Krishna Rao their conflict with the Pallava of Kanchi being but a continuation of the conflict between ancient Seleukia and "Parthians", the proposed ancestors of Pallavas. Dr. Lewis's theory, based on the mere similarity of names, has not found acceptance at all because the Pallavas were in constant conflict with the Kadambas, prior to the rise of Chalukyas.(2001), "A Concise History of Karnataka from pre-historic times to the present", Jupiter books, MCC (Reprinted 2002), p. 57.
Cities
Some Greek cities seem to have remained intact under Parthian rule: Isidorus of Charax in his 1st century AD "Parthian stations" itinerary described "Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia" as being Greek:
Also, the city of Alexandria Bucephalus on the Jhelum River is still mentioned in the 1st century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, as well as in the Roman Peutinger Table.
Military
Greek mercenary soldiers from northwestern India are mentioned in the accounts of the Pandyan Kingdom in Madurai, and described in admiring terms: "The valiant-eyed Yavanas, whose bodies were strong and of terrible aspect".
At the beginning of the 2nd century, the Central India Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni (r. 106–130) was described as the "Destroyer of Sakas (Western Kshatrapas), Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) and Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians)" in his inscriptions, suggesting a continued presence of the Indo-Greeks until that time.From Rapson, "Indian coins in the British Museum". Following the above quote, Rapson writes: "The Kashtriyas are the native Indian princes, the Rajputs of Rajputana, Gujarat and Central India; and the Sakas, Yavanas, and Pahavas are respectively Scythian, Greeks and Persian invaders from the north, who established kingdoms in various districts of Northern and Western India", p. xxxvii, Rapson.
Around 200 AD, the Manu Smriti describes the downfall of the Yavanas, as well as many others:
"43. But in consequence of the omission of the sacred rites, and of their not consulting Brahmanas, the following tribes of Kshatriyas have gradually sunk in this world to the condition of Shudras; 44. (Viz.) the Paundrakas, the Chodas, the Dravidas, the Kambojas, the Yavanas, the Shakas, the Paradas, the Pahlavas, the Chinas, the Kiratas, the Daradas and the Khashas." (Manusmritti, X.43–44)
There are important references to the warring Mleccha hordes of the Yavanas, Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, etc. in the Bala Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana.(1.54.21-23; 1.55.2-3).
taih asit samvrita bhuumih Shakaih-Yavana mishritaih || 1.54-21 || taih taih Yavana-Kamboja barbarah ca akulii kritaah || 1-54-23 || tasya humkaarato jatah Kamboja ravi sannibhah | udhasah tu atha sanjatah Pahlavah shastra panayah || 1-55-2 || yoni deshaat ca Yavanah Shakri deshat Shakah tathaa | roma kupesu Mlecchah ca Haritah sa Kiratakah || 1-55-3 || (Ramayana 1.54.21-23; 1.55.2-3)
Indologists like Dr H. C. Raychadhury, Dr B. C. Law, Satya Shrava and others see, in these verses, the clear glimpses of the struggles of the Hindus with the mixed invading hordes of the barbaric Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, etc. from north-west.The Śakas in India, 1981, p. 12, Satya Shrava; Journal, 1920, p. 175, University of Calcutta. Department of Letters; Political History of India from the Accession of Parikshit to the Coronation of Bimbisara, 1923, Page iii, Hemchandra Raychaudhuri; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 4, Raychaudhury; Indological Studies, 1950, p. 4, Dr B. C. Law. The time frame for these struggles is the 2nd century BCE downwards. Dr Raychadhury fixes the date of the present version of the Valmiki Ramayana around/after the 2nd century CE.Political History of Ancient India, 1996, pp. 3–4.
There is also a distinct prophetic statement in the Mahabharata which says that the Mlechha (Barbaric) kings of the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Abhiras, etc. will rule unrighteously in Kali Yuga.viparite tada loke purvarupa.n kshayasya tat. 28. bahavo mechchha rajanah prithivyam manujadhipa. mithyanushasinah papa mrishavadaparayanah. 29. Andhrah ShakAh Pulindashcha Yavanashcha naradhipah. Kamboja Aurnikah Shudrastathabhira narottama. 30. (MBH 23/187/28-30)
According to Dr H. C. Ray Chaudhury, this is too clear a statement to be ignored or explained away.
This statement, couched in the form of prophecy in true puranic style, alludes to a historical situation (2nd and 1st century BC downwards) which followed the collapse of Maurya and Shunga dynasties in North India."After the disintegration of Mauryan empire, the insecured frontier region of north-western part of India invited several foreign invaders i.e. Yavasnas, Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas from western and Central Asia who came in India through migrations and invasions. ...The moral and social degradation in the Indian society is indicated due to foreign invasions. Mahabharata states that Andhara, Sakas, Kambojas, Pulinda, Yavans, Vahlikas, Sudras, Abhiras, Mlechchas, will rule over the land and also will be addicted to falsehood" (Ref: Social Justice: Problems & Perspectives {Seminar Proceedings of March 5–7, 1995}, 1996, p. 173, Jhinkoo Yadav, Dr Suman Gupta, Chandrajeet Yadav); See also: Ancient Kamboja People and the Country, 1981, Dr J. L. Kamboj. ' This chaotic situation of Aryan India is said to have ended with the destruction of these Mlechcha Saka, Kamboja, Yavana and Parsika hordes by king Vikramaditya of Ujjaini (c. 60 BC) as is related by Brihat-Katha-Manjari of the Kashmiri Pandit Kshemendra and Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, and the establishment of the Vikrama era.ata shrivikramadityo helya nirjitakhilah|: Mlechchana Kambojan Yavanan Neecan Hunan Sabarbran|| Tushara Parsikaanshcha tayakatacharan vishrankhalan| hatya bhrubhangamatreyanah bhuvo bharamavarayate|| (Brahata Katha, 10/1/285-86, Kshmendra)Kathasritsagara 18.1.76-78.Cf:"In the story contained in Kathasaritsagara, king Vikarmaditya, is said to have destroyed all the barbarous tribes such as the Kambojas, Yavanas, Hunas, Tokharas and the Persians"(See: Ref: Reappraising the Gupta History, 1992, p. 169, B. C. Chhabra, Sri Ram; Cf also: Vikrama Volume, 1948, p xxv, Vikramāditya Śakāri; cf: Anatomii͡a i fiziologii͡a selʹskokhozi͡a ĭstvennykh zhivotnykh, 1946, p 264, Arthur John Arberry, Louis Renou, B. K. Hindse, A. V. Leontovich, National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Recreational Reading - Sanskrit language.
Trade
Although the political power of the Greeks had waned in the north, mainly due to nomadic invasions, trade relations between the Mediterranean and India continued for several centuries. The trade started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE kept on increasing, and according to Strabo (II.5.12), by the time of Augustus, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India. So much gold was used for this trade, and apparently recycled by the Kushans for their own coinage, that Pliny (NH VI.101) complained about the drain of specie to India. In practice, this trade was still handled by Greek middlemen, as all the recorded names of ship captains for the period are Greek.
Also various exchanges are recorded between India and Rome during this period. In particular, embassies from India, as well as several missions from "Sramanas" to the Roman emperors are known (see Buddhism and the Roman world). Finally, Roman goods and works of art found their way to the Kushans, as archaeological finds in Begram have confirmed.
Genetics
Limited population genetics studies have been made on genetic markers such as Y-DNA in the populations of the Indian subcontinent, in order to estimate the contribution of the Greeks to the genetic pool. Studies have not found the markers which are present in a large proportion of Greeks today.
Some Romani people groups, claimed to be descendants of the Athinganoi, who are said to be the remnants of the Indo-Greeks. DNA studies of Romani people,
Culture
Art
The "Kanishka casket", dated to the first year of Kanishka's reign in 127 CE, was signed by a Greek artist named Agesilas, who oversaw work at Kanishka's stupas (caitya), confirming the direct involvement of Greeks with Buddhist realizations at such a late date.Tarn, p. 355.The Greeks in Bactria & India By William Woodthorpe TarnEarly History of North India, from the Fall of the Mauryas to the Death of ... By SudhakarTrade and Commerce of Ancient India, C. 200 B. C.-c. 650 A. D. By Haripada Chakraborti
Greek representations and artistic styles, with some possible admixtures from the Roman world, continued to maintain a strong identity down to the 3rd–4th century, as indicated by the archaeological remains of such sites as Hadda in eastern Afghanistan.Boardman, pp. 141–144.