{{Short description|People of ancient Kamboja}} {{About|the people of ancient Kamboja|the ancient region of south India|Assaka}}
'''Asvakas''' (Sanskrit: Aśvaka){{efn|Also known in various sources as '''Āśvakāyana''', '''Āśvāyana''', '''Assakenoi''', '''Aspasioi''',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tucci |first=Giuseppe|author-link=Giuseppe Tucci |date=1963 |title=The Tombs of the Asvakayana-Assakenoi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29754697 |journal=East and West |volume=14 |issue=1/2 |pages=27–28 |jstor=29754697 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref> and '''Aspasii''',<ref name=Iranica/> as well as several other Prakrit, Latin and Greek variants.}} were an ancient people from Kambojas, in the present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.<ref name=Bosworth>{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=C. Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAokDwAAQBAJ |title=The Turks in the Early Islamic World |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-88087-9 |pages=33 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Iranica/><ref name=Tarn>{{Cite book |last=Tarn |first=William Woodthorpe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC&pg=PA170 |title=The Greeks in Bactria and India |date=2010-06-24 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-00941-6 |pages=170 |language=en}}</ref> The region in which they lived was also called ''Aśvaka''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Geography from Ancient Indian Coins & Seals |first=Parmanand |last=Gupta |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1989 |isbn=978-8-17022-248-4 |pages=17–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LzHpZ5N5MhcC&pg=PA17}}</ref>
== Etymology == The Sanskrit term ''aśva'', Prakrit ''assa'' and Avestan ''aspa'' means horse. The name ''Aśvaka''/''Aśvakan'' or ''Assaka'' is derived from the Sanskrit ''Aśva'' or Prakrit ''Assa'' and it denotes someone connected with the horses, hence a horseman, or a cavalryman.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ethnic Settlements in Ancient India: A Study on the Puranic Lists of the Peoples of Bharatavarsa |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12386 |publisher=General Printers and Publishers |year=1955 |page=51 |first=Sashi Bhusan |last=Chaudhuri}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Saka Era |year=1988 |first=Etienne |last=Lamotte |others=Trans. Webb-Boin, Sara |publisher=Université Catholique de Louvain |isbn=978-9-06831-100-6 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJwEAAAAYAAJ}}</ref><ref name=Majumdar>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/download/ageofimperialuni07bhar/ageofimperialuni07bhar.pdf|title= The History and Culture of the Indian People |year=2001 |volume=2 |page=45 |first1=Ramesh Chandra |last1=Majumdar |first2= Achut Dattatrya |last2=Pusalker |first3=Bharatiya Vidya |last3=Bhavan |first4=A. K. |last4=Majumdar |first5= Dilip Kumar |last5=Ghose |first6= Vishvanath Govind |last6=Dighe}}</ref> The Asvakas were especially engaged in the occupation of breeding, raising and training war horses, as also in providing expert cavalry services.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Tucci |first=Giuseppe |date=1977 |title=On Swāt. The Dards and Connected Problems |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756375 |journal=East and West |volume=27 |issue=1/4 |pages=9–103 |jstor=29756375 |issn=0012-8376}}</ref> Some scholars believe that the term the term "Afghan" may be related to ''Aśvakan'' or ''Assakan''.<ref name=Bosworth/>
== Ethnology == In the Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka, Asvakas are described as Gandhāras (Gandharians)<ref name=Iranica>{{Encyclopaedia Iranica Brill|article=Aspasii|first=Christopher Joseph |last=Brunner|year=2020|doi=10.1163/2330-4804_eiro_com_5974}} Adapted from {{Encyclopædia Iranica |article=Aspasii|first=Christopher Joseph |last=Brunner | volume=2 | fascicle=8 | pages=787-788}}</ref><ref name=Tarn/> who are recorded separately from Kambojas.<ref>{{Encyclopaedia Iranica Brill|article=Kamboja|first=Rüdiger|last=Schmitt|authorlink=Rüdiger Schmitt|year=2021|doi=10.1163/2330-4804_eiro_com_337524}}</ref> Ancient Greek historians who documented the exploits of Alexander the Great refer to Aspasioi or Assakenoi (Ἀσσακηνοί) kin among his opponents. The historian R. C. Majumdar considers these words to be corruptions of Asvaka.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ancient India |first=Ramesh Chandra |last=Majumdar |author-link=Ramesh Chandra Majumdar |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1977 |orig-year=1952 |isbn=978-8-12080-436-4 |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNxiN5tzKOgC&pg=PA99}}</ref> It is possible that the corruption of the names occurred due to regional differences in pronunciation.<ref name="bevan">{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of India |volume=1 |editor-first=Edward James |editor-last=Rapson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1955 |page=352 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYg8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA352 |chapter=Alexander the Great |first=E. R. |last=Bevan}}</ref> Rama Shankar Tripathi thinks it possible that the Assakenoi were either allied to or a branch of the Aspasioi.<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Ancient India |first=Rama Shankar |last=Tripathi |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |orig-year=1942 |year=1992 |isbn=978-8-12080-018-2 |page=119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOVpOG6MPMcC&pg=PA119}}</ref> The Greeks recorded the two groups as inhabiting different areas, with the Aspasioi in either the Alishang or Kunar Valley (or Kunar Province) and the Assakenoi in the Swat Valley.<ref name="bevan" />
== History == The Assakenoi fielded 2,000 cavalry, 30 elephants and 30,000 infantry{{efn|The statistics for the Assakenoi forces that fought Alexander vary. For example, Barbara West says there were 30,000 cavalry, 20,000 infantry and at least 30 elephants.<ref name="west">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |first=Barbara A. |last=West |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-43811-913-7 |page=359 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA359}}</ref>}} against Alexander during his campaign in India, which began in 327 BCE, but they eventually had to surrender after losses at places such as Beira, Massaga and Ora. The Aspasioi chose to flee into the hills but destroyed their city of Arigaion before doing so; 40,000 of them were captured, along with 230,000 oxen.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Companion to the Classical Greek World |editor-first=Konrad H. |editor-last=Kinzl |edition=Reprinted |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2010 |orig-year=2006 |isbn=978-1-44433-412-8 |page=577 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=loeWIRBo3isC&pg=PA577 |chapter=The Conquests of Alexander the Great |first=Waldemar |last=Heckel}}</ref> Diodorus recorded the strength of the Aśvaka opposition, noting that the women took up arms along with the men, preferring "a glorious death to a life of dishonour".<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |year=1999 |page=76 |first1=Ahmad Hasan |last1=Dani |first2=Vadim Mikhaĭlovich |last2=Masson |first3=János |last3=Harmatta |first4=Boris Abramovich |last4=Litvinovskiĭ |first5=Clifford Edmund |last5=Bosworth |publisher=UNESCO |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001057/105703eo.pdf}}</ref> Queen Cleophis was the main leader of Asvakas during their war against Alexander.
The Asvayanas have been attested to be good cattle breeders and agriculturists by classical writers. Arrian said that, during the time of Alexander, there were a large number of bullocks - 230,000 - of a size and shape superior to what the Macedonians had known, which Alexander captured from them and decided to send to Macedonia for agriculture.<ref>{{cite book |title=cf: A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food |publisher=Oxford India Paperbacks |page=91 |first= K. T. |last=Achaya |year=2001}}</ref>
== References == '''Notes''' {{notelist}} '''Citations''' {{reflist}}
== Further reading == *{{cite journal |title=A Geographical Introduction to the History of Central Asia |first=K. de B. |last=Codrington |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=104 |issue=1/2 |date=July–August 1944 |pages=27–40 |jstor=1790027 |doi=10.2307/1790027}} *{{cite journal |title=The Aśvakas: an Early Indian Tribe |first=Kalyan Kumar Das |last=Gupta |journal=East and West |volume=22 |issue=1/2 |date=March–June 1972 |pages=33–40 |jstor=29755742 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asvakas}} Category:Kambojas Category:Ancient peoples of Pakistan