The short-lived Iranian dynasty of Ancient India

Indo-Parthians or Pahlavas emerged as a powerful force at the start of the common era. It was under their king Gondophares, the Indo-Parthians destroyed the Shakas or Indo-Scythians. But this Iranian Empire of Ancient India was short-lived. We find that after the death of Gondophares, the Indo-Parthians lost control of most of the Empire to the Kushanas. In this video, I talk about the rise of the Indo-Parthians and their eventual decline.
Sources
1. ReOrienting the Sasanians by Khodad Rezakhani
2. The Age of the Parthians Edited By The Idea of Iran Volume II Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart
3. History of Civilization of Central Asia, Vol - II
4. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia by René Grousset, Naomi Walford
5. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans by John M. Rosenfield
6. The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire and Invasion by Paddy Docherty
Coins and Pictures are from commons.wikimedia.org/
but the Maps are made by me and are subject to copyright.
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[@kraut1982]

The Greeks really mispronounced lot of names like Sandrocottus, but Gondophares 😂 is the worst I have heard so far. Try using the actual Indo Iranian name pronunciation more often like you did at the beginning of the video. Appreciate the efforts you put in the videos, very well made 👍

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you. About the name Gondophares, it was not a distortion. In his coins, the name Gondophares does appear.

[@Narimann]

Western historians mispronounced intentionally to relate themselves. Not the Greeks. If you read yourself names on coins , you will realize that names are more Indian then European

[@EasyRitwik]

Almost all Greek and English pronunciation of geographical as well as historical names are mispronounced, rather corrupted one from the original names as per culture of the land. Some clear examples: There is no word like Jesus in the region where he was born. The language of Jerusalem is Hebrew in which his name is Yishu. David is Dawood, Youn for John... Avoram for Abraham. The name of Syria is Soori...So, are the distortions of Sanskrit names, we know. India is one such word. All histories have been written by Westerners, they wrote as it suited to them, however we had no choice. But it's time we start using original names per their original language.

[@sambitjena9558]

Actually it was gandopharnes means ​nice smell@@JayVardhanSingh

[@arunanand2809]

I am a medical Doctor obsessed with history. Nice to know some one is equally crazy. Compliments. Good job! Please don't stop.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you! Glad you like my videos.

[@arunanand2809]

@@JayVardhanSingh make it less detailed for the common man.

[@hariunnithan9]

Same here!

[@venkataraghotham7586]

The legend of St Thomas/Thoma as recounted in the Biblical traditions also contains fleeting references to Gondophernes. Interesting video

[@rohitadhatrao6877]

thomas is a big scam and fraud

[@SK-sl3qu]

Very nice video, I have not heard about this dynasty earlier

[@Aanchal.379]

Thanku so much,❤very helpful video❤

[@Advaitvaadi]

Great informative session

[@prabeermann7530]

Great work . Thank you for the Information. Keep up the good work. I myself am a History Reader and trying to learn as much as possible.

[@vibhu2327]

Great video

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@arjunlonewolf]

Awesome content 👌 bro. Keep up the good work 💪

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you very much.

[@KamalNayanKamal]

Good, keep going. 👏🤝🏻

[@jyotirmayamohanty5723]

Sir, I really like the depth, clarity and interlinking of different contexts of history.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you and please call me Jay. I am no Sir :-)

[@khusheeranjan7848]

Your videos are always so awesome..

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you so much

[@factaland3158]

Mast video bhaiya 😊

[@anselmdanker9519]

Great presentation on this period.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you.

[@venom6885]

@@JayVardhanSingh indo parthians suren kingdom mix saka yueshy scityians masaget

[@subhajitdatta6370]

I am indebted , grateful to you that you are providing me with such insights into the history of our ancestry -- so interesting , enlightening ......

[@JayVardhanSingh]

thank you for these kind words. It means a lot.

[@raginisingh2251]

Got some new information from this video,I always confused about pallav and pahlav bt now it's clear

[@kunals8022]

Great content Jay, have always been interested in the tumultuous period post the Maurya dynasty with all these central Asian tribes vying for power.If you can talk more about the correlation with the Pallavas that would be great.Keep creating !

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you. About Pallavas, there's no relation between Pallavas and Pahlavas. Indo- Parthian are called Pahalav in Indian Sources. Whereas Pallavas is a dynasty that ruled Southern India.

[@kunals8022]

@@JayVardhanSingh it would be great if you can present on the Pallavas.Apparently ,they did not use Tamil but Sanskrit as their medium.Makes me wonder whether they were an indo Aryan tribe that got pushed down by the Sakas.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thanks for your suggestion. Will soon make a video on the Pallavas and their origin.

[@manjunathahindi5956]

@@kunals8022 Nolamba a minor dynasty, themselves mentioned that they were blood relations of Pallavs. Nolambas are Kannada origin.

[@ALI-ow5rk]

Bravo nice 🌹

[@JayVardhanSingh]

thanks

[@ALI-ow5rk]

@@JayVardhanSingh 🌹🌹

[@indrajitgupta3280]

Great narrative. The last time I read something as engaging as this was in the now-out of print Comprehensive History of India, edited by R. C. Majumdar.

[@Avishwarup]

Nice videos. How about making 1 video with timelines/ chronology showing which empire was when & where ? It’s very confusing as of now. I have seen a lot of your videos, but now I am confused who was when and where. Fascinating history and good videos.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

This might be what you're looking for. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqfJdK2ujK6fibM&ab_channel=JayVardhanSingh

[@madhavgole]

appreciate

[@saurabhlimbad7634]

Hi Jay..Step by step you explained very well. Sorry i was busy in office work so didnt see time to see video when h released it. It is said that first christian apostle St thomas came to india during Gondophares. So he came to north india or south india? Bcz many south indian syrian christian claim ancestory from him

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thanks for the support, I am truly grateful for it. About your question, the text "The act of St. Thomas" mention that after visiting Gondophares's kingdom he went to another kingdom. This another kingdom, according the folklore of the Syrian Christians of Kerela, was Malabar.

[@kalapriyan]

St.Thomas could have taken the popular sea route of that time in a merchant vessel, from Minnagara(Indo Parthian territory)-Barikuchcha (Saka kingdom)-Kodungallur (Chera kingdom)

[@kalapriyan]

@@saurabhlimbad7634 Just an inference based on @Jay's statement and historically established Indian sea routes

[@singaboiz]

So far I watched a few of your posts, which are extremely interesting. One thing I realized the northwest part of the Indian Subcontinent witnessed waves of invasion. Did these different invaders left behind their people or intermingled with the locals to form distinct ethnic groups to these days, particularly there were so many of them were from the Central Asia?

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Hard to say how much intermingling happened as we don't have an extensive Archaeogenetics studies of current population from this region.

[@daryushzorvan769]

Greetings from Iran, I just found your channel and I found your content intriguing, can you just please mention the dates of the events occurring? Much love

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank you!! The period of the Indo-Parthians is roughly 100 BC -100AD.

[@sigmahacker1]

@@sorinvertigo4973 Not Sikhs but Jats. Sikhs are from different tribes believing in one religion. Jats are a tribe who belong to different religions

[@shubampathek9210]

Brother which software did u use to make These sexy animated moving maps ????

[@JayVardhanSingh]

I use aftereffects for that.

[@champabenchandrothiya6793]

I really admire your content and your hardwork!! You have always tried to explore us with hidden history of Indian subcontinent which is truly appreciated Brother 👍👍Keep it up!! And one favour I need from you that is Can you pls suggest something related to my project work for class 12 like what should I add and something which has not that much fame?? Topic is "Bhakti Sufi Movement in Indian subcontinent".

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Thank for these word. About your question. You can write about a sufi saint named Sarmad. He was a jew who became a sufi and was later executed by the orders of Aurangzeb. You can read the Wikipedia article about him. It will give you the basic details, but if you want to know more about him this article will help you. www.jstor.org/stable/3270192

[@champabenchandrothiya6793]

@@JayVardhanSingh Thank you so much bhaiya for your response 🙏😇

[@TheWisdomOfTheAges_PsyM_Revd]

I was told by the Golden Age project that Gondophares is the real Jesus, which would mean that Vindafarnah would be the real Jesus too if Mr. Marriage is correct. Thank you for bringing Vindafarnah up so I could continue my research because it is very rare to find something about "Gondophares" on KZbin.

[@remyahari1922]

I was having this query in mind from long time that why we have 40- 50℅ dna of balochis despite of being from the South. Around 5 th century AD as well as numerous other times there are migrations to South of India from the North for spreading faiths, conquests etc. Because of true well researched content

[@bijayahamal1668]

Balochi DNA 🧬 Came from ancient Neolithic Iranian farmers ancestry. It has nothing to with the current Balochi population but we share the common ancestor.

[@dkokalanov]

Did you notice that someone somehow at some point scrapped out the faces of those people? Have you seen other paintings of those people elsewhere?

[@swanandsahasrabudhe5402]

Have you tried to link your research to genetics, especially, evidences of geneflow of y DNA haplogroups? If not, then please try it. That will make your efforts more trustworthi and fruitful. This is just a suggestion to improvise the historical facts ! But anyway you are doing a very good job.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Gene flow happens when there's a massive migration. In the case of the Indo-Parthians, there was no such migration. They belonged to a ruling class who ruled the north and north-west. But thanks for the suggestion and for the kind words. I hope you like my videos. Thank you.

[@kraut1982]

Is the inscription you showed the actual one or representational? Is it in Brahmi script?

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Yes this is the actual inscription and it was written in Kharosthi.

[@bistrajendra1]

Thanks Jai, Is there a connection between, SHAKA's mentiined here and the Sakya's, ie the tribe of Gutama buddha. As you know Buddha was also reffered to as Sakya Muni.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

No, they are two different groups. The Shakyas were a Kshatriya clan. The Shakas on the other hand were a foreign group.

[@kalapriyan]

I think Pallavas of Kanchi and Khmer of Cambodia were the descendants of Pahalavas (Indo Parthians). Other links to possibly explore are - Early Pallava king Skandavarma could have been the Samskritized version of their forefather Gondaphares (?) - Tamil reference to a Pallava king as Parthibendran could be that Pallavas using Tamilized version of their "homeland," Parthia

[@JayVardhanSingh]

I don't think that is the case. In the different sources which I've referred they are pretty clear on the fact that the Pahlavas of the Indian texts should not be confused with the Pallavas of Southern India. No scholar or historian that I am aware of have argued that the Pallavas were Parthians.

[@kalapriyan]

@@JayVardhanSingh I agree no scholarly study is done in this. All I am doing is trying to do pattern study. How then can you explain Kamboja in kasmir to Kampuchea (Cambodia)

[@kalapriyan]

@@JayVardhanSingh George Cœdès has tried to relate similar origins of Pallavas and Khmers

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Yes, there is a possibility of that and I've also read about it.

[@Khojiutkarsh]

@@JayVardhanSingh the tribal community pathan are the real descendants of parthian ...due to passing of time parthian accepted islam and the tribe name changed to pathan in local language

[@iamDamaaldumeel]

Were the shakas(satraps) fighting both indo-parthians and satavahanas at the same time?

[@muhammedsahal8406]

Hi, it's the Shakas, hailing from central asia establish themselves first, and they were overridden by parthians who has their footing in the present day Iran (they were the one also associated with the legend of st. Thomas and the inception of christianity in India). Then, there comes the Kusana. But it still seems all muddled up, especially the post- mauryan centuries towards 1st millenium AD. It would be really helpful if u could delineate me the chronology, place of origin and ethnic background of these subsequent polities of allochthonous origins to Indian subcontinent.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Bhai, I have already done that in my videos. You can watch the videos on all of them. But first for some background watch this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqfJdK2ujK6fibM I've provided links in this description of this video. So after watching this video go and watch the other videos as well.

[@ranvijaysinghkaliraman5476]

It’s interesting to know the location of sakasthan. Jaats are known to have high concentration of steppe dna. Now the areas highlighted in the map are where majority of the jat/jatts reside. Could it be modern day jats are descendants of shakas? Given they are also a high concentration of steppe dna 🧬

[@Wazir.Akbar.Khan.wardag]

House of karen and other houses were the child tribe of sassanian empire

[@RandomBiologist]

khushans????? do you have a video on them

[@JayVardhanSingh]

yes kzbin.info/aero/PLiFTimUealiPjVSsehBJ2PHPlsdz3oIt5

[@kraut1982]

I don’t know why Gondophares is even referred to as Iranian. He seems pretty Indian to me. As you mentioned his name was Maharaja Guduvhara. Inscription transliteration: [maharaja] rajadiraja tradara devavrada [guduvharasa]

[@JayVardhanSingh]

If the name sounds Indian it doesn't mean that he was Indian. The title of Maharaja was used by the Indo-Greek rulers, the Shakas, and the Kushanas. The Takht-i-Bahi inscription was in Prakrit so it is quite obvious that Prakrit words would be used. There are other evidence particularly in his coins, where Gondophares uses the Greek title of Soter (Saviour). Archaeologists have also found evidence of a Zorastrian temple in Taxila that belongs to the indo-Parthian level. Then we can clearly see that Gondophares's coins first appear in the Sakastan region. So you have to take into account other sources as well, you can't take one inscription, and that too a short one, to find the identity of a historic personality.

[@kraut1982]

How Guduphara / Gondophares came to be associated with the name Vindafarna is something I still do not have enough information about. The other Vindafarna (𐎻𐎡𐎭𐎳𐎼𐎴𐎠) is mentioned in the Behistun Inscription which was the name of one of the seven men who helped Darius(𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 दआरयवऊश) eliminate Bardia (𐎲𐎼𐎮𐎡𐎹 बरीदीइय ) from the throne. But that is from 6th century BC.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

If you don't know about Indo-Parthians, I would suggest you to read about the Indo-Parthians. I have provided refrence to the books in the description. The first two books will give you the answer why I call them Iranians. The answer to your second question is linked to the first one. They were Iranians and they had Iranian titles as well. The sources which I have provided will tell you how the relation which Parthians had with Greek Culture and Iranian Culture.

[@JayVardhanSingh]

And BTW I have not called them "only Iranian dynasty", see the Thumbnail where it is clearly written Indo-Parthian. You can also read the description. The Indo-Parthians were Iranian, who belonged to an Iranian dynasty and for a short period of time they controlled parts of India, hence the term Indo-Parthian. If you read the books, which are mentioned in the description, you will get a clear sense of their Iranian heritage.

[@CurbYourEnthusiasm65]

member of the House of Suren, he belonged to a line of local princes who had governed the Parthian.

[@KamleshPednekar-zt6dp]

Why u are pronunciating the Greek names

[@iamDamaaldumeel]

But why were they called *pahlavas* ?

[@Nat-Con]

Greetings from Pakistan

[@evae4616]

Kaniska???

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

Dude can you talk about keezhadi

[@JayVardhanSingh]

The Keezhadi site is an important site to understand the history of Urbanization in Southern India. I haven't found any Academic papers on that, so I am waiting for these papers. Although there are articles about Keezhadi in newspapers but I will wait for more detailed archaeological reports. I like to cover this topic in great depth, so you will have to wait for it. But I assure you that I will cover this topic. Thanks for the suggestion by the way.

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

@@JayVardhanSingh what about the sangam age??

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Both are related, the Sangam age was the period of Urbanization in Southern India. The findings in Keezhadi could push back the dates of the Sangam age.

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

@@JayVardhanSinghI come to know that the tamil brahmi script which was found in keezhadi was 300 years older than the asokan brahmi script does that mean brahmi script went from South to north

[@JayVardhanSingh]

I don't think that is the case. The carbon dating which has been provided for the Tamil Brahmi inscription is between 6th century BC to 1st century Ce. So you can see that the dating is not exact. Now one can choose the oldest date in the range that has been provided. But there will always be an element of speculation. About your question of Brahmi script and from where it came, I personally feel that we know very little about the Brahmi script and its origin to come to any conclusion. Here is a video, where I talk about Brahmi origin please do watch it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXqwmGyJo6lpq9k

[@saeedmodanlou1874]

These Sakas ( Scythian) had the most impact on Silk road and Iranian culture. They were the top Hellenist of entire Silk road. They are the people that created the sagas of the book that called Shahnameh of Ferdosi. They had an agnostic believe system that called "Aiin e pahlavani" thier culture was based on Democratic merchantalism or Eastern Hellenism. Their language " Pahlavi" was the trade language of entire silk road from Xinxiang to Damascus. they were defeated by Kanishka in Zabul about 130 A.D. Ten years after that defeat they were defeated again and massacred by Kanishka in Sanabad (Mashhad).

[@Soul-co7ki]

What?

[@saeedmodanlou1874]

Do you know the language that is called "Pahlavi"? also called "Dary" and Farsi " Midle Persian" @@Soul-co7ki

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

What is the origin of pallavas? Are pallavas telugu or tamil?

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Their identity is highly disputed. But if you go by the inscription, most of the Pallava inscription were in Tamil.

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

@@JayVardhanSingh what do you think about lost(submerged)city of dwarka is it a myth or real??

[@JayVardhanSingh]

Haven't studied this topic well, so can't comment.

[@kalapriyan]

@@JayVardhanSingh only the later inscriptions were in Tamil. Earlier inscriptions were in Prakrit

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

Sir what are your views on sinaulli excavation in northern india? Does sinaulli excavation prove that there was no indo European migration in India or does it prove out of India theory??

[@JayVardhanSingh]

You don't have to call me Sir please call me Jay :-). About your question, I am going to write an article on Sinauli soon. Currently I am doing some research regarding this very topic. As soon as this article will be online, I will notify you.

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

@@JayVardhanSingh sir is just for respect nothing else 😁

[@greaterbharat4175]

@@Shivathedestroyer04 take a look on Abhijit chavda channel he had made many videos about this topic and include Aryan theory

[@Shivathedestroyer04]

@@greaterbharat4175 no he is not a neutral archeologist,he makes a lot speculations and conspiracy theories which is not expected from an archeologist.

[@joydeeproy1580]

What a refreshing channel. No more BS propaganda from out of India shiv senas.

[@yaqubleis6311]

the Indo Parthian Empire was one of the most powerful and biggest Empire in South Asia in there time there best ruler is Gondophares who beat Indo Greek Empire and Indo-Scythians Empire transforming his kingdom into an powerful Empire there helmet was call the devil face

[@parjanyashukla176]

Greek names sound unnecessarily dramatic or stylised. Probably they were indeed the ancient Americans. 😅 Ganga=> Ganges Kubha => Cophen 😂 Shatadru => Zaradros 😂 Vitasta => Hydaspes 😂

[@Hephtalites]

What about Paratarajas, Alkhans & Pahlavas, Hephtalitus, Rajputs? They were all Persians. Even before that, Kambojas, Porus and Mauryans also were of Persian descendants.

[@kikum3067]

Instead they should renamed as " Pak-Parthians" like Pak-scythians.....instead of Indo-parthians/scythians

[@01Crown]

There was no Pakistan in that time 😂

[@Albetroz1415]

Shakastan sounds like a parody name 😂

[@gravewalker34]

Hahahaha. Vindafarna to gondopheres 😂😂😂

[@babup.mathew7633]

Jai masiha ki. Jesus Christ bless you

[@yourwifesfirsthusband2038]

Indo-parthian we're Baluch

[@kingtokillkkk...4696]

Chup . Baloch kurdish jaati se nikle hai . Or buhui baloch dravidians se . Pehlw bruhui balocho ko maro fir kudko arya bolna

[@ahmadhassan4848]

No they were not Baluch,The Indo-Parthian kingdom was formed by the house of Suren,Suren is a Pashto word Sur meaning Red. The Suri are a Pashtun tribe. The house of Suren were Pashtuns from the Suri family who were land owners in Sakastan which was a region inbetween Drangiana and Arachosia which corresponds to modern day Southwestern Afghanistan Around Nimroz,Helmand and Kandahar. The Capital of the Indo-Parthians was In Kabul Afghanistan.

[@rajakc1514]

Rahul Gandhi can be classified as a member of Indo Iranian dynasty. History repeating itself.

[@srikantamahananda1603]

Like Brahmins are combination of refugee jews Israelites + refugee ancient iranian priests MAGI