Devapriyaji - True History Analaysed

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King Gondophares of Acts of Thomas Tales

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King Gondophares Coins

As Senior points out,[8] this Gudnaphar has usually been identified with the first Gondophares, who has thus been dated after the advent of Christianity, but there is no evidence for this assumption, and Senior's research shows that Gondophares I could be dated even before 1 AD.

Abdagases I was the ruler between 46 to 60ceand his coin proves he was not converted

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/0001_0099/gondopharescoins/gondopharescoins.html

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Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume XII: December.
The Lives of the Saints. 1866.

December 21

St. Thomas, Apostle

See Tillemont, t. 1, p. 355. Ant. Pagi, Critica, vol. 1, p. 421. The false Acts of St. Thomas are rejected by Pope Gelasius, S. Austin, l. contra Adimant. c. 12. Contra Faust. l. 22, c. 9, and l. 1, de Serm. D. in Monte. S. Athan. in Synopsi, S. Epiph. hær. 47, and S. Cyril, cap. 6. This last ascribes these Acts to Thomas, a Manichean. Those in Metaphrastes are taken from them.

First Age.

IT was not unusual for the Jews and other Orientals, when they conversed with other nations, to assume names in the language of those countries of the same import with those which they bore in their own, that the sound might be less uncouth or harsh to such foreigners. For where languages, though there is always some general analogy, differ too widely, as those of the Orientals on one side, and on the other the Sclavonian, do from ours, names in the one appear disagreeable in pronunciation, unless they are softened and brought to some affinity. Thus Tabitha was in Greek called Dorcas, a doe; Cephas, Peter,Thomas and Didymus, Thauma, or Thama, in Chaldaic signifying a twin. St. Thomas was a Jew, and probably a Galilæan of low condition, according to Metaphrastes, a fisherman. He had the happiness to follow Christ, and was made by him an apostle in the year 31. 1If he appears to have been slow in understanding, and unacquainted with secular learning, he made up for this by the candour and simplicity of his heart, and the ardour of his piety and desires. Of this he gave a proof when Jesus was going up to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem in order to raise Lazarus to life, where the priests and Pharisees were contriving his death. The rest of the disciples endeavoured to dissuade him from that journey, saying: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? But St. Thomas said to his fellow-disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him. 2 So ardent was his love of his divine master, even before the descent of the Holy Ghost. When our Lord at his last supper acquainted his disciples that he was about to leave them, but told them for their comfort that he was going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, our apostle, who vehemently desired to follow him, said: Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? 3 Christ presently rectified his misapprehension by returning this short, but satisfactory answer: I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. By which he gave to understand, that by his doctrine and example he had taught men the path of salvation, and that he is the author of the Way that leadeth to life, which he hath both opened and discovered to us; that he is the teacher of that Truth which directs to it; and the giver of that Life of grace here, and of a glorious eternity hereafter, which is to be obtained by walking in this way, and according to this truth.

1

After our Lord had suffered, was risen from the dead, and on the same day had appeared to his disciples, to convince them of the truth of his resurrection, Thomas not being with them on that occasion, refused to believe, upon their report that he was truly risen, presuming that it was only a phantom, or mere apparition, unless he might see the very prints of the nails, and feel the wounds in his hands and side. On that day seven-night, our merciful Lord, with infinite condescension to this apostle’s weakness, presented himself again, when he and his colleagues were assembled together, probably at their devotions; and after the usual salutation of Peace be unto you, he turned to Thomas, and bid him look upon his hands, and put his finger into the hole of his side, and into the prints of the nails. St. Austin and many others doubt not but this apostle did so; though this be not mentioned by the evangelist, and some think, that being convinced, he refrained out of modesty and respect. It is observed by St. Austin and others, that he sinned by obstinacy, presumption, and incredulity; for the resurrection of Christ was no more than Moses and the prophets had long before foretold. Nor was it reasonable in him to reject the testimony of such eye-witnesses: and this stubbornness might have betrayed him into infidelity. However, his refractoriness was not a sin of malice, and the mercy of our Redeemer not only brought him to saving repentance, but raised him to the summit of holy charity and perfect virtue. St. Thomas was no sooner convinced of the reality of the mystery, but, penetrated with compunction, awe, and tender love, he cried out, My Lord and my God. 4Prostrating to him all the powers of his soul, he acknowledged him the only and sovereign Lord of his heart, and the sole object of all his affections. Nothing is more easy than to repeat these words; but to pronounce them with a sincere and perfect disposition, is a privilege reserved to those who are crucified to the world, and in whose affections God only reigns by his pure and perfect love. So long as pride, envy, avarice, sensuality, or other passions challenge to themselves any share in our affections, Christ has not established in them the empire of his grace; and it is only in lying and hypocrisy that we call him our God and our King. Let us at least labour without ceasing, by compunction and holy prayer, to attain to this happiness, that Christ may establish his reign in us, and that we may be able to say with our whole hearts, My Lord and my God. These words St. Thomas spoke with an entire faith, believing him truly God, whose humanity only he saw, confessing him omnipotent, in overcoming death and hell, and acknowledging his omniscience, who knew the doubts and scruples of his heart. The apostle also expressed by them the ardour of his love, which the particle my God clearly indicates. If we love our God and Redeemer, can we cease sweetly, but with awe and trembling, to call him our Lord and our God, and to beg with torrents of tears that he become more and more perfectly the God and King of our hearts? From this apostle’s incredulity Christ mercifully drew the strongest evidence of his resurrection from the confirmation of our faith beyond all cavil or contradiction. Whence St. Gregory the Great says: 5 “By this doubting of Thomas we are more confirmed in our belief, than by the faith of the other apostles.” Some other fathers take notice, that our apostle, by this confession, shows himself a perfect theologian, instructed in the very school of truth, declaring in Christ two distinct natures in one and the same person, his humanity by the word Lord, and his divinity by the word God. Faith in the beginning stood in need of miracles, by which God impressed the stamp of his authority upon his holy revelation. But such are the marks and characteristics of his truth herein, that those who can still stand out against all the light and evidence of the Christian revelation, would bar their heart against all conviction from miracles. There were infidels amidst the dispensation of the most evident miracles as well as now. So true it is, that he who believeth not Moses and the prophets, would not believe the greatest of all miracles, one risen from the dead.

2

After the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. Thomas commissioned Thaddæus to instruct and baptize Abgar, king or toparch of Edessa. This prince, according to the records kept in the church of Edessa, transcribed by Eusebius, 6 and mentioned by St. Ephrem, 7 had written to Christ to invite him into his kingdom, and begging to be cured by him of a distemper with which he was afflicted. Christ, in his answer, told him, that he must accomplish the things for which he was sent, and then return to him who sent him; but that immediately after his ascension he would send one of his disciples to the king, to heal him, and give life to him and all his family. 8 This promise of our Lord was made good by St. Thomas, who, by a special direction of the Holy Ghost, sent Thaddæus, one of the seventy-two disciples, and, according to some, his own brother, to Edessa, who restored the king to his health, baptized him and many others, and planted Christianity in that country. This disciple Thaddæus is distinct from St. Judas the apostle, and is honoured by the Greeks, who tell us that he died at Berytus in Phenicia, on the 21st of August. As for St. Thomas, Origen 9 informs us, that in the distribution made by the twelve, Parthia was particularly assigned to him for his apostolic province, when this nation held the place of the Persian empire, and disputed the sovereignty with the Romans. After preaching with good success in the particular province of Parthia, he did the same in other nations subject to that empire, and over all the East. Sophronius 10 mentions, that by his apostolic labours he established the faith among the Medes, Persians, Carmanians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and other nations in those parts. Modern Greeks mention also the Indians and Ethiopians; 11but these appellations were sometimes given by the ancients to all the eastern nations. The modern Indians and Portuguese tell us, that St. Thomas preached to the Bracmans, and to the Indians beyond the great island Taprobana, which some take to be Ceylon, others Sumatra. They add, that he suffered martyrdom at Meliapor, or St. Thomas’s, in the peninsula on this side the Ganges, on the coast of Coromandel, where his body was discovered, with certain marks that he was slain with lances; and that such was the manner of his death is the tradition of all the eastern countries. Eusebius affirms 12 in general, that the apostles died by martyrdom. Theodoret, 13 and St. Asterius of Amasea, 14 mention St. Thomas among the principal martyrs of the church. St. Nilus says, that he received the crown of martyrdom after SS. Peter and Paul. 15 St. Gaudentius mentions, 16 that he was slain by the infidels, and that the miracles which, were performed through him, show that he still lives with God. The same father and Sophronius testify, that he died at Calamina, in India. This city the modern Indians suppose to be Meliapor; but Tillemont and many others think it was not far from Edessa, and that it is not clear that he ever preached beyond the isle of Taprobana. Beausobre 17thinks he never preached far beyond Parthia and Persia: for the name of King Gundaphore, mentioned by Leucius, in his false Acts, and his copier, Pseudo Abdias, seems corruptly written for the king of Gundschavur, or Gandisapor, which city was rebuilt by Artaxerxes, who founded the second Persian monarchy, and called from his son Schavar, whom the Greeks name Sapor I., who made it has residence. The author of these false Acts gave to the city the name which it bore when he wrote. All the false Acts, and the Greek Menæ agree, that the infidel king was incensed against the apostle for having baptized some persons of his court (some say his wife and son), that he delivered him over to his soldiers, in order to be put to death, and that he was conveyed by them to a neighbouring mountain, and there stabbed with a lance. It is certain that his body was carried to the city of Edessa, where it was honoured in the great church with singular veneration, when St. Chrysostom, Rufin, Socrates, Sozomen, and St. Gregory of Tours 18wrote. St. Chrysostom says, 19 that the sepulchres only of SS. Peter and Paul, John and Thomas, among all the apostles were then known; and it is mentioned to have been at Edessa in the oration on this apostle compiled in the year 402, published among the works of SU Chrysostom. The church of Edessa was certainly most numerous and flourishing in the second, third, and fourth ages. 20

3

Many distant churches in the East ascribe their first foundation to St. Thomas, 21especially that of Meliapor; but many of them probably received the faith only from his disciples. The use of the Chaldean language in the churches, and the dependence on the patriarch of Mosul, which the church of Meliapor, and all the Christians of St. Thomas in the East profess, seem to show, that their first teachers came from the churches of Assyria; in which the patriarchs of Mosul (a city built upon the ruins of Seleucia, erroneously called Babylon) exercise a jurisdiction, and have been for many ages the propagators of the Nestorian heresy, with which they are tinctured. The Portuguese, when they came into the East-Indies, found there the St. Thomas-Christians, it is said, to the number of fifteen thousand families, on the coast of Malabar. For a detail of the Nestorian phrases, and other errors, abuses, and superstitions which prevail among them, see the synod held at Diamper, in the kingdom of Cochin, in 1599, by Alexius de Menezes, archbishop of Goa; in the preface it is shown, that these Christians were drawn into Nestorianism only in the ninth century, by means of certain Nestorian priests who came thither from Armenia and Persia. On two festivals which they keep in honour of St. Thomas, they resort in great crowds to the place of his burial; on Low-Sunday, in honour of his confession of Christ, which gospel is then read, and chiefly on the 1st of July, his principal feast in the churches of the Indies. John III., king of Portugal, ordered the body of St. Thomas to be sought for in an old ruinous chapel which stood over his tomb without the walls of Meliapor. By digging there, in 1523, a very deep vault in form of a chapel was discovered, in which were found the bones of the saint, with a part of the lance with which he was slain, and a vial tinged with his blood. The body of the apostle was put in a chest of porcelain, varnished and adorned with silver. The bones of the prince whom he had baptized, and some others of his disciples, which were discovered in the same vault, were laid in another less precious chest. 22 The Portuguese built a new town about this church, which is called St. Thomas’s, inhabited by Christians of several denominations, and situate near Meliapor, which is inhabited by the Indians. Many of the Christians of St. Thomas have been brought over to the Catholic faith and communion; but many continue in the Nestorian errors, and in obedience to the Nestorian patriarch of Mosul. Since the Dutch have taken or ruined most of the Portuguese settlements on that coast, the Indian king of Golcond has taken possession of the town of St. Thomas; but the Portuguese missionaries continue to attend the Catholics there. The Latins keep the feast of St. Thomas on the 21st of December, the Greeks on the 6th of October, and the Indians on the 1st of July.

4

The apostles were mean and contemptible in the eyes of the world, neither recommended by birth, riches, friends, learning, nor abilities. Yet totally destitute as they were of all those advantages on which men here set so high a price, they were chosen by Christ, made his friends, replenished with his graces and holy charity, and exalted to the dignity of spiritual princes of his kingdom, and judges of the world. Blind and foolish are all men who over-rate and eagerly pursue the goods of this life; or who so enjoy them as to suffer their hearts to be wedded to them. Worldly pleasures, riches, or honours, if they become the object of our affections, are, as it were, fetters which fasten us to the earth, and clog our souls; and it is so hard to enjoy them with perfect indifference, to consider them barely as a dangerous stewardship, and to employ them only for the advancement of virtue in ourselves and others, that many saints thought it safer utterly to renounce them, and others rejoiced to see themselves removed from what it is difficult to possess, and not be entangled by. Are not the maxims of the gospel, and the example of Christ, our king and leader, and of all his saints, sufficient to inspire those who enjoy the advantages of this world with a saving fear, and to make them study the various obligations of their stewardship, and by watchfulness, voluntary humiliations, mortification, compunction, assiduous prayer, and conversing on heavenly things by holy meditation or reading, to stand infinitely upon their guard, lest the love of the world, or the infection of its pride, vanity, or pleasures seize their hearts. Faith must be extremely weak and inactive in us, if we look upon the things of this world in any other light than that in which the gospel places them; if we regard any other goods as truly valuable but those of divine grace and charity, or if we set not ourselves with our whole strength to pursue them by the road of humility, patience, meekness, and piety, in imitation of the saints. The apostles are herein the objects of our veneration, and our guides and models. We honour them as the doctors of the law of Christ, after Him the foundation-stones of his church, the twelve gates and the twelve precious stones of the heavenly Jerusalem, and as the leaders and princes of the saints. They also challenge our gratitude, inasmuch as it is by their ardent charity for our souls, and by their labours and sufferings, that we enjoy the happiness of holy faith, and are ourselves Christians: through them we have received the gospel.

5

Note 1. Matt. x. 3. [back]

Note 2. John xi. 16. [back]

Note 3. John xiv. 5, 6. [back]

Note 4. John xx. 28. [back]

Note 5. S. Greg. Hom. 26, in Evang. [back]

Note 6. Hist. l. 1, c. 13, p. 36, ed. Contabr. [back]

Note 7. S. Ephr. in Testam. t. 2, p. 235, ed. Vatic. anno 1743. [back]

Note 8. This letter of Abgar to Christ, and our Lord’s answer, are rejected as counterfeit by Erasmus, Coster, Melchior, Cano, Bellarmin, Dupin, Rich, Simon, and Natalia Alex. sæc. 1, diss. 3. Among the Protestants, by Rivet, Hornbeck, the younger Spanheim, &c.: but are stiffly maintained to be genuine by Tillemont, t. 1. Reading, (not. in Eus. p. 36,) &c. See Grabe, Spicilegium Patrum, t. 1. p. 1, et 6. James Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, t. 1, c. 18, p. 500. Theoph. Sigf. Bayer, Hist. Edessena et Osroena, l. 3, p. 104. Jos. Simon Assemani, Bibl. Orient. t. 1, pp. 318, 420, 554. Joan. Albert. Fabricius, Codex Apochryphus, N. Test, t. 1, p. 317. Le Quien, Orien. Christ. t. 2, p. 624. Mamachi, Orig. Eccles. l. 2, t. 1, p. 301. [back]

Note 9. Orig. ap. Eus. Hist. l. 3, c. 1, p. 87. [back]

Note 10. Sophron. ap. S. Hier. in Cat. de St. Thomâ. Theodoret de Leg. Serm. 9. [back]

Note 11. Niceph. His. l. 2, c. 40. [back]

Note 12. Eus. in Ps. lxxi. in Collectione Patr. Græc. See Montfaucon, Proleg. ib. c. 9, p. 36. [back]

Note 13. Theodoret, de Curand. Græc. Affect. c. 8. [back]

Note 14. S. Aster. Serm. 10. [back]

Note 15. S. Nilus ap. Phot. cod. 276. [back]

Note 16. S. Gauld. Serm. 17. [back]

Note 17. Hist. de Manichée, l. 2, c. 5, pp. 401, 406. [back]

Note 18. S. Greg. Tour. l. de Glor. Mart. c. 32. [back]

Note 19. S. Chrys. Hom. 26, in Hebr. t. 12, p. 237; Rufin, Hist. Eccl. l. 2, c. 5. [back]

Note 20. See Eus. l. 5, c. 23. Chron. Edessenum ap. Jos. Assem. t. 1, Bibl. Orient. p. 422. Le Quien, Orien. Christ. t. 2, p. 655. [back]

Note 21. The Moguls, and some other nations of Great Tartary, are said to have received the seeds of our holy faith by the preaching of St. Thomas. That it was formerly planted both about Tibet, and in some eastern parts of Great Tartary, towards the borders of China, is unquestionable. The great princes called Prester-John (the last of whom that reigned with great power was conquered and slain by Gingiscan) certainly reigned in Eastern Tartary, in Asia, as Otto Frisingensis, (l. 7, c. 38,) Martinus Polonus, Albericus, Vincent of Beauvais, Sanutus, James of Vitri, Paulus, Venetus, &c. assure us: consequently not in Africa, as Renaudot would make us believe, (Hist. Patr. Alex. pp. 233 et 337,) an author in accuracy and judgment much inferior to Herbelot, though the collection of the latter is not digested, nor did the compiler compare the parts together. Catrou (Hist. Général de l’Emp. du Mogol, t. 1, p. 7,) is willing to believe, that even Tamerlane leaned to Christianity; but Herbelot, (p. 888,) with more reason, thinks, that he favoured chiefly Mahometanism. Some of these Tartars were Catholics; but many were Nestorians, and obeyed the patriarch of Mosul. Nestorianism was distinguished by several privileges under the Mahometans. (See Renaudot, Not. in Vet. Latin. Itiner. in Indian. n. 319. Assemani, Bibl. Orient. t. 3, pp. 108, 215, et vol. 4, p. 94.) The Eutychians were not less encouraged by the same masters. (See Renaud. Hist. Patr. Alex. p. 168. Jos. Assemani, t. 3, &c. and among the Protestants, Mosheim, Hist. Eccl. Tartar, &c.) From the Tartars it seems, that the Chinese had formerly some acquaintance with our holy religion, of which the late missionaries found certain monuments. See Mamachi, t. 2, p. 373. [back]

Note 22. See Maffei, Indic. l. 2, p. 85, and Lafitau, Hist. des Conquestes des Portuguais dans le Nouveau Monde, l. 11, t. 1, p. 327, Univ. History, vol. 20, c. 31, p. 106. [back]

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December 21.—ST. THOMAS, Apostle.

ST. THOMAS was one of the fishermen on the Lake of A Galilee whom Our Lord called to be His apostles. By nature slow to believe, too apt to see difficulties, and to look at the dark side of things, he had withal a most sympathetic, loving, and courageous heart. Once when Jesus spoke of the mansions in His Father's house, St. Thomas, in his simplicity, asked: "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?" When Jesus turned to go toward Bethany to the grave of Lazarus, the desponding apostle at once feared the worst for his beloved Lord, yet cried out bravely to the rest: "Let us also go and die with Him" After the Resurrection, incredulity again prevailed, and whilst the wounds of the crucifixion were imprinted vividly on his affectionate mind, he would not credit the report that Christ had indeed risen. But at the actual sight of the pierced hands and side, and the gentle rebuke of his Saviour, unbelief was gone forever; and his faith and ours has ever triumphed in the joyous utterance into which he broke: "My Lord and my God!"

Reflection.—Cast away all disquieting doubts, and learn to triumph over old weaknesses as St. Thomas did, who

p. 384

[paragraph continues]"by his ignorance hath instructed the ignorant, and by, his incredulity hath served for the faith of all ages."

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Holy see’s Publisher “Burn Oates & Wash BouRne Ltd” has Published Multi Volume “Butler’s Lives of Saints” Edited by Rev.Alban Butler (with Nihil Obstat & Imprimatur from Two Archbishop for its Doctrinal Acceptance) says-

“.. the Syrian Greek who was probably the fabricator of the Storywould have been able to learn from Traders and Travelers such details as the name Gondophorus with Tropical details.”. Pages 213-218, in Volume December.

The Authors have gone through all the major works of the claims of St.Thomas Indian visit claims and one of the highly acclaimed work of ‘The Early Spread of Christianity in India’- Alfred Mingana connected this with Apostle Thomas visit claims and clearly affirms-

“It is likely enough that the Malabar Coast was Evangelized from Edessa at a Later date, and in the course of time a confused tradition connected this with Apostle Thomas himself.”

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What Chruch says about ACTA THOMAE?- in St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia, ed. George Menachery in which Article -The Acts of Thomas- by Rev.Anthony Poathoor.

– “The Acts of Thomas in its present form contains many Doctrinal Errors. Some Historians conclude that The Acts of Thomas is the work of an unknown heretic who made use of the Authority to support his own Theological Opinions. Some Other Authors have suggested that the present work is the corrupted form of an older Orthodox version. In the view of former, We can hardly call the text interpolated, because the additions increase nearly Ten-fold to the Original Text. There is no doubt that the present Acts of Thomas is unacceptable from the Doctrinal point of View”. Page- 24

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The Ninth Act: of the Wife of Charisius.

87 And when the apostle had said these things in the hearing of all the multitude, they trode and pressed upon one another: and the wife of Charisius the king’s kinsman Ieapt out of her chair and cast herself on the earth before the apostle, and caught his feet and besought and said: O disciple of the living God, Thou Art Come Into A Desert Country, For We Live In The Desert;

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All this should make clear that the view, which still persists in some circles that Jesus’s aim was to found a Church, different from Synagogue is quiet improbable. The Gospels themselves bear little trace of such a view…. Thus attempts to picture Jesus as breaking away Judaism, of Conceiving a religion in which Jews and Gentiles stood alike, equal in the sight of God, would appear to be in fragment contradictin to Probability.

page 144-45. Christian Beginnings Part- 2 by Morton Scott Enslin

“The office of Messiahship with which Jesus believed himself to be invested, marked him out for a distinctly national role: and accordingly we find him more or less confining his preaching and healing ministry and that of his disciples to Jewish territory, and feeling hesitant when on one occasion he was asked to heal a Gentile girl. Jesus, obvious veneration for Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Scriptures indicates the special place which he accorded to Israel in his thinking: and several features of his teaching illustrate the same attitude. Thus, in calling his hearers ‘brothers’ of e another (i.e., fellow-Jews) and frequently contrasting their ways with those of the Gentiles, in defending his cure of a woman on the Sabbath with the, pla that she was a daughter of Abraham’ and befriending the tax-collector Zacchaeus because he too is a son of Abraham, and in fixing the number of his special disciples at twelve to, match the number of the tribes of Israel-in all this Jesus shows how strongly Jewish a stamp he wished to impress upon his mission.” C.J. Cadoux: The Life of Jesus, p. 80-81

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Eusebius of Caesarea quotes Origen (died mid-3rd century) as having stated that Thomas was the apostle to the Parthians, but Thomas is better known as the missionary to India through the Acts of Thomas, perhaps written as late as c. 200. In Edessa, where his remains were venerated, the poet Saint Ephrem (died 373) wrote a hymn in which the Devil cries

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INDO-PARTHIAN DYNASTY

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-parthian-dynasty-1

INDO-PARTHIAN DYNASTY, rulers over a large part of northwestern India from Seistan (portions of the present-day border provinces of that name of Iran and of Afghanistan) to Sindh on the Indus river at the beginning of the 1st century C.E. They came after the Indo-Greeks and the Indo-Scythians and were, in turn, defeated by the Kushans in the second half of the 1st. century C.E. The main difficulty in studying this period is the lack of firm sources. Very few texts mention the Indo-Parthians, and inscriptions do not refer directly to them. Furthermore, archeological sites have yielded few pieces of information, some of which are controversial. Coins thus remain the main source of information for reconstructing Indo-Parthian history. Five distinct regions can be distinguished by their coin types, the chronology of which will be considered here from west to east. (See Table 1.

Seistan. Indo-Parthian issues in Seistan (Drangiana, q.v.) and in the Herat region (Areia; see HERAT ii.) are directly inspired by silver Parthian drachms, as far as types and weight standard are concerned. They depict on the obverse the bust of the king, turned to left, sometimes wearing a tiara, and on the reverse the king seated on a low chair, generally holding a bow, sometimes shown as being crowned by a Nike standing to left (see also INVESTITURE ii.). The surrounding Greek legend is shaped into a square. These are silver drachms, weighing ca. 3.7 g, with a good percentage of silver.

Gondophares (q.v.), founder of the Indo-Parthian dynasty, is depicted in left profile with a simple diadem having a frontal ornament (obverse) and being crowned by a Nike (reverse; Senior, type 210; Plate I, coin a). He was probably followed by Sases, whose issues are quite rare (five specimens are known so far). His portrait and Greek legend are very similar to those of Gondophares; but on the obverse he wears a tiara, and on the reverse he is called Gondophares; but the Greek legend ends with SAH, except for one coin on which a tiny S can be seen between A and H (Senior, type 240). Thus, the reading must be SASH /sasē/.

Sases was followed by Orthagnes, depicted with a simple tiara (Senior, type 256), and by Ubouzanes, known before as Otannes (Alram, 1983, pp. 69-74; Senior, type 259; coin f). In his Greek legend, Ubouzanes specifies he is Orthagnes’ son.

For the following rulers, from Sanabares onwards, a Pahlavi legend is added on the obverse, and the Nike crowning the king on the reverse is abandoned. Sanabares struck coins in Seistan (Senior, types 261-62) and also bronze drachms of poor style, which perhaps were issued in Iran (Senior, type 266). There is a possibility that there were two Sanabares. Sanabares I, Indo-Parthian, would have struck coins in Seistan and in Arachosia (coin h), while Sanabares II, a Parthian, issued coins in Marv (Alram, 1986, p. 260, n. 930; Chiesa, 1982; coin c). These are to be differentiated from the issues of Abdagases I, who struck coins in northern Arachosia, Gandhara, and Jammu. The depiction of Abdagases II is very similar to that of Pacores, the last Indo-Parthian king in Seistan; the Greek legend copies the well-known, stereotyped Parthian Greek legend. It also seems that Abdagases II struck gold coins, with a specific iconography and Pahlavi legends (Grenet and Bopearachchi, 1996, pp. 219-31; 1999, pp. 73-82); these were prestige issues with poor-quality engraving. Lastly, Pacores issued silver drachms very similar to those of Abdagases II, and a portrait that clearly reminds one of his own Arachosian issues. On the reverse is an imitation of the Parthian monogram (Figure 1; see, for Ecbatana/Hamadān, Senior, type 268).

Arachosia. In Arachosia, the coins issued by Indo-Parthian kings are bronze tetradrachms (9.40 g), with the bust of the king (obverse) and a Nike holding a crown (reverse). On the obverse, the legend is in Greek, on the reverse, in Kharoṣṭhī script. Arachosian coins repeat types inaugurated in this area by the Indo-Greeks. Two mints can be distinguished, one in southern Arachosia, in the Kandahār area, one in northern Arachosia, in the Begrām (q.v.) region (coin d).

In Kandahār, seven kings struck coins, often in a poor style; they are depicted on the obverse turned to left. Tetradrachms of Gondophares represent the king with a diadem and a frontal ornament, as in Seistan (Senior, type 212). He was probably followed by Sarpedones, recognizable thanks to his goatee beard (Senior, type 255; coin g). On the obverse, to the left of the king’s bust in left profile, stands a symbolic device or tamga specific to the Indo-Parthian dynasty (Figure 2). The ruler Orthagnes also insisted on his belonging to the Gondophares dynasty by using Gondophares’ name before his own name in the slightly corrupt Greek legend (Senior, type 257). The Kharoṣṭhī legend is less clear, ending with gada or gadana; the meaning of that word has not yet been deciphered. Orthagnes introduced on his coins a large number of mintmark combinations.

Very few coins of his successor, Sases, are known, and those mainly due to hoards (Senior, type 244; coins b, e). The absence of a frontal ornament and the name Sases following the Gondophares title certify the identification of Gondophares-Sases. Therefore the name “Gondophares,” as used by Sases and Orthagnes in Arachosia and by Ubouzanes, Sarpedones, and Sases in Jammu certainly served as a dynastic title; similarly, the tamga was a dynastic mintmark (Cribb, 1985, p. 295; MacDowall, 1991, p. 246).

Among the three last Indo-Parthian kings in Arachosia whose names are known, Sanabares issues are clearly identified, since the king is depicted with a tiara on the obverse and the legend is written in Greek on both obverse and reverse (Senior, type 265). A single coin of Abdagases II is known so far, found in a hoard. The depiction of the king (obverse) is very similar to that of Pacores; and the Kharoṣṭhī akṣaras, with curved lines under the syllabic signs, are the same as on Pacores issues (Cribb, 1985, fig. 36; Senior, type 235). Pacores tetradrachms, by contrast, are very numerous. They provide a chronology for this king, since a good number of them are overstruck on coins of a Kushan King, Soter Megas (Sims-Williams and Cribb, 1995-96, fig. 12, type 5d and e). Pacores was thus contemporary with Soter Megas-Vima Tak[tu] or followed him, probably in the beginning of the 2nd century C.E.

Pacores, Sanabares, and Abdagases coins were subsequently imitated by unnamed kings, in a very poor style and struck on irregular dies (Senior, types 271-73, 275-77; coins i, j). On the obverse a Pahlavi legend was added, and on the reverse the Pacores Kharoṣṭhī legend was progressively abandoned for a Pahlavi legend.

In northern Arachosia only two kings, Gondophares (Senior, type 213) and Abdagases I (Senior, 2001 type 224), struck coins, the latter in a style cruder than that of Gondophares; Gondophares’ issues are the more numerous. Some of these are overstruck on Hermaeus imitations and are also overstruck by the satrap Zeionises and by the early Kushan ruler, Kujula Kadphises. From these it can be inferred that by ca. 50 C.E. the Kushans put an end to the Indo-Parthian power in northern Arachosia.

Gandhara and Taxila. Traces of Indo-Parthian kings in Gandhara and Taxila area are more numerous than elsewhere. In this region they imitated Indo-Scythian bronze coins, with a king mounted on horseback on the obverse and a Greek deity (Zeus or Athena) on the reverse. It seems that there were two mints, one in Gandhara and another one in Taxila.

In these two mints, three kings struck coins: Gondophares, Abdagases, and Sases. In Gandhara, Gondophares reigned first (Senior, types 216-20; coin k). Apparently Abdagases, who specifies he is Gondophares’ nephew (Senior, types 226-230; coin l), initially ruled at the same time as Gondophares, as his title (“king,” and not “great king of kings”) and coin weight suggest. He gradually assumed higher titles and later was followed by Sases (Senior, types 241-42). Sases must have been defeated by the Kushans, probably by Soter Megas or Kujula Kadphises. In the very same area, perhaps during Abdagases’ reign, some local rulers governed under the Indo-Parthian power in northern Gandhara. In the Bajaur area, some fifteen inscriptions (Falk, 1998, pp. 87-108), a few archeological remains, and bronze coins attest the presence of a strategos and local princes of the Apracarāja family (Senior, types 177-85). They imitated the Greek legend and the types of the Indo-Scythian Azes (q.v.), but coin weight, mintmarks, and hoard evidence (Malakand hoard, Rajjar hoard) prove they belong to the Indo-Parthian period.

The Sirkap city site in Taxila, contrary to what J. Marshall (1951, p. 59) thought, was not the place visited by Apollonius of Tyana (in Philostratus, Vita Apollonii), who thus cannot be used to date Gondophares (Bernard, 1996, pp. 505-19). Furthermore, all the coins attributed to Gondophares by J. Marshall with Zeus Nikephorus on the reverse were very probably struck by Sases (Senior, type 243) or even Abdagases (Senior, type 231). Kujula Kadphises and Soter Megas coins found in Taxila and in the Swat valley suggest that Sases was defeated by one of these kings, as an overstrike of Soter Megas over Sases indicate (N. Sims-Williams and J. Cribb, 1995-96, pp. 119-20).

Hoard evidence indicates that in Gandhara Indo-Parthians or their contemporary local rulers imitated Azes drachms and tetradrachms in a very debased and crude style (Senior, types 105, 138-39, 175).

Jammu. In Jammu, on the Indo-Pakistan border, the Indo-Parthian coinage closely imitates that of the early 1st-century C.E. Indo-Scythian satrap, Rajuvula. Small debased drachms of a very poor style, they depict the head of the king (obverse) and Athena Alkidemos (reverse). They all weigh around 2.50 g. The succession is very clearly indicated by hoards (Cribb, 1985, pp. 282-300): the satrap Rajuvula, who is also known in Mathura (Senior, types 151-52), defeated the last Indo-Greek kings, Strato II and his son (Bopearachchi, 1991, pp. 125-32 and series Strato II, 1-2 and Strato II and his son, 6). He was expelled by Gondophares (Senior, type 222) and his followers. It is quite difficult to reconstruct a firm sequence for the Indo-Parthian kings. Five kings are known in this region, some of whom must have had a short reign. Few coins of Abdagases (Senior, type 232), Sarpedones (coin n), and Ubouzanes (Senior, types 254, 260; coin m) have been found; Sases, who is attested in a wider area, seems to have ruled longer, as the number of his coins and the variety of mintmark combinations suggest (Senior, type 246). He was followed by the Kushans, probably by Soter Megas.

Sindh. Few coins struck in Sindh, the lower Indus valley, are known, and all were found in Taxila, but they still represent a clue to the reconstruction of Indo-Parthian chronology. They are silver drachms, bearing the bust of the king wearing a tiara, with a Greek legend (obverse) and a Nike holding a crown and a Kharoṣṭhī legend (reverse). They might weigh around 2.35 g, but their exact weight was not given in publication (Marshall, 1951, p. 160). Three Indo-Parthian kings struck coins in Sindh. Sarpedones, recognizable thanks to his goatee beard (Marshall, 1951, coins nos. 211, 213-16) reigned first. Satavastres (Marshall, 1951, coins nos. 212, 218-21) is known only through six coins. Finally, Sases (Marshall, 1951, coins nos. 201-8, 210) declares he is nephew of “Aspa,” which has been interpreted as a short name for the 1st-century C.E. strategos in Gandhara, Aspavarman. These Indo-Parthian coin types were subsequently imitated by the Kushan Kudjula Kadphises (Cribb, 1992, pp. 131-45).

More importantly for chronology, Satavastres issues were overstruck by a Western Satrap, Nahapana; and Nahapana issues also were overstruck by Satavastres. Later, Sases as well overstruck Nahapana’s coins (Cribb, 1992, pp. 131-35, fig. 17-18 and 20). Nahapana, named in the Periplus Maris Erythraei (ed. Schoff, 41.14.1-4, 8-9) as Mambanos, is known thanks to his coins, inscriptions, and to Greek texts (Bhandare, 1999, pp. 240-69). His date corresponds to the first Kushan invasion, and therefore Satavastres, his exact contemporary, and Sases, who came a little later, have to be placed during the third quarter of the 1st century A.D. This corroborates the evidence given by the Indo-Parthian coinage in other areas.

Plate I. Examples of the Indo-Parthian coin series.

Bibliography:

M. Alram, Iranisches Personennamenbuch. Band IV, Nomina propria Iranica in Nummis, Vienna, 1986.

P. Bernard, “L’Aornos bactrien et l’Aornos indien. Philostrate et Taxila: géographie, mythe et réalité,” TOPOI 6/2, 1996, pp. 475-530.

S. Bhandare, Historical Analysis of the Satavahana Era—A Study of Coin, unpublished Ph.D. diss., Bombay, 1999.

O. Bopearachchi, Catalogue raisonné des monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques du Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, 1991.

F. Chiesa, “Osservazione sulla monetazione Indo-Partica. Sanabares I e Sanabares II incertezze ed ipotesi,” in Festschrtift Herbert A. Cahn zum 70. Geburtstag, Munich, 1982, pp. 15-22.

J. Cribb, “New Evidence of Indo-Parthian Political History,” in Coin Hoards VII, London, 1985, pp. 282-300.

Idem, “Numismatic Evidence for the Date of the ‘Periplus’,” in D. W. MacDowall and S. Garg, eds., Indian Numismatics, History, Art and Culture. Essays in the Honour of Dr. P.L. Gupta, Delhi, 1992, I, pp. 131-45.

F. Grenet and O. Bopearachchi, “Une monnaie en or du souverain indo-parthe Abdagasès II,” Studia Iranica 25, 1996, pp. 219-31.

Idem, “Une nouvelle monnaie en or d’Abdagasès II,” Studia Iranica 28, 1999, pp. 73-82.

D. W. MacDowall, “The Interrelation between Indo-Parthian and Kushan Chronology,” in Histoire et Cultes de l’Asie Centrale préislamique, Paris, 1991, pp. 243-50.

J. Marshall, Taxila, an account of the archaeological excavations carried out at Taxila on the orders of the Government of India between the years 1913-1934, Cambridge, 1951.

M. Mitchiner, Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage, 9 vols., London, 1975-76.

R. C. Senior, A Catalogue of Indo-Scythian Coins, Glastonbury, 2001.

W. H. Schoff, tr., The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century, 2nd ed., New York, 1912.

N. Sims-Williams and J. Cribb, “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4, 1995-96, pp. 75-142.

(Christine Fröhlich)

Originally Published: December 15, 2004

Last Updated: March 29, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XIII, Fasc. 1, pp. 100-103

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Preceded by Huvishka	Kushan Ruler	Succeeded by Kanishka II

Territories/ dates	Western India	Western Pakistan Balochistan	Paropamisadae Arachosia	Bajaur	Gandhara	Western Punjab	Eastern Punjab	Mathura
Kushan Empire Emperors, territories and chronology
				INDO-SCYTHIAN KINGDOM			INDO-GREEK KINGDOM	Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps
25 BCE – 10 CE				Indo-Scythian dynasty of the APRACHARAJAS Vijayamitra (ruled 12 BCE - 15 CE)^[1]	Liaka Kusulaka Patika Kusulaka Zeionises	Kharahostes (ruled 10 BCE– 10 CE)^[2] Mujatria	Strato II and Strato III	Hagana
10-20CE		INDO-PARTHIAN KINGDOM Gondophares		Indravasu	INDO-PARTHIAN KINGDOM Gondophares		Rajuvula
20-30 CE			Ubouzanes Pakores	Vispavarma (ruled c.0-20 CE)^[3]	Sarpedones		Bhadayasa	Sodasa
30-40 CE			KUSHAN EMPIRE Kujula Kadphises	Indravarma	Abdagases		...	...
40-45 CE				Aspavarma	Gadana		...	...
45-50 CE				Sasan	Sases		...	...
50-75 CE							...	...
75-100 CE	Indo-Scythian dynasty of the WESTERN SATRAPS Chastana		Vima Takto				...	...
100-120 CE	Abhiraka		Vima Kadphises				...	...
120 CE	Bhumaka Nahapana	PARATARAJAS Yolamira	Kanishka I				Great Satrap Kharapallana and Satrap Vanaspara for Kanishka I
130-230 CE	Jayadaman Rudradaman I Damajadasri I Jivadaman Rudrasimha I Isvaradatta Rudrasimha I Jivadaman Rudrasena I	Bagamira Arjuna Hvaramira Mirahvara	Vāsishka (c. 140 – c. 160) Huvishka (c. 160 – c. 190) Vasudeva I (c. 190 – to at least 230)
230-280 CE	Samghadaman Damasena Damajadasri II Viradaman Yasodaman I Vijayasena Damajadasri III Rudrasena II Visvasimha	Miratakhma Kozana Bhimarjuna Koziya Datarvharna Datarvharna	INDO-SASANIANS Ardashir I, Sassanid king and "Kushanshah" (c. 230 – 250) Peroz I, "Kushanshah" (c. 250 – 265) Hormizd I, "Kushanshah" (c. 265 – 295)			Kanishka II (c. 230 – 240) Vashishka (c. 240 – 250) Kanishka III (c. 250 – 275)
280-300	Bhratadarman	Datayola II	Hormizd II, "Kushanshah" (c. 295 – 300)			Vasudeva II (c. 275 – 310)
300-320 CE	Visvasena Rudrasimha II Jivadaman		Peroz II, "Kushanshah" (c. 300 – 325)			Vasudeva III Vasudeva IV Vasudeva V Chhu (c. 310? – 325)
320-388 CE	Yasodaman II Rudradaman II Rudrasena III Simhasena Rudrasena IV		Shapur II Sassanid king and "Kushanshah" (c. 325) Varhran I, Varhran II, Varhran III "Kushanshahs" (c. 325 – 350) Peroz III "Kushanshah" (c. 350 –360) HEPHTHALITE/ HUNAS invasions			Shaka I (c. 325 – 345) Kipunada (c. 345 – 375)		GUPTA EMPIRE Chandragupta I Samudragupta
388-396 CE	Rudrasimha III		Chandragupta II

^ From the dated inscription on the Rukhana reliquary
^ An Inscribed Silver Buddhist Reliquary of the Time of King Kharaosta and Prince Indravarman, Richard Salomon, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1996), pp. 442 [1]
^ A Kharosthī Reliquary Inscription of the Time of the Apraca Prince Visnuvarma, by Richard Salomon, South Asian Studies 11 1995, Pages 27-32, Published online: 09 Aug 2010 [2]

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Gondophares (20 BCE– 1 CE)

Sarpedones (1 CE – 20 CE)
Abdagases (mid 1st c. CE)
Gadana (20 CE–30 CE)
Sases (mid-1st c. CE)
Ubouzanes, (late 1st c. CE)
Pacores (100-135 CE)
Sanabares (135-160 CE)