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{{Short description|People of ancient Gandhara}}
{{About|the people
'''Asvakas''' ([[Sanskrit language|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 [[Indo-Aryan people|Indo-Aryan]] people from [[Gandhara]] 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]]'', [[
== Ethnology ==
In the [[Major Rock Edicts]] of [[Ashoka]], Asvakas are described as [[Gandhari people|Gandhāras]] (Gandharians)<ref name=Iranica>{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/aspasii-COM_5974|lang=en|title=Aspasii|first=C. J.|last=Brunner|authorlink=|year=2020|doi=10.1163/2330-4804_eiro_com_5974}}</ref><ref name=Tarn/> who are recorded separately from [[Kambojas]].<ref>{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/kamboja-COM_337524?lang=en|title=Kamboja|first=Rüdiger|last=Schmitt|authorlink=Rüdiger Schmitt|year=2021}}</ref> Ancient Greek historians who documented the exploits of [[Alexander the Great]] refer to the Aspasioi and Assakenoi (Ἀσσακηνοί) tribes among his opponents. The historian [[Ramesh Chandra Majumdar|R. C. Majumdar]]
== 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 [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|campaign in India]], which began in 327 BCE, but they eventually had to surrender after losses at places such as [[Barikot|Beira]], [[Massaga (ancient city)|Massaga]] and [[Udegram|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> [[Cleophis|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>
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*{{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}}
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