Amanda
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Amanda is an ancient country mentioned by Greek historians and identified with the Salt Range in Punjab, Pakistan.
Contents
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Manda = Amanda = Amenda (Pliny.vi.23); Amanda Nagaur is a village in Marwar Mundwa tehsil of Nagaur district of Rajasthan.
Jat Places Namesake
- Amanda Nagaur = Amanda = Amenda (Pliny.vi.23)
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[1] mentions The Indus....the general name of the district being Amenda: there are four nations here, the Peucolaitæ,12 the Arsagalitæ, the Geretæ, and the Assoï.
12 Parisot supposes that these were the inhabitants of the district which now bears the name of Pekheli.
Jat clans mentioned by Megasthenes
Megasthenes also described India's caste system and a number of clans out of these some have been identified with Jat clans by the Jat historians. Megasthenes has mentioned a large number of Jat clans. It seems that the Greeks added 'i' to names which had an 'i' ending. Identified probable Jat clans have been provided with active link within brackets. (See Jat clans mentioned by Megasthenes)
| Jat clans as described by Megasthenes | ||||||||||||
| Location | Jat clans | Information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23. Then succeeds a level tract of country known by the general name of Amanda (Manda)
|
The Peucolaitae (Panghal), Arsagalitae (Asiagh), Geretae (Jarta/Getae), Asoi (Asiagh)
|
Whereof the tribes are four in number | ||||||||||
In Mahavansa
Mahavansa/Chapter 35 tells ....After Maha Dathika 's death Amanda Gamani, his son, reigned nine years and eight months. ....Amanda Gamani's younger brother, the prince Kanirajanu Tissa, reigned three years in the city, when he had slain his brother. He decided the lawsuit concerning the uposatha-house in the (vihara) named after the cetiya, but sixty bhikkhus who were involved in the crime of high treason did the king order to be taken captive, with all that was theirs, upon the Cetiyapabbata, and he commanded these evildoers to be flung into the caves called Kanira.
History
Ptolemy[2] mentions the Zaratoi living in Jalandhar, where Pliny [3]describes Geratae in the country of Amanda, identified with the Salt range in Punjab. As the name suggests Zaratoi and Geretae are undoubtedly the Jartas of the Indian text[4], who defeated the Hunas in India at a later date. These people are also identified with the Jats. If this identity is correct, as is firmly believed by some historians of the Jats, it does prove the presence of Jats in Punjab in the contemporary period of above cited Greek and Roman historians, and also of the Scythic invaders. [5]
References
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 23
- ↑ Ancient India as described by Ptolemy, ed. by McCrindle by Surendra Nath Majumdar Sastri, Calcutta. 1927, p. 288
- ↑ R C Majumdar:The Classical Accounts of India,p.345
- ↑ Chandragomin-'Ajay Jarto Hunan'. Dwivedi,Loc.cit., p. 392 fn 91
- ↑ Hukum Singh Pawar (Pauria): The Jats - Their Origin, Antiquity and Migration (1993), Publisher - Manthan Publications Rohtak, ISBN-8185235-22-8, p. 180
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