Asmagi
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Asmagi were an ancient mountain race inhabiting region between the Indus and the Yamuna as mentioned by Pliny and Megasthenes .
Variants
Origin
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Sange = Asange = Asmagi (Pliny.vi.23)
- Sangwa = Asange = Asmagi (Pliny.vi.23)
- Samachi = Asmagi (Pliny.vi.23)
History
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[1] mentions The Indus....The mountain races between the Indus and the Jomanes are the Cesi,6 the Cetriboni, who dwell in the woods, and after them the Megallæ, whose king possesses five hundred elephants, and an army of horse and foot, the numbers of which are unknown; then the Chrysei, the Parasangæ, and the Asmagi,7 whose territory is infested by wild tigers; these people keep in arms thirty thousand foot, three hundred elephants, and eight hundred horse. They are bounded by the river Indus, and encircled by a range of mountains and deserts for a distance of six hundred and twenty-five miles.
6 Ansart suggests that the Cesi may be the same race as the modern Sikhs.
7 Perhaps the people of modern Ajmere.
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.
| Jat clans as described by Megasthenes | ||||||||||||
| Location | Jat clans | Information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9. The hill-tribes between the Indus and the Iomanes | The Cesi (Kes, Khasa); the Cetriboni (Khatri), the Megallae (Mukul, Magloda ), the Chrysei (Karesia, Khar, Karusha ), the Parasangae (Paras , Paraswal), and the Asange (Ashvigam, Sange, Sangwa, Samachi ) | The Megallae , whose king is master of five hundred elephants and an army of horse and foot of unknown strength;The force under arms consists of 30,000 foot, 300 elephants, and 800 horse the Asange, where tigers abound, noted for their ferocity | ||||||||||