Prasiane
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Prasiane was an island mentioned by Pliny. It was a Greek province in India. It was North of Abiria and East of the main Indus channel. (Pliny, Natural history, VI 71)
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
Origin
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[1] mentions The Indus.... Of two islands, which it forms in its course, the one, which is known as Prasiane, is of very considerable size; the other, which is smaller, is called Patale.
Jat History
Bhim Singh Dahiya[2] writes.... Now, we have mentioned that the Mauryas were Mor Jats, who along with others, came from Northern Iran, after the empire of Manda Jats (the so-called Median empire) was supplanted by Cyrus the Great in the middle of sixth century B.C. We have also stated that the various clans of the Jats came and settled in the Indus area, during the wars with Cyrus and Darius the Great. Megasthenes duly supplies us with the topography of country called Prasian in the Indus delta, to which historians have not paid sufficient attention. Describing Indus and its tributaries, Frag. LVI, says, "It forms an extremely large island, which is called Prasiane, and smaller one, called Patale".113
Now everyone knows that Patala/Patale was in the Indus delta, and the Greek historians supply us the information that a Mor/Maurya (Moeros) was the ruling prince of Patala in 326 B.C. Yule identifies the Prasiane with the area enclosed by the Nara from above Rohri to Hyderabad, and the delta of Indus.114 Apparently Patala and Prasiane were adjoining. Now if Mor Jats were ruling at Patala, then is it too much to say that at Prasiane, they had their main stronghold? Is this Prasiane, a new home for the Mor clan, not the cause of their being termed Prasii by Megasthenes? In our view, this is exactly the position. They came from Persia (Pars in Iranian) and so their new home was called Prasiane and they were called Prasii-an exact parallel to the Parsis of today. We must note that the modern Parsis have retained their designation even after a lapse of 1,200 years. So there is nothing improbable if the Mauryas were called "Parsi" even after about 200 years of their coming into India. And now we must mention again that Curtius (IX/2/3) has called them Pharrasii (or Parsi of today), which goes to prove our point. So the kingdom of Chandragupta was called Prasii, after the Indus delta Mor stronghold of Prasiane, so called because they had come from Pars (Persia).
113. ibid, p.141, ABORI(1937) Vol. XVIII, pt. &. II p. 158-165.
114. IA, Vol. V, p. 330.