1 The origin of the
2 dite.
3 The original settle-
4 ments of Getes, or Jats,
5 in tho Panjab.
6 The Takka tribe ort
7 ginally a Scythian.
8 The White Huns.
9 56 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
10 of the seventh century p.c. Vast hosts of human savages, descending
11 from the heights of the Caucasus and its neighbourhood, spread over
12 the countries of Upper Asia, including the regions of the Panjab bordering
13 onthe Indus. These northern tyrants were, however, repulsed with great
14 slaughter by Cyaxares. A considerable portion of the routed army of the
15 Scythians settled in the Panjab, and a race of them, called Nomardy, inhabit-
16 ed the country on the west bank of the Indus. They are described as a
17 nomadic tribe, liying in wooden houses, after the old Scythian ‘fashion,
18 and settling where they found sufficient pasturage. A portion of these
19 settlers, the descendants of Massagetae, were called the Getes, from whom
20 sprung the modern Jéts. These Scythian barbarians were known in the
21 Panjab by the appellation of Huns; and the violent contests between the
22 Indians and the Huns are not only testified to by Sanskrit writers, but
23 are also proved by inscriptions on pillars in a most ancient Sanskrit
24 dialect. The following inscription, deciphered by Mr. Wilkins, occurs on a
25 pillar near Buddal :—
26 “Trusting in his wisdom, the king of Gaur (Bengal) for a long time enjoyed the
27 countries of the eradicated race of Utkal (Orissa), of the Huns of humbied pride,
28 of the kings of Dravir (a country south of the Carnatic), and Gujar (Gujrat) whose
29 glory was reduced, and the universal sea-girt throne.”
30 The Getes, or Jd&ts, in ancient times inhabited the whole valley of the
31 Indus down to Sindh. In the works of Pliny and Ptolemy they are called
32 Jatii and in that of Strabo, Zamthii. According to Dr. Hunter, a branch of
33 these Scythian hordes, having overrun Asia about 625 B. c., occupied Patala
34 on the Indus, the modern Hyderabad in Sindh. They were all, in subse-
35 quent times, called Jéts, and now form a most numerous, as well as the most
36 important section of the agricultural population of the Panjab.
37 When Alexander the Great invaded the Panjab, in the fourth century
38 B. C., he found the Rawalpindi District inhabited by a tribe called Takkas, or
39 Takshaks. They belonged to a Scythian host who had migrated into the
40 Panjab about the 6th century B.c., and they gave its name to the great city
41 of 'Taxila, invaded by Alexander, and then the capital of the Panjab, the
42 site of which has been ascertained to have been between the Indus and the
43 Jhelum. Taki, derived apparently from the same name Taxila, and identi-
44 fied by General Cunningham with the modern Asrtr, forty-five miles west
45 of Lahore, was the capital of the Panjdb in the 7th century AD. The
46 Takka tribe is, to the present day, found in the Panjab, in the Delhi and
47 Karnal Districts.
48 That a race called Tue Che, or White Huns, had established themselves in
49 the Panjab and along the Indus, in the first century of the Christian era, has
50 been confirmed, not only by the ancient writers, Arrian, Strabo and Ptolemy,
51 but by coins and inscriptions of Scythian origin recently discovered, aud
52 by the names of Indian tribes, such as the Sakas, Hans and Nagés, who are
53 aie nde eee one of the most popwar and enlight-
54 set and Contain din a pe ne ru e over the kingdoms of Magadha, Mal-
55 bein liksesthie ec ,» and whose reign forms the Augustan age
56 th sc oravare anc science, defeated the Huns ina great battle; but
57 they were never quite driven out of the country, and they held Western
58 India for about 250 years afterwards, thou h their fortunes + d fell at
59 intervals, during the first six eine : 6 : x unes rose and fell a
60 5 ries after Christ. The great battle of
61 on ibe cee Which the Scythians sustained a severe defeat, was
62 Bee oute ie middle oF the extn century A.D. This battle is declared
63 to ne freed India from the Huns.” :
64 he migration of vast hordes of Scythian plunderers and conquerors into
65 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com