187
About 95 A. D. he began his further conquests of India, and his kingdom reached as far as Benares and Ghazipur on the Ganges River.
The Yueh-chi opened up the commerce between India and the Roman Empire. Here, as in Central Asia, the trade had been merely incidental and subject to depredations of numerous savage tribes. The Parthians had done what they could to control and or- ganize it and to levy tribute on the Roman merchants, but they had not controlled it to the eastward. The existence of unified power in the Indus Valley and Afghanistan made possible a regular trade from the Ganges to the Euphrates. The rapid growth of such trade is indicated by the coinage of the Yueh-chi Kings in India. Kadphises I struck coins in bronze only, which were imitated from those of Au- gustus. Kadphises II imitated the gold coins of the Roman Empire, which were then pouring into India in a steady stream. In Southern India, where there was an active Roman maritime trade, there was no native gold coinage, the Roman being sufficient.
It is probable that the Indian embassy, which offered its con- gratulations in Rome to the Emperor Trajan, was dispatched by Kadphises II, to announce his conquest of Northwestern India.
47. Alexander penetrated to the Ganges. — This is, of
course, quite untrue, the Panjab having been the turning-point of his expedition. The great mass of India was entirely unaffected by his invasion, except as it led to the subsequent centralization of power under Chandragupta Maurya. Our author is confusing Alexander with Menander.
“The East bowed low before the blast In patient, deep disdain;
She let the legions thunder past,
And plunged in thought again.”
Matthew Arnold: Obermann .
48. Ozene. — This is the modern Ujjain, 23° IE N. , 75° M' E. , the chief city of Malwa. The Sanscrit form is Ujjayirii , “vic- torious.” The Prakrit is Ujjeni, from which the Greek is derived.
Ujjain is one of the seven sacred cities of India, not yielding even to Benares. In Hindu legend it was here that the elbow of Sat! fell, on the dismemberment of her body by Siva. The river Sipra, on which it is located, is also sacred. The place was important under the earliest Aryan settlements in Malwa. In early times it was known as AvantI, a kingdom which is described in Buddhist literature as one of the four great powers of India. As Ujjeni it is very prominent in Buddhist records, having been the birthplace of Kachana, one of
