YAVANAS ARE NOT GREEKS

By Ishwa, a poster at India–Forum.com

I do not believe that the ethnonym Yavana is derived from javana, but that both words share
the meaning of moving swiftly. The horse connection was attached shortly later to the primary
meaning of Yavana as expellers. Francesco Brighenti is wrong to think that yavana has its horse
connection from javana (Juu is already a race horce in the RV.) and that it is late. It has already
RV niyut
He is also wrong that the meaning of moving swiftly seems to be from a wrong reading of
javana. RV yu means moving (swifly). It is derived from an ancient IA root yu or yaa with words
giving yaa+van, resembling words from the roots yu = to yoke and yu = to expel.

We have a indigenous people named Yavana, for which there is a plausible indigenous
etymology. We have a foreign people Ionian or Yauna, which has very doubtful etymologies (2
older, and 2 younger).
We have two homonyms Aramaic Ywn=yavanu and Yavana, but no connection between these
two, as Panini doesn't know and mention Hakhamanish or Achaemenids. (lipi if writing, doesn't
mean that it was known through Achaemenids. Besides, lipi is derived from smearing, painting,
while he doesn't know cuneiform scratching, which would rather equate it with likh. Does lipi
from the root lip mean writing at all, or painting, and lipikara a painter or plasterer? At least it
has no connection to the cuneiform technique. Ashokan dipi is derived from Aramaic, but is it
connected to Paninian lipi? But this is another discussion)

Let's get back to one classic source of the Ionian = Yavana equation myth and see how reliable
his sources and interpretations are.

Yavana thesis of A.K. Narain

The introduction to the Yavana issue with A.K. Narain’s thesis, the Indo-Greeks, gives a good
idea on what grounds the equation Yavana=Greeks is based. The more one looks at the bare
facts in support, which are scarce anyway, the more one learns that it is based upon very shaky
and weak grounds. [Himanshu Ray doesn’t add anything substantial to Narain’s thesis on the
origins. She presents the relevant material in a messy way, especially with regards of the
timeline of the several works, not making a distinction for instance between earlier and later
Law books. Her better contribution is with regards to collecting epigraphical material on
Yavanas from the first century BCE and the first centuries CE.]
Narain presents his thesis with an equation Yavana = Greek. While he starts in Appendix I with
the assumption with the words “may well have been”, it is clear that the equation is already
settled in his mind. His next sentences are just presented in such a way as to find the proofs for
this equation. This method is very convenient for anyone to proof any point. The huge leaps are
wished away by filling that up with wishful thinking. The bare facts presented by himself are too
scanty and too weak to proof his case, while ignoring what the presented works really have to
say, or while admitting that different category Indian works give an indigenous origin to
Yavanas, brushing that aside.

I. Greek deportations?
Narain has to proof that Indian Yona or Yavana has to be Greeks. But in order to get this
equation, he must proof that there were those Greeks called Yauna by Persians settled close
enough to Gandhara that Indians might have known these also as Yauna. [The question is: if
Yavanas of the S-Indus area are not (Bactrian) Greeks, when did these, or rather Indo-Greeks,
came to be called Yavana, getting fused with indigenous Yavanas]
The evidence is scarce, here Narain could come up only with Herodotus (some data come from
late post-Alexandrian sources) and Athenian owls.

From A.K. Narain, _The Indo-Greeks_, Oxford, Claredon Press, 1957:

"There is evidence to show that the Greeks of various city-states in Asia Minor were sometimes
threatened by the Persians with exile to the far eastern portions of the Achaemenid empire [fn.
4: Herodotus VI. 9] and were actually settled in those areas [fn. 5: Besides the colonies of the
Thracians (?) at Nysa and of the Branchidae in Sogdiana, we know from Herodotus, IV. 204, that
a colony of Libyans from Barca was settled in Bactria]" (p. 3).

"The Athenian 'owls', together with the issues of other Greek cities, which have been found in
Afghanistan, must have been brought there by the Greeks both as traders and settlers" (p. 4).

CRITIQUE
There were threats and there were actual deportations. But what has Herodotus really
recorded about the Greeks:
1. Barcaeans of Libya or Putaya were deported to a village Barca in Bactria. 2. There was a
threat to Ionians to deport them to Phoenicia or only their girls (!) to Bactria, but actually the
Milesians (including the priestly Branchidae) Ionians or Yauna were deported to Susa and and
the Tigris delta south. Herodotus knew the difference between the different Greeks, the
Persians didn’t differentiate and called the people after their provinces! (iyam … in the nation
or district lists)
Thus, the pre-Alexandrian source that is brought up to assume that Greeks of different city-
states have been deported to eastern provinces, doesn’t state this as fact at all! We have only
Barcaean Putaya in a village in Bactria. No Yauna near Gandhara! Thus Panini, who neither
knows Achaemenids nor Ywn (Aramaic) or Yauna (OP) Greeks, couldn’t have known
Branchidae Yauna mercenaries, as per one late post-Alexandrian source, ended up later in
remote Sogdiana perhaps some time before Alexander. These were clearly mercenaries in the
Persian army. That is why Alexander massacred them. The same case with the Cariatae, who
must have been Karka, famous as mercenaries. The Thracians or Skudra (!) in Nysa, also from a
late post-Alexandrian source, is based upon a few similarities between Nuristanis and
Thracians, but it is not proven. (anyway, are Thracian Skudras ethnic Greeks?)
Of course there were some Greek traders who had their quarters in cities and villages, and thus
had their coinage to trade amongst each other. Says McEvilly: “Further, the pre-Alexandrian
Greek coins found in Asia need not have been the result of lasting settlement, but only of trade,
..” (McEvilly: The Shape of Ancient Thought, p. 360)
The coins point to their use amongst Greek (mostly Karka and some Branchidae Yauna)
mercenaries with the (mostly Sparda and Yauna) kurtash or contract workers of Susa and
further west.

Thus, we have a village of Barcaean Putaya or Libyan Greeks (not Yauna!) in Bactria in the 5th
century BCE. And we have Brachidae Yauna mercenaries in Sogdiana and Cariatae Karka
mercenaries nearby in the late 4th century BCE. The evidence is too scanty and these
mercenaries are too far away from Panini’s homeplace to remember insignificant pockets of
Yauna, Karka and Putaya in the army of the Achaemenids or Hakhamanish, the last also not
known to the Ashtadhyayi, which should have been the case if Gandhara was a Persian satrapy
in Panini’s time! And is it a huge leap from having scattered pockets of traders on the move to
the existence of a Yavana Janapada in the S-Indus area.

II. Yavana = Ionian?

Narain, then, turns to the (indigenous) etymology of Yavana in Appendix I to proof that Yavanas
must have been foreigners and thus Greeks.
From A.K. Narain, _The Indo-Greeks_, Oxford, Claredon Press, 1957:
“The term Yavana may well have been first applied by the Indians to the Greeks of various cities
of Asia Minor who were settled in the areas contiguous to north-west India.3

The Yavanas were regarded by the law books and epics as degenerate Ksatriyas,4 and were
considered to be of Indian origin, the descendants of Turvasu.5 But their names alone are
sufficient to prove that they were foreigners.6

The word Yavana, if it is assumed to be Indian, can be derived in three ways. Firstly, from yu =
'keeping away', 'averting' (dveSHo yavana),7 signifying one who is disliked. Secondly, from yu
'mixing, mingling',8 (i.e. Yauti mishrayati vaa mishriibhavati sarvattra jaatibhedaabhaavaat iti
yavanah),9 implying a mixed people. Thirdly, from the meaning, 'quick', 'swift'; a swift horse,10
(i.e. Yavena gacchatiiti yavanah),11 denoting those who have a quick mode of conveyance.12
These derivations taken together may indicate that the Yavanas were thought of as a mixed
people, who had a quick mode of conveyance and who were disliked as aliens and invaders;13
these derivations are, however, comparatively recent.

CRITIQUE
Greeks in NW India
See above. Greeks from the different Achaemenid districts of Sparda, Yauna, Karka and Putaya
are unknown to Indians and their works. Panini who doesn’t know these Greeks, even doesn’t
know Achaemenids or their empire! Neither do the Mahabharata, Tipitaka or Gautama
Dharmasutra.
Foreigners
A.K. Narain assumes beforehand that Yavana should be applied to foreigners, specified as
Greeks in the first sentence above. In the second sentence he looks for justification in Indian
law books en epics. Narain cites here the Manusmrti and the Mahabharata. But he forgets to
mention the older Gautama Dharmasutra iv.21, which refers to Yavanas as a mixture of
Kshatriya father and Shudra mother.
Despite the fact that Indian works give an indigenous origin to the Yavanas, which Narain
admits, he rather concludes that their names alone are sufficient to prove that they were
foreigners. But without giving their names to substantiate his assumption, which is strange.

The Yavana kings in the Mahabharata are called: Yavana (ancient great kings), Chanura
Devarata (mentioned with a Bhoja and Kirata king, showing that these were ruling in the east,
south and of course Chanura in the west), Sumitra (rules in Sauvira country in the west. Battle
with Pandu), Bhagadatta (rules in the west. Old friend of Pandu), Kasherumat (Battle with
Krshna. Probable direct predecessor of Kalayavana), Kalayavana Gargya (mentioned as king of
western India. Battle with Krshna)

Yavanadhipati Pandava Yadava

0. Yavana (=king EkayAvan, TB?)
1. CANura DevarAta
2. Sumitra*+ of part of Sauvira PANDu*
3. Bhagadatta*+ Arjuna+ KrSHNa^
4. Kasherumat^ and KAlayavana+^

Do these names sound foreign or Greek? Chanura may sound tribal, but not his 2nd name
Devarata (his Gotra?). The names don’t even sound hybrid.
Kala-yavana (perhaps adopted by Bhagadatta or rather Kasherumat): his name is should be
seen against the contrast of Vedic Yaavan (or yava) versus A-yaavan (or a-yava). A-yaavana =
Krshna-paksha and Yaavan=Shukla-paksha.
á-yava m. the dark half of the month VS. ShBr. = á-yaavan ShBr. And yáva
m. the first half of a month (generally in pl.; accord. to Comn. = puurva-pakSaaH; also written
yaava) VS. ShBr. KâTh = yaáva m. TS.

Kaala=A=Krshna=dark. King Kala-yavana’s action was like the Moon’s (Chandravamsha) dark
side or Vedic A-yaavan of the Turvasuvamsha, to the bright side or Vedic Yaavan of the
Yaduvamsha. Dark side Kaala versus Bright side Krshna (the shining Deva or Vaasu-deva). The
relief (muc) of this A-yavana came through king Mucukunda.
The poet connected a military campaign with a lunar symbolism to give an extra ‘moral’
dimension to the event. Nothing is foreign about Kala-yavana or his name. This settles the case
of the meaning of Kalayavana's name.

Etymology
Then, Narain gives the etymologies, which is very selective to show that they must be
foreigners and thus Greeks.
His conclusion is clearly wrong with the first example: “Firstly, from the yu = 'keeping away',
'averting' (dveSHo yavana), signifying one who is disliked.” The word doesn’t signify one who is
disliked, but rather Yavana is the one who keeps away, he keeps away the Dvesha or the
enemy. Yavana here rather denotes a protector, a Kshatriya, thus someone who is liked and
needed! This word Dvesho yavana is from the Vedic (!) Krshnayajurveda. Thus not a recent
word, as he conjectures. More ancient, Vedic words from this root: dveSHo-yávana (MaitrS.)
and mfn. removing hostility. dveSHo-yút (RV.), mfn. removing hostility. pra-yotR' m. a remover,
expeller RV VII.86.6. Or Yaavan
Very sloppish of him not to check the textplace in MW.

He is clearly wrong too with the second example: “Secondly, from yu 'mixing, mingling',8 (i.e.
Yauti mishrayati vaa mishriibhavati sarvattra jaatibhedaabhaavaat iti yavanah),9 implying a
mixed people.”
He cites MW dictionary, but these are the true meanings given to the root he has in mind: 2: yu
does not mean mixing, but “to unite, attach, harness, yoke, bind, fasten RV.(=yuj); to draw
towards one's self, take hold or gain possession of, hold fast AV. TS. ShBr.; to push on towards
(acc.) AV.; to confer or bestow upon (dat.), procure RV.; (yauti), to worship, honour Naigh. iii,
14.” (It is from this root that the Vedic Yaavan and A-yaavan are derived from for the halves of
the moon..)
Where did Narain get this idea of mixing, mingling from? Did he check MW, or did he quote
from another author (Rajendralal Mitra?)? There is however a root yu which means to mix (of
meal preparation), giving the Vedic word aa-yávana = spoon (for stirring), AV or yu(u)Sh(a) =
soup, broth, RV etc.. But since when are Yavanas connected with a meal? The meanings of
uniting, and also yoking (RV), but also of pushing on towards (AV) of this root 2:yu are coming
close to the meaning of root 1:yu of MW. Again, very sloppish, indeed.

The third example has the meaning, 'quick', 'swift'; a swift horse,10 (i.e. Yavena gacchatīti
yavanah),11 denoting those who have a quick mode of conveyance.12’. Narain wants to see in
this connection foreigners “who had a quick mode of conveyance”. This meaning of Yavana,
having almost the same meaning as its synonym Javana (aa-javana n. ( ju) "conquering", Nir. ix,
(3.)23. aajayanasya-aajavanasya-iti vaa | m. a running-match; a fighting-match, prize-fight,
combat; place for running, race-course; war, battle. This meaning with fighting an
enemy/adversary comes close to the meaning of yavana as expeller!), is ancient too, despite
Francesco’s objection. See: eva-yaávan mf(arii)n. going quickly (said of VishNu and the Maruts)
RV.
Here we see already a RV word (!) from an ancient root yu = to move quickly. There are more
Vedic words from this root denoting to move (quickly): yaávan m. (for 2. p. 852, col. 3) a rider
horseman, invader, aggressor, foe R. [ 850,2]; (ifc.) going, driving, riding (cf. akSNa-, agra-, eka-y
&c.) akSNa-yaávan mfn. going across RV. viii, 7, 35. agra-yaávan mfn. going before RV. x, 70, 2;
eka-yaávan m. N. of a king TBr. ii TâNDyaBr; (PB 21.14.20) RNa-yaávan mfn. relieving from debt
or obligations RV. i, 87, 4; praatar-yaaan “who moves at early morning” 2.39.2; puro-yaavan
“who moves foremost” 5.35.7b; sa-yaavan -"going along with, associated with,
accompanying"5.35.7c.
Thus, the words yáva speed, velocity W. (prob. w.r. for java); a double convex lens ib. [Cf. Zd.
yava; {Gk.}; Lith. &&&256791[847,2] javaí.], yavana mfn. quick, swift; m. a swift horse L. (prob.
w.r. for javana) and yavaana mfn. quick, swift L. (prob. w.r. for javaana), have all ancient Vedic
roots.

His conlusion ”These derivations taken together may indicate that the Yavanas were thought of
as a mixed people, who had a quick mode of conveyance and who were disliked as aliens and
invaders;13 these derivations are, however, comparatively recent.”, is thus not correct at all.
The roots 1:yu = repelling and 3:yu = moving are from ancient Vedic words! The ‘mixed people’
meaning is not correct at all, as 2:yu = uniting and not ‘mixing’. The root mixing does denote
mixing of meals! The meaning of yu = to move swiftly is also Vedic.

Pokorny has given these roots of yu:

Pokorny Lubotsky Monier-Williams
ieu-1: to mix (of meal preparation)
ieu-2: to tie together, yoke ieu {3}= iau = yav [1] 2: yu (=yuj)
ieu-3: young from 2: yu?
ieu-4: to separate; to hold off ieu {1}= iau = yav [2] 1: yu

Pokorny, perhaps forgot one root, or the words are from the root yaa +van
ieu-5 : to move (quickly)
3: yú mfn. ( yaa) going, moving RV. i, 74, 7; x, 176, 3 (viii, 18, 13 ?).
yaávan m. (for 2. p. 852, col. 3) a rider horseman, invader, aggressor, foe R. [ 850,2]; (ifc.) going,
driving, riding (cf. akSNa-, agra-, eka-y &c.) akSNa-yaávan mfn. going across RV. viii, 7, 35. agra-
yaávan mfn. going before RV. x, 70, 2; eka-yaávan m. N. of a king TBr. ii TâNDyaBr; (PB 21.14.20)
eva-yaávan and evayaa mf(arii)n. going quickly (said of VishNu and the Maruts) RV.
RNa-yaávan and RNa-yaa mfn. relieving from debt or obligations RV. i, 87, 4; praatar-yaavan
“who moves at early morning” 2.39.2; puro-yaavan “who moves foremost” 5.35.7b; sa-yaavan -
"going along with, associated with, accompanying"5.35.7c
3: yáva speed, velocity W. (prob. w.r. for java); [Cf. Zd. yava; {Gk.}; Lith. &&&256791[847,2]
javaí.]
3: yavana mfn. quick, swift; m. a swift horse L. (prob. w.r. for javana).
1: yavaana mfn. quick, swift L. (prob. w.r. for javaana).

There is a root yaa = to move, to go. Monier-Williams gives an adjective from this root as yú
mfn. ( yaa) going, moving RV. i, 74, 7;x, 176, 3 (viii, 18, 13 ?).
There is an adjective yaa (ifc.) going, moving ( RNa- eva-, tura-,deva-yaa). This is synonymous to
yaávan(ifc.) going, driving, riding (cf. akSNa-, agra-, eka-y &c.). Evayaa has a Vedic cognate
evayaavan, likewise devayaa has devayaavan. Turayaa has not an attested turayaavan.

The proposed root yu may be identical with the root yaa, if yaa has an extension yaa-v-an.
Yaavan of this root must have fused with Yaavan (AV) of yu=to expell. The AV has Yaavan and
Yaavana of the last root, KYV MS has yavana. This form yavana is identical as yavana (AV) of
yu=to unite, to yoke. The form yaavana of this last root is attested in classical Skt, identical in
form to the AV word of the other root.
Coming to the horse connection, to which Francesco objects as a late derivation, with an
ancient root yu, see: ni-yút- [f] `team of horses, chariot' (RV+)! If Vedic yu means to yoke, it is
very easy to come to horses yoked to chariots, as in niyut. And this root yu joins easily the
meaning of yu = to move swiftly.
Anyway, one can see that yu=to expell and yu=to unite, to yoke have identical forms. With
yaa=to move if yaa-v-an is an extension of yaa, there is a third Vedic root involved, dragging
juu=to move swiftly and horse race, connecting also to yu=to yoke, also in the process of
making the ethnonym Yavana.

Conclusion
The Vedic word Yavana as expellers (of DveSha, Agni being the Yaavan or expeller of
yaatumavat or sorcerors) may have fused with Yavana as swift movers (horse connection, but
also of aggressive Maruts. Also fusion with the synonymous word javana) as a designation of
the Yavana Gana.
The Yavanas as expellers, separators (active meaning) were later on themselves considered as
separated (passive meaning: Avestan: YAv. viiuta- [ppp]; yuto [adv] `separately' , Middle
Persian: jwdy, (Buddh.) ywdt /jud/ `separated, divided'), when they came under tremendous
Iranic (Zoroastrian and Achaemenid) influence. In this sense, Yavana as separated, reminds me
of the word ava-gaNa mfn. separated from one's companions, isolated MBh. iii, 4057 (the moral
dimension is added then: ava-guNa mfn. deficient in good qualities (= ava-gaNa). Is this older,
epic AvagaNa connected somehow with the much later AvagaaNa of Varahamihira?
Remember that the older Law Book of Gautama remembers Yavana as an indigenous Kshatriya
Varna. The connection with Shudra (and not Mleccha in Gautama DS!) points also to its
indigenous origin. The Yavanas are enumerated together with Pârashavas, Yavanas, Caranas,
and Shûdras. None of the Varnas mentioned in IV.16-21 do refer to any foreigner, but rather of
a mixture of indigenous Varnas and Jatis. Parashavas or connected with parashu or the axe of a
woodcutter.
As frontier people (paccantima) they became degenerated in the eyes of the immediately
adjoining main land (majjhima). The pre-Alexandrian Ganapatha remembers Yavanas as Munda,
unlike the hairdress of (Indo-)Greeks. The Majjhima Nikaya mentions that the Yonas call their
varna Arya! Did the Greeks consider themselves as such? No reference to this with the Greaco-
Roman historians.

The first (attested) Greek to be connected with the word Yona is Antiochus in ca. 250 BCE. He is
called Yona-raja = king over Yona people and their Janapada. His 4 Greek collegues are simply
called Raja! Compare this with the Indo-Greek Menander in the Milindapanha. In that work he
is simply called Raja, king of Yona country (Yonanam). But his 500 elite soldiers, mercenaries
from Yonanam, are called Yonakas. Or compare with the Indo-Greek Antialcidas. He is called
simply Maharaja, but it is Heliodora, son of Diya, who is the Vaishnavite Yona and ambassador
to king Bhagabhadra.
Also contrast the clear Greek names of Greeks and Indo-Greek kings and those of the Yonas:
Yavanaraja Tushaspha. Heliodorus’ may have adopted a Greek name under influence of the
powerful status of the Indo-Greeks ruling over Yona country up to Taxila. The Milindapanha has
these names for Yonas: Anantakâya (Yonako), Devamantiya (Yonako), Mankura (Yonako) and
Sabbadinna or Dinna (Yonako). It knows the Yonakâ as tribe., and Saka-yavana as the countries
(Seistan-Arachosia/Quetta. Compare with Shaka-yavana of Patanjali. Shakas are attested before
the Scythian invasion of the 1st century BCE in the NW).

See what Himanshu Ray has to say on this: “A vast body of Kharoshthl inscriptions found at
several sites in the north-western region of the sub-continent are not much help either The
term Yavana seldom occurs in these records, dated to the first few centuries of the Christian
era, but the names of the donors are undoubtedly of Greek origin.” Ray adds: “The Swat relic
vase inscription of the first century B.C. records the establishment of the relics of the
Sakyamunl by Theodoros, … An engraved stone from Bajaur, south-east of Jalalabad, reads "of
king Theodamas". .. The Kaldarra inscription records the laying of a tank by Thaidora or
Theodoros, the Datiaputra”.
But when Yavana is applied, see what Ray says: “ …Karle 314 and date from the first century A.D
, the donors have Indian names such as Dhamadhaya, Chulayakha, Sihadhaya and Yasavadhana.
At Nasik cave XVII (dated after 110 A.D ), Indragnidatta, son of Dhammadeva the Yavana..”
Indo-Greeks seem to retain their Greek names, but it is the Yonas who adopt names from other
cultures, the vaste majority being Indic (or some Iranic, and a few Greek, like the name
Heliodorus).

Compared to the doubtful etymologies for Ionian, the etymology of yavana is much better and
logical. In Yavana we have a normal indigenous development of fusion of ideas and meanings
which we can observe in many other words or ideas (aspects of Indra absorbed in Vishnu-
Krshna, etc.etc.)
Besides, all the different Indian works point to the indigenous character of Yavanas. In the Law
Books and epic they started as Kshatriyas, becoming Vratya Kshatriyas (or Dasyus) and then
Vrshalas (VrSHa = chief/king of its class, derigatory VrSha-la = lesser chief) and becoming
Shudras.

In short, Ionian as Yauna doesn't seem to have been known to Indians at all before Alexander.
After Alexander, it does seem that the Indo-Greeks were rather known through the central
country they were ruling over, which was Yona Janapada. And Yona Janapada can not be
equated with Bactria, it is always within the subcontinent, close to the Indus area. Supporting
my theory that Yona Janapada must have been somewhere in Baluchistan with one center
perhaps close to Quetta, extending its territory up to Kandahar. (Patanjali's Shakayavana lends
support to the identity with Seistan-Arachosia/Baluchistan)
And this is in complete agreement with the Mahabharata and Pali literature: Yona-Kamboja-
Gandhara is the frontier line of India from south to the north of the (western bank of the) Indus
Valley: Baluchistan-Gomal/Bannu Valley-Kabul/Swat Valley! The Achemenids did conquer the
trans-Indian Thatagu (Gomal/Bannu Valley) and Gandara (Kabul/Swat Valley) and the cis-Indus
Hindu (Taxila, Multan) areas, but the Baluchistan of the Yavanas remained out of their reach.