1. The Indian interactions with the Greeks was not limited to the Indo-Greek kings.
2. Greeks were becoming known and their presence recorded throughout the subcontinent.
3. Merchants, sailors and many others of Greek origin were travelling to India, so there was a continued interaction with the Greeks.

1. The word was derived from the Persian word yauna, which referred to Greeks.
2. In India the term yavana was used to denote all persons of Greek origin, including those of mixed race and even the Phoenicians.

1. There were merchants dealing with specific products like food grains, cloth, gold and jewellery in the markets of the big Cities.
2. Merchants were also involved in overseas trade, as well as overland trade.
3. Thus, the circuits of trade became more specialised with institutionalised arrangements to support the expanding commercial activities.

From Rome, the main imports were coin, topaz, antimony, coral, crude glass, copper, tin and lead and wine.

In India,the term yavana was used to denote all person of Greek origin, including those of mixed race and even the Phoenicians.

1. Decline of the Mauryan Empire, parts of India were subject to the invasion of the Indo- Greeks, Sakas and Kushanas from West and Central Asia.
2. This strengthened the process of acculturation and the assimilation of foreign cultures and art forms into Indian society.
3. It also resulted in the integration of India with the Mediterranean world and Central Asia and China through extended trade linkages.

The advent of these tribes in India arose as a result of a complex sequence of migrations and political developments in Central Asia.

The Indo-Greek kingdoms in north-western India were ousted by various nomadic tribes from Central Asia, known as
1. The Sakas (Scythians),
2. Parthians (Pahlavis and
3. Kushanas (yueh-chi or yuezhi tribes in Chinese).

Trade was carried on by the overland route via north-west Afghanistan (Bactria) and also partly by the coastal route along the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

Rock Edict (13) mentions five yona kings, identified as
1. Antiochus II Theos of Syria,
2. Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt,
3. Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia,
4. Magas of Cyrene and
5. Alexander of Corinth.

1. Boats came in from the interior carrying rice and took back fish, which indicates a kind of barter trade in the primary consumption goods.
2. At the same time, sacks of pepper were brought to the market and were exchanged for gold, which came in the ships, which in turn, was transported on barges to the shore.

He issued bi-lingual square coins with Greek on the obverse and Kharoshti (the local language of north-western Pakistan) on the reverse.

1. Euthydemus's son Demetrius succeeded him (c. 200 BCE), and another Demetrius, probably Demetrius II, was the first known Indo-Greek king (c. 175 BCE).
2. The distinguishing feature of the reign of the Indo-Greek kings was their exquisite coinage.
3. Minted in the same style as Greek coins of silver, they carried the portrait of the reigning king on one side with his name.
4. The coins thus give us a visual picture of the kings, who are represented
5. In various kinds of headgear and with distinctive facial and physical features.
6. Extensive collections of these coins have been found from the period, which makes it possible to reconstruct the lineage of the Indo-Greek kings

1. Around the first century CE, the Satavahana kingdom was established in the Deccan area, comprising the modern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
2. This, however, was not like the centralised empire of the Mauryas, and the provincial governors of the Satavahanas had a considerable degree of autonomy.
3. The second development was the discovery of the pattern of monsoon winds in the Arabian Sea in the first century CE by Hippalus, an Egyptian sailor.
4. A first century CE account in Greek, the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea (Periplus Maris Erythraei), is the most reliable source of information on the ports of the Indian coast and trade.
5. Archaeological findings confirm the information from all these sources.

During the reign of Kushanas, there was great creative energy when art and literature flourished.
1. The Greek influence led to an Indo-Greek style of sculpture and art commonly referred to as Gandhara art. Statues of Buddha, sculpted particularly in Taxila
2. The north-western regions, show him in graceful garments, surrounded by cherubs and leaves inspired by the Greek tradition.
3. The red sandstone sculpture with intricate carving produced near Mathura.
4. The Buddhists began to carve out rock caves in the hills of western India, which served as religious centres with chaityas and viharas, stretching from the Ajanta caves to the Kanheri caves in Mumbai.
5. Large statues of Buddha were sculpted in these caves as apart of the Mahayana tradition, and in later centuries, they were further-embellished with murals of extraordinary beauty, as seen in the Ajanta caves.
6. Kanishka was the patron of Buddhist philosophers such as Asvaghosha, Parsva and Vasumitra, as well as the great Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna.
7. Asvaghosha is known for his Buddhacharita and is celebrated as the author of the first Sanskrit play, Sariputraprakarana, in nine acts.
8. The great dramatist Bhasa, whose plays werere-discovered only about a hundred years ago in South India.