View source for Sagala

{{short description|Ancient Indian city, identified with Sialkot in present-day Punjab, Pakistan}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2025}}
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'''Sagala''', '''Sakala''' ({{langx|sa|साकला}}), or '''Sangala''' ({{langx|grc|Σάγγαλα}}) was a city in [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]],<ref name="Rapson1960">{{cite book |last1=Rapson |first1=Edward James |title=Ancient India: From the Earliest Times to the First Century A. D. |date=1960 |publisher=Susil Gupta |page=88 |language=English|quote=Sakala, the modern Sialkot in the Lahore Division of the Punjab, was the capital of the Madras who are known in the later Vedic period (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad).}}</ref><ref name="Kumar2000">{{cite book |last1=Kumar |first1=Rakesh |title=Ancient India and World |date=2000 |publisher=Classical Publishing Company |page=68 |language=English}}</ref> which is generally identified as the predecessor of the modern city of [[Sialkot]] that is located in what is now [[Pakistan]]'s northern [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]] province.<ref name="Skyhorse Publishing">{{cite book|last1=McEvilley|first1=Thomas|title=The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies|date=2012|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|isbn=9781581159332|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbjelOMYyN8C&q=sagala+sialkot&pg=PT568|accessdate=2 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aabFPHxRPUC&q=sagala+location&pg=PA324|title=The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India|last=Cohen|first=Getzel M.|date=2 June 2013|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520953567|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-w0DwAAQBAJ&q=sagala+sialkot+-kenya&pg=PA260|title=Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Graeco-Roman World, Inner Asia and China|last1=Kim|first1=Hyun Jin|last2=Vervaet|first2=Frederik Juliaan|last3=Adali|first3=Selim Ferruh|date=5 October 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107190412|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzdWAAAAYAAJ&q=sagala+sialkot+-kenya|title=Proceedings, Indian History Congress|last=Congress|first=Indian History|date=2007|language=en}}</ref> The city was the capital of the [[Madra kingdom]] and it was [[Expedition of Chenab by Alexander the Great and Porous|razed]] in 326 BC during the [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great]].<ref name="Prasad1977">{{cite book |last1=Prasad |first1=Prakash Charan |title=Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India |date=1977 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=9788170170532 |language=English}}</ref> In the 2nd century BC, Sagala was made capital of the [[Indo-Greek]] kingdom by [[Menander I]]. Menander embraced Buddhism after extensive debating with a [[Buddhist monk]], as recorded in the Buddhist text ''[[Milinda Panha]]''.<ref name="Skyhorse Publishing"/> Sagala became a major centre for [[Buddhism]] under his reign, and prospered as a major trading centre.<ref name="Srivastava1968">{{cite book |last1=Srivastava |first1=Balram |title=Trade and commerce in ancient India, from the earliest times to c. A.D. 300 |date=1968 |publisher=Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office |page=67 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Khan|first1=Ahmad Nabi|title=Iqbal Manzil, Sialkot: An Introduction|date=1977|publisher=Department of Archaeology & Museums, Government of Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfAJAQAAIAAJ&q=sagala+sialkot|accessdate=3 June 2017}}</ref>

==History==
Sagala is likely the city of Sakala ({{langx|sa|साकला}}) mentioned in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', a Sanskrit epic of ancient India, as occupying a similar area as Greek accounts of Sagala.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_w3kWAAAAYAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_w3kWAAAAYAAJ/page/n228 197]|quote=sangala rebuilt.|title=Ariana Antiqua: A Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan|last1=Wilson|first1=Horace Hayman|last2=Masson|first2=Charles|date=1841|publisher=East India Company|language=en}}</ref> The city may have been inhabited by the ''[[Saka]]'', or [[Scythians]], from [[Central Asia]] who had migrated into the Indian subcontinent.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_lWAAAAMAAJ&q=saka|title=Journal|last=Society|first=Panjab University Arabic and Persian|date=1964|language=en}}</ref> The region was noted in the ''Mahabharata'' for the  "loose and Bacchanalian" women who lived in the woods there.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_w3kWAAAAYAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_w3kWAAAAYAAJ/page/n227 196]|quote=sangala rebuilt.|title=Ariana Antiqua: A Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan|last1=Wilson|first1=Horace Hayman|last2=Masson|first2=Charles|date=1841|publisher=East India Company}}</ref> The city was said to have been located in the ''Sakaladvipa'' region between the [[Chenab River|Chenab]] and [[Ravi River|Ravi]] rivers, now known as the [[Rechna Doab|''Rechna'' Doab]].{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

=== Indian campaign of Alexander the Great ===
[[File:AlexanderIndiaMap.jpg|thumb|250px|Sagala was included in [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|Alexander's campaign in ancient India]].]]The ''[[The Anabasis of Alexander|Anabasis of Alexander]]'', written by the Roman-Greek historian [[Arrian]], recorded that Alexander the Great captured ancient Sialkot, recorded as Sagala''',''' from the ''Cathaeans,'' who had entrenched themselves there.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arrian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlcIAAAAQAAJ&q=sangala |title=The Anabasis of Alexander, Or the History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great |date=1884 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Yenne |first=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kngnd0GlUc4C&q=sangala+sialkot&pg=PA157 |title=Alexander the Great: Lessons from History's Undefeated General |date=13 April 2010 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9780230106406}}</ref><ref name="dhillon">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXtVDgAAQBAJ&q=sialkot+garrison&pg=PT102|title=Janamsakhis: Ageless Stories, Timeless Values|last1=Dhillon|first1=Harish|date=2015|publisher=Hay House, Inc|isbn=9789384544843|access-date=3 June 2017}}</ref> The city had been home to 80,000 residents on the eve of Alexander's invasion,<ref name=":2" /> but was razed as a warning against any other nearby cities that might resist his invasion.<ref name=":2" />
:"The Cathaeans... had a strong city near which they proposed to make their stand, named Sagala. (...) The next day Alexander rested his troops, and on the third advanced on Sangala, where the Cathaeans and their neighbours who had joined them were drawn up in front of the city. (...) At this point too, [[King Porus|Porus]] arrived, bringing with him the rest of the elephants and some five thousand of his troops. (...) Alexander returned to Sangala, razed the city to the ground, and annexed its territory". [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]]'', V.22-24

=== Shunga empire ===
Following his overthrowing of the [[Mauryan Empire]], [[Pushyamitra Shunga]] established the [[Shunga Empire]] and expanded northwest as far as Sagala. According to the 2nd century ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', the king persecuted Buddhists:
:"Then King Pushyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he went to the [[Kukkutarama]]. (...) Pushyamitra therefore destroyed the [[sangharama]], killed the monks there, and departed.
:After some time, he arrived in Sakala, and proclaimed that he would give a hundred [[Gold dinar|dinara]] reward to whoever brought him the head of a Buddhist monk" (''[[Shramana]]s'') ''[[Ashokavadana]]'', 133, trans. John Strong.

=== Indo-Greek era ===
Sagala, renamed [[Euthydemia]] by the Greeks, was used as a capital by the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom|Indo-Greek]] king [[Milinda|Menander]] during his reign between 160 and 135 BC.<ref name="Tarn">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC&q=euthymedia+ptolemy&pg=PA89|title=The Greeks in Bactria and India|last=Tarn|first=William Woodthorpe|date=24 June 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108009416|language=en}}</ref>

Under Menander's rule, the city greatly prospered as a major trading centre renowned for its [[silk]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=McEvilley|first1=Thomas|title=The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies|date=2012|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|isbn=9781581159332|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbjelOMYyN8C&q=sagala+sialkot&pg=PT568|access-date=2 June 2017}}</ref> Literary accounts suggests the Greeks and the local population of cities like Sagala lived in relative harmony, with some of the Greeks converting to Buddhism and adopting local traditions. Menander embraced Buddhism in Sagala, after an extensive debating with the Buddhist monk [[Nagasena]], as recorded in the Buddhist text ''[[Milinda Panha]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McEvilley |first1=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbjelOMYyN8C&q=sagala+sialkot&pg=PT568 |title=The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies |date=2012 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=9781581159332 |accessdate=2 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pesala (Bhikkhu.) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CV77jyBU1WgC&pg=PR19 |title=The Debate of King Milinda: An Abridgement of the Milinda Pañha |date=1991 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-0893-5 |pages=19 |language=en}}</ref> the text offers an early description of the city's cityscape and status as a prosperous trade centre with numerous green spaces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davids |first=Thomas William Rhys |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g31EAQAAMAAJ&q=he+Questions+of+King+Milinda,+translated+by+T.+W.+Rhys+Davids,+1890 |title=The Questions of King Milinda |date=1894 |publisher=Clarendon Press}}</ref> Following his conversion, Sialkot developed as a major centre for Buddhist thought.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McEvilley |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbjelOMYyN8C&q=sagala+sialkot&pg=PT568 |title=The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies |date=7 February 2012 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. |isbn=9781581159332}}</ref>
[[File:King_Milinda_ask_questions.jpg|thumb|King [[Menander I|Milinda]] and [[Nagasena]].]]
Ancient Sialkot was recorded by [[Ptolemy]] in his 1st century CE work, [[Geography (Ptolemy)|''Geography,'']]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nB-2AAAAIAAJ&q=euthydemus+sialkot+ptolemy |title=Journal of Indian History |date=1960}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Tarn |first=William Woodthorpe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HeJS3nE9cAC&q=euthymedia+ptolemy&pg=PA89 |title=The Greeks in Bactria and India |date=24 June 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108009416}}</ref> in which he refers to the city as Euthymedia (''Εύθυμέδεια'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Getzel M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aabFPHxRPUC&q=euthydemia+beyer&pg=PA324 |title=The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India |date=2 June 2013 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520953567}}</ref>
: There is in the country of the Yonakas a great centre of trade, a city that is called Sâgala, situated in a delightful country well watered and hilly, abounding in parks and gardens and groves and lakes and tanks, a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods. Wise architects have laid it out, and its people know of no oppression, since all their enemies and adversaries have been put down. Brave is its defence, with many and various strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways; and with the royal citadel in its midst, white walled and deeply moated. Well laid out are its streets, squares, cross roads, and market places. Well displayed are the innumerable sorts of costly merchandise with which its shops are filled. It is richly adorned with hundreds of alms-halls of various kinds; and splendid with hundreds of thousands of magnificent mansions, which rise aloft like the mountain peaks of the Himalayas. Its streets are filled with elephants, horses, carriages, and foot-passengers, frequented by groups of handsome men and beautiful women, and crowded by men of all sorts and conditions, Brahmans, nobles, artificers, and servants. They resound with cries of welcome to the teachers of every creed, and the city is the resort of the leading men of each of the differing sects. Shops are there for the sale of [[Varanasi|Benares]] muslin, of Kotumbara stuffs, and of other cloths of various kinds; and sweet odours are exhaled from the bazaars, where all sorts of flowers and perfumes are tastefully set out. Jewels are there in plenty, such as men's hearts desire, and guilds of traders in all sorts of finery display their goods in the bazaars that face all quarters of the sky. So full is the city of money, and of gold and silver ware, of copper and stone ware, that it is a very mine of dazzling treasures. And there is laid up there much store of property and corn and things of value in warehouses-foods and drinks of every sort, syrups and sweetmeats of every kind. In wealth it rivals [[Uttarakuru|Uttara-kuru]], and in glory it is as [[Alaknanda River|Âlakamandâ]], the city of the gods. (''The Questions of King Milinda'', translated by [[Thomas William Rhys Davids|T. W. Rhys Davids]], 1890)

=== Archaeology ===
A [[hoard]] containing numerous coins of Menander I, and [[Hellenistic pottery]] shards, were unearthed from [[Siranwali]] village near Sialkot.<ref name="Holt">{{cite book |last=Holt |first=Frank L. |title=Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan |year=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80XBOxZY2kkC&pg=PA144}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[History of Sialkot]]
* [[List of ancient Indian cities]]
* [[Shambhala]]
* [[Sialkot]]
* [[Madra Kingdom]]
* [[Shangri-La]]

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==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Bactrian and Indian Hellenistic colonies]]
[[Category:Sialkot]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Razed cities]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian cities]]
[[Category:Menander I]]
[[Category:History of Sialkot]]