The best of scythia existed in modern day Pakistan....they settled around indus river and few cooler parts in northern india
I am not sure why you call this 'the best of Scythia'. They came to these areas under heavy pressure for over a century from the Yueh Zhi, the Moon Clan of the Tocharians, who have been mentioned in an earlier post as the red-headed mummies who have been found in the Tarim Basin. The Yueh Zhi being themselves under extreme pressure from the Hiung Nu, reacted in three ways: one section turned left, south-east, and vanished into the Tibetan plateau; one section surrendered to the Hiung Nu and merged with their conquerors; the largest section fled south-west, displaced the Scythians from the Ferghana region and established their rule there.
The Scythians, under this pressure, moved into the territories of the Indo-Bactrian Greek kingdoms, destroyed those kingdoms, and occupied Balkh and lands south. It was at this and the next stage that the corner of Afghanistan abutting Iran and north of Baluchistan, known to the Greeks as Arachosia, came to be known, after its conquerors, Sakasthan, or Seistan.
However, there was a second phase of pressure, as the Yueh Zhi, under sustained pressure from the Hiung Nu, failed to hold their newly-acquired positions, and fled forward, again onto the hapless Scythians in Balkh, and in a replay of events of a mere few decades past, pushed out the Scythians and their allies, the Parthians (known in Indian history as the Pahlavas). The Scythians, unable to expand south-west, across the desert into the strong Seleucid kingdom, moved east instead, and the map shows the situation at this stage, when the Yueh Zhi were still at Balkh and the Scytho-Parthians were ruling in western India.
Please note the location of their rule in India and correct the impression that it was precisely and exactly bounded by the Indus Valley; that valley happened to be part of their possessions, along with much more to the east and portions to the west. It is probably these tribes, too powerful to be left out, already favourably inclined towards the heresy of Buddhism from their earlier days in Ferghana, were then absorbed into the Hindu fold by priests who arranged for them to be converted to Hinduism, contrary to the belief that to be a Hindu one was born one, there was no process of conversion possible. No details of these conversion rituals exist; it is not known whether the entire tribe was converted or only some limited members or even only the Satrap.
The occurrence of Jats and Gujjars in Indian history is only from this point onwards, and leads to tempting speculations.
Well im a Kamboh (kamboja), and was pretty surprised to read on wikipedia that Kambohs were actually a royal clan of Scythians.
"However, most scholars now agree that the Kambojas were Iranians,[11][12][13] cognate with the Indo-Scythians. Kambojas are also described by scholars as being a Royal Clan of the Sakas or Scythians.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] This also seems to be confirmed from Mathura Lion Capital Inscriptions of Mahaksatrapa Rajuvula and the Rock Edict XIII of King Aśoka[16][21]"
Kambojas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Though i know this is wikipedia and hence not the most reliable source but nevertheless the statement does seem to be backed up by reasonable sources.
An interesting observation. Have you read the thread carefully so far?
The connection of the Kamboja, and the Scythian, and the Iranian, or east Iranian, is clear from fairly ancient days. Since you are able to access Wikipedia, and it is not clear what other references you have ready at hand, it is appropriate to start with Wikipedia and follow up the sources listed on your own, fanning out as you follow the references. In this case, having looked up Kamboja, you may as well look up Parama Kamboja.
You will find that in the tribal roll-call of the Battle of Kurukshetra, the Uttara Madra and the Parama Kamboja are both mentioned (along with the Madra and the Kamboja). These are people straddling the mountain ranges between present-day north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the Parama Kamboja resident around the valley of Ferghana. The Parama Kamboja are mentioned as great horsemen; the reputation of the Ferghana valley for producing the greatest horses in central Asia is found as late as Babur, in the fifteenth century. They are also the source of blankets (Kambal), suitable for self-indulgence or for making magnificent gifts. Parama Kamboja horses were the best available, and they themselves were outstanding in battle. They were excellent cavalrymen, and the Mahabharata describes their charges as irresistible. The Mahabharata described how, after the patriarch Bhishma was defeated in battle and lay wounded, waiting to die, the Parama Kamboja prince leading his contingent was made commander in chief, and dressed the Kaurava ranks in different formations while he was alive and in charge; evidently, his position demanded that he fight in a chariot, as he did so. He, too, died in battle, to the arrows of Arjuna, falling out of his chariot like a pine-tree.
Their language was similar to the Indians, but differed in some respects. This helps to tie down the description even further. The Parama Kamboja in later years were clearly part of the Scythian confederacy, and their language was thought to be east Iranian; not too difficult to reconcile to a situation where passages of the Zend Avesta, and passages of the Rig Veda, its older hymns specially, closely resemble each other (Avestan was written neither in western nor in eastern Iranian, but forms a branch of the Iranian languages on its own). So east Iranian is easy to position as a language which could be understood by clans living on both sides of the mountains, but with the clans on the Indian side gradually drawing away and their language gradually mutating away towards what eventually became the Paninian 'classic' Sanskrit.
The Parama Kamboja evidently survived as a clan of some distinction among the Scythian confederacy, either as an entire clan or as a group of families that contributed leaders and kings. However, before identifying that social group with today's Kamboh in Potohar, we need to remind ourselves that another, more familiar tribe, the Kamboja-not-the-Param, far less exotic, was also around, and also prominent. Today's Kamboh need not be exclusively tied to either the plain-vanilla Kamboja or their exotic cousins across the mountains the Parama Kamboja.
I agree with one of the comments made earlier on that the word "Scythian" seems very vague. To expect peoples so far away to be the same is quite unconvincing. Perhaps Scythian is more of a culture followed by various ethnicities than an actual race itself?
Perfect!
I wish I had thought of this very apt wording!
You do realise that you have not only described Scythians but Indo-Aryans as well!!! They, too, were not a race, but were several races; in addition, beyond your formulation, they were even several cultures, the whole unified by an adoption of one language system.
