The foreigners who ruled in India for a long time prior to the advent of Muslims and British were the Yavanas, Sakas and the Kusanas. The history of India from the second century BCE to third century CE is related more to these foreigners who came from Central and Western Asia, than the Indian kings. They have ruled in different parts of north India for almost five hundred years. Although these foreign invaders achieved political and military powers, they failed to conquer India culturally. They influenced all spheres of our life but could not touch the core principals of the Indian culture. A foreign historian had rightly remarked that though foreigners managed to invade India, occupy and rule her land, but they were never able to conquer her culturally instead they adopted our culture. These foreigners became so mingled within our society that today it is difficult to trace them out from the indigenous ones.
A large number of their inscriptions and coins are found in all over north India, on which they depicted their names, epithets, deeds and figures. The author has utilized these inscriptions and coins which give more details about them as the principal source and have come to the conclusion after carefully examining the readings of controversial passage offered by different scholars with the help of facsimiles wherever available.

About the Author

Dr Suman Jain is a Professor in Palaeography and Epigraphy in the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. She did Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University in 1992. During her student life and as a research scholar, she had earned many distinctions and fellowships. She began her career as Lecturer in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya, affiliated to B.H.U. in 1993 and joined Banaras Hindu University as Lecturer in Palaeography and Epigraphy in 1996. She is actively involved in many research activities and regularly participate in seminars and conferences. She has many research papers in various journals and four books on palaeography and epigraphy to her credit. She is a life member of the Executive Council of Numismatic Society of India; Women Polytechnic Institute, Allahabad; Chairperson of Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Mirzapur and President of ABISS (Varanasi Zone), Uttar Pradesh. Currently, she is engaged in a project work on ‘Tathagataguyaka - A Lost Buddhist Manuscript’ under the scene sponsored by the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi.