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Sagala, Sakala or Sangala was a city in
ancient India, which was the predecessor of the modern city of Sialkot that is
located in what is now Pakistan's northern Punjab province. The city was the
capital of the Madra Kingdom and it was razed in 326 during the Indian campaign
of Alexander the Great. In the 2nd century, 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.
Sagala became a major centre for Buddhism under his reign, and prospered as a
major trading centre.
Mahabharata Sagala is likely the city of Sakala mentioned in the Mahabharata, a
Sanskrit epic of ancient India, as occupying a similar area as Greek accounts
of Sagala. The city may have been inhabited by the Saka, or Scythians, from
Central Asia who had migrated into the Subcontinent. The city in the
Mahabharata was renowned for the wild and hedonist women who lived in the
forests surrounding the city. The city was said to have been located in the
Sakaladvipa region between the Chenab and Ravi rivers, now known as the Rechna
Doab. The city was located beside a river of the name of Apaga, and a clan of
the Vahikas known by the name of the Jarttikas (Mbh 8:44). Nakula, proceeding
to Sakala, the city of the Madras, made his uncle Shalya accept from affection
the sway of the Pandavas (Mbh 2:31).
In the Mahabharata The Mahabharata describes that, the third Pandava, Arjuna,
defeats all the kings of Shakala in his Rajasuya conquest. One of the kings
mentioned here is Prativindhya (not the son of Yudhishthira and Draupadi).
Indian campaign of Alexander the Great:
The city appears in the accounts of Alexander the Great's campaign in ancient
India. After crossing the River Chenab, Alexander joined by Porus with
elephants and 5,000 local troops, laid siege to Sagala, where the Cathaeans had
entrenched themselves. The city was razed to the ground, and many of its
inhabitants killed: "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, 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 Sagala was rebuilt and established as the easternmost
outpost of Alexander's empire.
Shunga Empire:
Sagala as a part of the Shunga Empire c. 185 to 73. 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 dinara reward to whoever brought him
the head of a Buddhist monk" (Shramanas) Ashokavadana, 133, trans. John
Strong. Yavana era Sagala, renamed Euthydemia by the Greeks, was used as a
capital by the Greco-Bactrian (alternatively Indo-Greek or Graeco-Indus) king
Menander during his reign between 160 and 135. Though many Graeco-Bactrian, and
even some Indo-Greek cities were designed along Greek architectural lines. In
contrast to other imperialist governments elsewhere, literary accounts suggests
the Greeks and the local population of cities like Sagala lived in relative
harmony, with some of the local residents adopting the responsibilities of
Greek citizenship - and more astonishingly, Greeks converting to Buddhism and
adopting local traditions. The best descriptions of Sagala however, come from
the Milinda Panha, a dialogue between king Menander and the Buddhist monk
Nagasena. Historians like Sir Tarn believe this document was written around 100
years after Menander's rule, which is one of the best enduring testimonies of
the productiveness and benevolence of his rule, which has made the more modern
theory that he was regarded as a Chakravartin - King of the Wheel or literally
Wheel-Turner in Sanskrit - generally accepted. In the Milindapanha, the city is
described in the following terms: 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
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 Uttara-kuru, and in glory it
is as Âlakamandâ, the city of the gods. (The Questions of King
Milinda, translated by T. W. Rhys Davids, 1890)
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