Sindhu-Sauvīra

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| caption1 = Location of Sindhu-Sauvīra during the late Vedic period

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| caption3 = Location of Sindhu-Sauvīra with respect to the Mahājanapadas and within the Achaemenid Empire

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{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

The territory of Sindhu-Sauvīra covered the lower Indus Valley,{{cite book |last=Raychaudhuri |first=Hemchandra |author-link=Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri |date=1953 |title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of Gupta Dynasty |url= |location= |publisher=University of Calcutta |page=197 |isbn=}} with its southern border being the Indian Ocean and its northern border being the Pañjāb around Multān.{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 209]-[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 210]}}

Sindhu was the name of the inland area between the Indus River and the Sulaiman Mountains, while Sauvīra was the name for the coastal part of the kingdom as well as the inland area to the east of the Indus river as far north as the area of modern-day Multan.{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 209]-[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 210]}}

The capital of Sindhu-Sauvīra was named Roruka and Vītabhaya or Vītībhaya, and corresponds to the mediaeval Arohṛ and the modern-day Rohṛī.{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 209]-[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 210]}}{{sfn|Sikdar|1964|p=501-502}} Roruka is mentioned in the Buddhist literature as a major trading center.Derryl N. MacLean (1989), [https://books.google.com/books?id=xxAVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA63 Religion and Society in Arab Sind], p.63

Sindhu-Sauvira finds mention in Late Vedic,Michael Witzel (1987), "On the localisation of Vedic texts and schools (Materials on Vedic Śākhās, 7)" in G. Pollet (ed.), India and the Ancient world. History, Trade and Culture before A.D. 650 early Buddhist and early Jain literature.

During the 6th to 5th centuries BCE, the Sindhu-Sauvīra was ruled by a powerful king named Udāyana or Udrāyaṇa or Rudrāyaṇa by various sources.{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n83/mode/2up 66]}}{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 209]-[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 210]}} Udāyana was married to the princess Prabhāvatī, who was the daughter of Ceṭaka, the consul of the powerful Vajjika League in north-east South Asia, and was herself thus the cousin of the 24th Jain Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra, himself the son of Chetaka's sister Trisalā.{{sfn|Sikdar|1964|p=388-464}}{{sfn|Deo|1956|p=71}} Ceṭaka had become an adept of the teachings of his nephew Mahāvīra and adopted Jainism, thus making the Licchavika and Vajjika capital of Vesālī a bastion of Jainism, and the marriages of his daughters to various leaders, in turn, contributed to the spreading of Jainism across northern South Asia.{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n85/mode/2up 67]}}

Therefore, according to Jain sources, Udāyana converted to Jainism after hearing Mahāvīra preach at Vītabhya, and he abdicated his throne and became a Jain monk after installing his nephew by his sister, Keśīkumāra, as king of Sindhu-Sauvira, instead of his own son, Abhijitkumāra, who found asylum at the court of Kūṇika, the governor of the Āṅgeya city of Campā for the count of the king of Magadha.{{sfn|Sikdar|1964|p=501-502}}{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 209]-[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 210]}} However, Buddhist sources instead claim that Udrāyaṇa embraced Buddhism and was ordained by the Buddha.{{sfn|Jain|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 209]-[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385/page/n227/mode/2up 210]}}

{{main|Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley|Hindush}}

In 518 BCE, Sindhu-Sauvīra was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire's {{transliteration|peo|Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām}} ("King of Kings"), Darius I, after which it was organised into the satrapy (province) of Hindush.{{cite book |editor1-last=Boardman |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Boardman (art historian) |editor2-last=Hammond |editor2-first=N. G. L. |editor2-link=N. G. L. Hammond |editor3-last=Lewis |editor3-first=D. M. |editor3-link=David Malcolm Lewis |editor4-last=Ostwald |editor4-first=M. |editor4-link=Martin Ostwald |author-last=Young |author-first=T. Cuyler |author-link= |date=1988 |chapter=The consolidation of the empire and its limits of growth under Darius and Xerxes |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |volume=4 |url= |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=53–111 |isbn=978-0-521-22804-6 }}{{cite book |editor1-last=Boardman |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Boardman (art historian) |editor2-last=Hammond |editor2-first=N. G. L. |editor2-link=N. G. L. Hammond |editor3-last=Lewis |editor3-first=D. M. |editor3-link=David Malcolm Lewis |editor4-last=Ostwald |editor4-first=M. |editor4-link=Martin Ostwald |author-last=Bivar |author-first=A. D. H. |author-link=David Bivar |date=1988 |chapter=The Indus Lands |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |volume=4 |url= |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=194–210 |isbn=978-0-521-22804-6 }}

Roruka was probably the capital of the king Mousikanos, who was encountered by Alexander the Great while sailing down the Indus in 326 BCE.{{cite book | last=Allchin | first=F.R. | last2=Erdosy | first2=G. | title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-521-37695-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5kI02_zW70C&pg=PA292 | page=292}}

The Sauvīra people or country were mentioned in the Junâgaḍh inscription of Rudradáman (150 CE).{{cite journal|last1=Fleet|first1=J.F.|title=Topographical List of the Brihat-Samhita|journal=The Indian Antiquary: A Journal of Oriental Research|date=1893|volume=22|page=189|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dzVCAQAAMAAJ&q=sauvira&pg=PA189|access-date=13 September 2015|location=Bombay}}

Buddhist sites in Sindh are numerous, including a stupa at Brahmanabad (Mansura); Sirah-ji-takri near Rohri, Sukkur; Kahu-Jo-Daro at Mirpur Khas, Nawabshah; Sudheran-Jo-Thul near Hyderabad; Thul Mir Rukan stupa; Thul Hairo Khan Stupa; Bhaleel-Shah-Thul square stupas (5th–7th century A.D) at Dadu, and Kot-Bambhan-Thul buddhist tower near Tando Muhammad Khan. In the 12th century king Kumarapala excavated an ancient Jivantasvami Mahavira image from the ruins of Vītabhaya-pattana, and brought it to be installed at a Jain temple in his capital city Patan.{{cite book | last=Shah | first=U.P. | title=Jaina-rūpa-maṇḍana | publisher=Abhinav Publications | issue=v. 1 | year=1987 | isbn=978-81-7017-208-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_y_P4duSXsC&pg=PA37 | page = 37}}

• Sindhis
• History of India
• History of Pakistan
• Gandhāra (kingdom)

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• {{cite book |last=Deo |first=Shantaram Bhalchandra |date=1956 |title=History of Jaina Monachism from Inscriptions and Literature |url= |location=Pune, India |publisher=Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute |isbn=978-9-333-68377-7 }}
• {{cite book |last=Jain |first=Kailash Chand |author-link= |date=1974 |title=Lord Mahāvīra and His Times |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.72385 |location=Delhi, India |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |page=66 |isbn=978-8-120-80805-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Sharma |first=J. P. |author-link= |date=1968 |title=Republics in Ancient India, C. 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. |url= |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |page= |isbn=978-9-004-02015-3 }}
• {{cite book |last=Sikdar |first=Jogendra Chandra |author-link= |date=1964 |title=Studies in the Bhagawatīsūtra |url= |location=Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India |publisher=Research Institute of Prakrit, Jainology & Ahimsa |pages=388–464 |isbn= }}

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{{History of Sindh}}

Category:History of Pakistan

Category:History of Sindh

Category:Ancient peoples of Pakistan

Category:States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC