Transformation of the Funeral Rite of the Peoples of Central Asia on the Territory of North India During the Early Iron Age

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the historiographical analysis of the transformation of funeral rite of the Pamir Sakas, Yuezhi, Indo-Scythians and Kushans in the process of their migration from Central Asia to the territory of Northern India. The purpose of this study is to trace the gradual assimilation of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia with the settled population of Bactria and Northern India, reflected in the funeral rite. The Early Iron Age of Central Asia and Northern India remains little-studied, if to speak about historical and cultural interactions and routеs of the migration wave. This topic needs an objective and deep study based on a thorough analysis and systematization of available historiographical sources. Extreme paucity of publications dedicated to the funerary monuments correlated with Saki-Indo-Scythians and Yuezhi-Kushans in Northern India is one of the main problems. Funeral practices are among the most important indicators of the cultural interaction between different peoples and cultures. The main method of research is a comprehensive approach suggesting involving data from other sciences – epigraphic, numismatic and historical. The chronological framework of the study is from the II century BC, when Yuezhi and Saki began their massive migrations to the west ‒ to the III century AD, when the fall of the Kushan Empire occurred. In the process of migration, the Sakas and Yuezhi adapted to the cultures around them. Thus, part of the Sakas in Bactria adopted Zoroastrianism, burial mounds of the Yuezhi mostly contain products of local sedentary population. On the territory of Northern India, the Indo-Scythians and Kushans adopted the funerary traditions of the local Buddhist population – burning the dead and placing their ashes in special stupas with other relics. It is important to note that their assimilation took place gradually and even influenced the established funeral practice of Indo-Buddhist. For example, single bones and whole skeletons are sometimes found in stupas, and since the Indo-Scythian period, coins have been placed in stupas with other relics. In this regard, the revealing of new sources about the funerary monuments of Northern India is one of the promising directions.