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Concept
Yona
Summary
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (Ἴωνες < Ἰάoνες < *Ἰάϝoνες), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India.
Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. Yavana appears, for instance, in the Mahabharata, while Yona appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle Mahavamsa.
It is also mentioned in Ponniyan Selvan, written by Kalki Krishnamurthi. He states Yavanas were employed as imperial guards in Karikala Chozla's kingdom.
The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves.
Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include:
The mention of the "Yauna" in the Persepolis Administrative Archives (550–333 BC).
The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtiyoka" in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE)
The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtalikitasa" in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE)
King Milinda and his bodyguard of "500 Yonas" in the Milinda Panha.
The description of Greek astrology and Greek terminology in the Yavanajātaka "Nativity of the Yavanas" (150 CE).
The mention of Alexandria on the Caucasus, "the city of the Yonas" in the Mahavamsa, Chapter 29 (4th century CE).
In general, the words "Yoṇa" or "Yoṇaka" were the current Greek Hellenistic forms, while the term "Yavana" was the Indian word to designate the Greeks or the Indo-Greeks.
This usage was shared by many of the countries east of Greece, from the Mediterranean to Sindh:
Egyptians used the word ywnj-ꜥꜣ.
In Arabic it is Yūnān.
Assyrians used the word Iawanu.
Babylonians used the word Yaman and Yamanaya.
In Biblical Hebrew, the word was יוון Yāwān (Modern Hebrew Yavan)
Persians used the word Yauna from the Old Persian word for designating the Greeks, namely "Yauna" (literally 'Ionians', as they were the first Greeks with whom the Persians had extensive contact.
Official source
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