The Persian invasion in India
The Persians invaded India between 600 BC and 400 BC. The Achaemenid rulers of Persia, Cyrus the Great and Darius I, led the invasions. The Persians took advantage of the disunity of the Indian kings and rulers. The Persians invaded in two phases:
- Cyrus invaded around 535 BCE.
- Darius invaded in 518 BCE.
The Persians ruled over the North-West of India until the 4th Century BC. The Persians were the first to invade India, and were followed by the Greeks. The Greek invasion was led by Alexander.
The first Persian ruler to invade India was Cyrus, who led the first phase of the Persian invasion around 535 BCE. Cyrus was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire. He invaded as far as the Indus valley and defeated the Gandhara kingdom.
The Parsis are an ethnoreligious group in India who trace their origins to Persia. The Parsis are descendants of Persian Zoroastrians who migrated to India to avoid religious persecution by Muslims. The Parsis are believed to have migrated to India during and after the Arab conquest of the Persian Empire. The Parsis are believed to have sailed across the Arabian Sea and landed in Gujarat, a state in western India, sometime between 785 and 936. The Parsis are one of the smallest ethno-religious communities in India, with around 57,264 members.
