A country and its people. The name is probably the Páli equivalent for Ionians, the Baktrian Greeks. The Yonas are mentioned with the Kambojas in Rock Edicts v. and xii of Asoka, as a subject people, forming a frontier district of his empire. The country was converted by the Thera Mahárakkhita, who was sent there after the Third Council (Mhv.xii.5; Dpv.viii.9; Sp.i.67). In the time of Milinda the capital of the Yona country was Ságala (Mil.1). It is said (Mhv.xxix.39) that at the Foundation Ceremony of the Mahá Thúpa, thirty thousand monks, under Yona Mahádhammarakkhita, came from Alasandá in the Yona country. Alasandá was evidently the headquarters of the Buddhist monks at that time. Alasandá is generally identified (See, e.g., Geiger, Mhv. Trs. 194, n.3) with the Alexandria founded by the Macedonian king (Alexander) in the country of the Paropanisadae near Kábul.
In the Assaláyana Sutta (M.ii.149), Yona and Kamboja are mentioned as places in which there were only two classes of people, masters and slaves, and the master could become a slave or vice versa. The Commentary (MA.ii.784) explains this by saying that supposing a brahmin goes there and dies, his children might consort with slaves, in which case their children would be slaves. In later times, the name Yavaná or Yoná seems to have included all westerners living in India and especially those of Arabian origin (Cv.Trs.ii.87, n.1). Yonaka, statues, holding lamps, were among the decorations used by the Sákyans of Kapilavatthu (MA.ii.575). The language of the Yavanas is classed with the Milakkhabhásá (E.g., DA.i.276; VibhA.388).
The Anguttara Commentary (AA.i.51) records that from the time of Kassapa Buddha the Yonakas went about clad in white robes, because of the memory of the religion which was once prevalent there.