Intercourse between India and the Western World.

I NTKRCOURSK BKTWKKX

INDIA

AND THK

WESTERN WORLD

FROM THE KARUKST TIMES TO THE
FALL OF ROME

BY

H. G. RAWLINSON, M.A., I,E,S.

I*fcilo-tf of Eii|*lwh m flif DrriMit rollqt% Ihmm
Attfhor of H&hrM) 'Tkf Itittwy <?/ <t Km firs,

/ V/tfi/iVi t /fi.

Cambridge:

at the University Press
1916

;rr . _ ^^ ^^yy.M^plBW

PREFACE

I HAVE attempted, in this monograph, to
furnish a snrrmd account of the infc-wnirst 1

between India and the finrn-'Re>m;ui world from
the earliest times to the fall of Kowe. This
subject has never, so far as 1 am uwnre, been dealt
with as a whole in any English woik. Yet if is
replete with inlnvsl to the student of ffrllmism
in its wider and more neglected aspects, and to
\)rientalists, who depend lar^-ly upon in

(keek and Roman authors for informal i<m
many obsmro points of Indian History,

1 have, so far as consulted uvcry

passage bearing upon India in Roman and Greek
Literature. Many, but not all, of these

passages have annotated, and

translated by the late I)r J* W* Mr.CriiulIt% in his
six valuable volumes of of

On the monograph is

very largely though I have, in nearly every

ease, referred to the original to

the translation*

*

vi Preface

The difficulties of a work of this kind are
considerable in India, where up-to-date libraries
are few and far between, and the verification of
references is proportionately tedious and laborious.
I owe, therefore, a special debt of gratitude to
Professor E, J. Rapson, who has read through my
proofs, made numerous suggestions and corrections,
and assisted me in many ways; to Dr P. Giles,
Master of Emmanuel College, for criticisms and
references; and lastly, to the authorities of the
University Press, for their unfailing courtesy and
promptitude. The map is reproduced by kind
permission of Messrs Longmans, Green and Co. ;
the coin plate was prepared at the British Museum,
under Professor Rapson's directions. The photo-'
graphs are produced with the permission of the
Director General of Archaeology, with the excep-
tion of the Javanese plate, which I owe to Mr
H. J. Lewis, of the Atelier at Soerabaia.

H. G. RAWLINSON.

POONA, 1916.

CONTENTS

CHAP,

L FROM THE EAKUKST TIMES TO HIE FALL OF
BABYLON ..,,,..

!L THE PKKSIAN PI?KKUX HKKODOTUS;

III. THE MAUKYA EMPIRE* Mn,. \.unvM .

IV- GREEK AND SKMt-flKfliiK 'nvw.m", w HIE
PANJAH .,.*.,.

V, THK Prou^Mtv.s ......

VI. INDIA AND TSII-; Eunitft ,

VIL INDIA AND mi KOMAN (rr^/iVr.v/-./) ,

?KS1K HKtWIWN

VJ1L TllKKM--it;i., IW THK

INDIA AN HIE WI^HI
BmuorfXAiniY

INDEX .

PAGE

i

fft
33

88
icri
127

*53

UaVf RATIONS

A HINDU $iiii* ;\KKIVI.\, AT JAVA

(!\.uo Pi K-.m) ,

l/i yStiy ^ 64

AKD

. i

KuvEftA JIM T .\jo-Ci4j.'

85

to />. 154

MAP

INDIA

ERRATA

p. 5, 1. 7 for Tamralipti read Tamralipti

p. 17, footnotes, 1. 7 for Banbury read Bunbury

p. 25, 1. 15 for Uttarakuru read Uttara-kuru

p. 27, I 4 for Paschddangulajas read PascMdangulajas

p. 47, footnotes, 1. 4 for Sakuntald read Sakuntald

L 7 for TA0 Tamils a Hundred years ago read

Tamils eighteen hundred years ago
p- 59 footnotes, 1. i for Kalanus read Kalanos
p. 90, footnotes, 1. 4 for Rhinocolura read Rhinokolura
p. 100, 1. 20 for Seleucids read SeleuMds
p. 142, footnotes, 1. 6 for Loeb read Loeb
p. 162, 1. 19 for Takhasila read Takshasila

for Antalkidas read Antialkidas
p. 163, footnotes, 1. 5 for Panemus read Panemus
p. 164, footnotes, 1. i for Scythic Kings read Scythic Coins
p. 170, 1. 23; p, 172, 1. 3; p. 174, 1. 3 for Kalidasa read KaHdasa

CHAPTER 1

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FALL
OF BABYLON

* Ouinquirrim'S of Nineveh from distant Ophir

Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine :
With cargoes of ivory, and apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, wlanvood, and sweet, white wine/

J. MASKFIKLD,

FROM prehistoric times, three great trade-
routes have connected India with the West. The
easiest, and probably the oldest of these, was the
Persian Gulf route, running from the mouth of the
Indus to the Euphrates, and up the Euphrates to
where the road branches off to Antioch and the
T-evantinc ports. Then there was the overland
route, from the Indian to Balkh, and from

lEJalkh either by river, down the Oxus to the
Caspian, and from the Caspian to the Euxinc, or
entirely by land, by the caravan road which skirts
tlie Karmanian Desert to the north, through

tJhe Caspian Gates, and reaches Antioch by way of
Ktesiphon and Hekatompylus, Lastly, is

thte circuitous sea route, down the Persian and
Arabian coasts to Aden, up the Red Sea to Suez,

R, L

2 * From the Earliest Times

I

I and from Suez to Egypt on the one hand and Tyre

I and Sidon on the other. It must not be supposed,

i of course, that merchandise travelled from India

to Europe direct. It changed hands at great

; .'. emporia like Balkh, Aden or Palmyra, and was

\ often, no doubt, bartered many times on the way.

I This accounts for the vagueness and inaccuracy

| of the accounts of India which filtered through to

| the West in early times. A story is always vastly

| ! changed in passing through many hands.

[ i Trade between the Indus valley and the

J ; Euphrates is, no doubt, very ancient. The earliest

; trace of this intercourse is probably to be found in

[] the cuneiform inscriptions of the Hittite kings of

; Mitanni in Kappadokia, belonging to the fourteenth I

* or fifteenth century B.C. These kings bore Aryan j

f names, and worshipped the Vedic gods, Indra,

| i Mitra, Varuna, and the Asvins, whom they call by

| their Vedic title Ndsatyd. They were evidently j

i i closely connected, though we cannot yet precisely I

i determine how, with the Aryans of the Vedic Age,

jj j who were at that time dwelling in the Panjab 1 . ?

*{ j Jt has been claimed that the word Sindhu, found j

1( f in the library of Assurbanipal (668-626 B.C.), is |

t use d in the sense of "Indian cotton/' and the

: ' word is said to be much older, belonging in reality

| to the Akkadian tongue, where it is expressed by

f - 1 These names were discovered by Prof. Hugo Winckler

1 on a cuneiform tablet at the Hittite capital of Boghazkoi,

'i in I 97- See Ed. Meyer in vol. 42 of Kuhn's Zeitschrifi.

: and tte discusaons by Oldenburg, Keith, Sayce, and
Kennedy in J.R.AS. 1909, pp, 1094-1119.

to tke Fall of Babylon 3

ideographs meaning " vegetable cloth 1 /' Assur-
banipal is known to have been a great cultivator,
and to have sent for Indian plants, including the
"wool-bearing trees" of India. At any rate, we
know that the cotton trade of western India
is of great antiquity. The Indians, when the
Greeks J&rst came into contact with them, were
dressedln "wool grown on trees 2 . " In the Rig Ved^ r
Night and Dawn are compared to "two female
weavers 3 /* We may perhaps trace to this source
the Greek <rw&v> the Arabic satin (a covering),
and the Hebrew sadfn*. Similarly the Hebrew
karpas and the Greek Kdpwatrog come from, the
Sanskrit karpasa* Logs of Indian teak have been
found in the temple of the Moon at Mugheir (the
" Ur of the Chaldees ") and in the palace of Nebu-
chadnezzar, both belonging to the sixth century n.c*,
and we know that the trade in teak, ebony, sandal-
wood and blackwood, between Barygaza and the
Euphrates, was still flourishing in the second cen-
tury A.D. 5 In the swampy country at the mouth of
the Euphrates, nothing but the cypress grows well
On the obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 860 B.C., are
apes, Indian elephants, and Baktrian camels ; and

1 Say cc, Hibbert Lectures, 1887, P* *38- Max M(Uler,

Physical Religion (1891), p. 25, This has been since doubted,
however.

a Herod, in. 106. * Rig-Vela, n, 3, 6,

4 Mentioned in Isaiah in. 23, among the foreign
imported, into Judaea* The A.V. translates it " fine linen/ 1
Linen and cotton are often confused in ancient literature,
Flax, of course, came from Egypt,

5 Periplm Mam Efythmei* 3,6* *

IMV**

4 From the Times

in one of the Jafaka stories* rulird flic*
Jataka 1 , we hear of Indian intnlj.inl wh
periodical voyages to the land of /inform H *,:!' !"ii
There were very few birds in that Miwh \ t atut on
their first visit the merchants brought with thrtti
an Indian crow, which excited ,t-lmi'. !i *.*.

But on a subsequent they tnk a \%m

derful performing and Ilir poor < rv,

found himself quite eclij&wl !

Indians appear in tlioht ck\s to
experienced sailors* Early Indian Htt
tains abundant rcfercnrt*s to shij^ nitl M
and bears testimony to thr nkjJl ami <
Hindu mariners in remote* (inirx Tin ir ,
allusions in the JR^gf F^fe to vi\ ,r.i iiv
the longest of these passa*;r>, wt lirai of
to distant islands, and gall<\s with a tmu.n
Evidently from early days the Indian ,u
ships larger than usually * mpi, ,\ . ,1 rV i n ,il

a much later date in the Modifmanr;m, In Hir
story of the invasion of Ceylon, {<*.<! vhh m tlif
sixth century B.C., by the j r icv \1j4V4

and Ms Mowers, we hear of a ship i urn};;!* tr*
hold over seven hundred pw|ik^, Hits m,iy IH*
an exaggeration, but ivfuvnn-. (o s hi,i s hiWiu r

atiu;

i

In

1 ;n ;

n tmjlt

1 Trans. Cowell and R0 (ComhrWR.. i W7 ). in p, ^
Tins tale^probably dat from tk* Wt h tw , wy WM j^ ^ ,
Mmayef first drew attaatioa to thin point

Wflt L as* 7, 56. a, w , 7l m, f ; n, 4Ht

Bt ^ 1<V ^ 0/lfe

i, 1x6. 3. *

4 Mahamms^ Tr, Toraour, Cfcu vi fin.

to the Pall of Babylon 5

three 1 , five 2 , and even seven 3 hundred people are to
be found in the Jaiaka stories. Indeed,, Buddhist
literature in particular abounds in allusions to
sen -voyages, and we gather that traders visited
Babylon, Ceylon, and the Golden, Chersonese
(SiwM'iiMiTimi}*. The chief ports were Champa
and Tajnralipti on the east coast, and Bharukaccha
and SuppHra on the west 5 . The exports in which
they dealt were various kinds of birds and beasts,
including, curiously enough, the valuable Sind
horses **, ivory, cotton goods, jewels, gold, and
silver. Emigration was not uncommon. One of
the most interesting of these early references to
sea-borne traffic is to be found in the Kevaddhu
Suita*, where we read how long ago merchants
sailed far out of sight of the coast, taking "shore-
sigh ting " birds, which were released from time to
time, in order that they might guide the mariners
to land* This custom, which reminds us of the
familiar episode of the story of Noah, is mentioned
by Pliny 1 and Kosmas Indikopleustes as existing
the Sinhalese*

1 Cambridge eci XL 128 (V&labassa Jataka)* s Ibid.

8 Ibid. iv. 138 (Supp&raka JStofca). For the whole

see Mukerji, Indian Shipping, Ch. in (Longmans,

1 Mahajanaka J&taka, Cambridge eel VL 32 ; Sankka
Jafaka, ibid. VL 15*

81 Su /%#. tin* Supp&raka Jataka* Cambridge eel iv. 138.

Kui^ka-Kuccki-Sindava-Jataka, Cambridge ed. n, 287
^1

7 Rhys Davids, J.R.A.S. 1899, p* 432. Probably fifth
*C* s IV JJ. VL 22, *

6 From the Earliest Times

The Persian Gulf trade was at first principally in
the hands of the Chaldaeans, a troublesome nation,
given to piracy, but they were exterminated
in 694 B.C. by Sennacherib with the aid of
a great fleet which he built upon the Tigris,
Sennacherib, after breaking up this nest of pirates*
sent them to dwell in Gerrha, where the lyat was
so fierce that they were forced to use blocks of
salt to build their houses 1 . The trade of the
Persian Gulf then fell into the hands of the ubi-
quitous Phoenicians, a colony of whom, ruvonllng
to Justin 2 , had settled in the Babylonian marshes,
having been driven out of their own land by earth-
quakes. Abundant evidence of the pivscwv of
these merchants was visible in the days of Strabo
on the Bahrein Islands, at the mouth of the IVrsian
Gulf 3 . These remains have lately been excavated
and many interesting relics were ivr.uvm'd 1 .

The Bahrein Islands were the port of call
where ships took in water before sail for

India, as the inhospitable MekrSn had no-

thing to of er them. The immense trade with all
nations carried on by the Phoenicians may be
estimated by studying the remarkable passage in
which the prophet EzekieF prophesies the over-
throw of the great city of Tyre IE 573 BC., by

1 strabo > Geog. xvi. 53. Justin, XVHL 3, 2,

3 Geog. xvi. 3. 3-5, He says the were with
Phoenician temples.

4 They are in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. Sec
the Report, Archaeological Survey,

5 Ch. xxvft d $eq.

to the Pall of Babylon 7

Nebuchadnezzar IL " Tarshish was thy mer-
chant by reason of the multitude of thy riches :

with silver, iron, tin and lead, they traded for
thy wares. . . . Dan also, and Javan, going to
and fro, occupied in thy fairs ; bright iron, cassia
and calamus were in thy market, . * .And in their
wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thae,
and lament over thee, saying, * Who is there like
Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the
midst of the sea ? When thy wares went forth
out of the seas, them filledst many peoples ; then
didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multi-
tude of thy riches and thy merchandise/ " Hero-
dotus refers to the Phoenician ships as 4I taking
to long voyages, loading their ships with Assyrian
and Egyptian wares 1 /'

In 606 B.C. came the overt! \ row of the Assyrian
empire, and Babylon took the place of Nineveh
as queen of western Asia, In the crowded market-
places of that great city met the races of the world,
Ionian traders, Jewish captives, Phoenician
merchants from distant Tarshish, and Indians from
the Panjab, who came to sell their wares* " At
Babylon/' says Berosus, " there was a great
resort of people of various races (wa\v wX^&o^
&vBp&v a\\o0v&v), who inhabited Chaldaea and
lived in a lawless fashion/* We have already
referred to the Jataka story of the Indian
merchants who went to Babylon. A Babylonian
colony may have sprung up on the borders of

1 Herod. L 50*

8 From the Earliest Times

India, for Strabo tells us that the followers of
Alexander found at Taxila a marriage-market
conducted on the well-known Babylonian principle 1 .
The intercourse between India and the Semitic
nations was, however, mostly carried on by sea.
The journey from the defiles of the Hindu Kush
to the Mediterranean ports was long and dangerous:
the mountains, the deserts, and the mafiy wild
tribes which lay in the path, presented an almost
insurmountable barrier. The old story of the
invasion of India by Semiramis is, of course, a
fable, and emanates from the notorious Ktesias 2 .
There is, however, abundant evidence that such
a route existed from very early times. An axe-
head of white jade, which could only have come
from China, has been found in the second city of
Troy 3 . " The most ancient part of Indian art/'
says a recent critic, " belongs to the common
endowment of early Asiatic culture which once
extended from the Mediterranean to China and
as far south as Ceylon, where some of the most
archaic motifs survive in the decoration of pottery.
To this Mykenaean facies belong all the simpler
arts of woodwork, weaving, metalwork, pottery,
etc., together with a group of designs including
many of a remarkably Mediterranean aspect,

1 Strabo, Geog. xv. i. 61.

2 McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 10, note. The story is
told at length in Diodoras Siculus, n. 16-20. Semiramis is
probably Samnmrammat, wife of Adad-Nirari IV, 810-782 B.C.
She never went near India, or, indeed, east of the Tigris

. 3 ScHiemann, Ilios, p. 240.

to the /%// of

others incur likely orif.;in;'fin^ in \wsf<<rn Asia*
The wide < xfenMon and <'un<>i>frnry of this culture
throughout Asia In the second millrmiium B.C.,
throws iiMpvt;jnt light on ancient track inter-
course iif the time when the *';tr*frru Mfditt-rnmenn
formed the \v- Jim boundary of the ejvili/ed
world 1 /* No d*ubt tlie ',ir;ivan> travelled from
hmtu mortal times to tin* yreat < 4 inpnTiuiu of
n,ikfn. win it* thf* ro;uU from India, Cliiita, and
Ihr W(H| muvrrgrd ; flit*!"! 4 flip < % ai{{<M*s wc*ri*
lji|'|-d on t* rafts and Hatted down fin* Oxus to
tin <*; j-i.'ii f and tlu'tuv, partly bv land and partly
by rivf*r ( to th* 1 Kuxin<\ < >r fist*, travelling entirely
liv land, th* lUfivhants ioHowed the |;rtmt rciad
uliich ^{ill^kiitstlie K,:tia.uiuu Desert to them>rth f
passes (li!'U"Ji flie '*a plan dates* and irn^hij*
tlit* Iniplinitt'H at Thap a* 11 . ends at Antioch and
tin Levaiiftile |u*it *''*.

flie third, aiu! pi-ihap tile most imp*irtan( of
tin* trade rniift^ lx*t\vt*i*n Indli and the Went, was
that wlirli ran from lite iisniitlt of the Red Sea to
India up the Arabian roust* Its imjxtilanre lien
in lite fail (hut it linked Iiidln nol only to tlte gold-
iM-his ind tin* fahuloirJy wealthy iwvnse nmntry
ot "litinui Anibiii and SMinaliland, hut to
1 I t*ouur*i -A,tii4V lf/\ I t

p, i%Jf, Jtnsw>l vimatkahlf * *;.imj>I" i. that t>l th

<li r miflt liiur Iwwiir* 4iul 4 wtntl* 1 in aid* TltU (Iisi^ii, hmml
all civrr {full.!, fnifti ftp* Ajaitta t vt** to l^iiijtut 4 , in li|iiri*cl
4*11 t(*haHtlii!j v** r >*M*Hiu* 4\tlit*nt IM . (Morin J
rfr* i

s 1L I,

10

From the Earliest Times

and Judaea. Through Judaea, Indian goods found
another outlet, by way of the adjacent ports of their
allies of Tyre and Sidon, to the Mediterranean.

For unknown years the Egyptians had traded
in the Red Sea, fetching spices from the "land ot
Punt" and from Arabia Felix. No doubt from
time to time Indian goods were brought in.Arabian
vessels to the ancient emporium of Aden. .But
the Egyptians were poor sailors. About the
thirteenth century before Christ, however, a great
impetus to the Red Sea trade was given, if we may
trust the Jewish chroniclers, by the Phoenicians
David king of Judah, had conquered Edom, and
had thrown open to the Jews the valuable ports of
Elath and Ezion Geber 1 . He had also formed an
alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre. Solomon, on
his accession, suggested to Hiram's son the pro-
priety of establishing a Phoenician trading station
in the Red Sea, and the Tyrian monarch, nothing
loth equipped a fleet of " ships of Tarshish 2 ," at
Ezion Geber. The "navy of Tarshish" made a
triennial voyage to the East, bringing back with
them a vast quantity of gold and silver, ivory,
apes, peacocks, and " great plenty of almug trees
and precious stones 3 ." The port at which they
shipped these goods was Ophir, a place famous
for its gold, so much so indeed that the expression

1 The modern Akaba, at the head of the eastern arm of
the Red Sea. In Roman times the port was known as Aelana
and the gulf as the Sinus Aelaniticus.

2 i.e. sea-going vessels, such as were used for long voyages.

3 I Kings n. 26, X. 21 ; II Chronicles ix. 21, and xvn. 18.

to the Pall of Babylon 1 1

" gold of Ophir" became proverbial in Hebrew 1 .

At first sight it appears as if the port of Ophir

must have been somewhere on the Indian coast.
India was famous for its gold* Ophir appears as
Sa^a/oa in the Septuagint, and Sophir is a term

applied in Coptic to southern India. Abhlra 2
and Stippara s have also been proposed. Jose-
phtis even locates it in the Golden Chersonese 4 !
Then again, most of the articles of commerce
mentioned in the Jewish annals have names which
may be traced to Indian originals. Thus " ivory "
is in the Hebrew text shen habbin*, t elephant's
teeth/* a literal translation of the Sanskrit ibha-
danta* The lf almug ** is in Sanskrit and Tamil
ualgu* The word used for " ape " is not the
ordinary Hebrew one, but koph, obviously the
Sanskrit kapi* " Peacocks " are thuki-im, the
Tamil tokei. Again, there is the curious resem-
blance between the Makoshadha Jataka and the
story of the Judgement of Solomon. In the former
story, the Buddha, incarnate in a former birth
as of the Raja of Benares, has to adjudicate

between two women, each of whom claims a
certain infant* Now one of the women was a

1 # Job xxn* 24, XXVIIL 16, Psalm XLV. 9, Isaiah
xni. is, in addition to passages already cited.
d Lossen, Ind. Alt, i, 538.

* Benfey, Indien, 30, in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopaedia.

* Ant. Jwt viii, 2* For a summary and bibliography of
the Ophir literature, see Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, $.v
The best authority is Glaser, Skizze der Geog* Arab. (1890),
11 * 353- Ophir is between Sheba and Kavilah, Gen, X, 29,

s Hablrin is no doubt a corruption of ibha* *

12

From the Earliest Times

* r ghoul, who had stolen the child to
devour it. The Buddha ordered one woman to
seize the child's head and the other his legs and
to pull, and each should keep what they got. The
ghoul, of course, assents, but the rightful mother
consents to give up her share of the infant, rather
than hurt him. To her the Buddha gives the
child 1 , This story, however, may have readied
India from Babylon at the time of the Captivity
(595-538 B.C.). Again, it is unlikely that the
Phoenicians, bold sailors as they were, ever
accomplished the lengthy voyage from Suez to
an Indian port, particularly a South Indian port,
in the primitive vessels then in use. It must tie
remembered that early mariners could not go
very far from the coast 2 , and the voyai.;rr would
have to go right up the Arabian and Persian coasts,
an enormously long way. It is much more pro-
bable that Ophir was an entrepdt on the shores of
Arabia, where Indian and Phoenician alike brought
their wares and bartered them* " Primi 1 1 w trade/ 1
it has been said, " passes from tribe to tribe
port to port." Ophir was probably at the mouth
of the Persian Gulf, on the coast of Oman- Hither
came for export the gold from the rich ields of

1 Cambridge ed. VL 163. The story is part of the

Jataka. See also Rhys Davids, Introcl

XIV*

2 Even the Indian mariner with Ms " "
birds, was probably never more than fifty land,
The voyag.es to Babylon, Ceylon, Emma, etc, all
voyages.

to the Fall of Babylon 1 3

southern Arabia which has made Ophir famous.

After the death of Solomon, the trade of KEICIII
Geber gradually declined with the chequered
fortunes of the Jewish nation- Jehosluiphat trlrci
to revive it, but his fleet met with disaster 1 witsidi*
the port- The Edomites revolted and were* re-
pressed with difficulty, though the nri^hbnurin.^
port of Elath was in, Jewish hands until its capture 1
by Tiglath-pileser.

The general effect of this inlrivnuix 1 upon any
of the countries conrrrnrd was not very
Articles of commerce, hranng tlutir Indian i
reached, as we have already seen, the u
world from time to time* Indian ivory I .
widely known in the Mc*dil<Tnuir;m at an early
date* The Egyptian word like the Italian

ebur, is clearly the Sanskrit ihha. The Greek runt
eAc/Kw>7S like tlie TI< : 1m*\r word, appear*, to
represent ibha-danta, ]>erha ps with the Arabic
el*. If this is so, the word is an wti-ivr-.fm^ hybii*!,
betraying an Indian origin and Arabian c'cnvryaur,'
to Europe. The word Is found in llunu*r, as h
also Ka(r<rtTcp<><;, the Sanskrit Tin anil

ivory reached Greece at an early period from India.

The " ape/* like the ivory of Snlcmmn, also fwim!
its way to Egypt, if the K{jyptian Hkr tiie

TT<.j]>Hnv koph, comes from kapi. sub-

stances which Dngliially came from I)r;iviMi;in

1 I Kings xxiL 48 ; 11 Chron. xx. j6.
* There is, h<twc'\'cr t a gnoct deal nl doubt about thh
prefix. Another poMwiblc derivution in the Hebrew ox,

like the bos Lucas of Lucre! ins,

II

: f 14 From the Earliest Times

\ *

ports, we may mention rice, which, like ivory, was
originally brought to Europe by Arab traders.
The Tamil arisi become aruz in Arabian and
opva in Greek 1 . Other articles of trade which
reached Europe at various dates from Dravidian
ports are aloes (Tamil aghil, Hebrew ahal) ;
| cinnamon (Tamil karppu, Greek KapTnov, first

mentioned by Ktesias) ; ginger (Tamil % inchiver,
: Greek tyy#?e/>t$) ; pepper (Tamil pippali, Greek

; TCTCPI) ; and the beryl-stone (Tamil and San-

f skrit vaidwya, Greek fiyjpv\\o$). The presence

of the African Baobab (Adansonia digitata} in the
Tinavelly district has been traced to early traders
from Africa 2 .

Whether India was affected in the prehistoric
\ period by her contact with her nearer and more

I powerful neighbours, the Assyrians and Baby-

; lonians, is an interesting question. The Brahmt-

1 I script, the parent script, of India, was borrowed

; from Semitic sources, probably about the seventh

1 See, for the history of Rice, Hewitt, R.S.A. Journal,
1890, p, 730.

2 Caldwell, Dravidian Grammar, vol. i. Introduction.
Ginger, pepper and the beryl do not occur before Pliny. The
word " crimson " (Skt. krimi, a worm, cl vermeil) is another
example. Practically all these articles are Dravidian, it should
be noted, either because in early days Dravidians still held
the west coast of India as far as Broach, or because many
articles of commerce from South India were sent north for
export. The Baobab may have come much later, with the
African Mohammedans, or with the Portuguese. The latter
both in India and Africa, make a kind of sherbert from the
fruit *

to the Fall of Babylon 15

century B.a 1 The influence of Babylonian mytho-
logy may perhaps be detected in Hindu literature.
The myth of the Fish Incarnation of Vishnu in
the ^atapatha Brahman is reminiscent of the
Babylonian stories of the Flood 2 , Chaldaean as-
tronomy may be responsible for the division of
the sky into twenty-four nakshatras, and perhaps
we may frace to this ultimate source the, division
of the week into seven days, named after the
sun, moon, and five planets. This, liowcvor, was
apparently borrowed directly from Alexandria, by
the Indians, as it is only mentioned in the later
astronomical works s . The relation between the
earliest Indian and Babylonian, weights and mea-
sures is obscure 4 * In architecture, India owed
very little to Babylon, though she borrowed certain
details of ornamentation, such as the belt-capital
and the lion-pillar, indirectly from Assyria through
Persia. Babylonian architecture, owing to the lack
of good building stone, was never remarkable,
" Babylonian temples are massive, but shapeless
structures of crude brick supported by buttresses 5 /

1 Bfihler, Indian Studies, m. 1895* Perhaps, as Biihler
says, from the type of writing represented by the Moabite Stone
(890 B.C.). But his arguments are not altogether s,-if isfndory.

a This legend Is as old as the Atharva Veda, and Is found
in the Avcsta (Lindner, Die Iranische Flutsage, in Roth's
Festgrust, 2. 13). For a detailed bibliography, see Macdonell's
Vedic Index (1912), p, 430, note.

8 Barnett, Antiquities of India t ch. vi, note.

4 The Mana Mr any ay & of Rig Veda, vni- 72. 8 may be
the Babylonian and Greek /*m,

& Encyc, Brit, Kith cd. s,v. Babylonian Art, ,

li

CHAPTER II

THE PERSIAN PERIOD. HERODOTUS: KTESIAS

IN 538 B.C. the last of the great Semitic
Empires of western Asia came to an end. Cyrus
and his Iranians stormed the walls of Babylon,
and the Persian monarch took the title of " Lord
of Sumer, Akkad, Babel and the four quarters
of the world/' His successor, Darius, built up
a great kingdom on the foundations thus prepared
for him. His farsighted schemes, which gained
for him the contemptuous epithet /CCCTT^XOS, The
Pedlar, from his nobles, included the conquest of
the remote Iranian tribes on the east of the Kar-
manian Desert. Darius, however, did not stop
here. The wealth of the nations of the Indus
valley had long been known to the Assyrians and
Babylonians, and he determined to add this
district to his domains. He probably, like Alex-
ander, advanced upon India from Baktra, and
reaching the river Indus at the town of Kaspapyrus
(perhaps Kasyapapura), " a frontier city of
Gandhara, on the Skythian borderland/' says
Hekataeus 1 , sent an expedition under a Greek
mercenary, Skylax of Karyanda, to explore the

1 Frag. 178. It is in the country of Paktyike, adds Hero-
dote (iv. 44), who twice mis-spells the word as Kaspatyrus.
It is not to T)e connected with Kashmir (Kasyapa-mlra), or,

The Persian Period. Herodotus: Ktesias 1 7

river down to its mouth, and when he reached the
sea, to sail home, examining on the way the coast-
line and its chief features. Presumably Skylax
had orders to find his way to the Red Sea, and
not to return by the shorter Persian Gulf route,
with which, probably, the Persians were already
perfectly* well acquainted. At any rate, he
found his way, after an adventurous voyage of
two and a half years' duration, to Arsinoe, the
modern Suez, already used by the Egyptians for
trade with the East 1 , From the time he took,
we may infer that Skylax proceeded in a leisurely
fashion, probably enquiring his way from port
to port and trading as he went. His road must
have lain along the old trade route to Ophir, and
from Ophir to Aden along the Arabian coast- To
Skylax, as far as we know, belongs the double
distinction of having been the first Greek to visit

of course, Kabul Paktyike Is the country of the Pakhtii,
Pashtu, or PathSns. The town, which was later celebrated
for its spikenard (Periplus, 48), was probably on the Kabul

river, which accounts for the fact that the voyagers sailed at
first eastward, as Herodotus says* (See Sir Aurel Stein,
Ancient Geography of Kalwfir (1889) J H* H. Wilson, Ariana

Antigua, p. 137 ; Lassen, Ind. All XL 630 ; Banbury, Ancient
Geography, L 226, note C.)

1 Herod, iv, 44. The date of the conquest of India by
Darius is between 516 B.C. and his death in 486 B.C. In the
BehistQn Inscriptions (a 516 B.C.) only Gandhfira and Paru-
paracsanna (Paropamisus) are mentioned. Indians are not

spoken of till the Persepolis and Naksh-i-Rastam inscriptions*
Hence the expedition took place about 510 B.C.

R, I.

1 8 The Persian Period.

India, and to make the Red Sea voyage. The latter
feat was not repeated till the days of Eudoxus,
three centuries later. The memoirs of Skylax
have unfortunately perished, though they may have
been utilized by Herodotus. Darius annexed the
Indus valley and made it the twentieth satrapy of
the Persian Empire. At that time the alluvial gold
fields of Dardistan produced an immense quantity
of gold, and the new province paid to the Great
King the enormous tribute of 360 talents of gold-
dust 1 . They also supplied a light division to
the Persian forces. The statement of Herodotus,
that the Persian fleet "frequented, the sea/' seems
to imply that Darius considerably developed the
sea-traffic 2 .

The Greeks, long before the annexation of the
Panjab by Persia, appear to have heard, in a dim
sort of way, of India. Homer speaks of two races
of Ethiopians, the western, or African Ethio-
pians, and the eastern Ethiopians 3 . The word

1 Herod, ra. 97. 360 talents of gold = 20,736 ft = 1,078,272.
No wonder the gold was soon worked out ! (Cunningham, Coins
of Ancient India, p. 12 ff.)

2 Mcra & TOWTOVS 'TrcpiTrAworairas, *IySovs re icarecrTpei/'aro
Aapcw><^/c<u rfi OaXavoy TOUTQ ^paro, IV. 44. Darius tried,

amongst other things, to re-open the Suez Canal, a project
attempted "by more than one of the Pharaohs, and
afterwards by Ptolemy Philadelphia. Probably this was
suggested to him by the report of Skylax on the richness of
the Red Sea traffic,

* Atftjraus rot 8^ Sc&arai, <r X arot di/Spwv,

oc py faroperov YxcptW, ot ff dvtovros. Od. I. 23.

Herodotus: Ktesias 19

Ethiopian is applied by Herodotus to the dark
Dravidians of southern India 1 , and probably even
in the Homeric age it was thought that Asia and
Africa united so as to enclose the Indian Ocean
like the Mediterranean 2 - In that case there would
be no incongruity in applying the word Ethiopian
to the dark peoples of India and Africa alike-
Even in those early days, Indian goods reached
Europe, as the words <?\$<X9, KaercrtrtpM, and
<ru>Sc<n> testify. The first writer, however, to
mention India is the father of Greek geography,
Hekataeus of Miletus, a contemporary of Sky lax 3 .
In the fragments of his lost work, the Periegesis,
eight Indian names occur the Indus, the Indi,
the city of Kaspapyrus, the country of the Gan~
darii, the Opiae and the Kalliatiae 4 , the Skiapodes 6 ,
and the city of Aragante, From Ms mention of

1 Herod, vw, 70, Ktesias also calls the Indians Ethio-
pians, Even the late Barlaam and Josaphat, 8th cent, A.D. Is
actually described in the Preface as coming tit ry* IvSorfyas

r&v Atl&Mirtov xtop&s, nys *Iv8<uv Aiyo/ui'^f 1

2 Alexander thought the Indus was the Nile, and the
idea of Africa joining Asia was entertained by Ptolemy, On
the other hand the fact that many voyagers attempted the
circumnavigation of Africa points to the fact that the belief
was not universally held. The word ** Aethiopian " is really
applied to Abyssinia (Itiopyavan), perhaps from Atyob, incense.

3 Fi c. 520 B.C. Expedition of Skylax to the Red Sea,
c. 512-510 B.C.

4 Kaliantiae in Herodotus, They are not identified.

5 A fabulous race, who lived, however, in Libya, according
to Ktesias. Here again India and Africa are confused-

20 The Persian Period.

Kaspapyrus, we may conclude that Hekataeus
came to know of India through the narrative of
Skylax. It is interesting to notice that the Greeks
talked of the " Indus " and " Indians/' whereas
the inhabitants of the country itself spoke of
" Sindhu, 1 ' " Sindhava." Later travellers noticed
this with surprise. " Indus incolis Sindus appel-
latus est," says Pliny, and the author of the Pen-
plus says that the river is locally called Sinthus.
The Persians softened the initial s, more sue, to h
(the Avesta word is Hindu) ; the lonians, having
no aspirate, made the word into " Iz/8osV The
word reached Greece through Persia. In the
same way, the Oriental nations heard chiefly of
the Greeks through the Ionian traders who had
colonized the coasts of Asia Minor. The word
for Greek in Hebrew 2 and Sanskrit is Yavana, and
Yauna in old Persian. This must date from a
time when the digamma was still in use. It is a
literal transcript of *ldFw. Yona, the Prakrit
word, is not, of course, derived from Yavana, but
it is a separate rendering of

1 Thus " India " is Greek, " Hindu " is Persian.

2 e.g. Ezekiel xxvii. 18, Isaiah LXXI. 19, etc. The Jews
identified the Javan of Genesis x. 2 with the lonians. So
Milton (PZ. 508) :

" Ionian gods of Javan's issue held."

3 The digamma, however, was lost as early as 800 B.C.
Hence it is possible that both Yavana and Yona are derived
from the old Persian Yaund. Probably the Indians heard
first of the lonians through the Persians.

,4

Herodotus: Ktesias 2,1

Herodotus, the first Greek writer about India
whose account has survived, was born in 484 B.C.,
at Halikarnassus, not far from Karyanda, the home

of Skylax, to whom he may owe not a little of his
knowledge. He tells us 1 that the Indians are the
last of all the nations on the eastern side of the
world ; for beyond the Panjab lay the limitless
Rajputana desert, the Mawtsthalt, or place of
death, stretching, as Herodotus thought, to the
end of the world. Indians, he says, are of many
nations, each speaking a different tongue- He
divides them, however, into two broad classes,
the dark, barbarous nomads, living in the marshes,
and the paler, refined Aryans of the Kaspapura
and Pakhtu districts of northern India, whom he
appropriately compares to their Iranian kinsmen of
Baktria 2 . Besides these, he adds, there are other
Indians in the far south, out of the sphere of
Persian influence, who resemble the Ethiopians*
These are plainly the Dravidian peoples. The
aborigines were in his opinion degraded savages.
Those of the marshes of the Indus wore clothes
made of rushes, lived (like their neighbours, the
famous Ichthyophagi of the Mekran) on raw

1 The following information is taken from Bk XH. 97-106.
The voyage of Skylax is mentioned in Bk iv. ch. 44.

$ Herod, in. 102, Arrian (Indika* vi) contrasts the
swarthy Dravidians (whom he compares to the Ethiopians)
with the fair Aryans ** who are white like the Egyptmns."
Ktesias saw two Indian men and five women " as fair as any
in the world" (Frag. i*"'9- McCrindle). Many Pathans
to-day are as fair as an Englishman.

22 The Persian Period,

fish 1 , and made rude boats out of a single joint of
the gigantic reeds growing near the river 2 . A neigh-
bouring tribe, the Padaei, (who may be the Bhfl
and other aboriginal races of central India, where
such practices were common till quite recent
times 3 ), even killed and ate their sick relatives.
This disgusting custom, which originates in a
religious superstition, was also carried on by certain
Skythian tribes 4 . Herodotus also makes a very
interesting reference to a religious sect who killed
nothing that had life, lived on a grain like millet,
and had no houses. It is impossible to help won-
dering whether we have not here a reference to
the Buddhists. Gautama, it will be remembered,

1 Dried fish still forms a staple food for Indians on the
coasts. This impressed the Greeks, who disliked most kinds
of fish.

2 Herod, in. 98-99. The " reed " is generally supposed
to be the giant bamboo. But no bamboo is large enough
to serve this purpose. Hence it has been suggested that the
palmyra tree is really meant. With its ringed trunk, It was
probably mistaken by Skylax and his companions for a kind
of bamboo. Megasthenes speaks of " reecls " 180 feet high
and three to six cubits in diameter (Strabo, xv. x, 56), Pliny
(N.H. vn. 2) says a section between two nodes of the Indian
reed will make a "dug-out" to carry three men. See
McCrindle's learned note to the passage of Strabo,

India, pp. 59-60.

3 Duncker, Gesch, des. AIL IL 268, In the Ramayanu
these aborigines figure as " demons " haunting the woods/

4 e.g. the Massagetae, Strabo, xi. 8. 6. also
notices this practice among the tribes of the Hindu Kush,
Strabo, xv. }. 56.

Herodotus: Ktesias 23

died in 488 B.C., four years before Herodotus was
born 1 .

Herodotus is the first writer to mention the
famous legend of the Indian ants who watched
over the gold which the Indians carried off in
order to pay the tribute due to the Great King.
It was said that this gold was guarded by gigantic
ants, but the Indians, mounted on swift she-camels,
plundered the gold at mid-day when the ants were
asleep in their holes, and made off, hotly pursued 1
These " ants " were smaller than dogs but larger
than foxes 2 , and threw up the gold in excavating
their burrows. Some of them were in the pos-
session of the Great King. Later writers talk of
having seen their skins 3 , or even (mir&bile dictu)
their horns ! This curious story arose from the
Sanskrit Paippilika* t ant-gold/' a term applied
to alluvial gold from its resemblance to the earth
of ant-hills 4 . The gold was earned off from, the

1 Buddhism spread to the Panjab very quickly. The
people of Gandhara claimed relationship with Gautama and, as
his relatives, a share in his ashes (Mahaflarinibbana Si4Ma*
S,B.E. XL 131).

2 Pliny says they were of the colour of cats and the size
of Egyptian wolves, N*H* xx. 31.

3 Megasthenes apud Strabo, xv, x, 44, and Schwanbeck's
note ad loc. Marten and other skins were early imported
from Thibet and central Asia* The famous statue of Anaitis
at Baktra was " clothed in beaver-skins/'

4 So Wilson, Anana Antiqua, p* 135, who quotes the
MatMharata (XL 1860) in support. See McCrindle,

India, pp. 44 and 51 (notes)*

l!

24 The Persian A;wr/.

miners of Dardistan, who still keep IHTCC yellow

mastiffs to guard their housrs. These* mastiffs
were the "ants 1 * of the legend The "horns,"
which Pliny 1 asserts were hung in the* tomple of
Hercules at Erythrae, won* tho hoi ns of wild she ep,
which, mounted in handles, an* still nsfd by the
miners and farmers of 1 lak as pickaxes. The
gold-fields of Dardistan wric <|iuVl<K oxhausted,
perhaps by the exorbitant demands of Persia,
They are seldom mentioned in lafrr HfriMlun--,
though Alexander, had h found thnn woiking,
would have almost certainly oxploiii<l them,
To-day they yield only itisigiiiftnitit quaufiiir^

On the whole, the dcroiinf givmi by Herodotus
of the Indian satrapy is raieful and n -urafi\ It
is no doubt drawn from \\w IcKt narrati\t* of
Skylax, or from other firht*haud rvidi'U'v*. He
mentions, among other things, tin* <xtntms of
heat and cold of the Panjab, the* Km of tl* animals
and birds, the crocodiles in the Indus, tin* horses
(which he considers inferior to tin* Mrdinit biml),
and the excellent wild~ootton, supeiinr to sheep's

i NJB. XL 36,

t e.g. Pliny's " Fertilkslmi stint auri DertliM*" (NJL 19,
67), which may, howuvt-r, merely Iw tin <*t:ho ctf iturlier
writers.

8 Sandrakottus was^ paid In tltavial as

probably from the " river/* the Sona or Iliianyalialm,

Strabo, xv. i. 57, It flowed his capital, lie
had no gold from the Paujlk

4 Probably' from the by

who had served IE India.

Herodotus: Ktesias 25

wool, of which the Indians made their clothes 1 .
Besides the legend of the gold-ants, one or two
Indian fables have crept, through Persia, into his
narrative. Thus the famous story of Hippo-
kleides 2 , who " didn't care " when he danced
away his wife, seems to have a close parallel in
the Jataka story of the silly young Peacock, who
danced so indecently that he shocked the father
of the golden Goose, and lost his wealthy bride,
The story of the wife of Intaphernes 3 , who pleaded
for her brother's life, because she could get another
son or husband, but not another brother, has been
traced to the Ucchanga Jataka*. The Hyper-
boreans, who play such a large part in con temp* >rury
Greek legend, are the Indian Uttarakum, trans-
ferred rather pointlessly from their home in the
holy Himalaya to Europe, where they are quite
out of place. Perhaps this legend may be traced
to Hekataeus, whose lost work <l on the Hyper-
boreans " is cited by Pliny, It is difficult, however,
to see where Hekataeus obtained his information,
unless the legend was current in Persia at an early
date.

1 Herodotus was also struck with the teeming population
of India, which contrasted strongly with the sparsely-inhabited

little Greek States. *lv$wv Sc irX^0o iroXXtp 7rX&nw Ivrl le&rrwv

r&v ty/&ct? $/A<V dvOpiartrw, in, <)4 Cf . Strabo, XL 5* 32*

* Herod, vi. no*
s Herod, in, 18.

4 No. 67, FausbSll See Tawney, Journal of Philology,
XXL 121.

26 The Persian Period.

The praise accorded to Herodotus for the
admirable sobriety and truth of his remarks
about India, cannot, unfortunately, be extended
to Ktesias. Ktesias made very poor use of his
opportunities he was for twenty years court-
physician to Artaxerxes Mnenaon at Susa, and
retired in 398 B.C. 1 He settled in Greece and
there wrote his Indika, fragments of which survive
in the abridgement of Photius and in other writers.
It is full of extravagant stories of monstrous people
and strange animals, and adds practically nothing
to our knowledge of India. Ktesias is responsible
for most of the grotesque legends about India
which fill the pages of classical and medieval
writers to the days of Sir John Mandeville 2 . It
may be stated, in excuse, that these fables are
repeated, with additions, even by sober writers
like Megasthenes, and are not originally due
to Greek invention 3 . They were coined in the
first instance by the Indians themselves, among
whom they apparently originated from exaggerated
descriptions of the strange features and repulsive

1 He was present at the battle of Kunaxa, and treated
Artaxerxes for his wound after it. The legends in the Indika
are treated at length in an appendix to this chapter. The
fragments have been edited by Muller and translated by
McCrindle.

2 Othello's " Anthropophagi and men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders."
a Nor was Ktesias the first to fall in this respect. Heka-
taeus mentioned the Skiapodes who used their gigantic feet
as umbrellas I

Herodotus: Ktesias 27

customs of the hated Dasyus -aborigines, Dravi-

dian and Mongolian whom they emtounteml

when the Aryans first invaded India, Thus the
Antipodes of Ktesias are the Pa&chadai}gtdajti
of the Mahabharata ; the Pygmies are the Kirata

the Mongolian hillmen of Bhotan or the wild
tribes of* the Assam frontier perhaps. But this
plea will not cover all the sins, of omission and
commission, of Ktesias. His Indian animals are
as fabulous as his Skiapodcs and Anthropophagi,
And a reference to the fragments of his companion
work, the Persika, shews that his other writ ings were
equally unreliable and uncritical Although he had
resided for years in Persia and had the < } pporf unity
of consulting the royal archives, he adds little, or
nothing, to our knowledge, of Persian history*
To him, for instance, we owe the fable of the
invasion of India by Semirarnis and the equally
absurd romances attached to the story of the
Skythian campaigns of Cyras the Great,

To the Persians, then, owes her first

knowledge, of India. Darius had both
and Indians as his subjects* Indian troops formed
the light division of the army of Xerxes : they
must have marched through the bloody defiles
of Thermopylae, and their usefulness caused them,
to be retained by Mardonius 1 after the retreat of
the king, to take part in the Boeotian campaign
which ended so disastrously at the Asopns, Ionian
officers m Persian employ, and probably Ionian
* l Herod, YIIL 113.

28 The Persian Period.

traders, visited the Panjab, But with the gradual
break-up of the Persian Empire, the practical
independence of eastern Iran, and the war with
Greece, the traffic between India and the West
sank to practically nothing. Probably the satrapy
of the Panjab, like Baktria, owed a merely nominal
allegiance, as time went on, to the courf? at Susa.
But the Persian Empire made a profound im-
pression upon the Indian mind. The Kharoshthl
script, introduced no doubt by the Persians in
their official documents, remained in use on the
North- West Frontier till the fourth century A.D.
The remains of Persian and Babylonian customs
at Taxila may point to this place as the capital
of the satrapy under the Persian Empire. The
Maurya Emperors, as we gather from the account
given by Megasthenes of the court of Sandra-
kottus 1 , lived in Persian style. The Indian, like
the Persian monarch, lived in seclusion, surrounded
by his guards, and only appearing at rare intervals.
The Buddhist architecture of Asoka, with its bell-
capitals and winged lions, shews many traces of
Persian influence 2 . Asoka's plan of propagating

1 Sandrakottus acquired these customs during his long
exile in the Panjab.

2 And also, of course, that of Assyria through Persia. The
fact that the Persian element is so thoroughly assimilated
(unlike the crude mixture of East and West in the Gandhara
sculptures) shews that Persian influence had been long felt in
India in the days of Asoka. Persia, no doubt, suggested
to Mauryan artists the use of stone instead of wood, brick,
and stucco.

Herodotus: Ktesias 29

the Dharma by means of inscriptions upon the
face of the rock, may have been borrowed from
similar practices in vogue among the Persians
for instance the Behistun inscription. Even the
Royal Road running through the Maurya domains
finds its parallel in Persia, How this influence
precisely crept in, we are, in our ignorance of the
history of the Panjab at this period, unable to say-
Was there a viceregal court at Taxila, where
Sandrakottus had seen the stately Persian cere-
monial in practice ? Or did he merely assume
Persian customs, as Alexander and the Syrian
Seleukids assumed them, because Persia, even in
decay, remained the greatest and most imposing
empire known to the world at that time ?

APPENDIX

L KTESIAS. Lassen 1 thinks the current opinion about
Ktesias is too harsh, in spite of the fact that he had ample
opportunities to question Persian officials who had been to
the Panjab, and confesses to having met certain Indians who
had come on an embassy to Persia. Lassen says that we are
unable to judge Ktesias fairly from the summary of Photius,
as Photius only extracted the marvellous stories. Unfor-
tunately, other writers who had an opportunity of judging
the work entire, have recorded their opinion. Thus Auius
Genius 2 , the eminent bibliophile, tells us that he bought a
copy of Ktesias on an old bookstall at Brindisium for a few
coppers, and was disgusted to find it full of absurd legends*
Lucian says that Ktesias wrote about things he had never

* Ind* Alt. (1874), IL 641- NocL AtL IK, 4,

30 The Persian Period.

seen, and had never heard from anyone else. In fact, the
testimony of the ancient writers concurs to prove that he set
out to write a pleasing narrative after the style of Gulliver's
Travels and nothing more. He takes some facts, e.g. that the
Indians were the last race in the world, from Herodotus 1 , and
some legends from Skylax. If the Hyparkhus is the Ganges,
he has the credit for a fresh geographical discovery. He says
that the Indus is between 40 and 100 stadia broad ^ that there
are no rains in India, but the land is watered by rivers which
overflow like the Nile ; that the surface of the sea is too hot
for fish to live in it ; that there is a spring containing liquid
gold. He tells the legend of the gold guarded by griffins.

On Indian plants he is a little more satisfactory. He
mentions the cinnamon, giving it its Tamil name karppu
(KapTTiov) 2 ; also the cocoa-nut, the Indian reed (probably
the palmyra, though Lassen says the bamboo), and the fact
that there are male and female palms. He mentions cotton, as
do most Greek writers on India. He also speaks of the " sweet
wine " (tactt) of the palm 3 . With regard to animals, on the
contrary, he indulges in the most ludicrous legends. He
speaks fairly sensibly, indeed, of the elephant, the jackal and
the parrot. The wild ass, or unicorn 4 , whose horn has such
wonderful properties, may be the rhinoceros, and the Skolex,
a gigantic worm with two huge teeth, living in the Indus and
preying on animals, may be the crocodile. But the descrip-
tions are wildly inaccurate. The Martichora, with its triple
rows of teeth, the sting in its tail, and other strange attributes,

1 Lassen denies this. If it is argued that Ktesias could
not get more accurate facts, we have only to compare his
narrative with that of Herodotus.

2 Ktesias saw a small quantity of cinnamon oil sent from
India as a present. He says it had a most exquisite fragrance.
But is he thinking of attar of roses ?

3 He had tasted this and liked it greatly.

4 Kapra<oov ; the Skt. khadga.

Herodofus; Ktesias 31

is the man-eating tiger, but the picture is wilfully 1 distorted,
almost out of recognition. The dung of the bird Dikairos,
which produces sleep and even death, can hardly be opium,
as opium was then unknown in India. The griffin is the
gold-guarding ant of the other writers. It has been suggested,
though Lassen does not agree, that Ktesias was influenced
by the huge mythological animals of the Assyrian sculptures.

Of the Indians, little is worth recording of what has been
preserved. The Aryans were fair, they worshipped the Sun
and Moon, and lived to a great age even 200 years 1 Of the
marvellous springs which healed diseases and which revealed
the guilty, we hear from other sources. The first were mineral
springs ; and trial by the ordeal of water is mentioned in the
works of the Chinese pilgrims.

The fabulous races, for the legends about which Ktesias
is not wholly responsible, are treated in the Appendix to
Chapter III.

Photius concludes his summary with the following words :
** Ktesias, while romancing in this fashion, asserts that his
narrative is literally true, and declares that he records nothing
which he has not seen with his own ey@$> or learnt from the words
of many credible witnesses. He adds that he left even greater
wonders untold, lest ignorant people might call him, a liar 1 "
(Bibliotheke, 62. 33), This seems to prove that Ktesias
deliberately invented, pace Lassen, It is like the tiger which
he saw and described.

IL TRACES OF THE PERSIAN PBHIQD. Some coins of the
Persian Satrapy in the Panjab survive, e.g. the double-daric
of Darius Codomannus (337-330 B.C,) figured by Rapson,
Grundriss der Ind.-Ar. Phitologie, PL I. 5, At the same time,
Athenian owls were imported till the closing of the mint in
322 B.C., after which they were imitated locally (ibid. PL 1, 6 7)*

The word Yavana occurs in Indian literature first in

1 Wilfully, because Ktesias had seen a tiger, sent to the
king from India 1 See Pausanias, xx. 21, and Aristotle, Hist*
Anim, II. i.

32 The Persian Period. Herodotus: Ktesias

Panini in the feminine form Yavanani. The commentator
Katyayana says this is used of Yavanani lipi, the Greek script.
Goldstiicker, in his learned book on Panini, his place in
Sanskrit Literature (London, 1861), says Panini was before
Buddha (568-488 B.C.). But India could hardly have heard
of the Greek alphabet before Darius, even though Panini lived
in Gandhara. Goldstiicker suggests cuneiform, but this is
hardly suitable. If, on the other hand, we were to accept the
late tradition connecting Panini with the last Nanda king, it
would be quite easy to see that Panini was familiar with
Greek letters on coins. The expression may possibly be used
of Kharoshthi.

r

CHAPTER III

THE MAURYA EMPIRE. MEGASTHENES

IN 329* B.C., the long peace of India was rudely
disturbed. The army of Alexander entered the

Panjab, and beating down the desperate opposition
of the various tribes who tried to bar its way,
penetrated to the banks of the Hyphasis. Alex-
ander had now reached the utmost limits of the
Persian Empire, Before him lay a vast and
unknown country. Some said that the sandy
deserts which lay around, stretched to the end of
the world, inhabited, perhaps, by the strange
monsters described by the pen of Ktesias. Alex-
ander, however, had heard rumours of a vast
nation, the Prasii, ruled by a king named Xan-
drames, who had a mighty army 1 , and he was
anxious to push on and try conclusions with him.

1 Plutarch, Vit, Alex. 62 The word Prasii, used by Greek

writers of the kingdom of Magadha, is probably the Sanskrit

Prachya* Eastern, Xandrames may be Nanda Raja. He is

called Angrammes by Curtius (ix. 2). His real name was

Mahapadma. riprf&oi, IfyaiWi, IIpaiJ<rtot, B/?<rt<H, Pharrasii

are other forms of Upda-un, found In Greek and Latin

.literature (Schwanbeck, p. 82, n.). Cunningham prefers to

derive the word from PWOSQ (Palasa), a name sometimes

given to Magadha, derived from the Palasa tree (fiutea

/rondos a).

R. I,

34 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

But the Macedonian troops, desperate at the
thought of new terrors and fresh privations
refused to go any further. They had foughl
battles, crossed deserts and rivers, and climbec
mountain ranges at the order of their leader, bu
this was too much. The breaking-point had beei
reached at last. And so Alexander had to conten
himself with the conquest of the ofd Persia]
" satrapy of India." He was no mere militar
adventurer, and from the first his object was t
develop the immense commercial resources of th
Panjab. Trading depots were founded all alon
the course of the Indus. as the Macedonian arm
moved towards the mouth of the river. Buk<
phala and Nikaea were built on the banks of tit
Hydaspes ; Alexandria-on-Indus at the importai
spot where the Akesines joins the main streair
and Patala at the head of the Indus delta 1 . Ale:
andria-on-Iridus soon became an important tow
It survived the overthrow of the Macedonian pow
in the Panjab for many years, and became famo
under the rule of the Baktrian kings as a gre
Graeco-Buddhist centre. ' ' Alasanda of the Yona<
is mentioned in the Mahavamsa, the chronic
history of the distant island of Ceylon, as t
" capital of the Yona country/' and 30,000 mor
are said to have come from this place to 1
dedication-festival of the great tope of Ruanv

1 Hence called Patalene. Patala is the modern Bah;
nabad. Bukephala is Jihlam. For Alexandria-on-Ini
see Arrian, Exped. Alex. VI. 14, 15.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 3$

in 137 B.C. 1 We have, curiously enough, in the
name of this town* the only mention in Indian
literature of the name of the great Macedonian
conqueror. Patala remained an important port
for western trade, and was the principal harbour
in north-western India until its claims were
rivalled ^y Barygaza. Philip, the satrap of Par-
thia, was put in charge of the new province, with
orders to push on the development of the colonies
and the completion of the naval docks and other
commercial undertakings with all speed 2 . On
reaching the mouth of the river, Alexander deter-
mined to build a dock at the end of the eastern
arm, as he found there an excellent natural harbour,
forming a lake-like basin 3 . Nearchus, the admiral
in charge of the Greek fleet, was now sent on to
explore the Persian Gulf, while Alexander, un-
deterred by the legendary stories of the fate of the
army of Semiramis, rashly attempted to follow
overland across the terrible Mekran desert,

Arrian gives a diverting account of the perils
which beset the fleet at its start, owing to the tidal
bore of the Indus, and also to a school of whales,
which, sad to say, nearly proved too much for
the nerves of the sturdy Macedonian sailors !

1 See the Mahammsa, trans. Tumour, p. no, ch* xxxx.

2 Arrian, Exped. Alex. VL 15. 2,

8 The course of the river changes so rapidly that we cannot
expect to identify any of these places. This is the port to
which Nearchus gave the name of Naustothmos or Alexander's
Haven* It may be the port called by the strange name of

Bartarikon in the Periptus*

*

33

36 The Maurya Empire. Megastkenes

Apparently, the government of the Panjab now fell
into the hands of Peithon, while Sind was under
Eudamus. Associated with Peithon was Poms,
whom Alexander, after his defeat, magnanimously
put in this position.

The exploration of the Indus valley was the
beginning of a new era in the history m of Greek
geography, and we cannot help wondering what
might have been the result had Alexander lived
to carry out his far-reaching schemes. Would the
Indus valley have become the centre of Hellenistic
culture, as Egypt and Syria became, where the
civilization of East and West blended to form new
products ? The question was destined never to
be solved. In June, 323 B.C., the great conqueror
died at Babylon of fever.

A wild panic shook the Empire to the centre.
No one knew what would happen next, and in the
distant colonies of the Panjab things quickly
began to look serious for the Macedonian garrison.
A quarrel broke out between Eudamus and his
native colleague, which ended in the treacherous
assassination of the latter. The death of Porus
further exasperated the native population, who
broke into open revolt in 317 B.C., when Eudamus
and Peithon, taking with them as much loot as
they could lay hands on, and the flower of the
Macedonian troops, evacuated the Panjab, and
went to join Eumenes in the scramble for power
nearer home. No doubt they felt their position
to be quite untenable long before they determined

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 37

upon this move. The revolt was largely organized
by Sandrakottus, or Chandragupta, to give him
his proper name, the remarkable adventurer who
founded the Maurya dynasty 1 .

Chandragupta had originally lived in the Panjab,
and a tradition says that as a young man he came
into contact with Alexander, He then went to
seek his fortune at the court of the Nanda kings
of Magadha (there is some reason for supposing
that he was of royal blood), and there he met with
a fellow-countryman, the crafty Brahmin minister
Chanakya 2 from Taxila. Becoming implicated
in a plot which Chanakya had made against his
master, he was forced to flee to Ms former home,
and here he found the tribes ripe for revolt against
their Greek rulers. Putting himself at the head of
the rising, he helped his compatriots, says Justin 3 ,
" to cast off the yoke of servitude from their necks
and slay their masters/' The people afterwards
repented of their choice, he adds, for Chandra-
gupta turned out to be as harsh as those whom he
had displaced 4 .

1 There are various stories of the youth of Chandragupta*

V, A. Smith (Early History of India, p. no), gives another
version. He says that Chandragupta was an illegitimate
scion of the Nandas, and was banished to the PanjSJb for
insolence (Justin, xv* 4, with Nandrum for Atexandrwn).

2 Also called Kautilya and Vishnugupta.

8 Post mortem Alexandra, velut cervicibus jugo servitutis
excusso, pracfectos ejus occiderat. Justin, xv* 4.

4 Populum, quern ab externa dominatione vindicaverat,
ipse servitio premebat. Ibid* *

38 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

By 315 B.C., Macedonian rule in the Panjab
was at an end, though doubtless very considerable
bodies of " Yavana " colonists continued to remain
settled in the Panjab, at " Alasanda of the Yonas"
and other settlements. They were united by ties
of marriage to the country of their adoption and
had no desire to return. Having established
himself in the Panjab, Chandragupta marched
against Magadha. This time he was successful.
The Nanda monarch was defeated, and Chandra-
gupta, with the aid of his old ally Chanakya,
established himself upon the throne at Pataliputra.
He had thus built up for himself a far vaster Empire
than India had ever before seen, stretching as it
did from the Ganges to the Hindu Kush Mountains.
The lessons in imperialism which he had learnt
from Alexander had borne good fruit.

How well Chandragupta had used his time was
seen in 306 B.C., when Seleukus Nikator tried to
repeat the exploits of his former master. He was,
however, cruelly disillusioned. On entering the
Panjab, he found himself face to face with a vast
and well-organized army, and he was glad to come
to terms with his opponent. Chandragupta, on
the other hand, was alive to the advantages of an
agreement with the Syrian monarch, and an alli-
ance was arranged. Chandragupta was to receive
certain provinces in Arachosia and Gedrosia over
which Syria had long ceased to exercise a de facto
sovereignty, while Seleukus was given six hundred
elephants, to aid him in his war against Antigonus.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 39

He hoped for great results from this new and
formidable arm. The alliance between the monarchs

was cemented by a marriage between the Indian
king and a Syrian princess. Such a daring innova-
tion is in itself a convincing proof of the greatness
of Chandragupta's mind. It was probably owing to
this occurrence that the Syrian and Maurya,
monarchs continued for several generations to
maintain a close and friendly intercourse. An
amusing correspondence, of which a fragment or
two is recorded, was maintained between Binclu-
sara and Seleukus. Bindusara asks for a sample
of Greek wine, some raisins and a '"Sophist/'
Seleukus writes back, saying that he sends the
wine with much pleasure, but regrets that lf it
isn't good form among the Greeks to trade in
philosophers * 1 " Wheri ASoka was converted
to Buddhism, his first thought was to despatch
missionaries to his friends, the Greek monarchs of
Egypt, Syria and Macedonia, that they might
share in the glad tidings of his new creed. Ambas-
sadors from the West frequently visited the Maurya
court, Megasthenes came from Selcaikus to
Chandragupta ; Deimachus from the same monarch
to Bindusara, Chandragupta's son and successor,
and Dionysius from Ptolemy PhilatWphus-, The
most important of these, of course, was Mega-
sthenes, to whom we owe the only complete account
we possess of the court and government of the great

1 Mailer, Frag. HisL Grace, iv. 421.

2 Pliny, N,H. vx. 17. 3. Strabo, IL i* xo.

40 i M Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

His work, though no longer
o us from numerous citations by
^^Diodorus.Photiusandothers^

StaoPl .

S Megastoes was originally stationed at the
court of Syburtius, satrap of Arachosia^. He
wTordered to proceed to India about 302 B.C.
Aether he also visited the court of -other Indian
prince, to whom the generic name of Porus is
riven- and whether he paid one or many visits
fo the Maurya monarch*, is not quite certain.
He dwelt for some time," says So inns with
Indian kings, and wrote a History of India, that
he might hand down to posterity a f arth M account
of what he saw there." The credibility of his
narrative was generally accepted in ancient times,
Arrian calls him a " trustworthy person 5
though the sceptical Strabo, disgusted by the im-
possibility of distinguishing truth from falsehood rn
the many conflicting accounts of India, roundly calls

i Collected by Schwanbeck (Bonn, 1846). For the life
of Megasthenes, see the introduction to this work, and the
Preface to Mailer's edition.

z See Arrian, Exped. Alex. V. 6. 2.

* Schwanbeck emends n,>o, In TO' ,m'on to ria>pov ^
TCWTO ptiiovi, " Greater even than Porus."

*' HoXXaKK Se X^yci M^ao^s a^oce^at Trap* SavSpaKorrov.

(Arrian, Exped. Alex. v. 6. 2). This may mean that Mega-
sthenes often went to Pataliputra, or often visited Chandra-
gupta when at Pataliputra.

SoV^ (MT/p. He classes him with Eratosthenes.
Strabo, who has the highest opinion of Eratosthenes, differs
ntirdy from this view.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 41

him a liar, almost as untrustworthy as Deimadras 1 .

Pliny shares his opinion 2 . As a matter of fact,
Megasthenes has now been completely vindicated.
His description of India agrees wonderfully with
what we have learnt from independent Indian
sources, and the only justification of Strabc/s
censures js to be found in his account of the
fabulous races of India, And here Megasthenes,,
like his predecessors, is not wholly to blame* He
repeats legends which were current in India, and
he took them in perfect good faith from his in-
formants, as may be seen from the fact that their
names are all literal translations of Sanskrit words 3 ,
Megasthenes is, of course, only reliable as far as
he saw the country with his own eyes. Tims he
is unaware of the existence of the great Ganges
delta, as he never descended that river below
Pataliputra 4 , He states that, unlike the Indus,
the Ganges has only a mouth* !

1 " As a rule, previous writers about India have been u
pack of liars, DEimachus comes first and Bfegasthenes next/*
Geog* n. x. 9. But the veracity of M<;gasthfiws is established
by comparison with the K&ufilfya Artha ^astrn and other
Indian works (vide App, 111)*

* Pliny, N,H. vi. 12. 3, " It is not worth while to study
the accounts of Megasthenes and Diurivsius with cart** They
are too conflicting and too incredible/'

3 The stories of the fabulous tribes of India are as old as
Hekataeus. Sec what Is said upon the subject in Chapter 11.
A list of the fabulous tribes Is given in Appendix II to this
chapter. 4 Arrian, Indika, v.

8 Megasthenes apu4 Strabo, Geog, xv* i, 13,

42 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

The first thing which struck Megasthenes
on entering India, was the Royal Road from the
frontier to Pataliputra, down which the envoy
must have travelled to the capital 1 . It was con-
structed in eight stages, and ran from the frontier
town of Peukelaotis 2 to Taxila : from Taxila,
across the Indus to the Jihlam ; then to j:he Beas, y

near the spot where Alexander erected his altars. d*

From here it went to the Sutlej : from the Sutlej
to the Jamna : and from the Jamna, probably
ma, Hastinapura, to the Ganges. From the Ganges
the road ran to a town called Rhodopha 3 , and from
Rhodopha to Kalinipaxa (probably Kanyakubja *

or Kanauj) 4 . From Kanauj it went to the mighty
town of Prayaga at the junction of the Ganges and
the Jamna, and from Pray aga to Pataliputra. From *,.

the capital it continued its course to the mouth of
the Ganges, probably at Tamluk, though Mega-
sthenes never traversed the last stage of the road.
At every mile along the road was a stone to in- t

dicate the by-roads and distances. The road was
in the charge of the officers of the Board of Works
who were responsible for its upkeep. The mile-
stones were of great assistance to geographers in
the computation of the distances between places

1 See Pliny, N.H. vi. 21, and Appendix at the end of
this chapter.

2 The capital of Gandhara (Skt. PushkaldvctM}.

3 Said to "be Dabhai near Anupshahr.

4 So Lassen. St Martin says Katim-paksha, a town sup- i
posed to be on the " side " of the Kalinadl.

The Maurya Enipire. Megasfhencs 43

In India. There seems to be little doubt that . \

this road was one of the many schemes emanating \

from the master-mind of the great "Maurya, Em- ; ; ' ;

peror, though he may have utilized to some extent ; \

existing routes, which he linked tip for the purpose 1 . : , f

The idea may have been suggested by the Royal : 1

Road of Persia, and may be reckoned as one of f

the many signs of Persian influence in the Maurya I I

Empire. Its value, from a commercial as well as j j

a strategic point of view, must have been ononm >us. I I

By means of it, troops could be moved from ( I

Pataliputra to the furthest confines of the Empire ; ; f

it joined up all the great cities Taxila, Kanauj, j. f

Hastinapuni, Prayaga with the capital ; and by ; ' l

it trade was immensely facilitated* Goods from
the Golden Chersonese and beyond, silk from the
Seres, Gangetic muslins, spices from Arabia, specie
from the West, all poured into the bazaars of
Pataliputra, and caravans could uninterrupted
from the Ganges to the Khaibar, The prosperity
of the foreign trade is attested by the elaborate
regulations made by Chandragupta for the enter-
tainment of foreign merchants 1 . ;

Along this great highway Megasthenes travelled
into lands never before beheld by Greek eyes. At
last he came in sight of the broad stream of the

1 That some such road as far as the Befis existed in the

days of Alexander is of course implied In the statement that
he obtained the measurements from the records of Alexander's
survey officers. A road from Ayodhya to fcljagriha, vi* !l

Hastinlptira, is mentioned in the RSmlya^a. *
a Megaathenes apud Strabo, xv. i. 51,

44 The Maurya Empire. Megastkenes

sacred Ganges, and his exaggerated accounts of

it s size he says it was eight or ten miles wide in

places 1 testify to his wonder at beholding it.

The Greeks, having no rivers of any note in their
own lands, were filled with admiration at the sight
of such streams as the Nile, the Euphrates, the
Ganges or the Indus. He was struck with the
fertility of the Doab through which the road passes,
with its two crops and two monsoons every year 2 .
Like Herodotus, he remarks on the hugeness of
the animals the elephants, pythons, tigers, and
hunting-hounds 3 and the curious plants and trees
the " reed " (really, as we have seen before,
the palmyra) out of which boats could be made ;
the banyan with its spreading branches ; the
"vegetable wool" or cotton 4 , the " honey bearing
reed," or sugar-cane, and the ubiquitous rice-plant.

At length Megasthenes came in sight of the
Royal City. It stood at the junction of the Ganges
and the Son 5 , and presented an imposing appear-
ance 6 . It was in the shape of a parallelogram, and

1 Megasthenes apud Pliny, vi. 18. 65. Arrian (Indika, iv)
states that according to Megasthenes, the Ganges in places
spreads out into lakes which are so wide that it is impossible
to see from shore to shore ! It is difficult to believe that
Megasthenes made such a statement. See Schwanbeck, Frag.
xx. B and xxv, 2 Strabo, xv. i. 20 (Frag, xi, Schwan.).

3 Schwanbeck, Frag, xii-xvn, sums up all the passages
on Indian animals.

* If this is what Arrian means by AtW TO OTTO 8/8/><Dv.
Max and cotton are continually confused.

5 The river has since altered its course.

6 Pataliputra is described in Fragments xxy and xxvi,
Schwan. (Arrian, Indika, x, and Strabo, xv. i. 35.)

The Maurya Empire, Megasthems 45

was surrounded by vast walls of brick, with a
wooden palisade in front, pierced with loopholes
for archery. The wall had sixty-four gates and
five hundred and seventy towers ; it was eighty
stadia long on its longer sides, and fifteen stadia
long on the shorter. On the two sides not pro-
tected by the rivers, ran a huge moat, filled with

^ " the waters of the Son, into which it (lowed. This

moat, six hundred feet broad and thirty cubits
deep, protected the town and also carried off the
drainage. The city was one of the strongest in
the world, but like most of the towns of India at

* m that time, it was built chiefly of wood and unburnt

brick. It was the custom, says Megastlicmts, to
use wood where floods were common, and brick
and mud when the buildings were on rlovulc-d
spots. This is the reason why so little has sur- !
vivecl of the early architecture of India, Two
generations later, the use of stone became common,
and Aoka crowned the capital with a gigantic
stone palace, exquisitely carved. Centuries after-
wards, a Chinese pilgrim, wandering among the
ruins of the then deserted city, gazed with awe
upon the huge stone blocks scntlcTod here and
there, and declared that they could be the work
of "no mortal hands/ 1 Excavations are now
proceeding upon the site of PS^aliputra, and the
accuracy of the account of Megasthenes has received
fresh confirmation. The wall and palisade were
unearthed some years ago.

Of the court of Chandragupta, with its

46 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

ceremonies, and of Ms system of administration,
we have a highly interesting and detailed descrip-
tion in Megasthenes. Chandragupta was by no
means popular. His rule, as we have seen before,
was considered tyrannous and oppressive. The
easy-going and indolent Indians, no doubt, dis-
liked a highly-organized system of government to
which they were unused ; and the foreign air of
the court, with its Greek inmates, and its Persian
ceremonial, did not help to ingratiate the monarch
with Ms subjects. Megasthenes, whose account
is confirmed by Indian writers 1 , says that he was
obliged to dwell in strict seclusion. He was
surrounded by a body-guard of women, who cooked
Ms food, served his wine, and when of an evening
he had become weary, carried Mm to his apart-
ments and lulled him to sleep with Indian music 2 .
Even at night he was constantly compelled to
change Ms bedroom, to avoid the attacks of pos-
sible conspirators, who, according to native tradi-
tion, even dug tunnels under the palace walls 3 .
In the day he sat in the Hall of Justice, hearing
complaints, while Ms attendant 4 massaged him
with wooden rollers, rubbed scented ointments on
Ms feet, and combed and dressed his long hair.

1 Mudra Rakshasa, Act n. This play is a most interesting
historic drama, and throws many sidelights on Chandragupta's

career,

8 Strabo, xv. i. 55. Q, Curtius, vm. 9 (Frag, xxvn,
Sdiwanbeck).

* Mmdra Rakshasa (loc. cit.). 4 Samvahaka.

The Ma-urya Empire, M'egasthenes 47

It was at this time that the foreign ambassadors

were received, and Megasthenes must have attended
many a time the strange levee which he here so

graphically describes. On the rare occasions when
the monarch left the seclusion of the Royal Palace,
whether to offer sacrifice or to go hunting, his
Amazonian guard accompanied him, forming a
hedge round the royal chariot. One or two women,
armed to the teeth, rode in the chariot, while
others were mounted on horses or elephants. The
road when the royal was to pass was marked

off with ropes, and a ring of spearmen surrounded
the whole retinue. No one was allowed to ap-
proach, and it was certain death for any, man or
woman, to pass the barriers 1 , Megasthenes says
that these women were bought from their parents
and brought up in the palace ; but it; is more pro-
bable that they were partly foreign, and mostly
Westerners. Greek girls, we know, were frequently
imported at Baryg;i//a a , and a " Guard of Yavana
women. " is a stock feature of the Raja's court in
the Indian dramas 3 * In Southern India, we hear
of a body-guard of " dumb Mlecchas *' being used
in a similar fashion 4 . Their utility was obvious ;

* rij i irop&0om Iwk jMXpl ywwt&v tfavaiw Frag, xxvn,
Schwan.

8 Periplus, 49*

a Dushyanta R5ja, e.g. lias such a guard in the SakmMla of

Kaildlsa. So Chandragupta himself, AfudrS RMkshas^ t Act in*

4 Vincent Smith, Early Hist* of Indi& t p, 400* PiUay*

The Tamils a Hundred ymrs ago, CL lit

48 The Maurya Empire. Megastkenes f

they were foreign mercenaries, and as such, likely
to be loyal to their employer and unwilling to plot
against him. They had no motive for taking
sides in any disputes, and being unable to under- }

stand much of the language of the country, had no

sympathies with any political party. They have
been compared, not inaptly, with the " Switzers/' 5

the Swiss Guards of the French monarchs, and
the Swiss mercenaries of other kings. *' \

Chandragupta lived in considerable state. In l*> f i

the processions held on festal occasions, elephants ^f ! |

decked in gold and silver, four-horsed chariots, J^

and yokes of oxen took -part. "Then comes a
great host of attendants in holiday dress, with I;J

golden vessels such as huge basins and goblets, A*]

six feet broad, tables, chairs of state, drinking *'!

vessels and lavers, all of Indian copper, and many
of them set with jewels such as emeralds, beryls

and Indian garnets; others bear robes embroi-
dered in gold thread, and lead wild beasts, such
as buffaloes, leopards and tame lions, and rare
birds in cages 1 /' " In the Indian royal palace/'
says another writer, " where the greatest of all
the kings of the country resides, besides much else I

which is calculated to excite admiration, there are
wonders with which neither Memnonian Susa in i

all its glory, nor the magnificence of Ekbatana can M

1 Strabo.xv.i.69. This was no doubt a copy of the Persian
ceremonial which was generally adopted at Oriental courts If

A 6 't ? 6 aCCOmit f the P rocessi ns of Antiochus Epiphanes f*

and Ptolemy PMladelphus in Athenaeus, iv. 4. 5.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 49

hope to vie ; indeed, only the well-known vanity
of the Persians could imagine such a comparison 1 /'
Of the army of Chandragupta, the famous force
which defeated Seleukus Nikator, Megasthenes
gives us a very full account 2 . Its numbers are
possibly exaggerated, as is the size of nearly
everything in India by the Greeks. It consisted
of cavalry, infantry, chariots and elephants 3 ,
and its total number was said to be 400,000.
Possibly this includes the grooms, buglers, gong-
beaters, ox-drivers, mechanics and foragersthe
vast array of suttlers which follows an oriental
army. It was managed by a very efficient War
Office, with a department in charge of each arm
of the service. There were stables for the horses,
chariots and elephants, and magazines where all
arms had to be stored when not in use. The
chariots on the march were drawn by oxen, so as
to keep the horses fresh : in battle, two men-at-
arms stood by the driver, and each elephant
carried four sharpshooters. The horses were driven
with a spiked muzzle, a halter instead of a bridle,
and the infantry were armed with long shields of
undressed oxhide, two-handed swords, and bows
of great length and power, which they discharged
by resting them on the ground against the left foot.

1 Aelian, TTC/K ofo>i/ tStor^ro?, Bk XIII. l8. I.

. 2 See Arrian, Indika, xvi, and Fragments xxxm and xxxxv
Schwanbeck (Strabo, xv. i. 50, and Aelian, xni. 10).

3 The four kaya, a'$vakaya> pattikaya, rathaMya and ha$ti~
kaya.

R, I.

50 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

The arrow, three yards long, pierced shield and
armour like paper. They carried two-handed
swords, but did not care for closing with the enemy.
The cavalry, who had no saddles, had two long
lances (cravvia) as their chief equipment. The army,
which was a standing one, was liberally paid, and
the soldiers spent much of their time drbaking and
idling.

We now turn to the very interesting account
given by Megasthenes of the organization of the
Government, where again we see the work of the
master-mind of the great Maurya 1 . Megasthenes
gave a minute account of this elaborate system,
which has been copied by many subsequent autho-
rities. Unfortunately, he mixes up the traditional
four castes of Hindu society 2 with the official bodies
created by Chandragupta, and he becomes con-
fused over the sub-castes, with their perplexing
distribution of functions in the state. The mistake
was not an unnatural one for a foreigner to make*
He is also led astray by the fact that the Egyptians,
according to Herodotus, had seven castes. Egypt
and India were frequently confused by the Greeks,
and Megasthenes comes to the conclusion that
there are seven " castes " (ycV??) in India also 3 . He
arrives at this number as follows. He divides
the Brahmins into two castes philosophers and

1 Schwanbeck, Frag, i, xxxm, and xxxiv. (Diodorus,
ii. 40 ; Strabo, xv. i. 39 ; Arrian, Indika, XL)

2 Brahmana, Kshattriya, Vaisya, udra.

3 Pe'vos is a literal translation of jati.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 5 1

statesmen. The Kshattriyas or Military form a
caste by themselves. The Vaisyas and Sudras are
divided into three castes by Megasthenes -farmers,
herdsmen, and artisans, and he adds a seventh
caste of " Inspectors and Overseers " the con-
fidential officers in the service of Chandragupta 1 .
These officials were probably recruited chiefly from
the Brahmin caste.

First in order, in the catalogue of Megasthenes,
came the Philosophers (^tXoo-o^ot, So^tcrrai) em-
ployed in literary and scientific pursuits and
religious rites. These were, of course, the Brahmins,
ubiquitous as ever., Of the religion and philosophy
of the Brahmins, Megasthenes speaks in another
place, and the subject will be treated separately.
Once a year a great conclave of Brahmins was
held by the king, when rewards were dispensed
to those who had produced literary works or made
scientific discoveries of merit 2 .

Then came the Husbandmen (TwpyaC). Mega-
sthenes found the Indian rayat to be, as he is now,
of a peaceful, gentle nature. Exempted from
military service, he took no part in war and
politics, and lived quietly on Ms farm, rarely
going to the city. Often, says Megasthenes, you

1 The Pativedaka of Asoka.

2 Megasthenes may be thinking of the great fairs held at
places like Prayaga once a year. Hiuen Tslang describes one
which he attended with king fladitya. The monarch dis-
tributed gifts to many thousands of Brahmins, monks, and

mendicants,

*

42

52 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

might see him calmly ploughing, while contending
armies a little distance off were fighting for their
lives. India changes little, and when the English
troops were besieging Delhi in 1857, the ploughman
went on with his work between the Ridge and the
doomed city, just as Megasthenes describes him
as doing. So complete is the division* of labour
brought about by the caste-system. It is inter-
esting to note that all land belonged to the Crown.
There was no private ownership 1 . As in all
ancient communities, the taxation was severe.
The rayat paid the Crown three-fourths, or ac-
cording to others, one-fourth of the produce, in
addition to ground-rent (x^P a $ /uo-0oi).

The third class consisted of Herdsmen 2 , and
included shepherds, hunters, and various people
of that kind. They were mostly members of the
aboriginal tribes, and as such, belonged to the
Sudras, the lowest stratum of Hindu society.
They rendered, however, important services to the
State. They cleared the fields of the tigers, boars,
deer, and birds, which molested the villagers'
flocks, herds, and crops. They killed the snakes,
scorpions, and dangerous insects which infested the
country in the rainy season. Most important of
all, they caught and tamed the elephants which
played such an important part in the army of

1 In many places a village held land In common and the
crops were divided. This is a survival of the primitive Indo-
Aryan village-community. Strabo, xv. i. 66.

2 fioVKoXoi K<U TTOl/ACW KOI KO.66X(>V -TTOtl/TeS 06 VO/XS. DlOd. Sic.

The Manrya Empire, Megasthenes 53

Chandragupta. In return for their services, they
received an allowance of corn from the Royal
Exchequer. Private people were forbidden to
keep elephants, which were reserved for royal
use. This served as a sumptuary law, checking
the ambitions of the nobility ; it also secured the
maximum number of these valuable beasts for the
imperial forces.

The fourth class consisted of the Artizans
(rex^rai). These, according to the code of Manu,
were Vaisyas, like the Agriculturalists. This class
included the great Trade-Guilds, many of which
received land and other privileges in return for
service rendered to the State. Thus the Armourers
and Shipwrights had a monopoly of work in their
own branches, receiving wages and rations in
payment ; and taxes were wholly or partly re-
mitted to State employes. In time of peace, the
Admiralty hired out their men of war to merchants
to be employed on the flourishing traffic in goods
and passengers which went on along the Ganges
and Jamna, and doubtless along the waters of the
Indus as well*

The fifth caste was the Military Caste 1 , the
Kshattriyas of the Hindu codes. The immense
standing army of Chandragupta gave special
prominence to members of this caste, who were
liberally treated in the matter of pay and allow-
ances. Accoutrements were found by the War
Office, which had a special contract with the

54 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

armourers' guild. Weapons were kept in the
arsenals, under the supervision of the Ordnance
Department.

Sixthly came the Overseers' 1 or Inspectors, a
branch of the Civil Service specially maintained
by Chandragupta. These officers travelled round
inspecting the work of the government officials,
and furnishing confidential reports direct to the
Throne on their conduct. They spied on the army
too, and it is said that they freely used the cour-
tezans of the city to obtain information 2 . Besides
keeping the Viceroys and .rulers of the distant
provinces of the great Empire up to the mark,
they no doubt checked the frequent plots hatched
1 against the Emperor's life. When they were on

circuit, they gave even the meanest subject a
. | chance to appeal against official tyranny. The

I " post is said to have been a well-paid one, and much

j, \ in request among adventurous youths. It seems

1 ! probable that Asoka used these officials to enforce

i ^ the Law of the Dharma on his subjects.

| / The seventh and last class was that of the Royal

\ ff ,. Councillors, the ministers who formed the Privy

I; Council of the Emperor. Like the philosophers

\\ of the first class, they must have been all, or

M nearly all, Brahmins, but Megasthenes distinguishes

between those Brahmins who devoted themselves
to priestly and literary occupations, and those who,
Hke the great Chanakya, made politics their

i*

2 Strabo, xv. i. 48.

The Maurya Empire. Megastkenes 55

occupation, and became, as priests in many countries
have done, the power behind the throne. Nearchus
observed this. " Some of the Brahmins/' he says,
"enter political life and attend the king as
councillors, while others devote themselves to
philosophy 1 /' This class had the monopoly of the
great offices of State posts as * * Judge, governor,
deputy-governor, ruler over a province, quaestor,
superintendent of agriculture, admiral or general/*
says Arrian.

Apart from the seven classes into which the
State was divided, was the Civil Service proper.
In rural districts, the government was in the hands
of a body of officials, who combined the duties
of the Collector, Forest Officer, and Engineer of
modern India. These officers had the most varied
duties. They superintended irrigation, the con-
struction of irrigation works, and the survey and
assessment of irrigated lands. They saw to the
repair of public roads, and to the erection of mile-
stones and signposts at every ten stadia. They
built and repaired the bridges. They collected
the taxes imposed upon the rayats: they supervised
the hunters, and saw that they did not defraud the
State of horses or elephants. They kept an eye on
the wood-cutters and took care that the country
was not deforested. They supervised the mines*
They appear to have been invested with the judicial
powers necessary for the enforcement of their
decrees.

1 Strabo, xv. x. 66.

56 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

The system in vogue in the rural districts was
of a simple kind, reminding us in a primitive
manner of the modern Civil Service, with its
multifarious duties. The system of urban govern-
ment was more complicated. We have Mega-
sthenes' account of the administration of Patali-
putra: no doubt Taxila, Ujjain, Prayags,, and the
other provincial capitals and great cities, were
governed in a similar fashion. There were six
panchayats, or boards of five officers, and each
board had its own department allotted to it.
Besides this, the whole municipal council of thirty
members met from time to time to discuss common
measures, such as the repair of roads, upkeep of

|f markets, temples and so forth, and to fix the taxes

f and the current market prices.

I The first, fourth, fifth and sixth boards devoted

their attention to commercial regulations. The

* first supervised industries, crafts, trade-guilds, and

J soon. The fourth board superintended the markets,

saw that the weights and measures were duly
tested and stamped, and that the proper fixed
prices were charged. A curious regulation, due
to the specialization resulting from the caste
system, imposed a double tax on merchants selling
two kinds of goods. The fifth body supervised
manufactures, and prevented the frauds arising
from adulteration. The sixth was employed in
levying the tax of one-tenth upon all articles sold.
It is a tribute at once to the Hindu reputation
\ for probity and to the severity of Chandragupta's

The Maitrya Empire. Megasthenes 57 !

system, that death was the penalty for a false ;

declaration of sales 1 . j

To the second and third boards were assigned
peculiar duties. The second board was charged j

with the task of seeing to the comfort of all travel-
lers, merchants, ambassadors, and other foreigners
visiting Iijdia 2 . They had to attend them when j

sick, bury them if they died, and send their effects j

to their relatives in their native country. The j

existence of this board points to the supposition ;

that a large number of merchants, chiefly, no doubt,
Greeks from Syria and Alexandria, visited India
in this reign, attracted by Chandragupta's far-
sighted foreign policy. The last board of officials
managed the census reports, and registered births
and deaths. By this means taxation was facilitated,
and the practice of infanticide, common among ,

certain classes of Hindus, was checked. The
penalties imposed for various offences were terribly j

severe. We can only suppose that owing to the
high level of morality prevailing in India, they j

were seldom inflicted. No doubt, however, Chan- |

dragupta's severity accounts very largely for i

his unpopularity. Maiming a Persian form of
punishment was imposed for perjury. The death-
penalty was, as we have seen, exacted for the
comparatively trifling offence of defrauding the j

1 Maim, who does not mention the penalty, puts the tax
at -gV Evidently the system was later relaxed. Chandra-

gupta's laws were in all respects exceptionally severe for India. I

2 Compare the duties of the Greek vpofevo?, by whom this

office was doubtless suggested. . j

58 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

revenue, and also for disabling a craftsman. Even
Asoka retained the death-penalty, but he gave
the criminal three days' respite for religious
exercises. Apparently, in Chandragupta's time,
sentence was carried into execution as soon as
passed. In the days of Fa-Hian, capital punish-
ment had been removed from the statute-book.

One feature of Hindu society struck Mega-
sthenes with admiration. Slavery, a universal
custom in the Graeco-Roman world, was unknown.
Had Megasthenes, however, seen the social con-
ditions of the Chandala or Pariah in the days of
Hiuen Tsiang, he might have modified his opinions.
Under the caste-system, the wretched Pariah,
compelled to dwell outside the city-walls, and to
strike a gong when he came within range of
respectable men, fared far worse than the Greek
or Roman slave. But in the days when Buddhism
was a growing force in the land, caste regulations
were doubtless less rigidly enforced.

Of the moral tone of Hindu society as he saw
it, Megasthenes speaks in the highest terms.
Hindus lived frugal, happy lives. Wine was never
drunk except at the sacrifices, when the Soma juice
was consumed by the priests. The chief article
of food was rice-pottage. Polygamy was indeed
common among the upper classes, but women
enjoyed great liberty. They studied philosophy,
and could take monastic vows 1 . The seclusion of

1 Strabo, xv. i. 66. Gautama, we are told, made this con-
cession, but unwillingly.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthcnes 59

the female sex was only introduced in Moham-
medan times. Sail, the terrible custom so common
in later India, was only practised among two tribes,
and is mentioned as a curiosity, whence we may
conclude that it was very unusual. It was
confined to the Kathaei and to Taxila. The
Kathaei w,ere no doubt a Rajput tribe, who left
the Amritsar district and occupied the modern
Kathiawar at a later period. Sati has always been
commonest among that stern and warlike nation.
Suicide, chiefly by burning, was always occasionally
practised among Buddhist ascetics, though strictly
forbidden by Gautama himself 1 .

The Indians enjoyed a great and well-founded
reputation for probity. Of their honesty, Mega-
sthenes, like Hiuen Tsiang many centuries later,
speaks in an extraordinarily enthusiastic fashion.
When he visited the carnp of Chandragupta, he
found that, in the whole of the vast army encamped
there, the thefts reported amounted to the value
of less than 200 drachmae per day 2 . They left
their houses unguarded, made no written contracts,
and no written laws. They seldom went to law.
Legal cases were decided according to immemorial
custom by the loc&lpanchayat. Strabo notes that the

1 The standard example was Kalanus, the notorious
philosopher who returned with Alexander to Babylon. See
Frag. XLIV, XLV, LV, etc. in Schwanbeck.

2 FW//WOS 8' nvv ev TW 2avfyiKOTT<iu (rriKinnriSif <t>i}trlv 6
M<.ya<r$wr/<s rtrrapiiKwra /w/>iaSv vXyOowi tfipvopivov

Strabo, xv. I. 53. The drachma is worth a franc.

60 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

Hindus were acquainted with reading and writing,
and used paper woven from flax. This we should, of
' course, infer from the existence of Asoka's Edicts.
Strabo also mentions the contrary opinion, which no
doubt arose from the comparative rarity of written
books. Laws, religious precepts, even secular poetry
were committed to memory and handed down
orally. Fa-Hian had to travel all over India before
he could obtain texts of the Buddhist Canon.

The people of Pataliputra dressed well in
flowered muslins embroidered with jewels, and an
umbrella was carried by an attendant behind the
head of a noble when he went into the road.
Kleitarchus, however, found that in other, poorer
parts of India, they wore fillets (turbans, no doubt),
on their long hair, and robes of plain white muslin
or linen 1 .

Of the ancient history of India, Megasthenes
apparently learnt nothing worth recording, save
legends of a monarch whom he identified with
Bacchus or Herakles. This is not surprising, as
the science of history was always entirely neglected
by the Hindus. Of the religion of the country
he gives an interesting and intelligent account.
The principal religious sects were the Brahmins,
and the Sarmanes, who were the Buddhists and
Jains. Besides these, there were, then as now,
various fakirs, Yogis, and other mendicants of
a low type, who had considerable liberty in the
houses and markets, helping themselves in the
1 Strabo, xv. i. 71,

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 61

bazaars to what they liked. Of Brahmin philo-

sophy, we do not find so full an account in

Megasthenes as in later writers 1 . The charming

fragment quoted from the pseudo-Origen by

Schwanbeck 2 , appears to owe little to Megasthenes,

being Neo-platonic in tone. Megasthenes notes,

however, the similarity between the speculations ( ',

of the Brahmins and the teachings of Pythagoras

and Plato ; he speaks also of their physical specu- -j

lations, and their belief that the world is spherical, | J

liable to destruction, and permeated by the presence ;

of the Deity 3 . They also, he says, believed in the , |

existence of a fifth element the Akasa or ether. >

These philosophers, he tells us, were devotees of ' i

Herakles, and there was a tribe called the Sibae, ; j

who were the descendants of the companions of s

Herakles. Herakles must be Siva and the Sibae '

a Saivite sect. The Greeks loved to identify the I

gods of other nations with their own deities. '

Indra is " Zeus Ombrios " ; the immoral Sakti

rites of certain tribes (e.g. the Oxydrakae) are the

Bacchic orgies, and so forth. It has even been

thought that the name of Mount Meru, suggesting

the M^po? of the Bacchus legend, went a long way

1 Schwanbeck, Frag. XLI-XLIII. 2 Ibid. LIV.

3 A good example of the out-of-the-way information
gleaned by Megasthenes is given by Strabo, xv. i. 59. " The
Brahmins from the time of .conception in the womb are under
the care of learned men who go to the mother with incan^
tations for the welfare of herself and her offspring." Here
is a clear reference to the Puwi-Savana and Garbha-Rakshana
of the Grihya Sutras. (Barnett, Indian Antiq. Ch. iv.)

I 62 The Mattrya Empire. Megasthenes

] towards confirming, in Greek minds, the persistent

belief that Bacchus came from India.

i> Buddhism was not so popular in the days of

Megasthenes as it afterwards became under the

| vigorous advocacy of Asoka. Megasthenes says

li nothing of the distinctive teachings of the Sarmanes.

; Their most distinguished members wer<? the Hylo-

I bioi (Vanaprastha), who retired to the forest and

\( lived on the bark of trees. Megasthenes apparently

} fails to distinguish Brahminism from Buddhism,

as this is a Hindu and not a Buddhistic

practice. Among the philosophers, Megasthenes

reckons the physicians, who appear to have

attained to a high degree of proficiency. No

doubt the difficulties of ascertaining much about

Hindu philosophy were very great for a foreigner.

As the sage Mandanis remarks to Onesikritus,

" It is impossible to explain philosophical doctrines

through the medium of interpreters who know

nothing of the subject. It is like asking water

to flow pure through mud 1 ."

Such then, in brief, is the interesting account
of the great Maurya Empire as it appeared to the
first Greek who penetrated to the heart of India.
Its value to us is shown by the fact that without
it our knowledge of this important period would
be practically a blank. By comparing what
Megasthenes has said with the Edicts of Asoka
and the Artha Sdstra of Chanakya, we are able
to form a clear picture of the general character
1 Strabo, xv. i. 64, fin.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 63

of Maurya institutions. We see a highly organized
government, and a nation distinguished for its
probity and intelligence. The work of Mega-
sthenes refutes the popular idea that because
India has no history, she has been incapable of
developing political institutions.

We hav^ seen that the Maurya Emperors were
in close touch with their Greek neighbours and
kinsmen. Chandragupta has a Greek wife, Greek
ambassadors in his court, and corresponds with
the Syrian monarch. Asoka sends missionaries
to his Greek neighbours. And yet, when we
examine the matter closely, we find little trace
of Greek influence in India at the time of the
Mauryas. On the other hand, they were deeply
influenced by the now vanished Persian Empire.
For centuries the Persians had ruled in the Pan jab,
and the Indians had been impressed by the stately
edifice of Persian rule. Perhaps Chandragupta
had, during his boyhood in Taxila, come under
Persian influence. The customs of his court were
purely Persian. Like the Great King, he lived
in seclusion, only appearing for religious festivals
and on solemn occasions. He kept, like him,
the " hair-washing festival/' Tykta, described by
Herodotus 1 . Many other institutions of Chandra-
gupta had their Persian parallels, for instance, the
Royal Road, and probably the provincial organiza-
tion. Then again, we see Persian influence in the
architectural undertakings of Asoka. The Edicts
1 Herod ix. no and Strabo, xv. i. 69.

64 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

engraved on the rock may be compared to the
Behistun inscriptions of Darius, and the hon
capitals of the Asoka pillars are clearly Persian
in style, though that style has undergone con- .
siderable modification.

APPENDIX I

THE ROYAL ROAD

Pliny (vi. 21) says that the stages and distances on the
Royal Road are as follows :

1 From Peukelaotis to the Hyphasis, as measured by
Baeto and Diognetus, Alexander's survey officers.

Peukelaotis to Taxila, 60 miles.

the Hydaspes, 120 miles.
the Hyphasis, 390 miles.

2 From the Hyphasis to the mouth of the Ganges, as
measured for Seleukus Nikator (probably by Megasthenes and
other Greek visitors 1 ).

From the Hyphasis to the Hesidrus 168 miles.
From the Hesidrus to the Jamna 168 miles (some add 5) -
From the Jamna to the Ganges 112 miles. _

From the Ganges to Rhodopha 119 miles (others give: 325") .
Then follow the words "Ad. Kalinapaxam oppidum CLXVII.D
Alii CCLXV. mill." This is usually translated, " To the town {

of Kallinapaxa 167! miles ; others 265 miles," which seems 4

a curious discrepancy. St Martin (tudt sur la Gdog, Grecque, J

1 " Reliqua Seleuko Nikatori peragrata sunt." This is
of course a datims commodi, not a dative of the agent. Seleukus
never went beyond the Panjab.

2 By 325 miles he must mean for the whole distance from
the Hesidrus to Rhodopha, not from the Ganges. He refers
to a shorter route, the longer route being 168 + 112 + 119 =
399 mile's. There were several short cuts, marked by sign-
posts, on the road.

p

*'>

Asoka Pillar (Indo-Persian) *

(By permission of the Director General of Archaeology)

The Maitrya Empire. Megasthenes 65

p. 271), transfers the B to the latter clause, reading DLXV for
CCLXV, He then translates as follows. " From Rhodopha to
Kallinapaxa 167 miles. Total from the Hesidrus to Kallina-
paxa 565 miles/' This is ingenious if bold, for the total figures
from the Hesidrus to Kallinapaxa (168 * 112 + 119 + 167) do
add up to 566 miles practically the exact figure.

He next goes on to say that to Prayaga is 625 miles (many
add 13). He must mean from the Jamna to Prayaga, of
course, and ntt from Kallinapaxa.

His two last statements are absolutely wide of the mark.
He says it is 425 miles to Palibothra and 638 miles to the mouth
of the Ganges. The distances are in reality 248 and 445 miles
respectively. The latter part of the road had not been travel-
led by Megasthenes, who puts it at 500-600 miles. In the
absence of definite information, the Greeks always exaggerated
the size of India,

APPENDIX II

THE FABULOUS RACES OF INDIA

1. The Pygmies. Called Pygmies by Ktesias, Tpnra0i/w
by Megasthenes. The legend arose from the small, dwarf-like
Mongolians of Nepal and Bhotan, called Kirrhadii by the
Periplus and Ptolemy and Kirdta in Sanskrit. The Pygmies
of Homer are Ethiopian, but Ethiopia and India were supposed
to be connected. Referring to the fights between Cranes and
Pygmies, Lassen recalls the term Kivatdkin (devourer of KirSta)
applied to Garuda, the vulture of Vishnu.

2. *A|ii>KTT|ps. The noseless men, described by Mega-
sthenes as eating carrion and dying young. Again we have
the snub-nosed Mongolian. Ila/t^ayos is Skt. $arva~bhak$ha

3. 'EvwTOKotrcu. Men who sleep on their ears 1 . A literal
translation of the Skt. karnapr&vwana. The Indians had many

1 The legend is as old as Skylax, who also told the story
of the one-eyed men, and many of the other legends here
enumerated. Skylax called them 'fcro/cXivoi. For the whole

R.I. 5

* *j

66 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

such names for the aborigines, who hung weights to their
ears and enlarged them to a great size by this and other means.

4. 'AvrfaroSes or 'O-7n.<r$oSa/cruXoi. The men whose feet
turned backwards. Mentioned by Megasthenes and Ktesias.
Skt. Paschadangulaja.

5. 'fticviroBes. A curious mistranslation of Skt. Ekapada.
The MoT/o'oTKeAen, Movo/ctoAcH and SKiaTroSes of Ktesias 1 , though
the latter lived in Libya.

6. The Hyperboreans. This legend, lik^ that of the
Pygmies, is very old. It may belong to the primitive Indo-
Aryan stock. They are the Uttam-kuru of the Indian epic,
transliterated as Attakorae by later writers. Hekataeus wrote
a pamphlet about them. Pindar places them north of the
Danube 2 .

7. Movo|*|xaT<H. The Skt. Ekaksha. Mentioned by
Megasthenes. Here again we have a legend which may be
Indo-Aryan, as we find the Cyclops as early as the Odyssey.

8. KvvoK&jxxXoi and Kwa/xoAyoi. The former are the Skt.
Svamukha. The latter may be aboriginal tribes who, like
their successors to-day, may have kept packs of hunting dogs.
The yellow Tibetan mastiffs of the Dards led to the legend of
the gold-ants. These people occur in Ktesias and Megasthenes.

9. "A<rrop,ot. Mouthless men who live on smell. The Indian
equivalent has not been traced.

(Pliny's " Satyrs," N.H. vn. 2, are apes. His 3rpov0<wro8es,
women not men with ' sparrow feet/ must be the Chinese.
The early age of marriage and child-bearing in India gave rise
to stories of women who conceive at five years old. The
jungle-folk called Choromandae, who have no language, etc., are
merely aboriginal tribes.)

subject, see Strabo, Geog. XV. I. 57, and McCrindle's learned
note, Ancient India, p. 57.

1 Apud Pliny, N.H. vn. 2. The story of the S/adtTroS** is
as old as Hekataeus.

2 The HavSopTf and Ma*po/3toi of Ktesias, and the
(? EavSoi) of Megasthenes belong to the same class.

The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes 67
APPENDIX III

THE ACCURACY OF MEGASTHENES

In view of Strabo's attacks upon the veracity of Mega-
sthenes, it is curious to find that his account of the consti-
tution of Chandragupta finds close confirmation in many details
in a Hindu bo^k on Politics, traditionally ascribed to Kautilya
or Chanakya, the famous Brahmin minister of the Maurya
Emperor. This work is the Kautillya Artha astra. In this
book we find the king's palace described very much after the
manner of Megasthenes, with its moats, ramparts and towers.
The king is surrounded by a bodyguard of " women armed
with bows," as Megasthenes says. (Artha a$tra, n. 3.)

The Artha Sastra describes the highly organized bureau-
cracy in terms very similar to those employed by Megasthenes,
but in greater detail. Thus Megasthenes tells us that the
district officers were in charge of the forests, temples, harbours,
mines, roads, etc. He also describes the six Boards or Pancha-
yats who managed municipal affairs. Kautilya describes no
less than fifteen officials or boards of officials who supervised
municipal affairs. But the general duties assigned to them
are nearly the same. Thus Kautilya describes a Superin-
tendent of Commerce and a Superintendent of Warehouses,
who between them managed the market, fixed the market-
prices, regulated the trade in agricultural produce, levied the
subsidies for provisioning the army, and collected the royal
tithes on goods bought and sold. These were almost precisely
the duties assigned to the first, fourth, fifth and sixth boards
in the polity described by Megasthenes,

The Artha $dstra mentions a Superintendent of Courtezans
and of Public Gambling, two functions of the police department
not occurring in Megasthenes. But Megasthenes tells us how
the king's agents employed the courtezans to obtain informa-
tion. This ancient profession was, as in most Indian polities,
treated as a recognized trade, taxed, inspected, and utilized

32

68 The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes

by Government. But on the whole, the two accounts supple-
ment one another in a remarkable manner, though the Arfha
Sastra increases our opinion of the severity of Chandragupta's
government. The people were supervised and taxed with
relentless severity.

On one important point Kautilya supplies information
which supplements Megasthenes very considerably. This is
with regard to the Board of Shipping. The Port Commissioner
supervised sea and river-traffic and ferries. Fishermen,
merchants and travellers, were all subjected to taxation and
the ferries were in the hands of the Government. The fords
were guarded by pickets, who prevented suspects from entering
or leaving. It was the duty of the Harbour Masters to assist
ships in distress, and of those in charge of the ferries to see
that they were not used when the river was in a dangerous

state.

(For a more detailed comparison, see The Ancient Hindu
Polity, by N. N. Law (Longmans, 1914), especially pp. xxxv
xlv, Introduction. For text, see R. Shama Sastri's Edition,
Mysore, 1909.)

[Since the above chapter was written, an article by
Dr D. B. Spooner has appeared in JJR.A.S. 1915, P- 63. The
author, who is in charge of the excavations at Pataliputra,
shews that the Persian element therein is far more extensive
than is commonly supposed. The palace and other buildings
are modelled on the palace of Darius at Persepolis, and seem
to have been the work of Persian masons. The caves at
' Barabar etc. (Hiuen Tsiang's " stone-chambers ") are copied
from the Royal Tombs of the Persian kings. Asura Maya,
the demon builder of the Mahdbhdrata (see Hopkins, Great
Epic of India, p. 391), is the demon who according to Hiuen
Tsiang built Asoka's palace, and is no other than Ahura
Mazda of Persia, by whose grace Xerxes built his palace
(Curzon, Persia, n. p. 156).]

CHAPTER IV

*

GREEK AND SEMI-GREEK DYNASTIES OF
THE PANJAB

"The grete Emetreus, the king of Inde."

KnigMs Tale, 2156.

THE ancient city of Baktra (Bakhtri or Bakhdhi
in old Persian, the modern Balkh), like Con-
stantinople or Alexandria, was destined by its
geographical position to play a leading part in
the history of the world. On the landward side,
it was the key to India. At its gates converged
almost all the great trade-routes of central Asia.
First, there were the famous t three roads to
BaktriaY' running through Afghanistan and con-
verging at Balkh. Then there was the road
through Kashgar to the Stone Tower of Sarikol,
by which the silk-traders brought their goods.
Lastly, there were the two great highways to the
West, the waterway of the Oxus, and the caravan
road through Parthia to Antioch.

Balkh had been, for countless years, a Skythian
settlement before the coming of the Iranians.

1 vj cfe 'BaxTpiavyv rptbSos. Strabo, xv, 2, 8. See Bunburjr,
Hist. Anc. Geog. pp. 486-7,

70 Greek and Semi-Greek

After their advent, it became the capital of eastern
Iran, separated from the rest of the Persian Empire
by the vast Karmanian Desert, and never perfectly
subdued. It became a fixed policy on the part
of the Persian kings to leave the satrapy of Baktria
in a state of practical independence, as it formed
an outpost against the ever-growing rafenace of the
Skythian hordes beyond the Oxus. Baktra was
famous in Persian literature as the centre of the
worship of Anahid, probably a Skythian goddess
originally, who had there a great temple. Baktra
fell, like the rest of Persia, before the invincible
arms of Alexander, and formed a natural base for
his invasion of India. Of the far-reaching projects
of Alexander, his colonies in the Indus valley,
and their fate, we have already spoken. Meanwhile
Baktria, which had been made an important
Macedonian settlement, became a part of the
Syrian Empire, until its ruler, a certain Diodotus,
took advantage of the incessant wars which
distracted the king's attention to declare himself
an independent sovereign. Parthia quickly fol-
lowed suit. This must have been about 250 B.C.,
or a little later. Baktria finally extorted her
independence in 208 B.C., when Antiochus III,
after an unsuccessful siege of the capital, acknow-
ledged the claims of Euthydemus, the Baktrian
ruler, and gave him a Seleukid princess in marriage.
Meanwhile, the great Empire of the Mauryas
was slowly breaking up. A succession of weak
monarchs followed the death of Asoka in 231 B.C.,

Dynasties of the Panjab 7 1

and it is not surprising that the Baktrians began
to turn their attention to the rich plains which
lay beyond the Paropamisus. There were probably
already settled there considerable colonies of
Yavanas, descendants of the Greek soldiers who
preferred staying in India to participating in the
evacuation tof Eudamus in 317 B.C. At any rate,
between 190 and 180 B.C., Demetrius, the son
and successor of Euthydemus, conquered Ariana,
crossed the Paropamisus, and subdued not only
Pattalene or Sind, but also Surashtra, the Kathi-
awar and Surat districts and an obscure province
which Strabo calls Sigertis 1 . At the same time,
he extended the Baktrian Empire " to the Seres
and Phrynoi." His object in both these under-
takings was no doubt commercial. He pushed the
limits of his realm to the edge of the Pamirs in
order to control the silk-routes ; and by conquering
Sind and Kathiawar, he obtained an outlet to
the sea by the great waterway of the Indus,
Demetrius, apparently, made his Indian territories
into a separate province. Its capital was Euthy-
demeia, the new name which he bestowed, in
memory of his father, upon the ancient city
of Sagala 2 - Other towns which he built were

1 A'^/x-jfrpios o E-u0u8>f/AQt; mos rod BarptW /?a<nXa>s ov ftwor
Be rrjv XlarraXrjT'^T/ /careV^cv aXXa Kal rrjs aAA?jfs TrapaXtW TIJV re
Sapaoarov (MSS. rca-cmpfoVrou) KaXov/x,eV^v Kal r^i/ StyepWSos /Sa<rt-

XetW. Strabo, Geog. XL n. i.

2 SayaXa 77 /cal Eu^uS^cta, says Ptolemy. It is probably
Sialkot. See McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 37; V. A. Smith,
A nc. Hist. Ind, p. 65 note.

72 Greek and Semi-Greek

Demetria in Sind and another town of the same name
in Arachosia. He probably absorbed the remains
of the older Greek principalities 1 , whose capital,
Alexandria-on-Indus, " Alasanda of the Yonas," was
famous enough to find mention in the chronicles of
the remote island of Ceylon. The fine coins struck
by Demetrius illustrate very appropriately the
events of his reign. In some, he wears upon his
head a wonderful elephant-headed helmet, appro-
priate to the conqueror of India 2 . Another type 3 ,
issued no doubt for circulation in his Indian
domains, is the square type, bearing an inscription
in Kharoshthi, the script then almost exclusively
used in the North- West Frontier. A third type
represents the king in extreme old age. On the
reverse stands Anahid, the goddess of Baktra, with
her starry crown 4 . It was in his old age that the
great conqueror was defeated by a rival named

1 Or are we to attribute this to Eukratides ? Eukratides
restrikes the coins of Apollodotus, and it may be supposed
that Apollodotus was an indigenous " Yavana " prince and
not a Baktrian. His coins are of a type all their own (Gardner,
ix. 8-13). Another explanation is, of course, that Apollodotus
was a prince of the House of Euthydemus, who reigned at
Kapisa, and was conquered by Eukratides along with De-
metrius and other members of the family. His coins are
certainly associated with those of Menander. But there may
be two princes of the same name.

2 Gardner, Cat. of Greek and Indo-Scythic Coins in the EM.
H. 9-12.

3 Ibid, xxx, 3.

4 Ibid. m. i. For the crown, see Zend Avesta in S.B.E*
n. 82.

Dynasties of the Panjab 73

Eukratides, perhaps his grandson 1 , who raised a
rebellion against him during his absence 2 . Though
Demetrius had an army of sixty thousand men,
and his opponent's forces dwindled down to three
hundred followers, Eukratides managed, after a
blockade of five months, to cut his way out to
safety and* finally to depose Demetrius 3 . But the
way of transgressors is hard, for Eukratides was
finally slain, on his return from India, by his own
son, who declared him to be "a public enemy and
not a parent/' and driving his chariot through his
father's blood, ordered the body to be left unburied
where it had fallen 4 .

It is difficult to decide whether the parricide was
Apollodotus II or Heliokles. Apollodotus II (it
is usually supposed that there were two princes of
the name), however, places the epithets ^tkoTtdr^p
/ecu 2o>T77/> on his coins, and the title would be
somewhat incongruous under the circumstances.
We are, therefore, driven to suppose that the
murderer was Heliokles 5 . This was about 156 B.C.

1 See the Author's Baktria (Probsthain, 1912), pp. 155-6.

2 EpiL XLL 6. " Multa tamen Eukratides bella magna
virtute gessit quibus attritus cum obsidionern Demetrii regis
Indoruin pateretur cum ccc militibus LX milia hostium
assiduis eruptionibus vicit. Quinto itaque mense liberatus
Indiam in potestatem redegit."

3 Date c. 174 B.C. Justin says that both Mithradates and
Eukratides carne to the throne about the same time. (EpiL
XLL 6. i.) * Justin, ibid.

5 See, however, Cunningham, Num. Chron. 1869, p. 241;
Rapson, J.R.A.S. 1905, p. 783 ; Tarn, " Hellenism in Baktria/ 1
J.H.S* 1902, p. 272.

74 Greek and Semi-Greek

Eukratides was, if we may judge from his coins,
a proud, determined man. One of these, a triumph
of the coiner's art, represents him as wearing the
Kausia 1 or sun hat. On the reverse are the
charging Dioskuri 2 .

The murder of Eukratides struck a fatal blow
to the fortunes of Baktria. The country was beset
by enemies. On the one side was Parthia, her
ancient and inveterate rival. Under Mithradates I,
she had already inflicted one serious reverse on
Baktria, and had recaptured two outlying pro-
vinces 3 . On the other side, a still graver menace
presented itself. The dangers of a Skythian invasion
from across the Oxus had long threatened Baktria.
Antiochus III had been induced to spare the town
chiefly because, if it fell, " the Hellenic world would
obviously be soon overrun by the barbarians 4 ."
The cause of the new invasion which now promised
to inundate- the country south of the Oxus was

from /catco, the modern solar topi.

2 Gard. v. 7. The coins of Demetrius, Eukratides and
Antimachus are among the finest of the ancient world. It is
impossible to account for this outburst of art in a remote corner
of the Hellenic world. But the most artistic Greek nations
were not the most skilful coiners, e.g. the coins of Athens are
by no means remarkable and do not compare with those of
Sicily.

3 rrjv *A.cnnuv7)v KCU rrjv Tovpiovav a^ypr^vro EvKpcm'S^j/ ot
IIap0v<uot. Strabo, xi. n. Mithradates imitates the coins of
Demetrius and Eukratides, and Orosius has a tale that he
invaded India as far as the Indus.

4 K/2a/>/2apct>077(T0-0ai rrjv *EXXa5a 6/w>Aoyov//,eva>s. PolyblUS,

XL 34* ,

Dynasties of the Panjab 75

primarily a migration, from central Asia, of the great
nomad tribe of the Yueh-chi, who, about 165 B.C.,
had been driven out of their pasture-lands, and
had moved southwards, pressing before them in
their turn the Sakae or Skythian tribes who lay
on the borders of Sogdiana. The first omens
of the coming trouble appeared in Parthia. A body
of Skythian mercenaries, who, driven out of their
native country by the advance of the tribes from
central Asia, had enlisted in the service of Parthia,
rebelled. A war followed, in which the Parthian
monarch Artabanus was killed by a poisoned
arrow 1 . Parthia, however, managed to beat back
the invaders. It was otherwise with the Baktrians.
Having dissipated their strength in various ambi-
tious schemes, the Baktrian monarchs, exhausted
by wars with the Parthians, Indians,, and Sakae,
were literally " drained of their life-blood " as
Justin says, and unable to of er an effective
resistance 2 . At first the Sakae contented them-
selves with occupying Sogdiana : finally, however,
they pushed across the Qxus, and Heliokles and
his followers were compelled to seek refuge in
their domains across the Hindu Kush, and abandon
Baktria to the invaders.

1 Justin, XLIL i, 2.

2 Baktriani per varia bella jactati non regnum tantum,
verum etiam libertatem amiserant : siquidem Sogdianorum et
Drangianoram Indorumque bellis fatigati ad postremum ab
invalidioritms PartMs velut exsangues oppressl sunt Justin,
XLI. 6.

j6 Greek and Semi-Greek

The Greek kingdom south of the Hindu Rush,
did not, however, long remain intact. Even
Eukratides had found it impossible to govern his
extensive dominions single-handed, and had dele-
gated part of his powers to his son 1 . Of the petty
princes who split up the Panjab among them, we
know nothing except what we like to infer from
the coins which have been unearthed from time
to time. Many of these are extraordinarily fine,
but they shed little light upon their strikers'
history. If we may rely at all upon similarity
of types and legends 2 , we may infer that some
of these princelets belonged to the house of Eukra-
tides, and others to that of Euthydemus. About
others we are quite uncertain. Thus we know that
Agathokles and Antimachus claim descent from
Euthydemus and Diodotus respectively 3 . Plato's
coin is dated 165 B.C. 4 , which makes him an early
contemporary, probably a viceroy, of Eukratides.
Apollodotus II, Strato, and Menander, employ
the figure of Athene hurling the bolt, which first
appears on the coins of Euthydemus. Hence we
infer that they belong to his family. Heliokles,
supposed to be the son and murderer of Eukratides,
restrikes the coins of Strato, probably because he

1 Eukratides a filio, quern sociwn regni fecerat, interficitur.
Justin, XLI. 6.

2 This is, of course, a most untrustworthy guide.

3 Gardner, p. xxviii, Introd.

4 He also wears on his helmet the bull's ear and horn of
Eukratides. Gardner, vx. u.

Dynasties of the Punjab 77

conquered territory belonging to the rival house,
Antialkidas, on the other hand, restrikes coins of
Eukratides. Diomedes l reproduces in a barbarous
fashion the charging Dioskuri of Eukratides ; hence
we may suppose that he is a scion of that house.
These problems, however, belong to the province
of the numismatist rather than the historian^ and
these petty rulers are unknown to us except for
their coins. About forty of them divided Sind and
the Pan jab between them during the two centuries
before and after the birth of Christ, and the epithet
" fiercely fighting/' applied to them by the Hindu
writers, indicates fairly correctly, no doubt, the
extent of their achievements. The " fierce fighting"
was, doubtless between the rival houses. At first
the family of Eukratides was successful. Eukra-
tides beat Apollodotus II, and wrested from him
the Kapisa district; Heliokles won territories
from Strato. But with Antialkidas and Menander
the tide turned in favour of the house of Euthy-
demus, though the family of Eukratides retained
the Gandhara and Kabul districts till the coming
of the Sakae.

Only one of these monarchs achieved any real
greatness. This was king Menander, or Milinda as
he is called by the Buddhist writers, of whose
career some details have been preserved in a
Buddhist treatise, the Milinda Panha> and in
passages of Strabo and Plutarch, To him, too, we
should very probably attribute the remarkable
1 Gardner, vni. 12.

78 Greek and Semi-Greek

Greek invasion of the Ganges Valley which pene-
trated almost to the walls of Pataliputra itself,
and which is mentioned by more than one Indian
writer 1 . According to the Milinda Panha 2 , Menan-
der was born, probably soon after the conquest of
the Panjab by Demetrius, perhaps about 180 B.C.,
in a village called Kalasi, on the island of Alasanda.
This was no doubt an island at the confluence
of the Indus and Akesines, which took its name
from the adjacent town of Alexandria-on-Indus,
the modern Ucch. His father may have been a
viceroy, probably a relation, of Demetrius, left in
charge of this important post. Strabo, who couples
together, on the authority of Apollodorus of Arte-
mita 3 , the names of Demetrius and Menander,
says that both monarchs made themselves masters
of the Panjab, Sind, and the Kathiawar coast.
Menander ascended the throne of Sagala, which
probably retained the position of the premier
state or capital of the Greek principalities, about
155 B.C. It was about this time, no doubt, that
his conversion to Buddhism took place 4 . Buddhism,

1 This is usually taken for granted by writers, but is by no
means proved.

2 Trans. Rhys Davids in S.B.E. vol. xxxv.

3 Geog. xi. ii. i (quoted above). Many of Menander 's
coins bear the figure of Herakles or an elephant, both devices
found also on the coins of Demetrius. Compare the coins
of Menander in Gardner, xu, with those of Eukratides in
Gardner, IIL 2.

4 There is no reason to doubt Menander's conversion,
though the evidence of the coins is inconclusive. We know

Dynasties of the Punjab 79

which had been made, thanks to the efforts of
As'oka, the official religion of northern India,
appealed especially to the casteiess foreigners of
the Indus valley. In the Middle Land, with the
collapse of the Maurya dynasty, Brahminism was
gradually beginning to reassert itself, though It
encountered set-backs when foreign kings like Ka-
nishka or IMfenander wielded a temporary supremacy
over India.

Of the capital as It was in the time of Menander,
the author of the Milinda Panha gives us a fasci-
nating description, which may not be entirely
fanciful :

" There is, in the country of the Yonakas, a great
centre of trade, a city that is called Sfigala, situated in
a delightful country, well-watered and hilly, abounding
in parks and gardens and groves and lakes and tanks,
a paradise of rivers and mountains and woods. Wise
architects have laid it out, and its people know of no
oppression, since all their enemies and adversaries haw
been put down 1 . Brave is its defence, with many and
various strong towers and ramparts with superb gates
and entrance archways, and with the royal citadel in
its midst, white-walled and deeply-moated. Well laid*
out are its streets, squares, cross-roads, and market-places.
Well-displayed are the innumerable sorts of costly
merchandise with which its shops are filled 2 . It is richly

from cave inscriptions that " Yonas " often adopted
Buddhism as their creed.

1 Does this refer to Menander's reduction of his Greek
and 6aka rivals ?

2 Menander had access to the sea on the one hand and the
Seres on the other. See the quotation from Strabo given above.

8o Greek and Semi-Greek

adorned with hundreds of alms halls of various kinds,
and splendid with hundreds of thousands of magnificent
mansions which rise aloft like the peaks of the Himalayas.
Its streets are filled with elephants, horses, carriages,
and foot-passengers and crowded by men of all sorts
and conditions, Brahmins, nobles, artificers and servants.
They resound with cries of welcome to teachers of every
creed, and the city is the resort of leading men of each
of the different sects. Shops are there for the sale of
Benares muslin, of Kotumbara stuffs, and of other cloths
of various kinds ; and sweet odours are exhaled from the
bazaars where all sorts of flowers and perfumes are
tastefully set out. Jewels are there in plenty and guilds
of traders in all sorts of finery display their goods in the
bazaars which face all quarters of the sky."

Menander was not content, however, with the
conquest of the Panjab. He aimed at nothing
less than the Empire of all northern India, the
position of Chakravarti, attained by his great
predecessor, Chandragupta. Perhaps his object
was partly religious. He may have hoped to restore
the Dharma to its old dominant position in
Pataliputra from which it had been ousted by the
Sunga kings. Of his invasion of Magadha, echoes
are found in contemporary Hindu literature 1 .
Menander's first move was against the frontier
towns of Maghada. He besieged Mathura, Ma-
dhyamika near Chitor, and Saketa in Oude.

1 As already pointed out, it is highly probable, but not
absolutely certain, that the Yavana invasion here referred to
was conducted by Menander, But the passage of Strabo,
quoted below, shews that Menander did invade Magadha,
and we have no records of another such Baktrian invasion.

Dynasties of the Panjab 8 1

" The Yavana was besieging Saketa : the Yavana
was besieging Madhyamika," are examples given
by the contemporary grammarian Patanjali of
the imperfect tense, which indicates an event
which has recently taken place, and is still fresh
in men's memories. About this time the aged
Pushyamitra, who had usurped the throne of the
last of the ]\fauryas in 184 B.C., was contemplating
offering the ancient Brahminical sacrifice of
Asvamedha, to celebrate his ascendancy over his
neighbours. He received an unexpected check.
On the banks of the Sindhu 1 river, the sacred
horse and its bodyguard, under the command of
the young Crown Prince Agnimitra, were attacked
by a party of Yavana horsemen (perhaps a detach-
ment of the army besieging Madhyamika), and all
but carried of! 2 . Nor did Menander stop here.
Pressing on, he began to threaten Pataliputra
itself, to the great alarm of the inhabitants.
" When the viciously valiant Yavanas," says the
author of the Gargi Samhita, "after reducing
Saketa, the Panchala country, and Mathura,
reach the royal residence of Pataliputra, all the
provinces will be in disorder/' He penetrated,
says Strabo, right to the Soanus 3 . But the fears

1 Between Rajputana and Bundelkhand. Not, of course, the
Indus.

2 See the drama called Malavikagnimitra, trans. Tawney
p. 78.

3 TrXetw Wvy KaTearrpeij/avTO 3) 'AAc&xvSpos, K<H /m'Ai<rra o Mivav*
Spos, Lj vov^iraviv SUfiy Trpos &o icai /xexpt TOT; Soavou TrpoJjXOt (MSS
v Y7ravu>. . .'I<ra/*ov). Strabo, XI, II. I,

R.I. 6

82 Greek and Semi-Greek

of contemporary writers were not realised, and
Menander, as far as we know, never entered the
ancient capital of Asoka. " The fiercely-fighting
Greeks/' we are told, "did not stay long in
Madhyadesa: a cruel strife had broken out in
their own country/' Menander returned, and died
soon after in the field. According to a Siamese
version of the Milinda Panha he was looked upon
at the time of his death as an Arhat, a Buddhist
saint of high degree. And so, says Plutarch,
his subject states strove for his ashes, which they
finally divided among them, and placed beneath
great dagabas in their own land, just as was done
in the case of Gautama Buddha himself 1 . His
coins are found in great quantities all over North-
Western India, and as far south as Hamirpur
in the Jamna district. Over two centuries after
Menander's death, the author of the Periplus
found them still current at the port of Broach 2 .
The war which recalled Menander was probably
a Saka invasion. The Saka tribes, pushed steadily
southwards by the advance of the Yueh-chi, and

ov 8 TO/OS bnaKus jSaoriXcwravros Kal airod
ITTI crrparoTrcSov, rr\v ftF aXX^v K^Setay Iwowfo-avro /caret TO
al TroXcts' TTCpi Sc row Xctt^at/cov avrov ^aracrrayrcs els aywva,
aruvlfiticrav, Sxrre. yct/xa/xci/06 /x.epo? WOF r^? r<^pa$ aTrcX^ctr at
yevtcrflai jutv^cta Trapa Tracre. ro9 di'Spo?. D0 R&p. Gcf* 21.

For Gautama's funeral, see MaMpannibbana Sutta in
S.B.E. xi, 131.

2 47, M^p(/ot wv Iv Bapvyaeus TraXatal Trpo^pomrt Spa^/uat...
7rto")?ju,a rcSv /u,r* 'AXc^avSpov /8c^3a<nXVKorcai/ 'AiroXXoSoroi; ical
McvavSpou.

Dynasties of the Panjab 83

hemmed in on the west by the Parthians, over-
flowed Baktria and crossed the Helmand river into
the country still known as Sakastene or Seistan.
Here they were joined by allied Parthian or Pahlava
tribes, and made their way into India through the
Bolan Pass. Entering the Panjab, they quickly
superseded he now decaying power of the Baktrian
Greeks, excepting a small principality ruled over
by members of the house of Eukratides, which
still held out in the Kabul valley. The invaders
set up two allied kingdoms. At Mathura reigned
the Saka line which was founded by Moga or Maues,
who was apparently reigning in 93 B.C. Among
his successors was Azes, whose coins indicate that
he ruled over a wide area. Under him were the
satraps Liaka Kusulaka and Patika at Taxila, and
Rajavula and Sodasa at Mathura 1 . These rulers
restrike the coins of Demetrius, Eukratides, and
Strato, whose territories they doubtless conquered.
Meanwhile, a Parthian prince named Vonones set
up a dynasty in Baluchistan and Khandahar, and
the two families were finally united under the rule of
the Parthian prince Gondophares in the first century
A.D. Gondophares is interesting, as, according to
a widely-spread legend, he and his followers were

1 There is, of course, much argument on all these points, and
the identity of Maues with Moa, and his date, are still under
discussion. But a detailed account is here out of place. See
V. A. Smith, Ancient India, ch. viz. The coins are barbarous
imitations of debased Indian models, with Parthian titles like
/?a<n\eW, Chhatrapa, etc.

84 Greek and Semi-Greek

converted to Christianity by the Apostle Thomas.
At the same time, a Saka chief of the Kshaharata
clan named Nahapana_^ gained some temporary
successes against the Andhra monarchs in the
Northern Deccan, and struck some creditable imita-
tions of Indo-Greek coins.

Lastly, about the last quarter yf the first
century B.C., the Yueh-chi, after conquering
Baktria, descended upon India. The leading tribe,
the Kushans, had now gained the supremacy, and
headed by the monarch Kujula Kadphises, they
invaded Kabul, and conquered the last of the
Baktrian monarchs, Hermaeus, as the coins clearly
indicate 1 . The Kushan kings finally, at a date
which is still quite uncertain, conquered and
superseded the Indo-Parthian dynasty, and under
their monarch Kanishka, became the paramount
power in India. The Kushans had, no doubt,
many Greek and semi-Greek subjects, and it is
uncertain whether they employed Baktrian Greeks
or outsiders to execute the remarkable Gandhara
sculptures which are the most striking relic of
their period which we possess 2 . Their coins are
singularly interesting. They bear traces of imita-
tion of both Baktrian and Roman models, but they
also shew a great deal of artistic originality and
power of realistic portraiture. The Greek element
in India was now rapidly absorbed. Yavanas
appear among the pious donors in the Buddhist

1 Gard, xxv. 1-3.

2 For a fuller discussion of this point, see ch. vn.

INDO-GREEK AND INDIAN COINS

1. Gold double daric, struck in the Panjab in the time
of the Persian occupation. Probably belongs to Darius
Codomannus, 337 B.C. (Rapson, Indian Coins, I. 5.)

2. Athenian owl, probably struck in India in imitation
of Athenian coinage. (Ibid. I. 6,)

3. Coin of Sophytes (Saubhuti), king of the Salt Range
at the time of Alexander's invasion. (Ibid. I. 8.)

4. Coin of Eukratides, king of Baktria, Kabul, and the
Panjab (c. 175 B.C.). (Gardner, B.M. Cat. v. 8.)

5. Coin of Demetrius, king of Baktria, Kabul, and the
Panjab (c. 190 B.C.). (Ibid. n. 9.)

6. Coin of Menander, Greek king of the Panjab (Sakala)
(c. 165 B.C.). (Ibid. xi. 7.)

7. Coin of Maues, Saka ruler in the Panjab, who con-
quered the territories of Demetrius ( Ic. 21 A.D.) . (Ibid. xxi. r .)

8. Coin of Nahapana, Kshaharata chieftain who ruled
in the northern Deccan and Gujarat (c. 100 A.D.). (Rapson,
op. cit. in. i.)

9. Coin of Kanishka, the greatest of the Kushan kings,
who ruled at Peshawar. His date is disputed, perhaps
c. 120 A.D. (Gardner, op. cit. xxvi. i.)

10. Coin of Samudragupta, Gupta Emperor of Northern
India, 326 A.D. (Allen, BM. Cat. v. i.)

11. Coin of Pulumavi,_ Andhra king of the Deccan,
ist century A.D. (Rapson, Andhra Cat. v. 89.)

12. Coin of Kanishka, with standing figure of Buddha
and Greek inscription BOAAO. (Gardner, op. cit. xxvi. 8.)

To face coin plate

Indo-Greek and Indian Coirft

Dynasties of the Panjab 85

caves of Karla and Nasik, but they bear Indian
titles, and were doubtless Greek in little more
than name. Perhaps the latest reference to them
occurs in the inscription of the Andhra queen
Balasri, 144 A.D., who boasts that she rooted
the " Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas/' out of the
Deccan forever 1 .

APPENDIX

GREEK AND SEMI-GREEK RULERS IN BAKTRIA
AND THE PANJAB

(This list is entirely conjectural. Semi-Greek includes all
kings minting coins which have Greek inscriptions. The
various theories on this vexed subject may be found in
Gardner's Catalogue of Greek and Indo-Scythian Coins in the
EM., V. A. Smith's Early History of India, Ch. vm.-ix.,
Duff's Chronology of India, Baraett's Chronology in An-
tiquities of India, pp. 36-94, and articles in the J.R.A.S.
and other Oriental Journals.)

I. GREEK KINGS OF BAKTRIA

Diodotus I, 250 B.C. Diodotus II, 245 B.C.

Euthydemus I, 230 B.C.

II. GREEK KINGS OF BAKTRIA AND SAGALA

Demetrius, 200 B.C. Eukratides, 165 B.C.

Heliokles, 156 B.C.

1 Karla Inscr. No. 17 (Archaeological Survey of Western
India, ed. Buhler, iv. 109.) Her son Gautamlputra actually
carried this out.

86 Greek and Semi-Greek

III. GREEK KINGS OF SAGALA AND OTHER

PRINCIPALITIES IN N.W. INDIA

(a) Family of Eutkydemus

Antimachus Pantaleon

Agathodes Euthydemus II

PMloxenus Strato I and II and

Menander Agathokleia

Apollodotus II Antialkidas

Menander

(b) Family of Eukratides

Plato (contemporary) Zoilus *

Lysias Antimachus

Hippostratus PMloxenus

Pantaleon Archebius ,

Diomedes Hermaeus (last Greek ruler, de-

posed about 25 B.C.)

(c) Uncertain

Apollophanes Hippostratus

Epander Epander

Amyntas Telephus

Artemidorus Peukelaus

NiMas Zoilus

IV. SAKA AND INDO-PARTHIAN

(a) Saka Princes (House of Maues)

Maues c. 93 B.C. 1 Azes I and II

Azilises '

1 This is quite uncertain. Fleet says 21 A.D.

Dynasties of the Panjab 87

(6) Indo-Parthian Princes (House of Vonones)

Vonones

1 Spalirises (brother of Vonones)
Gondophares (ist cent. A.D., unites Sakas and

Parthians)
Orthagnes
Arsakes *
Pakores
Sandbares

(c) Satraps subordinate to Maues
Satra P s of Taxila

(2) Rajavulaj

Sodasa J r

(d) Kshaharata satraps
Bhumaka Nahapana

V. KUSHAN KINGS

Knjiila Kadphises, c. 25 B.C.
Wima Kadphises
Kanishka 78 A.D. 1
Huvishka
Vasudeva

1 This would be Kanishka's date if he is regarded as the
founder of the aka era. Fleet, Barnett and others, apparently
consider Kanishka as the first of the Kushan line, and identify
his accession with the commencement of the Vikramaditya
era, i.e. 58 B.C.

CHAPTER V

THE PTOLEMIES

WE now turn to another aspect of Indian
intercourse with the West the trade with Egypt.
The Hellenization of Egypt was one of the most
important results of Alexander's conquests, for
Egypt became the true centre of Greek culture
in the Hellenistic world, after Athens had dwindled
into insignificance. The port of Alexandria was
admirably chosen as the site of a great town.
Not only does it tap the vast resources of the
opulent country which lies along the banks of
that great waterway, the Nile, but it enjoys an
almost ideal situation as an emporium for trade
between Europe and the East. It is on the Medi-
terranean, yet within easy distance of the head of
the Red Sea. Alexandria is still an undying
monument to the imperial genius of the great
Macedonian whose name it bears. Like Con-
stantinople, Baktra, and some other towns, it
stands at the meeting-place of nations, in a spot
destined by the nature of things to play a great
part in the history of the world.

Many circumstances concurred, in the two
centuries before Christ, to make the Red Sea

The Ptolemies 89

route the most popular trade-route with the East.
The anarchy reigning in Syria, and the growth of
the hostile empire of Parthia, diverted the com-
merce from the more northerly routes. These
were rendered still more unsafe by the irruption
of the Skythian tribes from beyond the Oxus into
Baktria. Another circumstance which tended to
make Alexandria the metropolis of the Eastern
Mediterranean, and which had effectually crippled
her only possible rival, was the sack by Alexander
of the great city of Tyre.

The ancient port of Naukratis had been com-
paratively neglected in favour of Tyre by the
Oriental traders, owing to the long and perilous
desert-journey between the Nile and the Red Sea.
For the greater part of the year it was so intensely
hot that the caravans had to move at night,
guiding themselves across the trackless sands by
means of stars, and carrying their own water-
supply, like mariners, says Strabo 1 . Early
attempts to remedy this by means of a canal
between the two waterways had been made from
time to time. The first attempt of this kind
was due to a Sesostris of the twentieth century
B.C. Pharaoh Necho and Darius the Great 2 ,
and finally Ptolemy Philadelphia (285-246 B.C.),
revived the idea. The latter built a large port
at Arsinoe, the modern Suez, for the purpose.
Owing, however, to the dangerous nature of the
navigation of the Heroopolite Gulf, with its shoals
1 Geog. xvn. i. 45. 2 Herod, n. 158.

go The Ptolemies

and treacherous winds and currents, the scheme
had finally to be abandoned 1 , and it was left
to the genius of De Lesseps in our own times to
carry it into effect. Merchants preferred to take
their goods to Aelana 2 , the ancient Ezion Geber,
whence they were transported to the great emporium
of Petra, and thence to the Levantine ports.
Ptolemy now reverted to the old idea of a port
on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea, connected
with the Nile by a desert-road furnished with
convenient oases. The spot chosen had a fine
natural harbour, and was two hundred and fifty-
eight miles from the trading station of Koptos ^ n |
(Koft), on the bend of the river 3 . Merchandise j

was to be conveyed overland to Koft, and floated
down-stream to Alexandria. The port which was , -,

built at the chosen site was named Berenike 4 , j

after the king's mother. A desert-road, furnished
with eight Hydreumata or watering-places, con-
nected Koft and Berenike. The first, says Pliny 5 ,
was twenty-two miles from Koptos; the next, a day's
journey (about twenty miles) ; the third, ninety-five

1 Strabo, Geog. xvi. 4. 6.

2 Or rather, to Leuke Rome, further down the coast and
safer for ships. From Leuke Kome goods went through Petra
to Rhinocolura ( El Arish), a penal settlement on the Egyptian
border of Palestine, and thence to Egypt. Strabo, Geog. xvi.
4. 24.

3 Koft (Lat. 26 N.) is now a mile from the river bank.

4 23 55' N. 35 34' E. The remains of the town may still
be seen.

5 NJ3. vi. 26.

The Ptolemies 91

miles from the base ; the fourth, on a hill, at an un-
certain distance ; the fifth (the Apollo Hydreuma)
one hundred and eighty-four miles ; the sixth, on
a mountain ; the seventh, the New Hydreuma,
was two hundred and thirty miles from the base ;
the last, seven miles further on, had a caravanserai,
for two thousand persons and a guard. A single
day's journey from here brought the merchant to
the sea. The journey took eleven or twelve days,
even under the most favourable conditions. In
274 B.C., a further improvement was made-
Philadelphus built another port at Myos Horrnos x ,
(Mussel Harbour) one hundred and eighty miles
north of Berenike, and five days nearer Koptos.
Myos Hormos, situated in the bay of Ras abn
Somer, near the Jifatin Islands, is a much safer
harbour than Berenike, which had awkward shoals
and was exposed to the wind 2 . Myos Hormos
was thus almost an ideal port and became the
great trading centre for the East Indian trade,
quickly eclipsing all its rivals 3 . Further down the
coast were Adulis (the modern Massowa) and
Ptolemais Epitheron (Ptolemais of the Hunts),
a great rendezvous of the elephant-hunters from
Nubia. Besides the value of their ivory, elephants
had been in great requisition for military purposes,
ever since the five hundred presented by Chandra-
gupta to Seleukus Nikator had taken a prominent

1 2 7 i2'N. 3355'E.

2 Strabo, Geog. XVL 4, 6.

3 Ibid. 24.

92 The Ptolemies

part in the battle of Ipsus 1 . They had been

employed by Poms against Alexander and were

later used by Pyrrhus and Hannibal against the

Romans. The tactical value of these unwieldy

beasts against well-disciplined troops is not great,

and they quickly fell into disrepute in European

warfare. They continued, however, *to form one

of the four traditional " arms " of the Indian army

and were freely used as late as the days of the

Moghal Empire. Ptolemais of the Hunts was

probably not far from Port Sudan, and may then,

as now, have been linked with the Nile by a road

running to Berbera. The port of Adulis was ** 1

chiefly famous for the inscription, preserved for |

us by Kosmas Indikopleustes 2 , which recites the ' \

conquests of Ptolemy Euergetes (247-233 B.C.). It ^

was the natural port for Abyssinia and the Sudan. j

The knowledge possessed about India by the ]

Alexandrian Greeks was chiefly due to Erato- !

sthenes, the learned President of the Library from 1

240-196 B.C., though some facts must have been j

made known before this by Dionysius, who had |

been sent to India, says Pliny, in the reign of .j

Philadelphus on an embassy, and published details I

about the forces of the Indian nations on his j

return. His account of India, contained in the |

third book of his Geography, was considered by I

1 Antiochus III was given one Hundred and fifty by j I

Subhagasena. Polybius, xi. 34. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci \
Inscriptions Sdectae, 54. y :

* Embury, Anc. Geog. n, 609.

The Ptolemies 93

Strabo 1 to be of the greatest value, superior to
that of Megasthenes. Eratosthenes depended for
his information upon the data supplied by Pa-
trokles, an officer who held an important command
over the eastern provinces of the Syrian Empire
under Seleukus Nikator and Antiochus L He
appears to l^ave used the opportunities he thus
enjoyed in an admirable manner, and to have
collected much invaluable information. Erato-
sthenes goes a good deal further than his con-
temporaries in his knowledge of the general
configuration of India, which he describes as a
*" * * rhomboid, its four sides being composed of the
Indus, the Himalayas, and the shores of the
Eastern and Southern Oceans respectively 2 . He
knows of the Royal Road to Pataliputra and of
the mouth of the Ganges. He has heard of the
" summer rains/' brought by the Etesian winds,
and watering the flax, rice, millet, and other crops-
He calls the people of Southern India the Koniaki
(a reminiscence of Cape Kory) ? and he has heard
of Ceylon and its numerous elephants 3 .

At this time, however, there was little direct
trade with India. Athenaeus tells us that in the
processions of Ptolemy Philadelphus were to be
seen Indian women, Indian hunting dogs, and
Indian cows, among other strange sights; also
I Indian spices carried on camels. The same

! * Strabo, Geog. xv. 10.

^ 2 Strabo, I. i. 22 and xv. n. Arrian, Indika, in. See

Cunningham, A nc. Geog. of India, p. x. 3 Strabo, XV. 14.

94 The Ptolemies

authority tells us that Ptolemy Philopator's yacht
had a saloon lined with Indian stone 1 . Agathar-
chides, the learned tutor of Ptolemy Soter II
(116 B.C.) writes enthusiastically of the commercial
enterprise of the Egyptian monarchs, and the wealth
and number of the Red Sea ports. But his know-
ledge ends there. He speaks of Sokotr^ as <( recently
discovered/' as if Alexandrian sailors had only just
ventured outside the Straits of Bab-el~Mandeb,
and then not far. In more than one place he
indicates that merchandise was not brought direct
from India, but carried to an intermediate port
and there bought and shipped by the Alexandrian
traders. For instance, in speaking of the great
riches of Arabia Felix, he says it was partly due
to the Indian traders who came in great numbers
from Potana, the port founded by Alexander on
the Indus. Potana is of course Patala 2 : the very
mistake shews how ignorant Agatharchides is of
Indian matters. Evidently Indian goods were taken
to Muza 3 or Aden, two ports at the mouth of the
Red Sea, and there transhipped. Aden, called,
from the country in which it lay, Arabia Felix or
Eudaemon, was the great clearing-house of the
East, just as Port Said is to-day. The author of
the Periplus, writing of the early history of Aden,
states this very clearly.

1 Deipnosophistes, iv. 4-6, and v. 25, 39. And compare
Q. Curtius, vm. 9. * Bunbury, Ancient Geography, n. 59.

3 Mocha, 13 20' N. 48 20' E. The neighbouring village
is still called Mauza,

Tke Ptolemies 95

" It was called Eudaemon," says this writer,
"because, in the early days of the city, when
the direct voyage from India to Egypt was never
made, and no one dared to sail from Egypt
all the way to the ports on the other side
of the Indian Ocean, the various nations met
here, and it, received cargoes from both, just as
Alexandria is the emporium for traffic from Egypt
and abroad to-day 1 ." The port of Muza was
"crowded with Arab ship-masters and sailors, and
heaped with bales of merchandise ; for these Arabs
carry on a trade with Barygaza, sending their own
ships there 2 ." Obviously, then, the trade between
Alexandria and India in the days of the Ptolemies
was mostly, if not entirely, indirect 3 , and the
Alexandrian Greeks knew little or nothing of the
country from which the goods originally came. The
information collected by Eratosthenes, for instance,
was all second-hand ; it had been acquired from
a Syrian officer and not from Egyptian traders.
Eratosthenes had nothing to say of the voyage
to India or of the intermediate ports on the Red
Sea and Arabian coasts. There were, of course,
important exceptions to this rule. Dionysius had
found his way to India, and centuries ago the

1 Periplus Maris Erythraei, 26. a Ibid. 21.

3 The only evidence to the contrary consists in two
mentions in Inscriptions (Dittenberger 186 and 190), of the

Office Of Srpcm^s n?s 'L/Sorifc K al 'E/wfySs AxJUWifs. But

nothing is known of his duties, which may have merely been
those of a port-officer at the mouth of the Red Sea.

96 The Ptolemies

voyage had been accomplished by Skylax of
Karyanda. Strabo's statement 1 that in the days
of the Ptolemies " very few accomplished the voyage
to India and brought home merchandise," seems
to imply that some did. One of these, the famous
explorer Eudoxus, actually made the voyage twice,
and fortunately a brief account of his^ adventures 2
is preserved in a chapter of Strabo, taken, we are
told, from the lost work of the Stoic philosopher
Poseidonius.

Eudoxus was a native of Cyzicus. Having
acquired a certain reputation as a geographer and
ethnologist, he was sent by the authorities of his
native city to undertake the exploration of the
Nile. While in Egypt, however, his attention was
diverted by a romantic incident. The coast-
guards from the Red Sea brought to Alexandria
an Indian whom they had found drifting in a
boat, half dead with hunger and thirst. After
he had learnt a little Greek, the Indian explained
that he had set out from India with a ship's
company ; they had lost their bearings and drifted
for months, till his companions had perished, one
by one, of hunger ; and at last, at the point of
death, he had been picked up off the entrance to
the Red Sea. He offered, if the government would
provide a ship to take him back, to shew them
the way to India. The offer was gladly accepted

1 TLpoTcpov lirt T<Sv HroXc/iaijco>v ^acriAewv, oAtya>v TravTaTracrt
uappowvrwr v\iv KO! rov 'Ii/St/cov IfMropevccrOai (froprov. Stfcibo,,

Geog. ii. 5, 12,

The Ptolemies 97

by the monarch, Euergetes II 1 , and Eudoxus
accompanied the expedition. They took a supply
of goods, reached India, and after exchanging
their wares for Indian spices and gems, sailed home.
Instead of rewarding them, Euergetes basely con-
fiscated their cargo ! He died, ho^wever, in 117 B.C.
and the indomitable sailor obtained permission to
try again, this time with a richer cargo. Again
he reached the coast of India, but on his return
voyage he was caught in a storm, and missing
the entrance to the Red Sea, reached the African
coast somewhere considerably south of Cape
Gardafui. Here he conciliated the natives by
presents, and received much kindness from them
in return, for they gave him water and pilots
for the homeward journey. He wrote down, like
the scholar he was, several words of their language.
But the strangest thing that happened there was
the discovery of a ship's prow carved in the form
of a horse. The natives declared that it belonged
to a strange ship which came from the west 2 .
Eudoxus took the prow back to Alexandria. Here
he was again basely robbed 3 , on the plea that he
had misappropriated the ship's cargo. But some

1 146-117 B.C.

2 This strange story of course is open to grave doubts.
But it may be true.

3 By Ptolemy Lathyrus, who was now reigning in place
of his mother Cleopatra who had sent out the expedition
(112 B,C.). Apparently the Indian treasures proved too much
for the cupidity of the " Graeculus esuriens/'

E.I. -

98 . The Ptolemies

sailors declared that the prow was that of a
Cadiz ship, and one even asserted that it was
the actual prow of a vessel which had sailed
away " beyond the river Lixus in Mauretania "
and had never been heard of again. Eudoxus
now shook the dust of Alexandria from off his
feet, and sailed home. The information he had
acquired presented two fascinating problems. Had
the mysterious vessel whose prow he had found,
really rounded Africa ? And if so, was it possible
to reach India by following this course ? Eudoxus
determined to try. Having realised his whole
fortune, he fitted out a ship, with which he sailed
to Italy, Marseilles, and Cadiz, collecting sub-
scriptions for the great undertaking. Everywhere
the project was hailed with enthusiasm, and
Eudoxus was able to fit out at Cadiz a large vessel
with two light boats for exploring the coast.
Embarking doctors, artizans, bales of goods,
and, strangely enough, "a supply of Spanish
dancing girls," the expedition " set sail for India."
Passing Gibraltar, they at first kept well out to
sea ; but the sailors grew frightened, and Eudoxus,
against his better judgment, stood in shore.
As he had feared, the large vessel ran aground,
and had to be dismantled, a smaller boat being
constructed out of her timbers. They went on
and reached an Ethiopian tribe who, he thought,
spoke a dialect similar to that which he had
studied in East Africa. He was now compelled,
owing to want of provisions, to return ; but

The Ptolemies 99

shortly afterwards he fitted out yet another
expedition, and this time he intended to winter
at one of the large, uninhabited and fertile islands
he had observed on the way, probably the Canary
Isles or Madeira 1 , and sail on when the weather
and wind permitted. For this purpose h$ took
seeds and agricultural implements, so as to grow
a fresh stock of provisions. Of the end of this
brave mariner, who twice reached India and
anticipated, in design at least, the projects of
Vasco da Gama, we hear no more. From the
silence which history observes with regard to
his end, we may gather that he never reached
home after rounding the Cape. The noteworthy
thing about his career is the fact that he twice
reached India and that he conceived the project
of a voyage to that land by. way of South Africa
to be a feasible thing.

Of the intercourse between India and the
Egypt of the Ptolemies, traces are few, because
the trade between the two countries was mostly
indirect. A unique inscription on the ruins of
a shrine between Edfu and the ancient Berenike,
records the visit of an Indian named Sophon 2 .

1 Like the " Fortunate Isles " to which Sertorius wanted
to sail away, according to Plutarch's story (ch. 8, Life of
Sertorius}.

2 Leipsius, Denkmaler, vol. vi, p. 81. It runs as follows :

TLavl

*Il>05

vrov,

72

ioo The Ptolemies

Dr Hultzsch speaks of finding a solitary silver
coin of the days of Ptolemy Soter in the Bangalore
bazaar 1 . The love-story, the progenitor of the
modern novel, introduced to the West by Chares
of Mitylene, may be perhaps considered an indirect
product of Alexandrian influence, as it appears
first in Alexandrian literature. *

APPENDIX

THE PTOLEMIES

Ptolemy Soter I 321 B.C.

Philadelphia .... 285

Euergetes I 246

Philopator 221 ,,

Epiphanes 204

Philometor 181

,, Euergetes II .... 146

Soter II 117

Auletes 80

Cleopatra 51-30 B.C.

THE SELEUCIDS

Seleukus I 312 B.C,

Antiochus I (Soter) 281

Antiochus II (Theos) 260

Seleukus II (Kallinikm) . . 246

Seleukus III (Soter) 227

Antiochus III (Megas) . . . 222

Seleukus IV (Philopator) . . 187

Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) . 175

Antiochus V (Eupator) 165

Demetrius (Soter) !63~i5o B.C.

1 J.R.A.S* 1904, p. 403.

CHAPTER VI

INDIA AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE

ov yap p,Qi iO9 ca

/xot J/ATTOptiy Trarpauos, ouS* eTrt,

IN the first centuries before and after Christ,
when the Kushans were establishing themselves
among the ruins of the Baktrian and other semi-
Greek principalities of North- Western India, great
changes were taking place in the West. Rome
was absorbing the remnants of the Empire of
Alexander. Syria had already fallen : Egypt
became a Roman province in 30 B.C. The
dissensions of the civil war ended at Actium,
after which Augustus settled down to organize
and regulate his vast possessions. The effect
of the Pax Romana upon trade was, of course,
very marked. Piracy was put down, trade-routes
secured, and the fashionable world of Rome,
undistracted by conflict, began to demand, on
an unprecedented scale, oriental luxuries of every
kind. Silk from China, fine muslins from India,
and jewels, especially beryls 1 and pearls, were

1 The beryl, fttfpvXXos from Skt. vaidurya, is the much-
prized aquamarine of the Romans. Only two beryl mines
existed in S. India, at Padiyiir and Vaniyambadi, and they
were a great source of wealth.

IO2 India and the Roman Empire

exported from eastern ports for personal adornment.
Drugs, spices, and condiments, as well as costus,
lycium and other cosmetics fetched high prices.
Even greater was the demand for pepper, which
sold in the days of Pliny at the price of 15 denarii
a pound 1 . This seems extraordinary to us, but
pepper remained one of the most feighly-prized
luxuries in the West, even in the Middle Ages.
In the fifteenth century it sold at two shillings
a pound, about three pounds in its modern
equivalent ! Gibbon 2 tells us that among the
ransom demanded by Alaric, was 3000 Ib. of
pepper. The Zamorin of Calicut correctly gauged
! European taste when he sent his famous letter

1 to the King of Portugal by Vasco da Gama,

I saying that " In my land is an abundance of

\ cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper and precious

,j stones," and asking for specie in exchange. Pliny,

who is fond of indulging in trite homilies on
I Roman extravagance, is right in complaining

!' of the drain upon Roman finance caused by the

?j Indian trade. India produced very little coinage

I (and what she did produce was mostly imitated

from Greek and Roman coins), and her great gold-
mines in Dardistan appear to have been practically
worked out, probably by the exorbitant demands
of her Persian and other early rulers. The
specie received from Europe was absorbed as
it is very largely to-day. The huge hoards of
coins found in the Madras Presidency shew what
1 N.H. xn. 14. 2 Decline and Fall, in. 272.

India and the Roman Empire 103

became of the money. This is especially true
of the first five Roman emperors, for, if we may
judge from the Roman coins unearthed in India,
the trade in Indian luxuries, which reached its
height in the reign of Nero, began after this
to decline, partly owing to civil war, but still
more on acgount of the severer style of living
encouraged by Vespasian and the Antonines 1 .
Of the earlier emperors, 612 gold, and 1187 silver
coins have been unearthed, exclusive of hoards
variously described as " pots full " and " cooly
loads/' By far the greater part of these huge
numbers belongs to the reigns of Augustus and
Tiberius. Pliny 2 says that India, China, and
Arabia, absorbed between them one hundred
million sesterces per annum. This sum is calculated
by Mommsen 3 to represent 1,100,000, of which
nearly half went to India. The effect of this
enormous drain on imperial finance must have
been terribly serious. Roman coinage was, like
English gold, the chief medium, almost the
sole medium of international commerce. Indians
had no coinage worth speaking of, and preferred
to import specie. This was especially true of
the south ; the Kushan and Saka monarchs imi-
tated or restruck Roman coins. The well-known
story of the Roman revenue collector, shipwrecked

1 Sewell, Roman Coins found in India (J.R.A.S. 1004
p. 200 ff.). '

2 N.H. xn. 18. (41).

3 Provinces of the Roman Empire, n, 300.

||

104 India and the Roman Empire

on the Ceylon coast and convincing the Sinhalese
monarch of the superiority of his country by
pointing to the purity, regularity and fine work-
manship of her coins, is told by both Pliny 1 and
Kosmas Indikopleustes 2 . " Thus it is/' says the
latter, " that with their money the trade of the
world is carried on/' One of the fashionable
extravagances of the time was the consumption
of huge quantities of spices at funerals. Even
as early as the days of Sulla, we hear of two
hundred and ten talents' weight being used
at his obsequies. The climax was, of course,
reached by Nero, who at the funeral of Poppoea,
in 66 A.D., burnt more aromatics on her pyre than
Arabia produced in a year 3 . Extravagance of this
kind immensely stimulated the Indian trade, while
it brought vast wealth to the inhabitants of Arabia
Felix, and the cinnamon country ( e H Ktwaftwi/o-
<f>opo<s) of the adjoining Somali coast.

One of the results of the increased intercourse
with India was the appearance of several works
bearing more or less directly upon the subject
of Indian geography. Of these writers, the earliest
is Strabo, an Asiatic Greek who lived in the
reign of Augustus. A great traveller, Strabo
had visited Armenia, and had accompanied his
friend Aelius Gallus up the Nile. He had been
to the port of Myos Hormos, and observed the
great increase of trade with India ; for he found

1 N.H. VI. 22.

2 Christian Topography, Bk. xi. 3 Ibid. vn. 42.

India and the Roman Empire 105

that about one hundred and twenty merchantmen
sailed to India (he does not say in what space
of time, but perhaps he means in a single season),
whereas scarcely anyone dared to make the
direct voyage in the days of the Ptolemies 1 .
In his own days a few bold sailors even made
the mouth o^the Ganges. But they were ignorant
men, ill-qualified to describe what they had seen,
Hence Strabo is driven to rely for his information
about India upon previous writers 2 . His leading
authority is Eratosthenes, the Alexandrian. He
draws also largely upon Megasthenes (whom he
unfairly censures), and on Aristobulus, Onesikritus,
Nearchus, and other writers who took part in
Alexander's campaign. Hence the India he des-
cribes is the India, not of his own day, but of
the third and fourth centuries B.C. ; and valuable
and exhaustive though the fifteenth book of
the Geography is, it throws little light upon India
at the time of Augustus. Even with regard
to the accounts of eye-witnesses, he says, there
are many discrepancies, and most of the people
who write about India do so from hearsay, having
visited only isolated portions of the country.
The same remarks apply to the Indika of Arrian,
written about 150 B.C. A work of quite a different
kind is the encyclopaedic Natural History of
Pliny the Elder, completed in the year 77 A.D.
two years before his death in the great eruption
at Pompeii. The sixth book of this work contains
1 Strabo, Geog. n. 5. 12. 2 Ibid. XV. 2.

io6 India and the Roman Empire '"*

a valuable description of Ceylon, drawn from
the accounts of the official already mentioned
(a freedman of Annius Plocamus) wrecked there
in the reign of the Emperor Claudius. It also con-
tains, besides dissertations on the geography of India
drawn from various sources, a most interesting
account of the voyage from Myoa Hormos to
the Indian coast, as made at the time. Other
books contain exhaustive catalogues of Indian
animals and minerals, and, above all, an invaluable
list of Indian plants and drugs, of the greatest
use in studying Indian exports of that nature.

About the time of Pliny's great work 1 , an
anonymous pamphlet entitled Periplus Mavis
Erythraei was published, probably at Alexandria.
This little book is unique in the history of Greek
geography, in so far as the writer describes the
coasts of the Red Sea, Arabia, and Western
India from his own experience and not at second-
hand, as the other extant authorities do. This
important work will receive detailed attention
later. The last of the great geographers to write
about India, if we except minor authorities
and incidental references, is Ptolemy, who lived
about 150 A.D. Unfortunately Ptolemy's Guide
to Geography is mathematical rather than des-
criptive. His object is not to describe places,
but to determine their latitude and longitude

1 There are amazing discrepancies of opinion about the
date of the Periplus. It is fairly certain, however, that
it was wntten between 80 and 90 A.D. and nearer 80 than 90

India and the Roman Empire 107

on the map, and his notices are occasional and
brief. Later geographers (with the honourable
exception of Kosinas Indikopleustes, one of the
last writers of the fast-expiring ancient world),
confine themselves to incidental statements about
India, generally copied from Pliny, Strabo, and
Ptolemy. The romances of Aelian and Philo-
stratus are unworthy of serious notice.

The news of the accession of Augustus quickly
reached India. Many Indian states sent embassies
to congratulate him, an honour, as he remarks,
never paid before to any Western prince 1 . The
most striking of these was one sent by an important
king, called, according to Strabo, Porus by some
and Pandion by others 2 . If his name really
was Pandion, he was one of the Pandya kings
of Madura, the most southerly of the three Tamil
kingdoms. Porus, however (Paurava, a descendant
of Puru) became a kind of generic name for an
Indian king with the Greeks since the days of
Alexander. It is tempting to identify this Porus
with Kadphises the first, if it is possible to put
the first of the Kushan monarchs so early 3 .
The embassy sailed from Barygaza ; it brought
in its train a Buddhist monk, Zarmanochegas

1 Mon. Ancyranum, 36.

2 Strabo, Geog. xv. 4 & 73 ; Dion Cassius, LIV. 9. 58 ;
Priaulx, Indian Travel, p. 64, and Indian Embassies to Rome
(J.R.A.S. xix. 294).

s Vincent Smith gives 45 AJX as his date, but other
authorities put him seventy years earlier.

io8 India and the Roman Empire

(Sramanacharya), who imitated the notorious
Kalanos by burning himself on a pyre at Athens,
and a letter written in Greek, describing Porus
as " lord over six hundred kings/' All this answers
to the Kushan rather than the Tamil monarch.
In the Panjab, Greek was talked, and Buddhism
was the prevailing religion, which* was scarcely
the case in the south. Barygaza would hardly
be the port for a Tamil embassy, with Nelkynda
and Muziris at hand. Kadphises had extended
his dominions over many " Yavana, Saka, and
Pallava " monarchs, and could appropriately
call himself " Maharaja over 600 kings." Bad- *
phises was familiar with Rome, as is shewn by
his imitation of the coins of Augustus. The
invitation to Augustus to form an alliance with \

him, and the offer of a free passage through his \

domains to Roman citizens, may refer to the
overland route through Baktria to China and
India. Many curious details about this embassy
have been preserved by an eye-witness, Nicolaus
of Damascus, who met the party near Antioch,
They had started from India about 25 B.C. and
had taken four years on the journey. They
had suffered much on the road and many had
died of fatigue. The length of the journey must ]
have been due to the cumbrous nature of the
presents they brought, which included tigers,
a partridge as big as an eagle 1 , a gigantic python,

1 This is the katreus of Kleitardms, the monal pheasant I

from the Himalayas, |

India and the Roman Empire 109

huge tortoises, and an armless boy who could
shoot arrows and throw darts with his feet !
With these ponderous gifts they had been forced
to take the overland route, and had evidently
experienced great difficulties in convoying them
over the passes and through the deserts. Had
they gone by*sea, the journey would have been
over in less than a year. This strange troupe
found Augustus in Samos in 21 B.C. The tigers
were shewn at the opening of the theatre of
Marcellus. Other Indian embassies visited Rome
from time to time. We have already referred to one
from Ceylon to the Emperor Claudius. Another
came to Trajan in 99 A.D. from Kadphises II or
Kanishka 1 , when the conquest of Mesopotamia
had brought the Indian and Roman frontiers
within six hundred miles of one another.

In the reign of Claudius, an epoch-making
discovery changed the whole aspect of the sea-
borne trade between India and Rome. This
was the discovery, about 45 A.D, of the existence
of the monsoon-winds, blowing regularly across
the Indian Ocean, by a captain of the name
of Hippalus. The existence of such regular
" Etesian " winds had been vaguely known before,
and Megasthenes and others had observed that
the regular double rainfall of India was due to
them. To the Arab sailors, too, the phenomenon

1 I say this with all reservation. Fleet dates Kanishka at
58 B.C.

l\ no India and the Roman JElnipire

i)

was no secret, as the term monsoon, from the
j Arabic mauzim, implies. Hitherto, however, such

| ? J few Greek vessels as dared to make the voyage

'' from the Red Sea to India had been forced to

creep along the Arabian shore and then down
the coast of Karmania an infinitely tedious
proceeding. To be becalmed, witfaout compass-
or map, in the middle of the Indian Ocean was
too great a risk to run. Hippalus, however,
observing the steady south-west current of the
summer months, and learning the secret, perhaps,,
from an Arab seaman, ventured upon the direct
voyage. At first Hippalus merely made the run
from Cape Syagrus to Patala, a distance of 1335
miles, for which he would have the wind directly
*; behind him. the whole way. This was subsequently

improved upon. It was found that by sailing-
closer to the wind (the author of the Periplus
uses the term rpa^X^o^re?, " throwing the
ship's head off the wind/' evidently a slang word
among Alexandrian sailors), it was possible to
make Sigerus or Melizigara on the Bombay coast.
Later merchants made the voyage shorter still.
Striking due east from the port of Cana or from
Cape Gardafui, it was found possible to make
straight for Damirike, or Malabar, the important
pepper-country. For particulars of the voyage
we are chiefly indebted to Pliny 1 . After des-
cribing the discovery of Hippalus, and the journey

1 N.H. vi. 26 ; also Periplus, 56.

India and the Roman Empire 1 1 1

from Koptos to the sea, he tells that passengers
for India usually embarked (at Berenike or Myos
Hormos) about midsummer. The voyage to OkSlis,
at the mouth of the Red Sea, the favourite port
for travellers to India, took just a month* Then,
if the Hippalus (the name given to the south-
west monsoo, after its discoverer) were blowing,
they reached Muziris (Cranganore on the Malabar
coast), in forty days. No doubt the time was
often bettered in practice, as the distance was
only about 2000 miles and a Greek vessel with
a good wind could do eighty miles a day 1 . In
any case, Alexandria was now brought within
a little over two months of the Indian coast.
When we remember the thirty months taken
by the pioneer of Greek voyages from India to
Suez, Skylax of Karyanda, we begin to appreciate
the improvements effected in navigation by the
first century A.D. Pliny tells us that passengers
preferred to embark at Barake 2 in the Pandya
country, rather than at Muziris, on account of
the pirates who infested the latter port. To
keep off these pirates, East Indiamen had to
carry troops of archers. This coast has always

1 For figures, see Hirth, China and the Roman Orient,
p. 167 (Shanghai, 1885). Hirth, however, forgets that the
revenue-ship belonging to Annius Plocamus, caught in the
monsoon off the Arabian coast was blown to the Ceylon
coast in fifteen days ! This, I think, constituted a record
for the ancient world. Pliny, N.H. vi. 22.

2 On the outer edge of the great Cochin lagoon. Inside
this lagoon was the great port of Nelkynda. Vide infra.

1 1 2 India and the Roman Empire

been pirate-haunted, to the days of Angria and
his Marathas, who gave the English so much
trouble. Ptolemy speaks of it as Ariake of the
pirates 1 . Barake was the port for the pepper
trade, Kottonara (Kolatta-nadu, i.e. Tellicherry),
the centre of the pepper-district. Those returning
to Europe had to sail in December, M they wished
to take advantage of the north-east monsoon 2 ,
They could then take advantage of the south
and south-west wind in the Red Sea.
i We may now turn to the detailed account
given in the Periplus of the coasting voyage to
India, as far as the writer's personal experience
went. Coming down the Red Sea, the first
port trading direct with India was Muza, the
Jlj modern Mocha, which sent its ships straight

to Barygaza. Evidently these Arabs were rivals
of the Greeks, and preferred to use their own
vessels. We then come to Okelis, a roadstead
with good water and anchorage. Aden (Arabia
Felix) the great emporium (which, in the time
of the Ptolemies, when the direct voyage to India
was not made, had been almost as busy a port
of exchange as Alexandria), had lately been sacked
by its trade-rivals, and was now in ruins. The
writer attributes its overthrow to "Caesar,"
but as Roman arms never penetrated to Aden,
it is supposed that we have here a misreading

_ * *Av8p<3v Hcfparw. But this has been explained as
Andhmbhritya (Bombay Gazetteer, Thana, IL 415, note).
* Pliny say f s Volturnus, but this must be a slip.

India and the Roman Empire 113

for Eleazar 1 (King of the Frankincense Country)
or Charibael 2 .

Outside the straits, the first port is Kane,
where ships took in water and provisions for
their long run. From here the course differed.
"Vessels for South India struck straight out to
sea, past Sokgtra or Dioscorida (Sukhadhara-dvtpa,
the Isle of the Blest 3 ) ; the rest sailed up the coast
of the frankincense country, dark and lowering,
with clouds hanging low over the hills. It was
desperately unhealthy, and the frankincense was
mostly collected by convicts. But its wealth
was prodigious. Presently Cape Syagrus (Ras
Fartak) hove in sight, with its headland and
fort, and then came the roadstead of Moscha,
a port of call for India and a port for the frankin-
cense trade. After this there were no important
ports till the traveller came to the Persian
Gulf, on which was the port of Ommana. At
the mouth of the Euphrates was Apologus,
an important harbour, of which, however, our
author merely remarks 'that it imported timber
from Barygaza sandalwood, teak, ebony, and

1 Eleazer, Hi azzu, king of the AipavwTo^opoi, 20-65 A.D.
Vincent thinks that a Roman expedition from Egypt, or
Annius Plocamus on his way to Ceylon in the reign of
Claudius (Pliny, N.H. vi. 24) sacked Aden. But the Periplus
always reads AvTo/c/xmo/), never Kaura/o, for the Roman Emperor
(e.g. 23). Hence the reading must be corrupt.

2 Charibael, Kariba-Il, Blessed by God, king of the
Homerites and Sabaites, 40-70 AJD.

* Hence Agatharchides, 103, translates it as vfjo-ot

H4 India and the Roman Empire

blackwood. The importation of Indian wood was
as old as the days of Sennacherib, and it is found
in ancient Chaldean and Assyrian temples.

We now come to the most interesting part
of the narrative our author's notes on the
Indian ports which he visited. The first of these
is the harbour called by the Greeks Barbarikon,
whatever the Indian name may have been 1 .
It was on the middle mouth of the Indus, and
the cargoes were disembarked here and sent
in boats to Minnagara, the capital of Sind, This
was probably Patala. It was called Min-nagara
(City of the Min or Saka), as Sind was then in the
possession of " Parthian Princes who were always
driving one another out/' These were, no doubt,
the Indo-Parthians, who had been turned out
of the Panjab by the Kushans. When our
author found them, the dynasty had evidently
already relapsed into anarchy. The writer cor-
rectly notes that the natives called the Indus
Sinthus (Sindhu)*. The exports of Sind (which
had not yet been eclipsed by the southern ports),
were costus (Skt. kushtha, Saussurea lappa) an
aromatic plant from Kashmir used for perfumes ;
lycium or berberry, a cosmetic fashionable in
Rome ; nard (citronella), gems, indigo, skins,
and lastly silk from China* Silk was destined

1 The Greeks always corrupted an Indian word to its
nearest Greek equivalent. Perhaps in this case it was some-
thing like Bahardipur (Schoff, ad loc.) ; see p, 119, note.

2 40.

India and the Roman Empire 115

to "become an immensely important article of
commerce. The expeditions of the Baktrian mon-
archs, Demetrius and Menander 1 , and of the
Kushan kings, had opened out the great trade
route which runs from Balkh to the historic
"Stone Tower" of Sarikol. Some of the silk
also found its* way through Nepal to the Ganges
and thence to the Malabar coast 2 . Later on,
it was taken straight from China to Rome, by
the land-route from Sarikol to Balkh, Hekatom-
pylus, Ekbatana, Ktesiphon, Hira, and Charax,
and then by sea to Petra, Tyre, and the Levant 3 .
Ptolemy tells us of the Macedonian merchant
named Maes or Titianus, whose caravans went
through the wild Bolor mountains to the Stone
Tower, a frontier fort on a desolate crag. Here
the Chinese, whose capital was " a seven months'
journey away/' met them with the silk 4 . Silk
was the rage in Rome, and this extravagant
habit is the occasion of one of Pliny's homilies 5 .
For a long time the origin of silk was a mystery
to the Romans. The yarn was woven at places
like Cos. It was popularly supposed to grow
on trees, a belief which perhaps arose from travel-
lers' tales of the cocoons of the silkworms being

1 Strabo, xi. n. i. 2 p e riplu$, 64.

3 Hirth, China and the Roman Orient (Shanghai, 1885),
passim.

4 Geog. i. 12. 8. The road went through the land of the
Kasii. Is this Kashgar ?

5 N.H. xxi. 8.

82

n6 India and the Roman Empire

attached to the mulberry leaves on which they
feed. Hence Vergil's

Velleraque ut folils depectant tenvla Seres 1 .

Aristotle, however, knew a great deal more than
this about the matter, though his account was
evidently disbelieved 2 . The Chinese jealously
guarded their secret till the days* of Justinian,
when two adventurous monks smuggled silk-
worms' eggs to Constantinople in a hollow cane.

Passing the treacherous Ran of Kacch, our
traveller next put in at the ancient harbour
of Barygaza (perhaps Bhnghu-Kaccha] , the most
famous of the Indian ports trading with the West,
until it was eclipsed, after 47 A.D., by its southern
rivals. It is the modern Broach. It lay on
the river Narmada, and was difficult of access
on account of shoals, and the extraordinary ebb
und flow of the tide. At one moment the tide
would flow right out, leaving vessels stranded;
at the next, it returned with a roar " like an
advancing army/' and woe to the luckless vessel
caught unprepared 3 . These intimate touches make
us feel that the Periplus is a narrative of actual
experiences. At Broach the writer found the
coins of Menander and Apollodotus still in circula-
tion. Specie was also imported, native Indian
coinage being, as usual, scarce and bad. J Our
author was no scholar, and he gravely accepted
the story that the remains of great shrines, forts,

1 Georg. IL 121. 2 Hist. An, V. 19. II. s 45-

India and the Roman Empire 117

and wells in the Broach district were relics of
Alexander's invasion. He also says that Alexander
" penetrated to the Ganges 1 /' The fertile coast-
country between Broach and the Indus, the
writer calls Syrastrene, obviously Surashtra, the
name still surviving in Surat. The trade, export
and import, of the district, was immense 2 . The
exports included the various Indian condiments
and spices, muslins, and stones : the imports,
specie, unguents, singing boys, and " choice girls
for the Royal harem/' These, doubtless, were
the Yavanis of the king's bodyguard, already
referred to. The capital of the district was
a second "Minnagara," or Saka city, probably
Madhyamika, but which of the numerous Saka
dynasties was reigning there at the time, it is
impossible to say. The old capital had been
the historic city of Ozene or Ujjain, the chief
town of Malwa, and the seat of the Viceroy of
Western India in the days of the Mauryas. It was
now temporarily abandoned. A few years later, it
became again the capital under the Saka satrap
Chastana, the Tiastanes of Ptolemy. Ships from
the Red Sea began to arrive about July, as soon
as the south-west monsoon had set in, and they
were met by Government pilot-boats, and moored
in regular basins, where the bore of the Narmada
was least dangerous. In this statement we have

1 Is the true reading Menander for Alexander in these
two passages ?

2 A detailed list is given in 48-50.

n8 India and the Roman Empire

a further piece of evidence of the advanced state
of Indian shipping 1 . The monarch reigning in
Gujarat (Ariake) was Mambarus, who may be
Nahapana 2 , the Kshaharata chieftain who suc-
ceeded Bhumaka 3 . Nahapana was afterwards con-
quered by the Andhra monarch Vilivayakura II 4 .
His head-quarters may have Men at Nasik,
close to which town a large hoard of his coins
has recently come to light. They bear an inscrip-
tion in barbarous Greek characters, and a head
obviously imitated from Baktrian or Roman
types. Evidently Nahapana's trade brought him
in considerable wealth, and brought him into
contact with Graeco-Roman influence.

Our traveller now 5 goes on to describe the
Deccan, the seat of the great Andhra kingdom.
Deccan (Dakkhinabada*) he correctly derives from
Sdxavos, south. Beyond the Ghauts, the land
is wild and desolate, full of tigers, apes, and
huge pythons 7 . The principal ports were Ter

1 Regulations for harbour-masters and pilots are laid
down in the Kautittya Artha Sdstm. See App. to Ch, in.

2 Wilson in J.R.A.S. Bengal, June, 1904.
8 Rapson in J.R.A.S. 1904, p. 371.

4 V. Smith dates this at 126 A.D. but this is inconsistent
with the accepted date of the Periplus.

5 52-

6 Skt. DaksMnapdthct. Aa^tvajSaS^s KaAemu -q xa>pa* Sa^avos

yap jcaXctrai 6 VOTOS TJJ avruv yAoWfl. Here we have another
personal touch.

7 This agrees with what Hiuen Tsiang and other travellers
tell us, and was still true of the Deccan till quite recent times.

India and the Roman Empire 119

(Tagara), Sopara, Paithan and Kalyan, these
being supplied with goods from the central part
of India by the great high road running through
Daulatabad to Hyderabad. Kalyan and Sopara,
the chief harbours in the days^ of "the elder
Saraganus " (probably Arishta Satakarni), had,
since the accession of the weak king Sandanes
(Sundara Satakarni), been blockaded by the men-
of-war from the rival port of Broach, who towed
vessels off to their own harbour and made them
unload there ! Here we have another interesting
side-light on contemporary Indian history.

The remaining ports of the Deccan were :

(i) Mandagora, probably Bankot.

(ii) Palaipatmai, probably Dhabol or Paripatana,
(iii) Melizigara, probably Jaigad.
(iv) Byzantium, probably Vizadrog 1 .

(v) Togarum, probably Devgad.
(vi) Auranoboas or Tyrannoboas, probably Aran-
yavaha or Malvan.

Also the following islands :

(i) Sesikrienae, probably Vengurla.
(ii) Aegidii, probably Angidiva or Goa.
(iii) Kaenitae, probably Karwad.

1 This was not a Byzantine colony ! The Greeks always
transliterated a Hindu name so as to be as like as possible
to some well-known Greek word. We do the same, e.g.
Hobson-Jobson and many other ludicrous instances. The
Apollo Bunder at Bombay is the Pdlvd Bandar, for instance.

120 India and the Roman Empire

After this, the traveller arrived at the Tamil
country, Damirike 1 . The chief ports mentioned
are Muziris, in the country of Kerobothra or
Keralaputra, the Western Tamil kingdom, and
Nelkynda, in the kingdom of Pandya (Pandion)
or Madura. Muziris, as we have already seen,
was shunned by travellers on account of bad
anchorage and the pirates. It is almost certainly
Muyiri-kotta, the modern Cranganore 2 . Nelkynda
(Nil-kantha, perhaps) was somewhere in the
Cochin backwaters.! At the mouth of the back-
waters stood Barake, the port mentioned by
Pliny. Nelkynda became about this time the
most important of the Indian ports. This was
partly due to the blockade of the Northern Deccan
coast by the ships of Broach. The chief reason,
however, is to be sought in the pepper-trade,
for which, after the epoch-making discovery of
Hippalus, it became the chief port. After this,
it completely eclipsed even Broach 3 . The exports
of Nelkynda were most multifarious. Pepper
and other condiments, drugs like spikenard and
malobathrum, jewels like beryls, pearls, diamonds
and sapphires, ivory and silk from Bengal, and
tortoise-shell from the Golden Chersonese, were
the chief. As we have already noticed, the

1 This is surely the correct reading. MSS. Limirike,
which is meaningless.

2 Not Mangalore, as formerly held.

3 It is mentioned by Pliny, Ptolemy, the author of the
Geography of Rawenrt, and in the Peutinger Tables.

India and the Roman Empire 121

enormous extent of the trade with Southern
India in the first century A.D. is evidenced
by the great numbers of Roman coins found
there. There seems little doubt that eventually
regular colonies of Roman traders sprang up
in the Madras Presidency. The Peutinger Tables
represent a temple of Augustus at Muziris. There
was a " Yavana " colony at the mouth 1 of the
Kaviri river. Ptolemy tells of meeting people
who had resided in the Madura district { for
a long time 1 /' and the great numbers of copper
coins of little value found there point in the same
direction. Roman soldiers, like the Vikings and
the Swiss in later days, enlisted in the service
of foreign kings, and " dumb Mlecchas/' or " power-
ful Yavanas" in complete armour attending
native princes are often mentioned in Tamil
literature 2 . Further than Nelkynda, our traveller
evidently did not go. Like the great majority
of Indian merchants of his time, he made the
coasting voyage up the Arabian shores, to the
head of the Persian Gulf, along the Mekran
to the mouth of the Indus, and then down the
Indian coast to Cochin. His account is a remini-
scence of personal experiences on this run. At

Geog. ProL i. 17.

2 Mukerji, Indian Shipping, p. 128 ft. collects the evidence
for this. See also Sewell, Roman Coins found in India (J.R.A S
I 94, P- 39i). Pfflay, The Tamils eighteen hundred 'year's
ago, Ch. in ; Vincent Smith, Early History of India
p. 400,

122 India and the Roman Empire

Nelkynda, no doubt, he discharged his cargoes,
loaded his holds with pepper, cinnamon, silks >
muslins, and perhaps with a box or two of pearls,
sapphires, and tortoise-shell, and waiting for
the north-east winds of December, spread his
sails for the long voyage back to the mouth of
the Red Sea. But before he left Nelkynda,
he gathered, no doubt from other sea-captains
at anchor within the backwaters, many valuable
facts about the east coast of India as far as the
mouth of the Ganges, and these he has briefly
recorded. Proceeding on his voyage, the traveller
comes to cape Kumari, where dwells a goddess
(Kumdn or Devi), and where, we are told, is
a shrine and monastery, where men and women
dedicate themselves to a life of chastity in her
honour, and perform ablutions. This is still true
of the pilgrims who visit this holy spot. After
this comes the Coast Land, the Chola Mandalam
or Chola-coast, the modern Coromandel. Its ports
were Kamara, the Khaberis emporium of Ptolemy,
at the mouth of the Kaveri ; Poduca, i.e. Pudu-
cheri or Pondicherry ; and Soptama Su-patana,
the " fair city " of Madras. Here there was a
flourishing trade in pearls and muslins, and ships
from Bengal frequently put in. Travellers, were
struck by the sangara 1 , or catamarans, large
vessels made of logs, and the sea-going kolandia*
To the Coromandel coast, says our author, went
a very large proportion of the exports from Rome.
1 Caldwell says tMs is the Malayalam jangala.

India and the Roman Empire 123

Of the neighbouring island of Ceylon he, knows
^ very little, but like all the writers of his time,

* he thinks it a vast island projecting far into the
ocean. Then comes Masalia, the Masulipatam
district, with a great trade in muslins, and Dosarene,
the Darsana or holy land of Orissa, with its
trade in ivofy. After this, our writer becomes
very vague. Further on lies the Ganges, with
a port at its mouth (probably Tamralipti) whence
come the Benares muslins, Chinese silk, and
malobathrum. A most interesting description of
r the Mongolian hillmen who collect the malobathrum

'* * on the Chinese border concludes the Periplus.
1^ "Every year, on the borders of This (China),

\ assembles a tribe of men with stunted bodies and j]

\ broad, flat faces. They are timid and peaceful, and f

I almost wild. They are called Besatae (vishada,

dullness, stupidity 1 ) . They come with their families
bearing baskets of what appear to be thin grape-
leaves. They meet in a place halfway between
their own land and China, and hold a fair, spreading
out the baskets and using them as mats. After
this they return to their own land. Then the
natives who are on the watch take these mats
and pick out the leaves, which they call ' petri '
(pair a, leaves). They then press them into layers
and fasten them with fibres taken from the mats,
j These they make into balls of three sizes whence

j come the three grades of malobathrum to be had

* * So Lassen, 2nd. Alt. m. 8, but Lassen's imaginary

! adjective vaishada, dull, does not exist. See p. 147.

124 India and the Roman Empire

In India/' Here we have a description of the
" silent barter " carried on by many shy, wild
tribes all over the world, and still practised
by the Veddas of Ceylon. The goods to be
bought are left in a clearing, and the purchaser
takes them, replacing them by their equivalent
in value, Pliny says Sinhalese merchants went
to this mart 1 , and Kosmas Indikopleustes saw
a similar system employed in Ethiopia.

APPENDIX

SOME NOTES ON INDIAN DRUGS AND PERFUMES

Indian drugs and perfumes were known indirectly in
Europe at a very early date. The first extensive account of
them is given in Theophrastus' History of Plants. But
I Pliny's account is much fuller, and there are many valuable

remarks on this important trade in the Periplus. The
following notes deal with some of the principal plants.

Costus. Skt. kushtha, modern kut-lakd%> called also uplet
in Karachi, and puchuk in the Far East. It is the root of
< j the Sausmrea lappa (hence the Roman name Radix), and

I j grows in the Himalayas. It was exported from Barygaza

| 1 and Barbnrikon, and fetched five denarii a pound in Rome,

f j where it was used for making perfumes and for cooking. It is

j j still exported from Kashmir (where it is a state monopoly),

via Karachi and Bombay, to China and Japan, where it is
1 | apparently used as incense- About 2000 cwt, valued at

about Rs 40,000, are exported annually. Hamilton (New

1 N,H. vi, 22, 24, Kennedy denies this and reads, Cheras
for Sm$, J.R.A.S. 1904, p. 359- Other references to the

silent trade are Herod, xv. 196 (Libya); Ammianus Mar-
cellims, xxnx. 6* 68 (Seres); Pomponius Mela, in. 8. 60
(Himalayan tribes).

India and the Roman Empire 125

Account, i. 128), writing about 1720, says, "There are great
quantities exported from Surat and thence to China, where
it bears a good price. For being all idolaters and burning
incense before their images, this root beaten into fine powder
. . .will burn a long time like a match, sending forth a fine
smoke whose smell is very grateful/'

Lycium. Exported from Barygaza and Barbarikon, was the
bark and fruit of several species of Himalayan berberry,
used for preparing an astringent medicine, and for a cosmetic
(Pliny, xxiv. 72).

Malabathrum, Cassia. Both these were the products of
the cinnamon tree, a kind of laurel, several varieties of which
were used in ancient trade. The true home of the cinnamon
plant was, of course, the cinnamon country of the Somali
coast, and the adjacent parts of Arabia Felix. Pure cinnamon
fetched 1500 denarii per pound. This was the stems and bark
of the tree, and was used for making unguents, for incense,
and for a condiment. Malabathrum, on the other hand,
consisted of the leaves of a cinnamon plant (perhaps C. tamala),
used for the manufacture of a famous unguent, known chiefly
from the reference in Horace (n. 7. 89), and came from the
Himalayas.

Curiously enough, Ceylon cinnamon, so famous in Dutch
days, was not known to the ancients. It is impossible, in
this limited space to give details of the cinnamon trade,
which has continued from Egyptian and Jewish times down
to the present day.

Frankincense. True frankincense, the product of five
species of the genus Boswellia, comes from the Hadhramaut
country, and is imported to India and China, the port of
export being Dafar (sometimes supposed to be the Sapphara
Metropolis of Ptolemy). Its Arabian origin is indicated by
its name olibanum (aHuban). There are, however, several
gums used in India instead of incense. Among these, bdellium
(Pliny, xii. 19) was one of the commonest. It is a gum re-
sembling myrrh, and the product of several species of the
Balsamodendron. It grows chiefly on the slopes of the Hindu

126 India and the Roman Empire

Kush, and was exported from Barbarikon and Barygaza. It was
worth three denarii a pound. Storaoc, or Benzoin, the gum of
trees of the genus Styracaceae, is the modern Indian ud or in-
cense. It was apparently not common in India, being one of
the imports mentioned in the Periplus. Myrrh was the gum
of another tree of the genus Balsamodendron. Its Sanskrit
name is vola, whence the modern Indian boL Pliny, xn. 35,
gives a long account of the collection of the gum (stacte). The
best sort fetched 40 denarii per pound. Some of the Acacias
produce fragrant gums, used for the adulteration of incense,
and employed for similar purposes.

Spikenard. This was the stem and leaves of the Nardo-
stachys Jatamansi, a plant of the Valerian class found in the
Himalayas. It was used for making the famous "ointment
I of spikenard" which is chiefly known to English readers

I from the episode in St Mark xiv. 3. It fetched from 40 to

75 denarii a pound. It was exported from Barygaza, from
the Malabar coast (whence it arrived from the mouth of the
Ganges), and from Bengal. It must not be confused with
nard, which was apparently an essential oil extracted from
the citronella or ginger-grass, found in Baluchistan and
exported from Barbarikon. See Pliny, xn. 26 .

(For further details, see Watt's Commercial Products of
India, articles under the various headings in the Encyclopedia
Britannica, the numerous scattered notes of great value in
Yule's Marco Polo (3rd edition, Murray, 1903), and in the
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency. See also Sir George
Birdwood's articles in the Transactions of the Linnaean Society ,
* |[ ' vols. xxvii-xxvin, and Journal of the Royal Society of Arts,

j ( June 1914, Gustav Oppert's Trade with Ancient India, Madras,

1 1879, and U. C. Dutt's Materia Medica of the Hindus, revised

, ^ ! .
f

by K. A. Sen, Calcutta 1901.)

CHAPTER VII

INDIA AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE (CONTINUED)

TRADE between India and Rome continued
to thrive steadily during the second and third
centuries A.D. There was a temporary lull in
the demand for luxuries after the extraordinary
outburst of extravagance which culminated in
the reign of Nero, but this did not have a very
serious effect upon commerce. Roman Emperors
took an increasing interest in Eastern questions,
and, as we may see from the writers of the time,
the bounds of geographical knowledge were slowly
but surely extended. Trajan 1 during his Parthian
expedition, travelled to the mouth of the Euphrates
and watched the ships spreading their sails for
India. He is said to have dreamed of making
an expedition to the country himself. He pushed
the Roman frontier to within six hundred miles
of Indian territory. He entertained an Indian
embassy regally, giving its members senators'
seats at the theatre 2 . In the reign of Marcus

1 Dion Cassias, LXVIL 28.

2 Ibid. ix. 58.

128 India and the Roman Rmpire

Anrelius, Avidius Cassius fought another successful
campaign against Parthia and took the winter
capital of Ktesiphon.

In spite of temporary set-backs caused by these
wars, the land-borne trade between Europe and the
East flourished exceedingly. We have already men-
tioned that it consisted chiefly of Qiinese silk, but
Indian goods found their way, wholly or partly, by
these routes to Europe in considerable quantities as
well 1 . Great cities sprang up, created by this traffic.
One of the chief roads the one which ran from
the Parthian capital at Hekatompylus passed
through Ekbatana and Ktesiphon, At Ktesiphon
it branched off in several directions, the main
track running through Mesopotamia, crossing the
Tigris by the famous flying bridge between Zeugma
and Apamea, and ending at the port of Antioch 2 .
jl Another important branch of the road ran to

!' Palmyra, and then to Damascus, Gaza, Tyre,

1 and Sidon, and joined the network of highways

\ which converged at Petra 3 . The great city of

1 The chief passages referring to the overland route
are : Pliny, JWJSf. vi, 17 ; Strabo, xi. 7, 3 ; ibid. xn. 2. 17 ;
ibid, xiv. 2. 29 ; ibid. xvi. 2, 3 and the Sra^ol HapOtKOL of
Isidore of Charax.

* Zeugma transitu Euphratis nobile. Ex adverso Apa-
meam Seleukus, idem utriusque conditor, ponte iunxerat.
Pliny, N.H. v. 24, See also Bunbury, Hist. Anc. Geog.
17-20.

a Hue cx>nvetiit utrumque bivium, eorum qui Syria
Palmyram petiere et eorum qui a Gaza venerunt. Pliny,
iOL vi. 28, 144*

India and the Roman Empire 129

Petra played a very large part in Eastern trade,
more, however, Arabic than Indian. Most of
the Indian goods which came up the Red Sea
naturally found their way to Alexandria, but
some were unshipped at Leuke Kome for Petra 1 .
These no doubt included silks and other stuffs
which went t> Tyre to be re-dyed. Gaza and
Rhinokolura (the latter originally an Ethiopian
convict settlement), were both convenient ports
from Petra for the Mediterranean. Petra was
a lovely spot, built in an oasis, with springs
and gardens, and a large cosmopolitan population.
It was visited by Strabo's friend Athenodorus,
and its noble ruins are still an object of admiration.
It owed its great prosperity to the caravans
from the mouth of the Euphrates, and from the
spice, incense, and gold lands of Arabia Felix
which converged in its bazaars. It was reduced,
however, by Trajan in 105 A.D. for helping the
Parthians, when Palmyra took its place as the
great entrepot of the Oriental land-trade, till she,
too, fell before the Roman arms in 273 A.D. after
a career of unexampled splendour and prosperity.

Meanwhile, the sea-borne trade with the far
East was also progressing. The Parthian war of
162-165 A.D. and the terrible outbreak of plague
at Babylon, had caused something like a panic
in the silk traffic, and, a mercantile mission,
pretending to come from the Emperor Marcus
Aurelius, but really no doubt sent by the rich
1 Strabo, xvi. 4. 24.

R. I. 9

i 130 India and the Roman Empire

I merchants of Antioch or Alexandria, reached

, j the court of the Chinese monarch Huan-ti in

I October, 166 A.D. They represented to the king

that their master had always desired to send

; , embassies to China, but the Parthians had wished

j ' to carry on the trade in Chinese silks, and for
this reason they had been cut off from direct

i ; communication. They therefore represented them-
selves as having been sent by Antun king of

i ' Ta-tsin (Antonius King of Syria), who offered

; ivory, rhinoceros horns, and tortoise-shell from

. ri ; ; the frontier of Annamu They brought no jewels,

,, : f : " says the Chinese annalist, a fact which makes

s ^ : ; ' him suspect their story. However, from that

i;l -,; date, he continues, direct intercourse between

-!;; . China and the West by sea began. No doubt

: : ! | the merchandise went from Annam to Nclkynda

. , j.. ! and was there shipped to Alexandria and Antioch 1 .

i;? .*. Ptolemy, the great Alexandrian geographer,

; writing about this time, chiefly from information

; M;| collected by Marinus of Tyre, exhibits a much

/! fuller knowledge of the Asiatic coast than his

predecessors, from which we may infer that the

..,,,/, " mission to the Chinese court was only part of

'".! ; a general pushing forward of Roman trade with

! the Far East* The author of the Periplus knew

j * I follow Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, text p, 42,

and commentary, pp. 173-8. See also Remand, Relations
de I" Empire Remain awe I'Asie Oriental > p. 184; Priaulx,
Indian Embassies to Rome (J*R.A.S xrx. 294) and Yule's

i|; ; -: Cathay and the Way Thither,

India and the Roman Empire 131

little or nothing of the coast beyond the mouth
of the Ganges. Ptolemy goes a great deal further,
though, possibly because he had to depend upon
the reports of illiterate seamen, his statements
are often very confused and vague. He mixes
up Java and Sumatra ; he says nothing of the
Straits of Malacca, and he thinks that the Chinese
coast, instead of trending northward, bends south-
ward to meet the shores of Africa !

Before we find fault with a system which
led to such extraordinary results, we should
remember the difficulties with which Ptolemy
had to contend. He was dependent for his
information upon ignorant sailors, who often
misspelt hopelessly the very names of the ports
at which they touched. He had only their word
for the direction in which they sailed from port
to port, and this was often entirely wrong ; and
for distance, as he himself confesses, he had to
be content with calculating from the average
run of a ship per day, with deductions to allow
for irregularities of the coast, and other disturbing
factors. The result of attempting to plot a map
upon such data may be seen from the charts
of Ptolemy. It led to the strangest contortions
of the coast of India itself. Ptolemy seems to
be quite unaware of the southward trend of the
great peninsula ; he thinks that Barygaza is very
little to the north of Cape Kory, while Palura
is actually to the south of it ! In fact he pictures
the coast of India, and of the country beyond,

92

132 India and the Roman Empire

as running from west to east in a more or less
continuous line, only broken by the Gangetic
Gulf or Bay of Bengal. From Cape Kory to
the Ganges, we have a series of towns, of which
the most interesting is perhaps one, not named,
which lies between Maesolia and Palura. Maesolia,
the Masalia of the Periplus, is ^probably the
Masulipatam district, and Palura, at the beginning
of the Gangetic Gulf, lies a little further to the
north 1 . From this place ships set out on the
voyage to the Far East 2 . Crossing the Bay
of Bengal, they arrived at Sada in the Silver
Country 3 , and from Sada to Temala or Tamala
near Cape Negrais. From here to a port called
Zaba 4 , was a voyage of twenty days ; and from
Zaba about the same distance to Kattigara.
On this part of the voyage, however, Ptolemy
admits himself to be very doubtful. His informa-
tion is taken from Marinus, who in turn derived
his from a trader named Alexander. Alexander's
expression " some days," says Ptolemy, may
mean anything, few or many.

Proceeding up the coast of India from Palura,
Ptolemy arrives at the mouth of the Ganges.
He is the first Western writer to mention the

1 Colonel Yule puts it as fax north as the Ganjam river.

nv -irXeovrcov.

3 VII. 2. 3. I. 13- 7-

4 vn. 2. 6. It was at the head of the Gulf of Siam (the
Great Gulf). Yule identifies it with Champa, and looks for
it on the west coast of Camboj a and probably near the Kampot
or Kang-Kao river. (Ind. Ant. vi. 228.)

India and the Roman Empire 133

great Ganges delta. Even the writer of the
Periplus says nothing of this, and Strabo and
all earlier writers are silent upon the point, if
we except Vergil's doubtful reference to the " seven
calm streams" of that river 1 . Ptolemy assigns
to the Ganges five mouths 2 . From the Ganges
he goes on t& Trans-Gangetic India 3 . First we
arrive at the land of the Airrhadii, i.e. Further
India from the Ganges to the Tokosanna or
Arakan river ; then we come to the Silver Country,
Arakan and Pegu ; then to Besynga or Bassein ;
and finally to the Golden Chersonese, the Malay
Peninsula. The name is a translation of the
Sanskrit Suvarnabfawmi, applied to the Irrawady
delta, the Burmese documents similarly styling
their frontier as the Sonaparanta (Aurea Regio) 4 .
After this, we arrive at the Great Cape (Cape
Camboja) and the Great Gulf or Gulf of Siam,
At the western end of this gulf lay Zabse or
Zaba, the port already mentioned for travellers
sailing for Kattigara 5 .

The inhabitants of Burma-Siam are described
as being "fair, shaggy, squat-figured and flat-
nosed/' a very good description on the whole.
It is clear, from the frequent mention of marts,
river-mouths and the like, that Ptolemy gets
his information from traders who have been up

1 Aen. ix. 30-31. 2 vn. 1. 18. 3 vn. 2. 2.

4 Suvarnabhumi, as we have already seen (Ch. n), was
known to merchants in the Jdtaka days.

5 vn. 2. 6.

134 India and the Roman Empire

and down the coast. Even more interesting
is the evidence that these traders penetrated
beyond the Sunda Straits into the Eastern Seas.
Ptolemy had a good deal to say about the Malay
Archipelago. Among the " Islands of Transgan-
getic India/' he mentions Sindae, inhabited by
cannibals; the Isle of Good Luck ('Aya#oi5 Sat/^ovos) ;
the Sabadeibae and Barusae Isles, also inhabited
by cannibals ; the island of labadius, or Isle
of Barley, very fertile, producing much gold
and having as its capital Argyre, or Silver Town,
at its western extremity ; the Isle of the Satyrs,
where the inhabitants have tails ; and the magnetic
rocks of the Maniolae, which attract ships,
unless they are built with wooden pegs instead
of nails. Of these islands, Sindae 1 , the Isle of
Good Luck, and the Sabadeibae Isles, have been
located off the coast of Sumatra ; the Barusae
Islands are probably the Nicobars ; while the Isle
of Satyrs no doubt took its name from the apes
which the mariners saw on it. The story of the
fabulous rocks of Maniolae, which attracted ships,
is familiar to readers of the Arabian Nights.
Far more important, however, is the reference
to the island of labadius, or Java dvipa. The
mention of" this important island shews a very
great advance in Western , knowledge of the
Far East. That there is no doubt about the

1 Lassen, Ind. Alt*-m. 250, sees in this name a reference
to Indian traders (Sindhu). Yule thinks that the name
survives in Stindar Fulat. Sabadeibae is Saba-dmpa.

India and the Roman Empire 135

identification, is shewn by the fact that Ptolemy
knows that the word signifies in Sanskrit the
"Isle of Barley 1 ." It is characteristic, however,
of the vague and inaccurate information supplied
by his illiterate informers, that Ptolemy confuses
Java with the neighbouring island of Sumatra.
The description given is obviously of Sumatra
and not of Java at all. Sumatra, not Java,
is rich in gold, and Argyre, the capital on the
western extremity of the island, is in all probability
Achin 2 . Java became later an important Hindu
colony, as its great ruins testify ; both it and
Cambodia became the seats of important bodies
of settlers, perhaps partly owing to the extension
of the China trade. Java, if we may judge from
the narrative of Fa Hian, was an entrepot for
traffic with the Far East, like the Arabian ports
in the West ; and the island was visited again
by Ibn Batuta in the fourteenth century. After
rounding the coast of Indo-China, Ptolemy's
account becomes more and more vague. He
thinks that the coast-line, instead of bearing
away to the north, turns southwards, finally
connecting Asia and Africa, and enclosing the
Indian Ocean so as to form, like the Mediterranean
Sea, a huge landlocked expanse of water. After
crossing the Gulf of Beasts (the Gulf of Tongking),
we come to Kattigara, the last port in the known
expanse of the ancient world, and here Ptolemy's

1 Sanskrit yava, 'barley/

2 Bunbury, n. 643 ; Yule, Marco Polo, n. 266, note.

136 India and the Roman Empire

account ends. Kattigara is probably Kian-chi
in Tongking, for we learn from the Chinese annalist
who tells us of the Roman embassy to China
that the Romans (Ta-tsin) came there in great
numbers to trade. Inland lay the great " Metro-
polis of China 1 /' which had not, says Ptolemy,
the brazen walls or other fabulous attributes
usually assigned to it. It was probably Nankin.
It had already been vaguely known to the Western
world as a vast city exporting silk to Barygaza
and the Ganges 2 .

This concludes Ptolemy's account of the geo-
graphy of India. He is, unfortunately, of little
use for our purpose, for his great work is mathe-
matical, not descriptive, and throws little or
no light upon the condition of India in his day.
"His object/' says McCrindle, "in composing
it, was not, like that of the ordinary geographer,
to describe places, but to correct and reform
the map of the world in accordance with the
increased knowledge which had been acquired
of distant countries and with the improved state
of science. He therefore limits his treatise
to an exposition of the geometrical principles
on which geography should be based and to a
determination of the position of places on the

1 The Sinae were the people of south-eastern China,
known chiefly by trade from the sea and with Eastern India.
The Seres or Silk-people lay to the west and north of the Sinae,
and came in contact with the west by trade over the Pamirs.

2 Ptolemy, Geog. vn. 3. 6 ; Periplus, 64.

India and the Roman Rmpire 137

surface of the earth by their latitude and longi-
tude/' " It differs from Strabo's production/' he
adds, " as the skeleton does from the living body/'

With Ptolemy we come to an end of the series
of eminent geographers who have treated in detail
the subject of India. The last Greek writer to
deal with the subject of Indian travel is the monk
Kosmas Indikopleustes, nearly five centuries later,
who wrote when the mists of the Middle Ages
were fast settling down upon the ancient world.
The gap is, however, filled in, in a most interesting
fashion, by a series of incidental notices appearing
in philosophical and religious writers, Christian
and pagan, of the time, who often exhibit an
unexpectedly intimate knowledge of Indian philo-
sophy, religion, and social observances. It is
instructive, moreover, to observe the steady growth
of knowledge about India which these writers
exhibit, and to contrast them with Strabo, who
knows little more than what he has learnt
from Megasthenes, over two centuries before him.
This intimacy was probably due both to the
frequency with which Alexandrian and Syrian
traders visited India, and also to the presence
of Indians in Alexandria 1 .

As we have already seen, there were probably

1 The first Alexandrian to visit India was Skythianus
a contemporary of the Apostles (J.R.A.S. xx. 267). Ptolemy
and Dion Cassius mention Indians in Alexandria (As. Res.
HI. 53). So does St Chrysostom, Or. xxxn. 373. The first
Indian mention of Alexandria is in the Gargi Sanihitd (Yavana-
pura).

138 India and the Roman Empire

Roman colonies in Southern India, whose inhabi-
tants, settling in the country for a considerable
time, acquired a greater intimacy with Indian
customs than had been possible before. The
Manicheans owed many of their curious tenets
to the Indian lore acquired in his Eastern travels
by Terebinthus l f and the Gnostic heresy shews
similar traces of Eastern influence. The debt of
Neo-platonism to Oriental sources is indisputable,
and when we observe the extent of the knowledge
about Eastern beliefs exhibited, not only by
Qrigen, but by orthodox writers like Clement
and St Jerome, we cannot help wondering whether
Christianity does not owe some of its developments,
monasticism and relic-worship, for instance,
to Buddhist influence. But this subject will
be dealt with in a subsequent chapter.

It should be remembered that from this time
to the days of the great migration to Java, Indian
shipping itself developed considerably. Mention
has been already made of the ships, of considerable
size, employed from the earliest times by Indian
merchants* It was in the days of Eudoxus that
the first Indian, a shipwrecked sailor, rescued
by chance from a watery grave, reached Alexandria.
The subsequent expansion in trade is marked by
the rules for merchandise, shipping, and port-
dues found in the Code of Manu 2 , It was probably

1 One tradition says to Skythlanns, the Alexandrian
mentioned above. Terebinthus was his disciple.

2 m, 158 ff.

India and the Roman Empire 139

some time in the first century A.D. that the first
or Eastern invasion of Java, by colonists from
Kalinga, took place. Subsequent invasions by
large bodies of adventurers from Gujarat and
the Western ports, are probably some three or
four centuries later 1 . The interesting treatise on
shipping, the Yuktikalpataru of Bhoja Narapati,
may belong to this period. In this pamphlet,
detailed directions for shipbuilding are given,
and ships 176 cubits long, fitted with cabins,
are referred to 2 .

One of the most curious relics of the trade
between Egypt and India was unearthed recently
at Oxyrhynchus 3 . It is a papyrus of a Greek
farce of the second century A.D. and contains
the story of a Greek lady named Charition who
has been shipwrecked on the Kanarese coast.
The locality is identified by the fact that the
king of the country addresses his retinue as
*Iv>v iTpofjioi,, and also by the discovery of the
learned Dr Hultzsch 4 , that the barbarous jargon
in which they address one another is actually

1 The first Hindu colony reached Java from Kalinga about
75 A.D. The first king was Aditya. The earliest inscriptions
are in Vengi (i.e. Kalinga) dialect, and Kling is the Javanese
for India. The immigrants from Gujarat were Buddhists.

2 Mukerji, Indian Shipping, Chu I. Rajendralal Mitra,
Not. Skt. MSS. i. 271.

3 Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Grenfell and Hunt, 1903, No. 413,
p. 41 ff.

4 Hermes, xxxix. p. 307. In the same way a Cartha-
ginian in the Mercator of Plautus speaks Punic.

140 India and the Roman Empire

Kanarese ! The identification of the dialect is
made possible by one of the characters, who inter-
prets some of the words into Greek 1 .

Of other writers who refer to India, the earliest
is Dio Chrysostom, who lived in the reign of
Trajan and died in or after 117 A.D. 2 He mentions
Indians among the cosmopolitan* crowds to be
found in the bazaars of Alexandria, and he says
that they came " by way of trade/' They made
various assertions about their country, he adds, but
they were not men of a very reputable class 3 .
Chrysostom's information about India, however,
is not very accurate or striking. He makes the
misleading statement that the poetry of Homer,
the woes of Andromache and Priam, and the
death of Hector and Achilles, had been translated
into the Indian language and modes of expression 4 .
Chrysostom has led many people to imagine
that Greek dramas were actually performed and
understood in India, but this can never have
been the case. Probably he was led astray by
the accidental resemblances between certain Indian
and Greek stories. The plot of the Iliad, the
rape of Helen, for instance, bears a distant

1 Thus he interprets KOTTWS as iritlv Sos. The Kanarese for
this is kodisu. And so forth.

2 For the literature of the subject, see especially Priaulx,
Indian Travellers, Life of Apottonius of Tyana, and Indian
Embassies to Rome (J.R.AS. xix. p. 294).

8 Or. xxxn. 373, ed. Morell.
4 Of. LHI. 544, ed. Morell.

India and the Roman Empire 141

likeness to the rape of Sita in the Rdmdyana.
His assertion is repeated by Aelian 1 .

Much more accurate is the knowledge possessed
by the Christian writer Clement of Alexandria,
who died about 220 A.B. Clement derived much
of his information from his tutor Pantaenus,
one of the earliest Christian missionaries to visit
India 2 . Clement starts by telling us that the
Brahmin sect take no wine and abstain from
flesh. The latter was a doctrine which found
much favour with Neo-platonists (as we see
from Porphyry's Ilepl dwo-xfjs T>V e^v-^cop). He
goes on to add that they worship Pan and Herakles,
- probably Brahma, the "All-God/' and Siva,
and abstain from women. But the most important
of his statements are that the Brahmins despise
death and set no value on life, because they believe in
transmigration (rraXiyytvecria) ; and that the 2e/^o
(Sramana or Buddhists) worship a kind of pyramid
beneath which they imagine that the bones of a divinity
of some kind lie buried 3 . This remarkable allusion
to the Buddhist stupa is the earliest reference
in Western literature to a unique feature of
Buddhism, and must have been derived from
some informant intimately acquainted with the

1 V.H. xii. 48. Also by Plutarch, Vit. Alex.

2 Yet he had predecessors, for he found there a Christian
church s&id to have been founded by St Bartholomew, owning
a Hebrew text of St Matthew's GospeL Eusebius, E.H.
v. 10.

3 Stromat. in. 194, ed. Dindorf.

142 India and the Roman Empire

doctrines of Gautama. Clement distinguishes
clearly between Buddhist and Brahmin, Sarmanae
and Brachmanae. Earlier writers like Megasthenes
confuse them. Archelaus of Carrha (278 A.D.)
and St Jerome (340 A.D.) both mention Buddjia
(Buddas) by name and narrate the tradition of
his virgin birth 1 . The Buddha^ story became
gradually known in the, West, until, by a coinci-
dence hardly to be paralleled in literature, it was
narrated, in the eighth century A.D. by John of
Damascus as the life of a Christian saint. Under
the guise of Saint Josaphat, Gautama the Bodhi-
sattva found his way into the Christian Church, and
was included in the Martyrology of Gregory XIII
(1582) *.

We must now turn our attention to the very
interesting work of Bardesanes the Babylonian
on the Indian Gymnosophists. This treatise was
extensively used by Porphyry, and there can
be little doubt that it was through Bardesanes,
that Indian philosophy exercised so great an
influence on the development of Neo-platonism.
Two important passages from the lost work of
Bardesanes have been preserved, each shewing

1 The passages are given in McCrindle, Ancient India,
pp. 184-5. Terebinthus, mentioned above, according to
Archelaus, called himself the new Buddha, and said he was
born of a virgin and brought up on a mountain by the angels I

2 For Barlaam and Josaphat see Max Miiller, Selected
Essays, I. 500. For text, Lo'eb Classical Library, London,
1914, and for the growth of the legend, Jacobs, Barlaam and
Josaphat, 1896.

India and the Roman Empire 143

|! a most remarkably intimate knowledge of India

on the part of the writer. His informant is
, stated to have been one Sandanes, Sandales,

Dandamis or Damadamis, an Indian who came
| with an embassy to Syria to welcome the Emperor

I Elagabalus to the throne in 218 A.D. The first

I of these passages is to be found in the treatise

Ile/H a7TO)(7J<5 T&V fjL\jJvx a)v already referred to 1 .
It begins by distinguishing carefully between
the Brahmins, a hereditary priesthood, descended
from a common ancestry, and the Sarmanes,
or Buddhists, who are drawn from all classes.
The Brahmin, he says, is not even subject to
the king, and pays no tribute. He lives in the
mountains or by the Ganges, as a solitary recluse,
and devotes his time to solitary meditation and
the service of the gods. The Sarmanes were
quite different in their habits. They were drawn
from all castes, and when they took their vows,
they went to the village magistrate and made
a declaration disposing of their goods. The candi-
date was then shaved, put on the robe of his
order, and joined the fraternity. His wife went
back to her relatives, and the state took charge
of his children. Of life in a Buddhist monastery,
the following account of Bardesanes is extremely
interesting, and should be compared with that
given by Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese traveller 2 ,
of life in the great Nalanda monastery four

1 De Abstinentia, iv. 17-18.

2 Life, trans. Beal, in. in.

144 India ana the Roman Empire

centuries later ; " Their houses and temples are

founded by the king, and in them are stewards
who receive a fixed allowance from the state
for the support of the inmates of the monastery,

consisting of rice, bread, fruit, and herbs. When

the monastery bell rings, all the strangers with-
draw, and the monks enter and offer prayer.
Prayer over, the bell is again rung, and the
attendants give each monk a bowl of food, for
two never eat out of the same dish- The bowl
contains rice, but if anyone wants a variety
of food, vegetables and fruits are added. Dinner
is soon over, and the monks return to their several
avocations* They are not allowed to marry or
possess property- Both they and the Brahmins
are held in such high esteem that the king himself
will come and ask for their prayers and their
counsel in times of emergency and danger/'
The writer then goes on to describe the practice
of self-immolation, which, though forbidden by
Gautama, had become increasingly common among
Buddhist ascetics.

The second passage, preserved for us by
Stobaeus \ is even more striking* After describing
a system of Trial by Ordeal in which water was
employed, somewhat as mentioned by Hiuen
Tsiang, the writer goes on to the following remark-
able description of a rock-temple, "The Indian
ambassadors told me further that there was a
large natural cave in a very high mountain almost
1 Pkysica, i, 56, ecL Gaisford.

India and the Roman Empire 145

in the middle of the country. Herein was a
statue ten or twelve cubits high, standing upright,
with its hands folded crosswise. And the right
half of its face was that of a man, and the left
half that of a woman. In like manner the right
hand and right foot, in a word, the whole of
the right side, were male, and the left female,
and the spectator was wonderstruck at the com-
bination, when he saw how indissolubly the two
dissimilar halves coalesced into a single body.
On the right breast was engraved the sun and
on the left the moon, and on the arms a host
of angels (devas), the sky, mountains, rivers
and seas, plants and animals, and all the world
contains." After going on to say that this statue
had been given by the chief god to his son at
the creation of the world, Bardesanes adds that
it was made of a very hard substance resembling
wood, but proof against rot. Probably this was
teak. On the head of the statue sat a god, as
if on a throne, and the sweat ran down the statue
in the hot season almost to the ground, so that the
attendant Brahmins had to cool it with their fans.
Then comes another curious passage. " In the
depths of the cave, far behind the statue, is a
long dark passage, and here, say the Indians,
the devotees advance with lighted torches till
they come to a door. Out of the door water
gushes and forms a pool at the far end of the cave.
All who desire to prove themselves must pass
through the door. To those who have led a

10

146 India and the Roman Empire

pure life the door opens readily, and they find

within a clear, sweet fountain, the source of the
pool without. But the wicked strive in vain to
push past the door, for it closes fast upon them/*
h There is little doubt that we have in this

!' . passage a description of one of the great Hindu

i ' rock- temples of the Deccan -Eleph&nta, Ajanta, or

1 ' ' Kanheri 1 * Sandanes, the informant of Bardesanes,

i , probably came from the Deccan . In the Periplm 2 >

I* a certain San dares or Sandanes Is mentioned,

probably Sundara ^atakarni This Sandanes was
therefore probably Sundara, a Saka from the
Deccan too* The androgynous image was no doubt
Anldhananshvara, Siva in his double aspect,
and the god (or goddess) seated upon his head,
.,<'. , the Ganges nestling in Ms matted locks. From

*- li- j this arose, perhaps, the legend of the "streams

|f!ii ' of sweat " flowing down the statue. The curious

;.= ;. passage about the Door reminds us of a similar

: ; -i test said to be applied to candidates in the cave-

;'. . temple at the Eleusinian mysteries and refers,

;/, ; no doubt, to some forgotten esoteric rite.

Of other notices of India (passing over the purely

fictitious .account given by Philostratus of the
"; : wanderings of that prince of impostors, Apollonius

1 . . of Tyana) we may select for mention a little

pamphlet of the fifth century on the Nations

1 Burgess (Elephanta, p. 20, 1871 edn) says that Bar-
; !i desanes Is describixig the gigantic image at Elephanta which

; ; 'i stands in the chapel on the left of the shrine of the TrimurtL

';'. , s Peripfas, 52,

India and the Roman Empire 147

of India, included in the Romance History of
Alexander of the Pseudo-Kallisthenes *. The writer
mentions having visited Southern India. There
he was the guest of Moses, bishop of Adule,
no doubt a Nestorian prelate. It is interesting
to observe this early reference to the Christian
Church in Southern India. He was deterred by
the great heat from going far inland, but a friend
of his, a Theban scholar, had shewn greater courage,
and gave the writer some miscellaneous and not
very accurate information about what he had
seen. He visited Ceylon and was falsely informed
that the king of that island was overlord of South
India. He was told about the Laccadives, a
group of " thousands of islands " (Laksha dvipa),
where the coconut was plentiful, and he observed
that pork was never eaten in the East. He learnt
that the pepper of Southern India was collected
by the Bisadae, stunted men with large heads.
These are the Besatae of the Periplus*, a name
contemptuously given by the Indians to the
aboriginal tribes, derived from vishada, dullness 3 .
Of the Brahmins, the writer recounts the usual
stories, with no novel or interesting particulars.

We now come to the last voyage of the ancient
world to visit India. Kosmas Indikopleustes,
a monk of the sixth century A.D. travelled down
the Red Sea, and took ship to India and Ceylon.

1 McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 178.

2 65.

3 See p. 123, supra.

10 2

148' India and the Roman Empire

The eleventh book of his Christian Topography
gives an, amain f of his expenene<*s. His narrative
resembles in many respects that of the writer
referral to above. Like him, Kosmas found

Christianity making good headway in Ceylon and
South India. In Ceylon was r ,a ** Persian/'
i.e. Neslorian, Church, with a ritual of its own
and a pn*>hy(er and deacon appointed in Persia,
In tin* pepper country of Male (Malabar) was
another, and a third as far north as Kalyan,
with a Persian bishop, Christianity was spreading
rapid! y in Persia, Baktria, and Turkestan, and
even in Sokotra, as Kosmas learnt from travellers,
was a hishuprir with a large following. In the
northern part of India the White Huns already
ruled, but the trade ports still prospered 1 . Of
these Kosmas especially notices Sine! it (the Indus 2
mouth), Orathra (Sin-fish t rn) , Kalyan, Sibor (Simylla
or Chaul), Male (Mnlabar), Mangaroutha (Manga-
lore), and the Pepper-^ mnlry* Next, he says,
comes Ceylon, and then China. China did a
flourishing trade with India in silk, aloes, cloves
and sundalwood, and beyond it, says Kosmas,
lies a expanse of sea* It is interesting

to notice how the knowledge* of China had increased
since the days of Ptolemy. A century after
this, we Hiucn Tsiang sailing back to China
wA Sumatra by a regular route, Ceylon had in

1 Their king was named

1 Like the Pseudo-Kallisthenes lie identifies the Indus and
the Phlson of Genesis 1

India and the Roman Empire 149

the days of Kosmas. attained great prosperity.
As at the present moment, it was the great entrepdt
of trade from China, India and the West. " Its
position is central/' says Kosmas, " and it is
a great resort of ships from India, Persia and
Ethiopia, and despatches many of its own/'
Its native nan^e, he continues, is Sieladiba (Sinhala
dvlpa, the island of the Sinhalese or Lion people,
whence the modern Ceylon), but the Indians
call it Tapropane (Tamraparm). It had two
kings, probably the Sinhalese king of Anura-
dhapura, and the Tamil ruler of the north, and
these two monarchs were frequently at war with
one another. The Sinhalese monarch possessed
a gigantic sapphire 1 , "as large as a pine-cone,
fire-coloured, and flashing far and wide in the
sunshine, a matchless sight/' It was placed in
a temple which stood on an eminence. This
famous jewel was no fiction upon the part of
Kosmas. Hiuen Tsiang, a century later, writes
of it : " Every night, when the sky is clear, and
without clouds, can be seen at a great distance
the glittering rays of the gem placed on the top
of the stupa of Buddha's tooth ; its appearance
is like that of a shining star in the midst of space V
Marco Polo had heard of it, but calls it a ruby.

Kosmas repeats a story, already told by Pliny,
of how a Persian and a Roman trader arrived
simultaneously at one of the Ceylon ports. They

1 *YciKtv0os. Perhaps amethyst.

2 Life of Hiuen Tsiang, trans. Beal, iv. 134.

150 India and the Roman Empire

were ivcviwd in audience by the Sinhalese monarch,

The Persian talked volubly of the gn/ntucss of Ms
a >un try, but the Roman was silent. Then the king
turned to the Roman and said, " Have you nothing
to say?' 1 The Roman, for reply, handed him
a Roman bade him compare it with

the Persian When the contrasted

the finely stamped gold coin of the Roman with
the rough silver one of the Sassanian dynasty,
he at once ivroginsrd the superiority of Rome
as a trading nation. In Pliny's version 1 , a freed-
man of Claudius, Annitis Plocamus by name, who
fanned the Red Sea revenues, was carried out to
sea by a gale and landed at Hipptin (Kudremale,
in the gulf of Manar). Here he detained and
convinced the Sinhalese, of the greatness of Rome
by shewing them the uniformity of weight and
workmanship of the coins in his possession,
Kosmas includes in his account of the East a
description of the animals and plants which he
had come and he often gives them, very

accurately, their Indian names. Amongst the
animals emunonttcMl are the rhinoceros, the ox
deer, the giraffe, the wild ox, the musk deer,
the hog the hippopotamus, and the unicorn

(which he truthfully owns he never saw, " but

1 N.H. vi. 22. The narrative hardly appropriate

to the days of Kosmas when Roman trade was fast dying
out, owlag to the destruction of the Empire of the West
and the rivalry of the Sassaniaas. It had become a stock
story, and was no doubt told in maay forms.

India and the Roman Empire 151

only statues in the royal palace of Ethiopia ").
Among "fishes/' the seal, dolphin, and tortoise.
Among plants, the coconut palm, and the pepper
plant.

The long night of the Middle Ages was now
settling down upon the Western world. The
Neo-Sassanian* Empire, with its great Persian
renaissance, had manned a fleet which was fast
sweeping the Roman vessels from Eastern waters.
In 364 A.D., the first fatal step in the downfall
of Rome had been taken, when the Empire was
divided. In 410 came the Goths, and fifty years
later the mightiest kingdom the world has ever
seen had ceased to be. Yet even then Alaric's
demand for " three thousand pounds of pepper "
as part of the ransom of Rome, shewed that
Eastern luxuries still found their way in vast
quantities to the Imperial city. The Roman
coins 1 found in South India tell their own tale.
After Septimius Severus (211 A.D.), they dwindle
rapidly, though there is a single hoard belonging
to the days of Arcadius and Honorius (395 A.D.).
No later coins of Western Emperors have been
unearthed. Trade with the Eastern Empire, in
spite of Persian rivalry, struggled feebly on, and
a few scattered specimens of the time of Anastasius
(491 A.D.) and Justinus (518 A.D.) are recorded.
The latest coin found in Ceylon belongs to the

1 For this and much other valuable information in this
chapter, I am indebted to Mr R. Sewell's exhaustive article
on Roman Coins found in India (J.R.A.S. 1904, p. 591),

152 India atni the Umpire

of Honoring The latest nronlt'd Eastern

embassy to fon^intinnple ivadu'd that city in

530 A.D. 1

APPENDIX I

CEYLON IN THE rr.ASSK'S

Bcsidrs tlw jwTount Rivni of Oylon by Kosroas Indiko-
pknistes* ilif.Tc* m* srwnt! iiriticrs of that island in the classics.
Oni.'sikritutt, the pilot of AU'&aftdw, starts the legend that

it was lorif', 6^5 iiiilrs, Its actual length is

271! milts, Sfnibo. Pttiffttiy, I'liny, and the writer of the
Pwiplus ri*}K*:it this* ami ofUn further '\.i?';.;iTa<r it, Pliny's
accotsnt is fist* fullest, If; was mwti days sail, lie says, from
th<s country of th I*ntsii (i.<r, tlw* Wriig.i! ports), but the
coast is treacherous and unsafe in fli south-west monsoon.
The sailors take* bircln to gtiiitr thum to hor when out of
sight of land. This, we linvrc sri*ii* is nn old 'Buddhist custom,
Pliny then goes on t<* U*ll tin* stciry of the* frettdman of Annius
Flocannis who was wrecked cm tint coast, and captivated
the 8inh;ik*se* king hy shewing him Homan coins, The
monarch them si*nf an hcsadcd by one Rachia (R&jfy

to Claudius, This Kudik that fife father had often

gone to track with the Sc*r h^yimd tlw* Himalayas^ where
the " silent barter ** cif iu;iliti4llirtiiii and otlutr goods went
00, as described by the authoi of flu* IWplm. But as Pliny
says that tlm iiaii #l yc iiow haii and blue eyes/' it has

bean thought that he inntiit* tint Orra^ a fair race living in
the Mysore district*. Pliny vty* tin* capital of Ceylon is
Palaestaundus (p**iliap:, V^htinmant^ a Lirgc: city which
may be Anuradhajwru. He rpiuks of a lake called

1 Johannes Malala f 477, McCrindlc, India t

% Kennedy, J.R.A.S* p. 360 fi

3 Also la Ptolemy.

India and the Roman Empire 153

Megisba, which may be one of the huge tanks, like Tissa
WSwa, of the Sinhalese^ monarchs. But he supposes it to
be 375 miles round ! The rest of Pliny's account of Ceylon
is a queer mixture of fact and fancy. The Sinhalese are
depicted as an ideal race, living gentle, peaceful lives. The
king is elected, and assisted by a council of thirty. The
condemned criminal has a right of appeal to the people.
All this panegyric, though quite untrue, may have been
suggested by the gentle and peaceful nature of the Sinhalese,
which, together with the influence of Buddhism, made Ceylon
an unusually happy island. (See Emerson Tennant's Ceylon
London, 1859, vo1 - 1

APPENDIX II

THE ROMAN EMPERORS

Augustus 29 B.C.-I4 A.D.

Tiberius A.D. 14-37.

Caligula A.D. 37-41.

Claudius A.D. 41-54.

Nero A.D. 54-68.

Galba, Otho, Vitellius A.D. 68-69.

Vespasian A.D. 69-79.

Titus A.D. 79-81.

Domitian A.D. 81-96.

Nerva A.D. 96-98.

Trajan A.D. 98-117.

Hadrian A.D. 117-138.

Antoninus Pius A.D. 138-161.

Marcus Aurelius A.D. 161-180.

Commodus A.D. 180-193.

Septimius Severus, etc A.D. 193-211.

Caracalla A.D. 211-217.

Macrinus A.D. 217.

Heliogabalus A.D. 218-222.

II

!5| A </;,/ */;;</ //

A.! 1 . 222 2J5,

M *, ?-,M, 1

n,, ,, M ,,, .............. A,I>. ^5-244.

Di'!>^ ,,...,**. 4 ........,*,. A.tt. ^44-249.

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f i< *4 n ,,.,,,,.**** A.I. -175 -576,

t 1 ^ 1*ii i ,.,,,.,.,,,..,, A, IK *?7^ 2K^,

C .i?n ,...,.,.....,,** A.I*. 2K^"2Xj*

I infill", \iitifi llili ** ,,.**, AJn JSiHj.

f H^/ 1 fun ,,.,,.,,,.,,,,*.. A.I>. .!&t J05.

I MI* fiiilr4*i, i(<, ,,.......* A,I* jt$5 j A j*

t'HM.tfttmt* 1 ..,.**..,.-..* AJ*. JAJ J5j.

<\,t iiitiiif 1 II .,,.,, .... * A,r>* .!!;: .*/T.

jllf$4ll , , , , * . .-.... . . * ..*,** A.l*. jOt jf)J,

At* i

unu - OF THE

I A.f.

Mamun AJX, 450*457*
Lm I A.I), 457-474-
Li*o It AJD, 474*

Kuvera. (From an Indo-Greek sculpture)

(By permission of the Curator, Lahore Museum)

CHAPTER VIII i

THE EFFECTS OF THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN j

INDIA AND THE WEST ' I

I

WE have seen, in the preceding chapters of ;j

this book, that for a period of about a thousand !f

years, from the invasion of Darius to the sack |f|

of Rome by the Goths, India was in more or less ! ;!

constant communication with the West. Had this ! ;'>

long intercourse of nearly ten centuries any / j.

influence upon the development of the art, litera- ! J <

ture, or thought of either India or of the Greco- . \M

Roman world ? fl

It has already been shewn that the inter- ]

course between India and Greece, before the days /

of Alexander, was of an indirect nature. Indian ,

goods reached the Mediterranean from Persian j

or Phoenician caravans ; *the Indian traders them- " \

selves never went further than Babylon or the '
mouth of the Red Sea. Greece had no direct
communication with India; What she knew of
India, she had learnt from Greeks in Persian
employ, like Ktesias or Skylax. Of the great
civilization of ancient India, its philosophy and
religion, Greece knew and cared nothing. The

Greeks were singularly indifferent to the literature {

156 Effects of the Intercourse between

or civilization of their contemporaries. They
looked on them all as ** barbarians/' and treated

them with equal nn tempt. It is extraordinary
how little they found out about even, their near
neighbours, the 'Persians, Hence we may dismiss
at once the theory that the P\ 1Im;;<>rean philosophy,
for instance, owes any f hin# t< > Inclisj. It is curious,
however, to notict* how ninny points of resemblance
there arc between the* \\\\ -tienl philosophy of the
Orphic and PyUwgorean schools, and Indian
beliefs 1 . First and foremost, tin re is the doctrine
of Mi'ffiMp^vcho.-vi-i {im\{yy*i<nri<i}. But this was
a tenet neither of the* earliest Gieeks nor of the
original Aryans of I h<* Fan jab, Piacticaily no traces
of it are found in the Vedas, or in the poems of
Homer. The Vedlc hero, like the Homeric hero,
goes lo dwell in the* Elysium of Yaina, the proto-
man f and returns no inon* to earth*. The belief
in reincarnation ;ippr;ns firnt in India in its most
primitive form in the In

Greece, it is first traced to the Orphic schools,
who anpnivd it, we may suppose, in Thrace.
It probable, in a word, that both Greeks

and Indians ar<pmvd the doctrine from the
primitive peoples with whom they in contact,
the Greeks from the Thracians, the Aryans from

1 See for tlu- \vholr MityVrt the exiiatist:ve article Pythagoras

and by A* li Keith, in J,R.A,S* igog, p* 569,

with a Ml bibliography* Thin is f lie last word on the subject,

and up all of information*

* f %

India and the West

the prae-Aryan tribes of the Ganges valley. Once
acquired, the doctrine naturally assumed the form
it did, for it provides the most natural of solutions
to the eternal questions of the destiny of the
soul and the existence of evil. Thus we find in
Plato (in the closing episode of the Republic, for
instance), something which resembles very closely
the doctrine of karma, or retribution, commonly
held by all Hindu sects. Again, the Pythagorean
" tabus " on wine, animal food, etc., remind the
reader of Buddhism. But Pythagoras lived before
' Gautama, and the ahimsa doctrine of Buddhism,
shared also by the Brahmins and Jains, was a
later development. Gautama himself died of
eating some tainted flesh, offered to him by a
humble follower. Finally, we may ask why, if
Pythagoras, Plato, or any other Greek philosopher
before the days of Alexander, borrowed anything
from India, we find no mention of the fact in con- \

temporary Greek literature. There are stories about ?

visits paid to Egypt by both Pythagoras and Plato, I

and there is nothing intrinsically improbable in i

this. But a journey to India, except under very I

unusual circumstances, was at that time almost . !

a physical impossibility 1 . - And Plato never men- ?

tions Indian philosophy, or India at all, in all his *

1 The story of a visit to the Brahmins is told by very
late writers, such as Diogenes and lamblichus, of more than [

one early philosopher. But there is not the slightest trace
of this legend before the 2nd century A.D. It never occurs in |

contemporary literature* f

I

156 Effects of the Intercourse between

or civilization of their contemporaries. They
looked on them all as " barbarians/' and treated
them with equal contempt. It is extraordinary
how little they found out about even their near
neighbours, the Persians. Hence we may dismiss
at once the theory that the Pythagorean philosophy,
for instance, owes anything to Indi^. It is curious,
however, to notice how many points of resemblance
there are between the mystical philosophy of the
Orphic and Pythagorean schools, and Indian
beliefs 1 . First and foremost, there is the doctrine
of Metempsychosis (naXiyyei/ecrta). But this was
a tenet neither of the earliest Greeks nor of the
original Aryans of the Pan j ab . Practically no traces
of it are found in the Vedas, or in the poems of
Homer. The Vedic hero, like the Homeric hero,
goes to dwell in the Elysium of Yama, the proto-
man, and returns no more to earth 2 . The belief
in re-incarnation appears first in India in its most
primitive form in the Chdndogya Upanishad. In
Greece, it is first traced to the Orphic schools,
who acquired it, we may suppose, in Thrace.
It seems probable, in a word, that both Greeks
and Indians acquired the doctrine from the
primitive peoples with whom they came in contact,
the Greeks from the Thracians, the Aryans from

1 See for the whole subj ect the exhaustive article Pythagoras

and Transmigration, by A. B. Keith, in J.R.A.S. 1909, p. 569, j

with a full bibliography. This is the last word on the subject, I

and sums up all possible sources of information* I

2 Rig Veda, x. 14,

India and the finest

the prae-Aryan tribes of the Ganges valley. Once
acquired, the doctrine naturally assumed the form
it did, for it provides the most natural of solutions
to the eternal questions of the destiny of the
soul and the existence of evil. Thus we find in
Plato (in the closing episode of the Republic, for
instance), something which resembles very closely
the doctrine of karma, or retribution, commonlv
held by all Hindu sects. Again, the Pythagorean
" tabus " on wine, animal food, etc., remind the
reader of Buddhism. But Pythagoras lived before
* Gautama, and the ahimsd doctrine of Buddhism,
shared also by the Brahmins and Jains, was a
later development. Gautama himself died of
eating some tainted flesh, offered to him by a
humble follower. Finally, we may ask why, if >

Pythagoras, Plato, or any other Greek philosopher 4

before the days of Alexander, borrowed anything
from India, we find no mention of the fact in con-
temporary Greek literature. There are stories about
visits paid to Egypt by both Pythagoras and Plato,
and there is nothing intrinsically improbable in
this. But a journey to India, except under very ;

unusual circumstances, was at that time almost
a physical impossibility 1 .- And Plato never men-
tions Indian philosophy, or India at all, in all his

1 The story of a visit to the Brahmins is told by very
late writers, such as Diogenes and lamblichus, of more than
one early philosopher. But there is not the slightest trace
of this legend before the 2nd century A.D. It never occurs in
contemporary literature.

158 Effects of the Intercourse between

writings. Herodotus says nothing of the Indian
doctrine of transmigration, and in a single sentence,
he casually remarks that " some Indians kill
nothing that has life, but live on herbs V Egypt,
not India, was the source, if any, from which
Greece borrowed her early philosophy. Herodotus
tells us distinctly that the Egyptians were the
first to propound the theory of the transmigration
of the soul, after death, through a cycle of other
lives 2 ; and in a well-known passage of the Laws
Plato talks of the Greeks as children compared to
the Egyptians in knowledge. In a word, there is
not a single reference in Greek literature before
328 B.C. which gives us the slightest reason for
supposing that the Greeks knew of the existence
of Indian philosophy at all. The Indians, on
the other hand, were equally ignorant of the
literature and civilization of Greece, and equally
indifferent to any system of thought outside India.
If they ever heard of the Yavanas (Panini mentions
them once), it was in a doubtful and vague way,
probably because an occasional Greek, like Skylax
of Karyanda, in the service of the Persians, visited
the Panjab. It is therefore with surprise that we
find no less an authority than Burnet 3 writing that

1 m. ioo. Mention has already been made (Ch. n.), of
one or two Indian stories which have found their way into
Herodotus. But this does not affect the argument.

2 n. 123. Nor did this doctrine come through Egypt
from India. Egypt is centuries older than India.

3 Early Greek Philosophy, p. 21. The chief supporter I
of the theory is von Schroder, Pythagoras und die Inder (1884) . \

India and the freest

*' everything points to the conclusion that Indian
philosophy came from Greece/' The resemblances,
superficially very striking, are often, on thorough
investigation, found to be far less complete than
they appear to be at first sight. As for the theory
of Metempsychosis, it has been found to exist
among many early races. The Celts, for instance,
believed in it, as Julius Caesar discovered 1 . The
legend said to be inscribed upon king Arthur's
tomb

Hie iacet Arthurus, Rex quondam Rexque ftitums,

is one of the many traces, often overlaid by
Christianity, of the original Celtic belief in this
doctrine. Yet no one will be disposed to contend
that the Celts borrowed it from the Greeks. It is
far more probable that the belief was a common
one among early peoples, and held by Celts and
Thracians alike, long before the Greeks acquired it.
India was totally unaffected by Greece before
the days of Alexander. Between the two countries
lay the unsurmountable barriers of vast seas f
deserts, mountains and hostile nations ; these
alone would have made intercourse impossible,
without the obstacles of an alien tongue and
mutual exclusiveness. On the other hand, as'
we have already seen, there had been a long and
continuous intercourse between India and the great
nations of Asia Minor. Yet, as we have stated in
a previous chapter, the traces of this contact are

i De Bello Gallico, VL. 14- 5-

160 Effects of the Intercourse between

on the whole doubtful and comparatively insignifi-
cant. India may owe to her intercourse with the
Semitic races her earliest script, perhaps too her
calendar, her system of weights and measures, and
some Puranic legends. "Persia, of course, was in
close contact with India for nearly two centuries,
and the Panjab was a Persian satrapy for that
period. Indian architecture appears to have as-
similated a great many Persian forms, but on the
whole, the effects of the contact were surprisingly
few. Indian literature could find nothing to borrow
from her great neighbour.

We now come to the invasion of Alexander.
Alexander himself, owing to his untimely death,
had no direct influence upon India, and in the
great upheaval which followed, the Macedonian
power in the Panjab, with its colonies and wharfs
and harbours, was swept away in a moment.
But the contact between East and West, once
established, was never entirely severed. Alexan-
der's followers, in their numerous narratives of
their great adventure, first informed their country-
men of the beliefs and customs of the East I Greeks
heard for the first time of Brahmins and Sramanas,
people with superstitions and beliefs strangely like
their own. Besides considerable bodies of settlers
Who remained behind in the Panjab, there was
the great Greek colony at Baktra, on the highroad
to India. At the same time, the Maurya Emperors,
thanks to the extraordinarily enlightened policy
of the great founder of their dynasty, kept in

India and the West 161

close touch with their Greek neighbours. Yet
here, again, it is remarkable how little the Greek
spirit influenced India. Hellenism, which affected
profoundly the whole of Western Asia and even
Egypt, stopped short at the Hindu Rush, in spite
of the presence of a Greek ram at Pataliputra and
of the close and friendly relations existing between
the Mauryas and their brother monarchs of Syria
and Egypt. Chandragupta, who had spent his
early days as an exile in the Pan jab, where Persian
civilization had taken a strong hold on the country
was imbued with Persian ideas. Of Greek culture
he and his successors exhibit hardly a trace.

With the break up of the Maurya Empire,
however, came a fresh foreign invasion of North-
Western India. Disturbances in Central Asia
drove the Baktrian Greeks south of the Hindu
Kush, where they established a kingdom with
its capital at Sagala, afterwards splitting up into
a series of petty principalities. These Greek
principalities, after enjoying considerable power for
a time, were succeeded, as we have already seen,
firstly by Skythian or Saka chiefs, and finally
by the Kushan tribe, who quickly absorbed all
the petty states of the Panjab and established
a vast Empire, with its capital at Peshawar,
stretching from the Oxus to the Ganges.

It is an interesting and still unsolved problem,
how far the Baktrian Greeks actually affected the
civilization of North- Western India. Probably the
results of their brief reign were not great. They

R.I. II

1 62 Effects of the Intercourse between

were a mere handful, and their coins shew that
they were rapidly absorbed by the surrounding
population. The coins of Demetrius, for instance,
are purely Hellenic ; those of Menander a curious
compromise between Greece and India. Again,
there is evidence that the Baktrian Greeks very
largely adopted the religion of their neighbours,
and they could scarcely do this until they had
become Hindus in all but name. The conversion
of Menander to Buddhism is as dramatic as that
of Asoka. In the Nasik caves is a Una owned by
" Indragnidatta a Yonaka from Dattamitra (De-
metria) in the north/' In the Karla caves are several
votive offerings from Greeks, some of them being
from Benakataka near Nasik 1 . Most remarkable
of all is the curious inscription on the Garuda
pillar from Besnagar, recording that it is the work
of "Heliodorus son of Dion, a Greek envoy 2
from Takhasila, sent by the Maharaja Antalkidas 3 ."
From these inscriptions it will be seen that the
Greeks in the Panjab and in Western India rapidly
became converts to Hinduism and Buddhism, and
were so little distinguishable from their neighbours
that they even took Hindu names. Further than
this, the solitary monument of Baktrian archi-
tecture, the Besnagar pillar referred to above,
is purely Indo-Persian in type. No trace of
Menander J s famous capital at Sagala has survived,

^ l Bombay Gazetteer, xvm. Ins. No. 7 & 10. Rapson,
Coins o/ tike Andhms, Int. xxix., XLVII.

India and the West 163

but there is no reason to suppose that it was in
the Greek style 1 . It is probable, however, that
a corrupt Greek was spoken among these half caste
settlers, and was perhaps the lingua franca of the
Greek, Indo-Parthian, and aka tribes at that
time. The Indo-Parthians had an additional
reason to use Greek, as that was the court language
of Parthia. They also used the Greek names for
the months 2 .

With the Kushans we come upon different
ground. These great rulers, about whom we
know only too little, built up a vast Empire,
comprising a variety of nationalities. In the
Pan jab were semi- Asiatic Greeks, Parthians,
Skythians, Hindus. In Afghanistan and Baktria,
besides the remnants of the older Skythian and
Iranian settlers, were Greeks, Parthians, and their
own countrymen from Central Asia. Besides this,
the Kushan monarchs were in intimate touch
with the Roman power in Asia Minor. With the
establishment of the Roman Empire, traders began
to come to Western India in great numbers, both
by land and sea. The Roman Emperors pursued
a forward policy in Asia, and Trajan pushed forward
to within six hundred miles of the Kushan frontiers.
It was probably in his time that intercourse

1 Sir J. EL Marshall, however, traces the Gandhara sculptures
to the workmanship of Baktrian Greeks, not, as is usually
supposed, to workmen imported by Kanishka (J.R.A.S.
1909, p. 1060 fL).

2 Panemus in the Taxila copperplate inscription of Patika.

II 2

164 Effects of the Intercourse

between India and the Roman power in Asia
Minor reached its height. More than one embassy
had been sent to the Roman Emperors from the
Kushan monarchs. One which readied Rome in
the days of Trajan was treated by him with the
utmost nmrtc^y and <liVtiu'f i< n. The cosmo-
politan nature of the Kmpnv of tlu v Kushan kings
is shewn by their coins, K;iljhi, **> I imifatts
the bronze and coj>pc*r ''"in, 1 !:;'' oi Augustus 1 *
Kadphises II strikes an HMCHS in lunfaimn of the
Roman eom^-prnbably n striking th< actual
Roman aureus** Som< of fl k ruins of Kamshka
rq>r<*srnt a most cniiai- blending of natiunalttion
and creeds* the king ajj'-,ir, in fnrki <irehs,
standing by a fire-aUar, and the com bears a
polyglot inscription in (ireek letters bhiH*nnnobh(W
Kaneshki Ko$httno t " Kanishka tlu Kushrui, King
of Kings 3 / 1 The use of the Pei*ian phrase
Shahan Shah 9 BacrtXfV9 jSft<nA,ic**t% is very curious*
So is the ('inplnvnirnt of ^ to rrpnsrnl sA> a
sound which finds no expn^Micm in the Greek
alphabet. These coins no doubt, like

bearing the of NANAiA 4 (Anaitis, the

i l Gardner^ Cat. Greek in II.M* xxv 5*

| * Ibid. 6-io,

1 ' ' * Ibid, xxvi, 4~xg t Gardner, of counM.% to see that

Tp*$k. This was cliseovtwl, 1 tliink, l>y Buiytv-M,

and propounded in the Antttjuury. It be the

old Sun letter revived.

jl 4 Ibid, xxvx, 3* etc. See also Stein,

i <w Indo-ScytMan (RutyfaKuiH mi L

India and the West 165

tutelary goddess of Balkh), and other Iranian
deities, struck for use in the Iranian parts of the
Kushan Empire. Another typical coin of the time
bears a male figure of the moon and the super-
scription SAAHNH *. The most important achieve-
ment of the Kushans, however, from our present
point of view, was the importation of a large
number of Greek sculptors from Asia Minor,
to decorate the Buddhist monasteries, stupas, and
other religious buildings which were erected all over
the Peshawar district after the conversion of
Kanishka 2 . These sculptors appear to have settled
down in the Pan jab, and their work, at first purely
Greek, becomes much more tinged,, as time goes
on, . with Indian ideas, particularly those of the
indigenous Buddhist school of Sanchi and Barhut.
Remains of this school have been found extensively
in the Gandhara district, from which they have
received their name. The remarkable casket,
containing relics of the Buddha, found at Peshawar
in 1908, bears an inscription to the effect that
it is the work of " Agesilaus, overseer of works
at Kanishka's vihara." In itself, this curious
reliquary is of little merit. It is shaped like a Greek
lady's jewel-casket, and the figures are roughly and
clumsily executed 3 . About the fourth century A.D . ,
the Kushan power waned and disappeared. The

1 Ibid. xxvi. I.

2 This, however, is not Marshall's view, as we have already
stated.

3 Marshall in J.R.4-S. 1909, p. 1060 ff.

1 66 Effects of the Intercourse between

sceptre now returned to the great indigenous
dynasty of the Guptas. Under the Gupta monarchs,
a splendid literary and artistic renaissance set in,
strongly nationalistic in character, and except
perhaps in some coin-issues, Greco-Roman influence
entirely disappears. The rise of^the Sassanian
Empire also placed a barrier which cut off all direct
communication between Roman Asia and the East.
Intercourse between the Roman world and the East
was now almost entirely confined to the great
port of Alexandria, to which Indians flocked in
ever-increasing numbers. The Roman traders who
resorted to Southern India at this time, and even
settled at Madura and other places, came for
mercantile purposes only, and had apparently no
effect whatever upon literature or art.

Having thus summarized in general terms the
nature of the intercourse between India and the
Greco-Roman world, we must seek more specifi-
cally its results. As regards Indian art, we may
at once say that in the matter of coinage, Indians
learnt everything from the West. Coinage never
appealed to the Hindu craftsman very strongly,
though very occasionally, as in the case of the
life-lie portraits of Kanishka, and the beautiful
and graceful types of the versatile Samudra Gupta *,
a fine result is achieved. The Indians were
usually content either to imitate foreign coins,
generally the Roman aureus, or to restrike them.
In the south of India they took the simpler course
1 J.R.AS. 1889, PL i. 4 and 5.

India and the West 167

of importing Roman specie wholesale 1 . Not much
can be said for the purely native coins of the
Andhras, Chalukyas or Pandyas.

Besides the Kushans, the Saka, Indo-Parthian
and the Kshaharata princes issued coins which
are more or less a compromise between Greco-
Roman and Oriental ideas. Those of Nahapana
are a clever imitation of the Greek style applied
to realistic portraiture 2 . Before Alexander, punch-
marked coins were alone issued in India, though
Persian and Athenian coins were in circulation in
the satrapy of the Panjab 3 .

As regards art, we must obviously look to
Gandhara for the chief source of Greco-Roman
influence upon India. These sculptures, as we have
already seen, were probably the work of craftsmen
imported from Syria. These craftsmen were not,
of course, artists of a high order. None of their
productions shews any inspiration or any out-
standing merit, and Syrian art at the time was
decadent. It appears likely that these artists
settled in the Panjab, as their productions, purely
Greek at first, become, as time goes on, more and
more deeply tinged with Indian influence. The
latest work of the Gandhara school is a compromise
between Greek and early Buddhist art. It has

1 The names of the chief coins have passed into Indian
vernaculars. Dramma (mod. dam), is 3paxpf. Dinar a is
denarius. Statwa is stater,

2 Barnett, Antiq. of India, v. 2.

3 Rapson, Indian Coins, in Grundriss, 7-9.

1 68 Effects of the Inter coiirse between

been the fashion of late to abuse the Gandhara
sculptures roundly. This is not altogether fair.
They possess, of course, nothing like the beauty or
vigour of the graceful and powerful work of the
Gupta period, but many of them are by no means
devoid of charm and interest. They are a lively
commentary on the life of Gautama and the JdUka
legends. The Gandhara sculptors were the first to
portray the Master as a human being. The earlier
Buddhist sculptors, with puritanical abhorrence of
idolatry, merely indicate his presence by symbols
such as footmarks (paduka), the wheel, or the
umbrella. The conventional figure of the Master
in modern Hinayana Buddhism of to-day, shews
in the halo, the arrangement of the drapery, and
the treatment of the hair, traces of borrowing from
Gandhara. The Corinthian pillars which appear
on some of the friezes, with the figures placed
among the foliage of the capital, and finished with
stucco, resemble Roman work of the third century *.
These pillars are ornamental, of course, not struc-
tural. Kanishka's buildings were, no doubt,
purely Indian in type, but being made principally
of wood and brick, in Indian fashion, they have
almost entirely vanished. There is no reason to
suppose that India was in any way influenced by
Greek architecture. By 400 A.D., if not earlier,
the Gandhara school appears to have been com-
pletely extinct.

1 This degraded workmanship first appears in the Baths
of Caracalla (217 A.D.).

India and the IVest 169

We now turn to Indian literature. A claim
has been made x that Indian drama, if not Indian
philosophy, owes a great deal to the drama of
Greece. Many curious resemblances between the
two have been pointed out. The vidilshaka and
the vita, have been compared to the Parasite and
the Pimp of th^ New Attic Comedy. The Natya
Sastra of Bharata lays down as one of the canons
of the drama that the number of persons appearing
upon the stage should be limited to five. Indian
like Greek drama, avoids the portrayal of violent
or unseemly actions. The " Greek curtain "
(Yavanika) was used, and Yavanl, Greek girls,
appear as the attendants upon royal persons. At
Ramgarh, a small Greek amphitheatre has been
unearthed 2 . The Toy Cart* is compared by
critics to plays of the type of the New Attic
Comedy. Again, the passage of Chrysostom is
quoted, wherein he states that " it is said that
the poetry of Homer is sung by the Indians, who
had translated it into their own language and
modes of expression, so that even these Indians
are not unacquainted with the woes of Priam

* Chiefly by Weber (Sansk. Lit. p. 224, etc.), Windisch
(Greek Influence on Indian Drama), and Von Schx'6d&r(Indien$
Lit. and Cultur). The opposite view is held by Sylvain L6vi
(TMdtre Indien), and Rapson (Art. Drama, in Hastings'
Diet. Religion and Ethics). For a complete bibliography
see Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature, Bibliographical
note to Ch. xvi.

a Bloch, Annual Report, Arch. Surv. Ind. 1903-4, p. 123 ff.

3 Mricchakatika.

1 70 Rffects of the Intercourse between

and the weeping and wailing of Andromache and
Hecuba,, and the heroic feats of Achilles and Hector,
so potent was the influence of what one man
had sung 1 /" Plutarch attributes to Alexander's
invasion the fact that the Gedrosian read Homer,
Euripidrs and Sophokles. A simitar sfah'rnrnt is
made by Aelian 2 . *

But here, as in the case of Greek and Indian
philosophy, the resemblances are not so close as
they appear to be at first sight- On the whole,
the Indian drama, with its n<>j<!rrt of tin* unities,
its mixture of prose and verse, r<mrdy mid tragedy,
resembles the severe Greek tra^vdy as little as
a florid Indian temple n*sembl<*s the Parthenon.
The " Greek curtain " is certainly not borrowed
from the Greek stage, for there the curtain was
not used 3 . The prcsrnr** of Greek girls as royal
attendants shews they went commonly found in
Rajas' harems 4 , but this has no bi-arinj; upon
the (jiN'siim) of Hellenic iuJlwtia tin (In* drama*
The supposed resemblances arc* really ronfmed to
a singles play, the Toy ("art ; they are not dis-
corniMe in the other dramas of Kalidftsa and,
Bhavabhuti. This seems to shew that the sup-
posed Greek influence in the* Indian drama, if it
at all, is due to tint Hellenic rlrmmi IE

* Orations, un. 554* * J VJL xn, 48,

9 It is a curtain of 6><rA In all i*ro1*,ili5Iif \-,

nothing more,

4 They are mentioned among tlu* ittipoitfi of Harygaza^

I*mplun> 49), 8t*e p. 117.

India and the West 171

North-Western and Western India in the first two
centuries after Christ, rather than to the later
contact with Alexandria. This appears to be
the most plausible theory, if we suppose the Toy
Cart to be an early play. But was Greek ever
talked sufficiently in the Pan jab to make a Greek
drama intelligible to an Indian, or semi-Indian
audience ? The point seems very doubtful. The
Greek on the coins, except in the case of the
Baktrian kings, is so corrupt that we are almost
forced to conclude that if spoken at all, it was
a barbarous jargon, bearing only the remotest
resemblance to classical Greek. It may, indeed,
have been a dead language, only surviving on the
coins along with other traces of imitation from
foreign models 1 . Menander and his courtiers may
have enjoyed a Greek comedy at Sagala. It
is highly improbable that Kanishka ever did.
Chrysostom certainly asserts that this was the case.
His accounts of India in other Orations are, how-
ever, mere poetical fables. He knew little about I
India. Is his story about the knowledge of Homer 1
in India merely the result of some vague account,
communicated to him by an Indian in Alexandria,

1 Not a single Greek inscription has been unearthed.
Even Greeks use Prakrit. This is significant enough. On the
other hand, Sir J. H. Marshall found at Peshawar a piece of
Gandhara pottery representing a scene which he considers to
be unmistakably from the Antigone. He thinks this is evidence
for the acting of Greek plays in the Panjab. J.R.A.S. 1909
pp. 1060-1,

172 Effects of the Intercourse between

of the Ramayana or Mahabharata 1 , some episodes
of which resemble the Iliad to a certain degree ?
The assertion that an author as late as Kalidasa
had read not only Menander but Plautus seems to
be absolutely unwarranted 2 . If the Indian drama
was actually affected by Hellenistic influences in
the Baktrian or Kushan period, we may trace to
the same time the supposed debt of Indian to
Greek medicine. Charaka, said to have been the
court physician of Kanishka, prescribes rules for
the Indian doctor which resemble very minutely
the oath which the Greek physician, according
to Hippokrates, had to take upon entering on his
duties. The Indian theory of the three humours
has been also traced to Greek sources 3 .
{ It is, however, in one respect only that we can
definitely ascribe any real debt on the part of
India to Greece. This is in the science of astro-
nomy 4 . The Indians frankly acknowledged their

1 The Mahabharata, the present recension of which is
about 300 A.D., contains some Greek words, e.g. saptantn

Vina (ITI-TCX'TWOS <opfuy) III. 134. 14; trikona (rpiywos) XIV.

88. 32; larlaran (/3dpj3apo<$) in. 51. 23. Greeks are mentioned
ii. 14. 4, in. 254. 18, xn. -207. 43. Romans are mentioned
n. 51. 17. Greeks are called sarvajna vm. 45. 36, probably
for their proficiency in astronomy.

2 V. A. Smith, Graeco-Roman Influence on the Civilization
of Ancient India (J.R.A.S. 1889).

8 Hoernle, Ancient Indian Medicine (J.R.A.S. 1908,
p. 997, 1909, p. 857 ff.).

4 Kaye, in J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 759. Von Schroder, Indiens
Lit. und Cultur. Barnett, Antiquities of India, Ch. vi. Weber,
Ind. Lit. p. 247. Fleet attributes to this period the week of

India and the West 173

indebtedness to Greek science in this respect :
" The Yavanas are barbarians," writes the author
of the Gargl Samhita, " yet the science of astronomy
originated with them, and for this they must be
reverenced like gods/' There are five Siddhantas, .
or Treatises, on astronomy, in medieval Sanskrit
literature, the Paitamaha, the Vasishtha, the
Suryya, the Paulisa and the Romaka. These
frequently mention " Romaka " as a " famous
city/' and Romaka is also alluded to several times
in the Brihat Samhita and Pancha Siddhantika of A
Varahamihira 1 . This Romaka must be Alexandria,
of course. The Paulisa Siddhdnta is based on
the astronomical works of Paul of Alexandria
(circa 378 A.D.). And Rome had ceased to exist
as a centre of culture by the time of Varahamihira
(d. 587 A.D.). Further evidence may be found,
if needed, in the fact that these writers all use
the Greek names for the planets and the signs
of the Zodiac instead of their regular Sanskrit
appellations. Thus we have Kriya (K/no's, Aries),
Tavuri (Tavpos), Jituma (AtSv/x,o5), Pdthona (TLap-
8<!vo<$) ; Ira (A/MJS), HeK fHXios), Asphiyit
), Himna (Ep^f)?), and so on. Similarly

seven days, corresponding to the modern week in names of
the days. This seems to me doubtful, the names of the days
of the week only appearing very late indeed in Roman and
Greek literature.

1 e.g. Romakakhya pmkwtita in the Suryya Siddhanta,
passim. In the G&rgt Samhita Alexandria is called Yavana-
ura and is taken as the meridian instead of Ujjain.

174 Effects of the Intercourse between

technical terms like trikona (rpiytovos), and
jamitra (Sia/ier/W), are freely employed 1 . The
latter word occurs in Kalidasa 2 , a contemporary
of Varahamihira. Varahamihira also wrote a
treatise on the Hora Jnana or doctrine of Lunar
Mansions. The term is no doubt borrowed from
the Greek (Spa (Latin domus) used in this sense
by Firmicus Maternus 335 A.D. 3 On the other
hand Europe borrowed, through the Arabs, a
certain number of Sanskrit astronomical terms
e.g. <mx, apex, the Sanskrit uchcha. The Indian
numerals, far less clumsy than the Greek and
Roman ones, were also borrowed in the same way.
We now turn to the difficult and complicated
question of Indian influence on the West. As we
have already seen in the preceding chapters, this
begins about the third century A.D., and was pro-
bably chiefly felt in Alexandria. Clement (d. 220
AJD.), is the first writer to shew any real knowledge
of Eastern philosophy, in addition to the com-
monplaces repeated by successive writers since the
time of Megasthenes. Porphyry, writing about
260 A.D., repeats more interesting details from the
lost work of Bardesanes. Indians at the time
were in the habit of visiting Alexandria and there
seems little doubt that the Indian knowledge
of Alexandrian astronomy was due to some of

1 Von Schroder, Indiens Lit. und Cultur f p. 726.

2 Kumarasambhava, vn. i.

8 See Jacobi's pamphlet De HOTCB Originilus (Bonn,

1872).

India and the West 175

these visitors to the great centre of Greek learning.
It certainly appears probable that Neo-platonism
was affected by Oriental philosophy, though it
is difficult to distinguish its borrowings from
Pythagoreanism and Buddhism respectively. But
perhaps the coincidences between Pythagorean
and Buddhist beliefs lent them enhanced credence.
Thus the tract Hep! diroxfjs T&V epfyvyav con-
tains the famous description (already quoted)
of a Buddhist monastery. Hence we may suppose
that the doctrines it inculcates, abstinence from
flesh, subjection of the body by asceticism,
and so on, are derived from Oriental sources.
In the case of the earlier Greek philosophers, we
were driven to conclude that the resemblances f
between their tenets and those of the Indian;
sages were coincidences, because the evidence for;
intercourse was entirely lacking. In this case 1
the links in the chain are supplied. In one point,,
we find a resemblance between Neo-platonic and
Indian teaching, absent in Pythagoreanism. The
Neo-platonist strives by meditation to free his
soul from the body, and to attain union with the
Supreme. This is the Yoga doctrine of PatanjalL
Pythagoras, while teaching rebirth, "remem-
brance " (wakens), and abstention from flesh,
says nothing about the end or &imMukti or
Emancipation, which is the cardinal Hindu doc-
trine.

Did Christianity owe anything to Hindu and
Buddhist thought ? Many rash statements, which

I 1 76 JJfects of flie Intercourse

\

\ prove, on minute investigation, to be based on

I coincidences more or less rrmnlr, have bmi marie

upon this subject 1 . Thus the doctrine of the

j 1 Logos, introduced into (Christianity from Phiio,

! superficially resembles tin* privniifuMiiMn of Vfich

'Speech' as> a i^ddrs^ in the Rig IWci 2 , Hut

| there is no Vach doctrine, Vfich l>ring inn fly an ^

I unimportant abstraction. And m<>M<<.\ t <r I*hilo

:| borro wed his L<>g(f> doctrine from Hriaklitusanclnot ;

; from the East at all The hwni'iw* popuf.uifY of >

[ nscotidsm, on the othtT hand, and flu* rxtravagant [

| forms it assumed in the Fhrbaid, may very wc*H

! be traced to the stories of the* Itylobim and Sr^m*

I anaioi which are so prmninenf in patriKtirtileraliirr.

j The first of the great hermifs was Paul nf Alex- ^

| andria^ who fled to the Kjjiyptian dc*rt in 251 A.I>. f 1

I to escape the Dccian persmidnu. His fanunm V

follower St Anthony died in 356 A/IK This is just 1

the time when Indian influence in Alrx;mln;m \

literature is most in *vi(1i*if<-. Of course,
ticisrn was ilso practised among the Jews, the
Essenes of the Dead Sea and the Thrnjeutar in
Egypt belong to the first <vntury B,C, One
cannot help wondering whether *//< w.s7/// (men-
tioned as we haw by nt-mmi as a Buddhist
practice) and the use of the rosary, are not both
Eastern survivals*

Of semi-Christian and and, their

1 To see how far wild can take the untrained

thiator, read Llllic, in Om/w K <//y

1 x. 125*

India and the West 177

debt to the East, we have already spoken 1 .
Manicheism is a strange farrago of Christian,
Jewish, Persian, and Buddhistic ideas. Gnosticism,
a far more serious and noble creed, together with
its later offshoots, shews traces of both Hindu and
Zarathustrian influence. Its doctrine of the plu-
rality of Heavens is essentially Indian : its " three
qualities " (m^u/xari/coc, T/a%t/coi, vXtfcot) resemble
the " three gunas " of the Sankhya system.
Origan's heretical belief in Metempsychosis must
not be overlooked.

A great deal has been made, by Weber and
others, of the supposed resemblances between the
Krishna legend and the Gospel story 2 . Nanda,
the foster-father of Krishna, goes up to Mathura
to pay his taxes (kara) to Kamsa; Krishna is
born in a cow-shed (gokula) ; the wicked Kamsa,
in order to slay him, massacres the infants of
Mathura ; Krishna raises the son of a widow from
the dead; Kubja anoints him with precious
ointment, and so forth. But these parallels (with
the possible exception of the "Massacre of the
Innocents") are vague and unsatisfactory, in spite

1 Nestorianism, however, became the actual Christian
church of India, though Nestorianism has no peculiarly
Oriental affinities,

^ See the Vishnu Purana, trans. Wilson, p. 503 ff. for the
birth and childhood of Krishna. The raising of the widow's
son only occurs in the late jaimini Bhdrata. The Vallabhas
of Gujarat worship the Infant Krishna and his Mother.
Much has been made of this curious coincidence, e.g. by
Kennedy in J.R.A.S. 1907.

178 Rffects of the Intercourse between

of the vast amount of ingenuity which has been
expended on them. Still less convincing are the
parallels between the Gospels and the Bhagavad
G$ta, collected with such industry by Lorinser 1 .-
In the same way, Weber takes the incident in
the MaMbharata of the visit of Narada and other
Sages to the mysterious island of Svetadmpa or
White Island, to be a poetical account of an actual
visit on the part of some Indian travellers to
Alexandria or Persia or some other Christian
country. The description of the White Island is
purely imaginary, and there is no reason to suppose
that any reference to Christianity is intended in
the remotest fashion 2 . Even less satisfactory are
the supposed parallels between the life of Gautama
and that of Christ, It is, however, probable that
the striking resemblances which Lamaist ritual of
to-day bears to Catholic ceremonies may be due
to the influence of the Christian Church in Persia.
These resemblances seem to be something more
than coincidence. They startled the Abbe Hue
when he visited Lhassa in 1842. "The crozier,
the mitre, the chasuble, the cardinal's robe, . . .the

double choir at the Divine Office, the chants, the

1 Die Bhagavad GUa t Breslau, 1869. Trans, in Indian
Antiquary, 1873, p. 283. An able refutation is given in the
introduction to Telang's translation of the Glta in the Sacred
Books of the East.

2 The passage is in Mahabhdrata, xn. 12. 702. Weber's
views are in Ms Indische Studien t I. 400. See P. C. Ray^s
translation (Calcutta, 1891), vni. 752.

India and the West 179

exorcism, the censer with five chains, the blessing
which the Llamas impart by extending the right
hand over the heads of the faithful, the rosary,
the celibacy of the clergy, their separation from
the world, the worship of saints, the fasts, pro-
cessions, litanies, holy water, these are the points
of contact which the Buddhists have with us 1 /'

A few brief words on the remaining question
of the influence of India upon Western litera-
ture must be added in conclusion. Here, again,
we must beware of unwarranted assumptions,
based upon coincidence. There is, however, good
evidence for the steady migration of folk-tales
from East to West, from the time of the Jataka
stories. Many Eastern legends have found their
way into Europe, and may be found in the Gesta
Romanorum, the Decameron, and other medieval
collections. This was very largely due to the
Arabs of Damascus, who translated much Sanskrit
literature and transmitted it in this way to Europe.
A typical instance are the famous fables of Bidpai or
Pilpay 2 . They were translated from the Sanskrit
Pancha Tantm into Persian byBarzuyeh,in the time
of Nushirvan, King of Persia. From Persian they
were turned into Arabic by Abdalla ibn Mokaffa,
at the court of Ibn Jafar Almansur at Bagdad.
About the same time, at the neighbouring court

* Hue et Gabet, Voyages, I. 29.

Benfey, PaHcha Tantm, Introduction (1859) ; Bidpai,
edL Keith Falconer (1885), Introduction; Sayce, Science of
language (1883), Ch. ix.

12 2

180 India and the West

of Damascus, St John of Damascus also wrote
Barlaam and Josaphat, which, as we have seen,
contains numerous Buddhist stories and apologues.
Thus the well-known story of the Three Caskets
found its way into the Merchant of Venice. Thus,
too, Chaucer was enabled to. embody in his
Pardoner's Tale, a Buddhist parafele taken from
the Vedabbha Jdtaka 1 . *0n the whole subject,
however, the words of a recent writer are worth
remembering: "All these parallels prove nothing.
In the first place, a large number of them can be
considered parallels only by straining the sense
of the term: and in the second place, they are
the results of obviously independent though par-
tially similar processes in the development of
Greek and Sanskrit literature, and should be
treated accordingly 2 /'

1 Skeat's Oxford Chaucer (1904), in. 443. Clouston,
Originals and Analogues, Chaucer Society, 417.

2 L. H. Gray in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
vi. 4. See also Tawney, Journal of Philology, xn. 121.
F. Lacdte, Essai sur Gunadhya et le Brihatkatha, Paris, 1908.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(The following list does not pretend to be exhaustive, and
editions are not specified. It contains, however, the principal
works consulted in the preparation of the preceding pages,
and may serve as a guide to the chief sources from which
farther information may be obtained.)

I, ANCIENT AUTHORS. Arrian, etL Kruger. Bohn,
Standard Library (translations of the principal classical
authors), Herodotus, ed. and trans. Rawlinson.
McCrindle, J. W,, The Indika of Megasthenes and
Arrian: Commerce and Navigation of the Erythrean Sea :
Ptolemy's Geography of India : The Invasion of India by
Alexander the Great (Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodorns,
Plutarch, Justin): Ancient India (Herodotus, Strabo,
Pliny, and later authors). Miiller, C., Geographic*
Gracci Minares. Pmplus Man's Erythraei, edL Fabricius :*
ditto trans. Schoff, Pliny, ed, Mayhoff. Ptolemy,
eel. MOHcr and Fischer, Strabo, eel Meineke.

II, INDIAN HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND COMMERCE.
Bhandarkar, R* G* F Early History of the Deccan.

of India, Beazley, C. R., Dawn
of Cro/fm/v r o'. Btihler, Indian Studies (1895).

Bunbury* Geography. Burgess, Elephanta.

Cunningham^ Sir A. Ancient Geography of India:
Survey of India, Dittenberger, Inscrip*-
Syttoge* Duff, M-, Chronology of
India. Dutt, U. C., Medica of the Hindus.

Hirth, China ml the OrienL Hocrnle, R.,

Indian (J.R.A.S. 1898). Kennedy, J.,

Early of mth Babylon (J.R.A.S. 1898),

AttirtiMmskunde. Livi, S., La Grke
fl Un (Ram de$ Etudes

t Mukerji, R, India* Shipping. Oppert,

Cmmtrc* of India. Priaulx, Indian

182 Bibliography

Travellers (J.R.A.S. 1861-2). Rawlinson, H. G., Baktria.
Saint-Martin, V. de, tude sur la Geographic Grecque.
Smith, V. A., Early History of India. Stein, Aurel,
Ancient Geography of Kashmir: Sand Buried Cities of
Khotan. Tennant, E., Ceylon. Vincent, Commerce
and Navigation of the Ancients. Yule, Marco Polo:
Cathay and the Way Thither. Watt, Commercial Products
of India. Wilson, H. H., Ariana Antiqua.

III. INDIAN LITERATURE, RELIGION, AND ART. Bohlen,
Altes Indien. Bournouf, Sciences des Religions.
D'Alviella, Ce que I'lnde doit a la Grece. Droysen,
Hellenismus, Goldstiicker, Panini, His Place in Sanskrit
Literature. Foucher, UArt du Gandhara. Hopkins, H.,
India, Old and New: Religions of India: Great Epic
of India. Jacobs, J., Barlaam and Josaphat. Keith,
Pythagoras and Transmigration (J.R.A.S. 1909). Ken-
nedy, J., The Child Krishna, Christ, and the Gujars
(J.R.A.S. 1907). Leitner, Greek Influence on India
(Oriental Congress, 1880). Levi, S., Theatre Indien.
Lorinser, Der Bhagavad Gttd. Macdonell, Vedic
Index: History of Sanskrit Literature. Oldenburg,
Ancient India. Rapson, Ancient India. Smith, V. A.,
Graeco-Roman Influence on Ancient Indian Civilization:
History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon. Tarn, Hellenism
in Bactria (J.H.S. 1902). Telang, Bhagavad &ta (S.B.E.
Vin.) - Weber, Indian Literature: Indische Skizzen:
Die Griechen in Indien, etc. Windisch, Greek Influence on
Indian Drama. (Fifth Oriental Congress, Berlin, 1882.)

IV. NUMISMATICS. Gardner, 'Catalogue of the Coins of
Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India in the British
Museum. Rapson, Indian Coins: Coins of the Andhras.
Sewell, Roman Coins found in India (J.R.A.S. 1904).
Smith, V. A., Catalogue of Coins in the Indian Museum*
Calcutta. Stein, Aurel, Zofoastrian Deities on Indo-
S^tkian Coins. Thurston, Catalogue of Coins in the
Madras Museum.

INDEX

[The letters fL afttr an entry imply that references to the same
subject occur on at least two immediately succeeding pages.]

Alxlalla ihn Mokaffa 179
Abhlfti 1 1

Abyt^Htma (Itiupyavan) xy, <>2
acacia, tsree i2(>'
Achilles t*fO f 170
Ar.tiiim lot
A.Ui*Mirari IV, H
Ackil I> *: to, 17, 1)4, 1 1 a
Aditya 13*1

Athilis (.. Maij,vwa) t;i 92
Angidil ( i'AngttHvu or Goa) n<)
AcUma {- K/ion
AHtan 4f>* 107, 170
104

,

Africa 14* t<>, 98, 99
Alricati baobab, th 14

Agatliarciiitlos 94, nj
AgatlKiklcia HO

76, 86

14

Agitiiriitm Hi
Airrliaclii ijs
A} an 13; % MO
Akaba (IJ ealli^l Aelana ^4

Exion Cteber) 10
(ittlier) 6x

E, 34, 78
I #>

Akkatliart tngitc% the 2
Aiaric 103, 151
AhiwiiHlii, ir4a.u. I <C 78
Atexaiftiier the Great 16, 19* 4>

a^ 33.^i 50* ^ff- "7^ *55

159, jieio, 167
Atexancter, a trader 152
Alttsamlur 154

Alexandria, 15, 69, SS fl, 95 *

106, lit, 130, 137, 13^1 X 4

141, X7i 173, 174* ^7 g

Aloxandria-on-Indus (Alasanda of
the Yonas) (= "Ucch) 34, 38, 72
alrrmg trees (valgtt) n
Amritaar district 59
*A/u^K7i7pr 65
Amyntan 86

Anahid (Anaitis) 23, 70, 72, 164
Amlhra princes 84, 167
Andromache 140, 170
AngidSva 119
Angrammcs (and see Xandrames)

33

Angria 112

Annam 130

Annius Plocamus 106, in, 113,
150, 152

Anthropophagi 26, 27

Antialkidas 77, 36, 162

Antigonua 38

Antimachus 74, 76, 86

Antioch i 9,, 108, 130

Antiochug 1 (Soter) 93 xoo;
II (Theos) 100 ; III (Mtgas)
70* 74, 92, 100 ; IV (Epiphan&s)
48, 100 ; V (Mupator) 100

Antipodes of Ktesias, the 27

*Aprfarode* ( 'QirurM&Krv\ot) 66

Antoniricft, the 103

Antoninus Pius 153

Antonius, king of Syria 130

Anttm 130

Anupshahr 42

Anurftdhapura 149, 152

Apamea 128

Apollo Btinder (Pdlvd Bandar)

IK)

ApoIIoclorus of Artemita 78
ApoIlodotuH II 72, 73, 76, 77, 86,

li 6

Apolionius of Tyana 146
Apollophanes 86
Apologus 1x3

1 84

Index

Arabia 9

Arabia Felix (= Aden, q.v.) 10.
94, 104, 129

Arabs 179, 180
Arachosia 38, 40
Aragante 19
Arakan, R. 133
Aranyavaha 119

Arcadius 151, 154

Archebius 86

Archelaus of Carrha 142

Arch. Survey of India ; (1903-4)
169; (1912-13) 6

Arddhanarishvara 146

Ariake 112

Ariana 71

an si (or us and opvfa) 14

Aristobulus 105

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. 31, 116

Armenia 104

Armourers 53

Arrian, Exped. Alex. 34, 35;
Indiha 44, 49, 105

Arsakes 87

Arsinoe (Suez) 17, 89

Artabanus 75

Artaxerxes Mnemon 26

Arteinidorus 86

Artha Sdstra 62, 67, 68

Arthur, Mng 159

Aftizans 53

Aryans 2, 27, 31

Asia 19, 20, 161 '

Asia Minor 159

Moka 28, 39, 44. 58 ff.. 68, 70,

. ,79* 82, 162 . 7 '

Asoka's Edicts 60, 62, 63 ; pillars 64
Asofms 27 ^

Assam 27
Assarbanipal 2
Assyria 15
Assyrians 14, 16
Assyrian sculptures 31
" 66

g (=Ah nra Mazda) 68

the (Ndsatya) 2
15

,

Atkeaaeas 48
*

Athens 88, 108
Augustas roi, 103 ff. 153

Aulus Genius, Noct Att 20
Annnoboas (or Tyrannoboas)
( ?Aranyavha or Malvan) 119

Aurelian 154

aureus, Roman 150, 164, 166

Avidius Cassius 128

Ayodhya 43

Azes (I and II) 83, 86

Azilises 86

Bab-el-Mandeb 94

Babel 16

Babevu (Babylon) 4

Babylon i, 3, 4, 7, 12, 14 ff., 36,

155 *

Babylon, plague at 129
Babylonian marshes 6
Bacchus 60, 62
Bagdad 179
Bahrein Islands 6
Baktra (= Bakhtri = Bakhdhi =
Balldi) i, 2, 9, 16, 69, 88, 115,
1 60

Baktria 28, 83 ff. ? ic8 148
Baktrian architecture 162
Baktrian Greeks 161 ff.
Baktrian kings 171
Balasri 85
Balkh, see Baktra
Balsamodendron 125 126
Baluchistan 83, 126
Bankot 119
baobab tree 14
Barabar, caves at 68
Barake in, 120
Barbarikon 35, 114, 124, 125
Bardesanes 142, 145 174
Barhut 165 74

Barlaam and Josaphat (see St

John of Damascus) 142
Barnett, L. D. 87; Antiquities of

India 15, 6 1, 167, 172
Barygaza 3, 47, 95, 107, 108, 112,
113, 116, 124, 126, 131, 136,
170

Barznyeh 179
Bassein 133
Baths of Caracalla 168
bdellium 125

Beal, S., Lift of Hiuen Tsiang 143
Jt>eas, K. 42, 43

Behistun Inscriptions, the 17 20
Benakataka 162
Benfey/T., Indien 11; Pancha

Tantra 179

Bengal 122 ; Bay of 132
Berbera 92 -

Berenike 90, 91, 99 XII
Berosns 7

beryl

from

Index

Bundelkhand 8x

" trgei
;rnei
I 5 3

i85

*i* 146
Philosophy

( ? Vizadrcg) 119

UiuraU,

169

C'aciiz 98
Caldweil, R.

Mini ntres, tin*
B!tf*flfi i* t i

14

thtt i| f,

-;.-, ng

(cif f*iljt;iy| 1

''I' "'/'" lHr:

IWtiClC'Wimrl i
Illwrlt, ,'Jttn.

147

r/. /Inr/i,

J'.iv./ttw $
At !:, Mfi

t* ***; Prints of WaSett

Caligula 153
Cam bo j a, Cape 1*2 I**
Cana no '
Canary Isles 99
Caracalla 153
Carinus 154 *
Carus 154

Caspian Gates, the r, 9
Caspian Sea x, 9
Catholic ceremonies 178
Celts 159 '

Ceylon 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 72, 93, 104,
106, X09, m, 147 ff. ^'

Ceyton in the Classics 152

Cliampa. ( l 132
C.hanukya 37, 38, 54
Cliandftla (or Pariah) 58
CJiuMdttgya Upanishad 156
Ciumrlnitfupta (= Sandrakottus,

q .v.) 37 ft, 49 ff,, 67, 80, 91,

161

Charaka 172
Ch&rax 115

Chares, of Mitylene 100
Charibael (JKanba-ll) 113
Charitioa 139
Chastana 1x7
Chaucer, Knight's Tale 69; Par-

lliicidttiriiti aj, J9**5'i, 6a, 78, 108, China 8," 9, ior, i, 148 ff
,* .-, . -*. I6 ^ Chinete 6<>, 115, 116

Chitot 80
Gh&l& Man^alam or Chola-coast

{ Coromandel) 122
Choromandae 66
rhmlianity 138, 175, 176
('Iiroriiclcs M xo, 13
cinnamon 14, 30, 122, 125
Civil Service 55, 56

Uf, || A 1 (

Jn$i4iiat'
If fit if tun 1 4 1

ifw

50 f

7*1
'-.nipt, tilt* 14

ilrwiirh 1 4, H6 f 117, nci, 1 20
lliiilrliia c^f !, (tiittUma) n,

, is?* fCt^

168

60

Jin- 1*1 In t 141, 1 65

- II,, 179

art 167

s, J. ;., Ortt:w i*f tkf ilrMkm Claudius (41-54 A.D.) 106, 109,

***'*! *t; hitttitH $$U(K$$ 15 n$ f 153

. ... _.i*i (jihl.uu) 34 Claudius (268-270 A.D.) 154

llunbury, Jf/ ;-.-/, .4 f -. 6ftif. 17,69, Ctemnt 138, 141, 142, 174

!*, *H* "if ' Cleopatra 97, too

12-5

1 86

Index

Clouston, Originals and Analogues

180

CocMn 121

1 Cochin lagoon, the in
Code of Manu 138
coins 72 ff., 77> ?8, 8sff. f 103,

150, 162, 164, 166, 167
Commodus 153
Constantine I 154
Constantine II 154
Constantinople 69, 88, 116, 152
Constantius 154
Coomaraswamy, A. K., Ar's and

Crafts of India and Ceylon 9
Corinthian pillars 168
Coromandel 122

costus (kushtha = kut-lakdi] 114.
124

courtezans 67

Cowell, E. B. 4

Cranganore in, 120

Cunningham., A. 33; Coins oj An-
cient India 18 ; Numismatic
Chronicle 73

Curtius, Quintus 33, 46

Curzon, Lord, Persia 68

Cyclops 66

Cyrus the Great 27

Cyzicus 96

IOO >

Dabhai 42

Dafar 125

Dakshindpatha (see Deccan) no

Damascus 128, 179, 180

Damirike no, 120

Dan 7

Dandamis (Damadamis) 143

Danube 66

Dardistan 18, 24, 102

Dards 66

Darius 16 ff., 27, 32, 89, 1555

Palace of, at Persepohs 68
Darius (III) Codomannus 31
Dasyus, the 27
Dattamitra (Demetria) 162
Daulatabad 119
David king of Judah 10
SS, Rhys 5 ; Buddhist Birth

Stories 12
De Abstinentia 143
Jfyeeavfoeron 179 ^

Deccan (Dakkhinabada),

(see Dakshindpatha) 118
Deccan, North 84
Decian persecution 176

Decius 154
Deimachus 39, 41
Deipnosophistes 94
De Lesseps 9
Delhi 52

Demetria (Arachosia) 72
Demetria (Sind) ? 2
Demetrius 72 ff., 7 8 > 8 3>

115, 162
devas 145
Devgad 119
Dhabol 119 *
Dharma 29, 54, So
Dikairos 31
Dinar a, denarius 167
Dio Chrysostom 140
Diocletian 154
Diodorus Siculus 8
Diodotus (I and II) 7 8 5
Diogenes 157
Diomedes 77, 86
Dion Cassius 107
Dionysius 39, 4* 9 2 > 95
Dioskuri 74, 77 ..,./-

Dittenberger, W., Onentis Graeci

Inscriptions Selectae 92, 95
Doab, the 44
Domitian 153
Dosarene (Darsana) 123
double-daric of Darius Codoman-

nus 31

drachma 59* *5 , ,
dramma (mod. dam.}, opawt 167
Dravidians 19
drugs 102, 120, 124
"dumb Mlecchas" 47, I2 * ^
Duncker, M., Gesch. des AIL 22
Dushyanta Raja 47 ,

Dutt, U. C., Matena Medica of me
Hindus 126

Eagle (katreus) 108

ebony 113

Edfu, ruins at 99

Edom 10 f

Egypt 2, 9, 95. * OI J 5 8 > l61

Egyptians 158

Ekbatana 48, 115, * 28

Elagabalus, Emperor 143

Elath 10

Eleazar 113

eleph, ox 13

Xe#ajr~ (fooi) 13

Elephanta 146

Elephants 49, 5^, 55* ?i 93

Eleusinian mysteries 140

Index

i8 7

Kraloslhtuws 40, <
Ersch awl Grii four's K

1 1

Kssenes, the 176
'Etesian" winds 409
Ethiopia 149* palace of 15*
Kthmpiiiffii 18, 19
Kwlaemon (= Aden, q.v.) 94
KucUunuti 3^ ? l(

Kwioxus x, 90 if., xoo, X3b
Ktuirgctes I.I <>7 IO
Kttktaticin; 72 11. , 83, HS

Klysium of Yama, the xsO Gardner P., Cat, of Greek and
KmctrouH oy Indo-ScvUnc Coins in B.M. 72,

Emperors of the East 154 f 7^1!., 5. f&J

FmiT/.'/w^*'' Hritanmca 15* *?6 G^tf* bavQhiia ox, 173

/V,-"v *// Ktfision and titMct 180 < Pamela pillar 162

'itoa^erfrai ( ~: *< .// wrcw <w) 65 Ganuja, the vulture o Vishmi 05

1F v .. Gautama (see also Buddha) 22,

Gaza 1 28, '129

Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency

126

Gcdrosia 38
gems 1x4
Genesis xi

Geography of Ravenna 120
l\/yyol (Husbandmen} 5 1
Gcrrha, 6

<;'to Kowannritvi 179
Gibbon, E., Decline and rail of

the Roman Empire 102
Gibraltar 98

Glaser, Shixxe der Geog. Arab* n
Gnosticism 138, 177
Goa XXQ
Golden Chersonese, the 5, n 43*

X20, 133

Goklstacker, X., Panim, his place

in Sanskrit Literature 32
! f| . Gollas 148

'(kiliWl'^Aelana^.t?.) 10,90 Gonclophares 83, 87
' '" Gordxans, the 154

Goths 151, 155
Gray, L. H. 180
Oreece 13

Greek amphitheatre 109
" Greek curtain" 169, 170
Greek drama 169
Greek sculptors 165
Greek kings of Baktria, Sagala,
and the' Panjftb 69 ff., 85, 86

Kuphrato, K. t, a, 42, 113

1 29

'iM' ,i 70
mi; i

iu:; 11
Kuxiiie, the i, <)

I*iit;nilcni rucew 65, 66

]**a*Hian 5H ^

fahivh 60

Valconer, Keith* lll/>ii 170

M;ttrnu 174

Fktctt, Dr J. 1% 87. *7

HCXKl, UiC 15

irankincms'" xij, 124

15.)

154
Gailu 154
Gamlarii, the

17*

77*

Greeks 82, 83

Gregory XI II H 2

Grcnfcll and Hunt, Qtyvhynehus

Papyri XSQ

" f - 5d^as 6x

dw Ind.-Ar*

,
<;andhara

3. 4 . 53.
aa x3 ***>' *3X
<julf, the 132

!'*. 1T<*'
tikxhtttw 6x
Gatdafui, Cape 97 IXO

105,

Gujarat (Ariake) tx8, 139
Gullivw's Trw*ls 30 .
Gupta monarchs x66; penod

Gymnosopliists 142

Hadrian 153
Halikamassus 21
Hamilton, Capt,
W$ East Indies 124

of

1 88

Index

Hamlrpur 82
Hastinapura 42, 43
Hastings, J., Dictionary of the Bible
ii ; Diet. Religion and Ethics
169

Havilak n
Hector 140, 170
Hecuba 170

Hekataeus (of Miletus) 16, 19,
20, 25, 26, 41, 66 ; Periegesis 19
Hekatompylus i, 115, 128
Helen of Troy 140
Heliodorus 162
Heliogabalus 153
Heliokles 73, 76, 77, 85
Hellenic influence 170, 172
Hellenism 161, 162
Helmancl 83
Herakles 60, 61, 141
Heraklitus 176
Hercules, temple of, at Erythrae

24

Herdsmen 51, 52
Hennaeus 84, 86
Hermes 139
Herodotus 3, 7> *6 ff -> 3O, 44* 8 9,

158

Heroopolite Gulf 89
Hesidrus, the 64
Himalayas 25, 108
Hinayana Buddhism 168
Hindu (and variants) 20 (
Hinduism 162
Hindu Kush 8, ai, 38, 75. I2 5

161

Hindus 58, 60
Hippalus 109 ff., 120
Hippokleides 25
Hippokrates 172
Hippostratus 86
Hippuri (Kudremale) 150
Hira 115

Hiram, king of Tyre 10
Hirfch, F. t China and the Roman

Orient in, 115. *3
Hiuen Tsiang 51, 59, 68, 118,

143, 148, 149
Hiuen Tsiang, Life of (trans, by

S Beal) 149 a

Homer 18, 140, 156, 169 n.;

Iliad 140, 172; Odyssey 18
Homerites 113
Honorius 151, 152
Hopkins, E. W., Great Epic of

India 68
Huan-ti 130

Hue, Abb6 178

Hue et Gabet, Voyages 179

Hultzsch, Dr 100, 139

Huns, White 148

Huvishka 87

Hydaspes, R. 34

Hyderabad 119

Hydreumata go; Apollo 91; New

91

Hylobioi (Vdnaprastha) 62, 176
Hyparkhus, R. ( ? Ganges) 30
Hyperboreans^ the 25, 66
Hyphasis, R. 33, 64

lamblichus 157

Ibn Jfar Almansur 179

Ichthyophagi 21

inchiver (fryyipepu) 14

India, coast of 131

India and the Roman Empire

101-154

Indian Antiquary 164, 178
Indian buildings 168
Indian drama 169 &.
Indian literature 169 fE.
Indian Ocean 19
indigo 114
Indo-Aryan village community

52

Indo-Parthian dynasty 84, 87
Indo-Parthians 163, 167
Indra 2, 61
Indragnidatta 162
Indus, R. i, 2, 16, 18, 19, 3O, 35>

4i 44, 53, ?8, 114, II?
Intaphernes 25
intercourse between India ana

the West 155 ^ . ,

lonians 20 (see Yavana, Yonakas)
Ipsus, battle of 92
Iran 28

Iranian deities 165
Iranians 69, 163
Irrawady delta 133
Isaiah 3, 11, 20
Isidore of Charax, Sra0M<>i ftapfaKol

128

Italy 98
ivqry 5, 10, 120, 123

Jacobi, H., De Hor<s Originibus

174

Jaigad 119
Jaimini Bhdrata 177
Jains 60, 157
jdmitra (SictAierpo*') 174

Index

189

Jamna, R. 42, 53, 64

j angola 122

Jdtaka 4, 5, 7, ii, 12, 168, 179,

180

Java 131, 134. 138, 139
Javan 7
Jews 176
jewels 1 20
Jifatin Islands 91
Jihlam 34, 42
Job, Book of ii
John of Damascus, St 142
Josephus, Ant. Jud. n
Journal of Philology 25, 180
Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society 68, 100, 107, 118, 121,
124, 151, 162, 163, 165, 166,
171, 172
Journal of the Royal Society of

Arts 126
Jovian 154
Judaea 3, 10
Julian 154

Julius Caesar, D& Bello Gallico 159
Justin 6, 37, 75, 76
Justinian 116
Justinus 151

Kabul 17, 77, 84
Kabul valley 83
Kadphises I (Kujula) 84, 87,
107, 108, 164; II (Wima) 87,
109, 164

Kaenitae (? Karwad) 119
Kalanos 59, 108
Kalasi 78
Kalidasa 47, 170, 172, 174; Sa-

kuntala 47
Kalinadi 42
Kalinga 139

Kalinipaxa( ? Kanyakubja or Kan-
auj) 42, 64, 65

Kalliatiae ( ? Kaliantiae) 19

Kalyan 119, 148

Kamara(.K7&0&ens emporium) 122

Kampot (or Kang-Kao), R. 132

Kanisa 177

Kanarese dialect 140

Kanauj 42

Kane 113

Kang-Kao, R. 132

Kanheri 146

Kanishka 79, 84, 87, 109, 164;
165, 168, 171

Kanyakubja 42

Kapia 72, 77

Kappadokia, 2

kara (taxes) 177

Karachi 124

Karla caves 85, 162

Karmania no

Karmanian Desert, the i, 9, 16,

70

kdrppu (Kapinov) 14, 30
Karwad 119
Karyanda 21, 158
Kashgar 69, 115
Kashmir (Kasyapa-mira) 16, 114,

124

Kasii 115

Kaspapyms 16, 19, 20
Kao-airepos (kastwa} 13
Kathaei, the 59
Kathiawar, 59, 71
Kattigara (? Kian-chi) 133, 135*

136

Kausia 74 ,

Kautillya Artha Sdstra 41, 67,

68, 118

Kautilya (or Chanakya) 67, 68
Kaviri, R. 121, 122
Kaye, J. W. 172

Keith, A. B. 2; Pythagoras and
Transmigration 156

Kennedy, J. 2, 177

Kerobothra (or Keralaputra) 120

khadga (Kaprdgwov) 30

Khaibar, the 43

Khandahar 83

Kharoshthi script 28, 32, 72

Kian-chi '(and see Kattigara) 136

Kings I 10, 13

Kirata 27

Kirdtds'in 65

Kirrhadii (= Kirata) 65

Kleitarclms 60, 108

Kling (= India) 139

Koft (and see Koptos) 90

kolandia 122

Koniaki 93

kpph (kapi) ii, 13

Koptos (= Koft, q.v.) 90, 9*. i

Kory, Cape 93 ^31

Kosmas Indikopleustes 5 92*
104, 124, 147 ff., 152; Christian
Topography 104

Kottonara (Kolatta-nadu, t . e . 1 ell i-
cherry) 112

Krishna 177
K'shaharata clan 84
Kshaharata princes 167
Kshattriya (caste) 5 ff

190

Ktesias 8, 14, 16 ft, 29 ff. 33
66,155; Jndika 26; Per Ma 27
Ktosiplum i 115, 128
Kubjil 177
Kuhn's Zeit&chrift a
Kumdrasambhava 1 74
Kum&ri, Cape 122
Kunuin or I)evi 122
KwcE/uolVyot 66
Kunaxa, battle of

Kushan kings 84, 87, 103, 16

164
Kushans 84, 101, 114, if>, Ht'

165, 167

IndiscM Al^
, 17, a>, 123
Hindu

Laccadivc inlands (=s7,

147
Lacdto, F. /?Sa 5 wr

et IB lifihatkatkd i8a
Ladak 24

Lamaist ritual 17
Lassen 2911^42;

thwthumskwide
Law, N, N, r/?

Polity 68
Leipsiu, .Dmlm^l&r <)9
/^wa 1 62

Leo I 154: H 154
Leuke Konie f>o ia|
Levant i t 5

L6vi, Sylvain, TIMtri Indian xo*>
Lhassa 178

Liaka KuBttlaka Sj 87
Libya, 19, 66
LilUe, A., India in Primitive Chris*

tianity 176
Lindner, Die Irani&ch* Flut*&$e

15
Linnman Society, Tv&ns* of 3taf>

Llamas 179

JW^& ClmBtcftl Library 143

Logos, doctrine of tite 176
Lorinser, Dr, &ii

x;8

Lucium 29
Lucretitts ' 13

lycittm ( ! berbrry) 114, 125
Lysias 86

McOdndle, ]. W., Awi**t

$, 22, 23, 26, 66, 77, 14*. 159,

Maodoactt* A, A, Hwt a/
Lit, 169; y*toa JTfMfe* 15

MadhyarnikA 80, 81, 117
Madras 102, 12^

Mar! unt tr^>
MUCH (1"il limits) 1 15
Macsoitit (Mas;lia) 132
lta jj, ^K, Ho
"

Xntulrumi

ti

fit&ttp&ftwt Wi
Mainliiir fMak) no, 14
Mi'lacxit. StiiiitH c,f i;|'t
Ma la la lolmnn*'* 151*
Afii/irr j /** ii'i* wi fin /rrf Hi
Mftlay I^'tiin^iila i;i;-t
ma If tm thru in i,/,,!* 05
M&lvan i if*
117

(f Kiihitfitiiii
itSr, glilf rf l*i:t

ff Btinkot}
MunciaitiH f*^
Mafilrvi!If% Sir John ii
Mati|iiiltii l 'i,'" i io

ft, lh* 1 58
t 177

5:1, 57; ctwiiMtf
K, thrtilra f

14*1

Marsiwll Sir J, M,

M
I J "|

J th

*, flu?

M,*iitltpata,rti dis
Mattiiirt Ht
llawc* (

l>8

132*-
.! 87* |
Mem ^ ) i

160 1
Manrya Empire, the
49

154

Index

191

Medicine, Greek and Indian 172
Mediterranean, the 4, 19, 88
Mediterranean ports 8
Megasthenes 22, 23, 26, 28, 33 &.

39 fL, 49 ff., 67, 68, 93, 105,

109, 142, 174
Megisba, lake 153
Mekran coast 6, 21 ; desert 35
Melizigara ( ? Jaigad) no, 119
Memnonian Susa 48
Menander 72, 76 fL, 82, 86, 114,

116, 117, 162, 17*, 172
Merchant of Venice 180
M-JJ/OOS (Bacchus legend) 61
Meru, Mount 61
Mesopotamia 128
Metempsychosis (irahiyyeveata) 156,

, 159, 177

Meyer, E, 2

Milinda (= Menander, q.v.) 77

Milinda Panha 77 fL ; Siamese

version of the 82
Milton 20
Minayef, Prof. 4
Minnagara (Min-nagara) 114
Mitanni, in Kappadokia 2
Mithradates 73
Mitra 2

Mitra, Rajendralal 139
Moabite Stone, the 15
Mocha (= Muza, q.v.} 94
Moga, see Maues
Moghal Empire 92
Mommsen, Th., Provinces of the

Roman Empire 103
Mon. Ancyranum 107
Mongolian hillmen 123
Mongolians 65
MovbfJi/JLOLTOL (= Ekaksha) 66
Moon, temple of the, at Mugheir 3
Morin, Jean, Dessin des Animaux

en Grece 9
Moscha 113

Moses, bishop of Adule 147
Mricchakatika 169
Mudrd Rdkskasa 46, 47
Mugheir 3
Mukerji, R-, Indian Shipping 5,

121, 139

Mukti (Emancipation) 175
MuUer, Carl, Frag. Hist. Graec.

Min. 39
Muller,Max 26; Physical Religion

2 ; Selected Essays 142
muslin 100, 117, 123
Muza (= Mocha) 94, 95 " 2

Muziris ( ? Muyiri-kotta) (= Cran-
ganore), Malabar coast, 108,

III, I2O, 121

Myos Hormos (Mussel Harbour)

91, 104, 106, in
Myrrh 125, 126

Nahapana 84, 87
Naksh-i-Rastam inscriptions 17
Nalanda monastery 143
NANAIA (Anaitis, the goddess)

164

Nanda 177

Nanda Raja (? Xandrames) 33
Nandrus 37
Narada 178
nard (citronella) 114
Nardostachys Jatamansi 126
Narmada, R. 116, 117
Ndsatyd (the Asvins) 2
Nasik 118; caves 85, 162
Nations oj India 147
Naukratis 89
Naustathmos (Alexander's Haven)

35

Nearchus 35, 55, 105
Nebuchadnezzar I 3; II 7
Negrais, Cape 132
Nelkynda ( ? Nil-kantha] 108,

III, 120, 121, 130

Neo-platonism 138, 141, 142, 175

Neo-platonists 175

Neo-Sassanian Empire 151

Nepal 65, 115

Nero 104, 127, 153

Nerva 153

Nestorian Church 148, 177

Nicolaus of Damascus 108

Nikaea 34

Nikias 86

Nile, the 19, 30, 44, 88 ff.

Nineveh I, 7

Noah 5

Nubia 91

Numerian 154

Nushirvan, king of Persia 179

Okelis in, 112

125

66

Oldenburg, H. 2
olibanum (al-luban)
Oman, coast of 12
Ommana 113
Onesikritus 62, 105
Ophir i f 10 fL, 17

192

Index

Opiae, the 19

Oppert, G., Trade with Ancient

India 126

Orathra (SurHshtra) 148
Origen 138, 177
Orissa 123
Orosius 74
Orphic schools 156
Orthagnes 87
fyvfo, 14

Ostasiatische Zeit$chnjt g
Othello 26
Otho 153
*Or6xXo'ot 65

Ov$r$eGY$ (*,Kwl0ro4) 54
OXUB, R. x, 9, 69, 70, 74, 75 , 161
Oxydrakac, the 61
Oxyrhvnchus 130
Qxyrhynchus Papyri 139
Ozone" { Ujjain) 117

Padaei, the ( ? JShlls) 22

Padiydr 101

p&dttha 168

Pahlava tribes 83

Pait&maha Siddhduta X7$

Paithan 119

Pakhtfl (Pashtfi or Pathftn) ry

PakhtQ district ax

Pakores 87

Paktylke 16, 17

Palaesimundus { ? Palatsimanta)

Palaipatmal (FDhtbol or lari-

patana) 119
Pafibothra 65'

Palmyra , 128, 129

Palura 131, 132

Pamirs, the 71

Pan X4X

Paffioh Tanira 179

Pafichala country 8x

fanch&yate 56, 59, 67

Faadioa 107

Kctyoo^i/ 66

Pandya (Pandion) kings of M:ulun1

K07, 120

Pammm 163

Pa^ini 32, 158

Paajab, the i, 7, ai, 34, 34, 63,

76, 108, 114, 160, x6x, 165,

167, 171
Pantaenu 141
Pantaleon 86
Pariahs 58

Paripatana 1 1 o
I'aropatnisus 71
Parthenon 170

Parthia 69, 70, 89, 128

Part'hiaiw 83, tt^ t 130
r,n''.n-,i t ,u -,;; iin;i (PAr

/ Vl .<:: A i ,'.' /( f 7J ,'.' ?< /.',' jtf ,', J t

34* 35

TMtala (,Ptana) 04, i;io,
PataHpittra 38, 4, 41 II.

Ko, )j, |<A

Pataftjitii HI, 175
Patika 83, 7 + 1113
5 1

17

114
s 68, 79,

Paul of Alexandria, 173, 170
*

,
Pl'ttllOJ'I t \h

10*% 112, I20 t 147, 151

nplus A/rtr*.s ttrythrari ,| f * 17,

ao, 47, 05, CI4, 95," xor, x 10, i >"2,

ll;i; n6, I it 8, f^o, 132 0,, 136,

i*/^ tht 17

ersa 15,, 148, 140, r/H
Pcrntan Gulf i 6, 12, 17, 35, 113
Persian I'ltrirnl, the 16 fl,
161, 165, 171
115, iar#, ia<j
'

Ho

42, 64

121

Peu linger Tablwi

'Phanu'ih Ncjclio 89

Pliiltp 154

Philip, fiatrap of Parthia 11

Philo 176

PMIm&pkifx 51

PhiJ0lratas 107, 146

I^hiJoxemis Bfi

Phion f th< (of GoneniN) i^S

Phuertu'ians 6, y t i

PhotluM 2C* # a<>, 40; I$ibtit4h4ht 31

Fiilay, TA* T&mit$ hun-

dred yew *j? 47, 'iai
Pllpay (or Bidpai) 179
pip&li (wtfr/x) 14
Plato 6x, 37; La 158; J?tf-

#dliV 157
Bate, Mag 86

Index

Plautus, M creator 139

Pliny 5, 20, 24, 39 ff., 66, 92,

102, 104, 105, no, 112, 115,

124, 126, 156, 152
Plutarch 77, 82, 170; Vit. Alex.

33, 141; Sertwitisi 99
vrvevfAunKoi 177
Poduca (Puducheri or Pondi-

cherry) 122
PolybiiiH 74, 92
Pompeii 105
Poppoea 104

Porphyry 141, 142, 174
Port Said 94
Port Sudan 92
Portuguese 14
Poms" (~- Paurava) 36, 40, 92,

107

Poscidonius 96
Potana (- Kitaia, q,v,) 94
Prakrit 171
Prasii, the 3,$
Prasii, country of the 152
Prayaga 42, 43, 51, 56, 65
Priam 140, 169
Priaulx, 0, do B., Indian Travel

107, 140; tnditin Hwhassifs to

Rome 107, 130, 140; Life of

Apotlonius of Tyana 140*
ProbuH 154
Psalms, Book of xi
Psoudo-KailiHthcnes 147, 148

TffVXtKOl 177

PtoIemaJH Kpi tlu*r6n ( Ptolemais

of the Hunts) ot, 92
Ptolemies, t,h<; M.% ror>
'Ptolemy Autctcfl too
Ptolemy ICpiphanes xoo
Ptolemy Euergctes I 92, 100;

II, 100

Ptolamy Lathy n 97
Ptolemy Philadt'lphus 18, 19, 39,

48, 65, 7i, 89, QO f ,, xoo
Ptolemy Pnilomctor xoo
Ptolemy Philopator 94, 100
Ptolemy Soter I xoo; II 94, 100
Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus),

Guide to Geography go, 106,

115, 130 f!
puchuk 124
Pwp-,S'##0n0 6 1
"Punt, the land of" xo
Purfinir, IcjN'iids x60
'Pushyainitrn Bl
Pygmies (Tp*r?r4^/*w) 27, 65, 66
Pyrrhus 92

Pythagoras 6x

Pythagorean philosophy 156, 175;
schools 156; "tabus 1 * 157

Racliia (Raja) 152

ll&jagriha 43

Rajavula 83, 87

KajputS,na 81

Raj pu tana desert, the 21

Ramdyana 22, 43, 141, 172

Kamgarh, Greek amphitheatre at

169

Ran of Kacch 116 _

Rapson, E. J., Coins oftheAndhras

162; Indian Coins 167
Ras abn Somer, bay of 91
Rawlinson, H. G., Baktria 73
Ray, P. (X 178
Reel Sea i, 9, 10, 88, 90
Rcinand, Relations de r Empire

Rom&in ctvec I'Asie Oriental 130
relic-worship 141, 176
Rhinokolura (= El Arish) 90, 129
Rhoclopha ( ? Dabliai) 42, 64
Ridge, the (Delhi) 52
%ig"Veda, 3, 4, 15, 156, 176
*' Romaho," (= Alexandria) 173
Romahdkhya praktrtitd 173
Romaka Siddh&nta 173
Romance History of Alexander

147

Roman Emperors 153, 163, 164
Roman Empire 163
Rome xox, 173
Roth, Fe$t!ru$$ 15
Rotise, W. H, D. 4
Royal City, the 44
Royal Councillors 54
Royal Road (Maurya domaihs)

29, 42> 64

Royal Road (Persia) 43
Royal Tombs of the Persian Kings

68
Ruanvelli, the great tope of 34

Sabaites 1x3

Sada 132

SSgaia (PSiaikot) 71* 79* 161*

162, 171

St Anthony 176
St Bartholomew 141
St Chrysostom, Orations 169
St Jerome 138
St John of Damascus, Barlaam

and Josaphat 19, 142, 180
St Josaphat 142

194

Index

St Mark 126

St Martin, tude sttr la G&>$*

GfRcqus 64
St Matthew 141
Saka (Sakae) tribe 75, 77, 82 it,

A I6 3

Saka dynasties 83, 86, 103, x6i

x6y

Saka era 87

Sakastene (- SeistSn) 83
Saketa 80, 8 x

Sennacherib (K '114

Scptirrsittfi S^venis 15 i f 153,

Scpiuaftint, the 1 1

Scms 4 4.^ 79, 152

Sertariiw 99

Stwikricnae ( ? Vengiirla) 1 19

li rites 61
Sakuntatd 47
2AAHNH 165
Sammtirammat 8
Samoa 109
Saxnudra Gupta 166
SUnclii 165

Sandalcs, $m SanduncH
Sandal wood 113 /
SandancH (Sundara Stitakarni) tic),

*43 *4$

Sand bares 87

Sandrakottua (- Chundragupiu,

gj>.) 24, a8, 29, 37
scmt[&i'& (catamarans) 122
S&nkhy a system 177
Saw letter, the 164
Sanskrit literature 179
Sapphara Metropolis 1 25
sapphire, a gigantic 149
Saraganus, the elder 119
Sarikol, Stone Tower of 69, 115
Sarmanes (se* &lso r&ma$&) 6o

62, 142

Sassaniaa dynasty 150
Sassanian F,in]>in.' 166
atha timhmana 15

39

lappa 114, 124
Sayce, A* H, ' z, 3 ; Hi&bart Lwliiw
3; Soienca of Lang ua%* 170
HL, Ilws 8

Sewell K. Nnwan Cninx found in

India J<M, iu 151
Shahtiuno.srr 111 3
Stwba 1 1

"% ( /if habbin fthhadanta), ivory n

siii|'wriglitfi s;f

Siam* (lulf n! ij^, 133

Sibiu*, flic* <r

Sihor (Siinylla fir <!haut) 14^

Siittlfiiinttt^, live* 173

Sui<m ! I2H

(Sinhaht di^/m) {40

7 1

110
a, 51

'Silent barter" 124, t^a
nsik ii us, iaj t ut
Silver (!furtry t$-i ( i ; |4
Sin<l ,V 4 1 1 -| "

Sintthit, *' Imiiun cotton" i j
Simlhu, U. K

Sint"ialt;*w,i ntijrcliiintH 1 24
Sitihiilt?s ('/f Lion ruwple) 5,

Sinus

SItft 141

&va 61, 14 1 146

Hkeat, W. W., C^f/bwl Cktuctr 180

Skiitpuilrs, the 19^ 26, ;*7, 6

Skdlfx 30

Sky lax of Karyanclii 16 ff, f 34,

30* **5. A ni, 155* 5^
Skythiunft 161, il;3

Schwanbeck 23, 33, 40, 44, 49, 50
Seistfa (w Sakastene) $3
Selenlcids 29, 100
Setoukns 1 '100; 11 (XaUMbu)

too; HI (Sotw) mo; IV

(PMlopatot) 100
Seleuktts Nlkator 38, 39, 49, 64,

9 ?* 9 $ '

SemiramiS' 8 f 27, 35

Semitic Empires of \V, Asia x6
Seml'lic faco$ x6o
Sen, IL A* 126

Smith, V* A, 107, ni;

History nf India 37, 47 f 71, 83,
x ? t ; (*r{tffcoI{0m&H Influtnc*
on GMfitetfion

172
Soanu K. 81

83, 87

Sopdlana * 75
Soiotra 94, 148
Sokotra (Dioscorwla

Solioiii 40
Solomon n 13

\

Index

195

Sowa juice, 58

Somali coast, the 104

Somaliland 9

Son, R. 44. 45 , , ,

Sona, R, (or Hiranyabahu) 24

Sonaparfmta (Aurea Regio) 133

Sopara x 19

2w0<pa (Ophir in the Scptuagmt)

Sophir, Coptic term for Southern

'India ix

Sophokies 170; Anffgone 171
Sophon 99

Soptama (Su-patana) 122
Spalirises 87

Spir.ci-i IO2, 104, 120, 125, 1*26
Sftikwittrd (Nurdoxtachys Jata~

mansi) 120, 120
Spooner, IX B. 68
Sraman (or Buddhists, q.v,) 141,

stacte 126

Stallra, stater 167

Stein, A., Ancient Gtofwpty t>J

Kahmr 17; Zuroastnttn Deibe$

on tndo-Scythi&n Coin* 164
Stobacus, Physica 144
'"Stone Tower" of Sarikol 115
Stvrax (Hcnatoin) X2(>
Strabo 6, 8, 9. ff., 39 l! - 5 fi-

00, 77 ff., 89 ff., 104 ff., 5>

120, 133 X
Strato 76, 77,

(or Jfi^) 2:41, 165
Styracaceae 126
SubHftgaaena 92
Sudan 92
iadra (caste) 50 ff.
Sueas (= Arinoo, ^.t>.) I* * %>

17, xH 89, ill
Sulla 104
Sumatra 131, 148
Sumer x6

^unga kings 80

Supp&ta 5, xx

StiMsbtra ( * Kattiftwar and Surat
distrlcti) 71

Surftt xx7

Stoyy* Sid&b&ntas 173

Swsa 26, a8

Sutlej, R-

Svetadvlpa 178

Swiss Guards 48

Syagrus, Cape (Ras Fartak) no,

113

Syburtius 40

Syrastrene (Surdshtra) 117
Syria 89, 101
Syrian art 167
Syrian Empire 93

Tacitus 154

tddi 30

Takshasiia (see Taxila) 162

Tamluk 42

Tamralipti 5, 123

Tanjore 9

Tapropane (Tamraparnt) 149

Tarn, W. W. M Hellenism in Bak-

tria" 73
Tarshish 7

Tawney, C. H. 25, 81, 180
Taxila 28, 29, 42, 43, 56, 59, 63,

83,87; inscription 163
teak 1x3
Telang, K. T., trans, of Bhagavad

G%t& 178
Telephus 86
Tellicherry 112
Temala (or Tamala) 132
temples, Assyrian 114; Chaldean

1x4 ; rock 146

Tennant, Emerson, Ceylon 153
Ter (TUgara) 119
Terebinthus 138, 142
Thapsacus 9
Thebaid, the 176
Theodosius I X54; II 154
Theophrastus, History of Plants

124

Therapeutae 176
Thermopylae 27
Thomas, the apostle 84
Thrace 156

Thracians 159 ,

Three Caskets, story of the xoo
"three jfww<w" 177
11 three qualities" 177
thuki-im (tokei) xx
Tiastanes 117
Tiberius 103, 153
tigers X09
Tigris, R. 128 '
Tinavelly 14
TissaWlwa 153
Titus X53
Togarum ( ? Devgad) 119

196

Index

Tokosanna, H. 133

tortoise-shell 120

Toy Cart 169 ff.

rpax^X^o^res no

Trajan io; 127, 129, 140, 153,

163, 164

Trans-Gangctic fndia 133
Trial by Ordeal 144
trikona (rpiywos) 174
Trimurti, shrine of the 146
Turkestan 148
Tykta 63

Tyrannoboas, sec Auranoboas
Tyre, 2, 7, 10, 89, 115, 128, 129

Ucchanga Jdtuka 25

Ujjain 50, 117, 173

t/X(/co 1 77

Ummaga J&taha 12

uplet 124

"Ur of the Chakkes" 3

-- Attakorac) 2

176
vaitfurya {/SbJ/wXXoO 14

Vaisya (caste) 50 1L

Valens 154

Valerian 154

Vallabhaa of Gujarat 177

V&naprastha 62

Vaniy am i:>M i i o i

Var&hamihira 173, 174;

Swphittl 173; //rtra J&H&
174; Paftchct Siddh&ntikd 173

Vanma 2

Vasco cla Gama 99, 102

VdJi$h(ha Siddh&nia 173

Vasudeva 87

Vcdabbha jataka x8o

Vedas, the 156

Veddas 124

Vedic gods 2

Vengi (i.e. Kalinga) dialect 139

Vangmrla 119

Vergil, Gsoygics n6

Vespasian io% 153

vidftshaka (parasite) 169

Vijaya, prince, of Bengal 4

Vikings 121

Vikramaditya era Hj

Vjlivfiyakura II 08

Vishmi 1 5

Vishnu rur&na- 177

r/to (pimp) 169

VitelliuH 153

Via&drog 119

Vonowjs 83, 87

Von Schroder, 1*., hidien* Lit. und

Cult itr K'w, 174 ; Pythagoras

und die. hidcr 158

r

Watts, G., Cwnmcrciat Prndw.ts of
tnttitt i Jti

Weber, A. 177,178; Indian Lite-
rature 17^; /HttiMhft $ tit <iien
I'/K; Sanskrit Literature I(K)

W I lift' Mtn*'t t*|^

XVilson, !1, H., Aritma Anfif/ua 17

XV i n t u Kail p 1 1 i sc H w 7

Wincklt_r, H. it

"ii !"!, (.irwk .Ittflittintt wt

, f

H i II , , 117, 121, 1 5 H , i oo, 1 73
Y.iv.ii.inii.' {..: Alrx.irnlrifi) 173
YmnmiM ifK>
y/fa doctrine; of J'jttaftjali 175

f ,

Yuh-c!ti 73, , 84

Ytilin H 13^; Cathay ami the
Thither 131; Marco /Wo

120

Zulm (Kate) i:'|2 i;ij
/amuitii, >} Ciilit'lit * IOJ
Zariitliwtitriaii infliieiici* 177

iftt monk 107 *
Stand AvcHta 72

128

Zodiac, of the 173

Koiiu* 86'

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