Megasthenes' Indica: A New Translation of the Fragments with Commentary 2021003674, 2021003675, 9780367472948, 9781032023571, 9781003038580

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MEGASTHENES’ INDICA

This book provides a new translation of all the surviving portions of the description of India written by Megasthenes in about 310 BCE, the fullest account of Indian geography, history and customs available to the classical world. The Indica was a pioneering work of ethnography that exemplified a new direction in Hellenistic writing; India was little-known to the Greeks before the expedition of Alexander the Great in 326–325 BCE, and Megasthenes, who resided as an ambassador in the Maurya capital Pataliputra for some time, provided the classical world with most of what it knew about India. Megasthenes’ book, which became a classic in antiquity, now survives only in fragments preserved in other Greek and Latin authors. Stoneman’s work offers a reliable and accessible version of all the writings that can plausibly be ascribed to Megasthenes. His subject ranges from detailed accounts of social structure and the royal household, to descriptions of elephant hunting and Indian philosophical ideas. His book is the only written source contemporary with the Maurya kingdom of Candragupta, since writing was not in use in India at this date. This translation provides a path to a clearer understanding of Greek ethnography and a valuable resource on Indian history. The book will be of value not only to classical scholars with an interest in Hellenistic history and cultural attitudes, and to their students, but also to scholars working on the early history of India, who have had to rely (unless they are also Greek scholars) on scattered and dated collections of evidence. Richard Stoneman is Honorary Visiting Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Exeter, UK. His research concentrates on the legends of Alexander the Great and on Greek knowledge of India (most of which was due to Alexander’s campaign). His books include Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend (2008) and The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks (2019). His three-volume edition of the Alexander Romance is in the process of publication.

ROUTLEDGE CLASSICAL TRANSLATIONS

Routledge Classical Translations provides scholars and students with accurate, modern translations of key texts that illuminate distinctive aspects of the classical world and come from a range of periods, from early Greece to the Byzantine empire. Volumes include thematic groupings of texts, texts from important authors as well as texts from the Byzantine period that are relevant for the study of the classical world but which remain inaccessible. Each volume has accompanying notes and commentary that provide a solid framework for deeper understanding of the material. As well as providing translations of significant texts, the series makes available material that is untranslated into English or difficult to access, and places these texts within new contexts to open-up areas of study and support research. Titles include: THE SORROWS OF MATTIDIA A New Translation and Commentary Curtis Hutt, translated by Jenni Irving MUSAEUS’ HERO AND LEANDER Introduction, Greek Text, Translation and Commentary Silvia Montiglio PLUTARCH’S THREE TREATISES ON ANIMALS A Translation with Introductions and Commentary Stephen T. Newmyer MEGASTHENES’ INDICA A New Translation of the Fragments with Commentary Richard Stoneman For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ classicalstudies/series/CLTRA

MEGASTHENES’ INDICA A New Translation of the Fragments with Commentary

Richard Stoneman

First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Richard Stoneman The right of Richard Stoneman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Megasthenes, author. | Stoneman, Richard, translator, editor. Title: Megasthenes’ Indica : a new translation of the fragments with commentary / Richard Stoneman. Other titles: Indika. English Description: London ; New York : Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2021. | Series: Routledge classical translation | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021003674 (print) | LCCN 2021003675 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367472948 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032023571 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003038580 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: India—Description and travel—Early works to 1800. | Megasthenes. Indika. English | India—Historical geography—Early works to 1800. | India—History—To 324 B.C. Classification: LCC DS409 .M413 2021 (print) | LCC DS409 (ebook) | DDC 934/.04—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003674 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003675 ISBN: 978-0-367-47294-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-02357-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-03858-0 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC

CONTENTS

Preface Abbreviations and conventions Concordance of fragment numbers with the editions of Schwanbeck and Jacoby Introduction: Life and work

ix xi xiii 1

The nature of Megasthenes’ book 5 The reliability of Megasthenes 8 The structure of Megasthenes’ book 11 What is a fragment? 16 Other writers on India 17 Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Ctesias of Cnidus 18 Onesicritus 19 Nearchus 20 Aristobulus 21 After Megasthenes 21 Eratosthenes 21 Maps

25

The fragments

27

Book I: Geography and resources

29

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Summary of geography, history and society 29 The geography of India 33 The dimensions of India 34 The Himalayas (‘Caucasus’) 35 Controversy on the size of India 36 The size of India, again 36 v

CONTENTS

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

The northern stars 36 Rivers 37 Megasthenes’ knowledge of India 38 The River Silas 38 The fertility of India 39 Dionysus and Heracles 39 Dionysus and Heracles as civilisers 41 Pandaea 44 Taprobane 45 The kartazon 47 Pearls 48 Trees that grow in the sea 48 Poisonous fish 49 Monkeys (and other animals) 49 Snakes 50 The hoopoe (and other birds) 50 The gold-guarding ants 54 The monstrous races 55 The reverse-feet 56 The Mouthless Ones and the Dog-heads 56 Plutarch on the Mouthless Ones 57

Book II: Political structures 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

58

The seven ‘castes’ 58 Funeral rites 60 Absence of slavery 61 Meals 61 Cities 61 Palibothra (Pataliputra) 61 City officials 62 Laws and customs 63 Loans and punishments 64 Elephants 64 Horsecraft 67 Elephant ethics 68

Book III: The Indian philosophers

69

40. The philosophers 69 41. Calanus and suicide 71 42. Calanus and Dandamis 72 vi

CONTENTS

43. The Brahmans 72 44. Strabo on Indian religion and philosophy 72 45. Brahman austerity 73 46. Brahmans and Jews 74 Appendix

75

(a) Other accounts of the philosophers 75 (b) Pliny’s account of India 78

Commentary

83

Commentary on Book I: Geography and resources

85

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Summary of geography, history and society 85 The geography of India 88 The dimensions of India 89 The Himalayas (‘Caucasus’) 90 Controversy on the size of India 91 The size of India, again 91 The northern stars 91 Rivers 92 Megasthenes’ knowledge of India 93 The River Silas 93 The fertility of India 94 Dionysus and Heracles 95 Dionysus and Heracles as civilisers 96 Pandaea 100 Taprobane 100 The kartazon 103 (a and b) Pearls 103 Trees that grow in the sea 104 Poisonous fish 104 Monkeys (and other animals) 104 Snakes 105 The hoopoe (and other birds) 105 The gold-guarding ants 107 The monstrous races 108 The reverse-feet 110 The Mouthless Ones and the Dog-heads 111 Plutarch on the Mouthless Ones 112 vii

CONTENTS

Commentary on Book II: Political structures 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

(a and b) The seven ‘castes’ 113 Funeral rites 114 Absence of slavery 114 Meals 116 Cities 116 Palibothra (Pataliputra) 117 City officials 119 Laws and customs 120 Loans and punishments 124 Elephants 124 Horsecraft 126 Elephant ethics 126

Commentary on Book III: The philosophers 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

113

127

The philosophers 127 Calanus and suicide 132 Calanus and Dandamis 134 The Brahmans 134 Strabo on Indian religion and philosophy 135 Brahman austerity 135 Brahmans and Jews 136

Commentary on appendix

137

Pliny’s Indian tribes (NH 6.56–80)

140 145 153

Bibliography Index

viii

PREFACE

It is a quarter of a century since the naked philosophers first began to occupy my thoughts. These Indian ascetics encountered by Alexander of Macedon in a grove outside Taxila aroused the curiosity of the Greek writers who accompanied Alexander and stimulated a long history of philosophical speculations. Apart from Alexander’s companion Onesicritus, the fullest source on the way of life, beliefs and practices of these naked philosophers is a writer of a generation later, Megasthenes, who wrote the first book-length study of India in Greek literature, in about 310 BCE. Megasthenes has presented himself as a subject for treatment for some time. This book aims to make his work more accessible to non-specialist readers (including historians of India) as well as to classical scholars. Its subject ranges much more widely than the naked philosophers, and provides rich but often tantalising information about the geography of India, its wildlife (especially elephants), the legendary ‘monstrous races’, the society and political structures of late fourth-century Magadha and the Maurya kingdom of Candragupta. It is among the earliest written sources for Indian history in any language. The important edition of E.A. Schwanbeck (1846) was a comprehensive collection of all the passages that could be supposed to be by Megasthenes, and this was translated into English by the indefatigable John McCrindle (1926), who set out to make the works of the ancient writers on India available to administrators of the British Empire in India (see Mairs 2018). Felix Jacoby’s far more selective edition of the fragments (1958) included only those attributed by name to Megasthenes by an ancient author. This book seeks to steer a middle course by including most of what was in Schwanbeck, with discussion of the case for inclusion, in the interest of providing as full a picture as possible of what the ancients, who regarded Megasthenes as a classic, knew about India. Inevitably, the book draws heavily on my earlier book, The Greek Experience of India (2019). Some passages repeat fairly closely what I wrote earlier, but I have made many abridgements in the interest of the very different kind of presentation appropriate to a commentary. There are also places where I have been able to incorporate the results of new reading and research to amplify my earlier work. A translation was a suitable project for the year 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions made access to libraries impossible for many months, and difficult thereafter. ix

P R E FA C E

These restrictions have impeded the final checking of some references, but I trust that the usability of the book is not diminished. I would like to acknowledge the support of my friends Sushma Jansari and Richard Seaford in keeping the subject of Megasthenes in the forefront of my mind. I also wish to thank Princeton University Press for granting permission to reproduce certain passages of my 2019 book.

x

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS

Names of Greek and Latin authors are abbreviated following the conventions of LSJ (Liddell, Scott and Jones, Greek Lexicon) and OLD (Oxford Latin Dictionary). Titles of journals are abbreviated following the conventions of OCD (Oxford Classical Dictionary). DK

H. Diels and W. Kranz, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Dublin/Zurich: Weidmann 1968) FGrH Fragmente der griechischen Historiker ed. Felix Jacoby (1957–1958) KA Kautilya, Arthaśāstra ed. L.N. Rangarajan (New Delhi: Penguin 1992) KRS G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven and M. Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers (second edition: Cambridge University Press 1983) M. Megasthenes Mbh Mahābhārata PMG Poetae Melici Graeci ed. D.L. Page (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1962) RE Paulys Real-Enzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenchaft ṚV Ṛg Veda ed. and tr. S. Jamison and J. Brereton (Oxford University Press 2014) Ancient Indian names and Sanskrit words are spelled according to the scholarly convention for transliteration, with diacriticals. Note that C represents the sound of English ch: thus, Candragupta is pronounced Chandragupta. Modern Indian proper names (people and places) do not use diacriticals: Thus, Mathura not (Skt.) Mathurā. Greek names are normally Latinised. Greek words are transliterated, with k, o, etc. There are always exceptions. All the fragments of Megasthenes, and the texts in the appendix, have been freshly translated by me from Greek and Latin. Passages of other authors quoted in the notes are normally taken from the Loeb translations; for Quintus Curtius I use John Yardley’s Penguin translation. The quotation from Aristophanes in F 22 is from the Loeb translation by Benjamin Bickley Rogers.

xi

CONCORDANCE OF FRAGMENT NUMBERS WITH THE EDITIONS OF SCHWANBECK AND JACOBY

Stoneman Schwanbeck

Jacoby

Schwanbeck Stoneman Jacoby Stoneman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

4 5 6 x 6 x 7 9 9 10 20 11 + Anh 3 11 + Anh 3; 12−14; Anh 7 13c 26 + Anh 10 x 13 25 24 21, 27b 22 Anh 18 (part) 23 27 28 29

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 2 4 3 5 3 6 3 7 7 11 20 20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

1 2 4+6+8 3 5 7 9 + 10 20 + 20B 24 21-23 11 46 + 1B + 57 dub 47 + 46 + 48B + 50 + 50C 58 + 51 18 15B 50 19 17 12–14 16 59 dub 39 + 40, 40B 29 30 30, 30B

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

29 30 32 33 28 11, 37 20 21 23 19 18 15

27 28 29 30 31 32

31 32 + 33 26 26 28 26

30 19 15 16 2 17

27 28 29 30 31 32

20 16 21 19 15 18 8 10 10 10 9 33 29, 30, 32, 33 35 31 24 25, 26 27 28

27 28 29 30 31, 36 32

20, 24 25 26 27 34 35

13 31 46 1 2 3, 5 7 8, 9 10 12, 13 17

(Continued)

xiii

CONCORDANCE OF FRAGMENT NUMBERS

(Continued) Stoneman Schwanbeck

Jacoby

Schwanbeck Stoneman Jacoby Stoneman

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

18 31 32 x 20ab x x 33 34 x Anh 20 Anh 15 Anh 21 3

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

25 + 26 34 27 27B 37 + 36 + 38 35 52 dub, 53 dub 41 44 + 45 45 43 x 54 42

xiv

28 34 38 37 37 37 23 23 40 46 43 41 41, 42 13 13 13 13 13, 17 14 39 39 45 x App. b 12 14 22

33 34 Anh 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

40 41 12

App. b 15

44 8 22 43 45

INTRODUCTION Life and work

Megasthenes (ca. 350–290 BCE) was the author of one of the most extensive works about India written in the ancient world.1 It was also probably the most important, as it far exceeded in scope and reliability than the earlier work of Ctesias (late fifth century–early fourth century BCE). Later writers, including Eratosthenes, Strabo and Arrian, drew on his work heavily, with the result that Megasthenes’ work achieved the status of a classic in antiquity and many of his observations continued to be treated as current information even in the second century CE.2 However, Strabo (2.1.9 = FGrH 721 F 2 (Anhang)) gave him a bad reputation as a teller of tall stories: see p. 8, ‘The reliability of Megasthenes’). India became much better known to the Romans as a result of trade in the centuries after Megasthenes, and there is a brief account in the anonymous Periplus Maris Erythraei (Voyage around the Red sea, i.e. the Arabian Sea), while the first century BCE geographer Artemidorus of Ephesus devoted a substantial section of his Geographoumena to India3: unfortunately his work is lost, but Pliny the Elder undoubtedly made use of it in his account of India in Book VI of his Natural History. But besides these authors, Megasthenes’ authority held sway until late antiquity.

1 General accounts are few. The fragments were collected by Schwanbeck 1846 and translated by McCrindle 1926; re-edited, far more selectively by Jacoby, FGrH 715, which is translated by D. Roller in Brill’s New Jacoby Online. For a concordance of these two editions see Appendix. Still fundamental is the 100-column RE article by Stein; see also Stein 1921. Derrett’s article in Der Kleine Pauly is also excellent. Timmer’s book is thorough and judicious. Other wide-ranging treatments include Brown 1955, 1973, 141–151, who calls Megasthenes’ book ‘not a particularly distinguished performance’, and opines that other Greeks could have made much better use of Megasthenes’ opportunities, while Pearson 1960, 110 disparages his ‘crude methods’; Bosworth 1996; Kosmin 2013, 2014; Majumdar 1958; Goyal 2000. Both Majumdar and Muntz 2012 minimise the presence of Megasthenes in Diodorus. Sachse 1981 (I rely on the German abstract of the Polish text) is reliable despite some fables, and good on the state. Arora 1991/1992 is a clear statement of the standard views of the issues. A recent collection, Wiesehöfer, Brinkhaus and Bichler 2016, contains a great many valuable articles, including Roller 2016. Kosmin 2014 explores the wider context of Megasthenes’ work: pp. 37–53 are devoted to our author. 2 Dihle 1964; Stoneman forthcoming b. 3 Stiehle 1856.

1

INTRODUCTION

Despite his importance, Megasthenes’ book does not survive. We know it only from fragments, sometimes quite extensive, quoted in later authors. It is evident that it ranged over the geography, people, customs and, to some extent, history of India. His credentials for writing it were, chiefly, that he acted as ambassador for Seleucus I to the Maurya king Candragupta,4 whose capital was at Pataliputra (now Patna) on the Middle Ganges. Unfortunately, we know little more about his life than this. He had evidently travelled with Alexander on his expedition to India in 326 BCE, and thereafter he was associated with Sibyrtios, the satrap of Arachosia and Gedrosia, and therefore presumably lived in Kandahar (Alexandria in Arachosia) until his mission to Pataliputra. Though he was certainly a Greek, we do not even know what part of the Greek world he came from. The only recorded instance of the name belongs to someone from Chalcis in Euboea. When writing of the rivers Ganges and Indus, he compares them for size to the rivers of Asia Minor, the Caicus, Cayster, Maeander and Hermos. This might imply that he was familiar with these rivers because they ran near his native land. However, another author on India, Nearchus, who came from Crete, also chose these rivers for comparison; they are the only rivers of any size running into the Aegean basin apart from those of Macedonia, the Axius and Haliacmon, and of Thrace, the Hebrus and Strymon; neither of these regions was regarded as strictly Greek. Signs of Ionic dialect, the dialect of western Asia Minor, have also been detected in some of the fragments, but other indications are for Attic. Furthermore, a writer in the Herodotean tradition might choose to adopt Ionic dialect, as Arrian did in his Indica. So, no conclusion can be drawn from any of these pieces of evidence. We do not know where Megasthenes came from. His date is just as difficult to determine, and more depends on the answer.5 The key passage is Arrian’s sentence about him (Anab. 5.6.2; T 2J), which could be translated either ‘He says that he repeatedly visited the court of Sandrocottus (Candragupta)’, or ‘he repeatedly says that he visited the court of Candragupta’.6 Since Seleucus died in 280, and had also employed a second ambassador, Daimachus, one should set Megasthenes’ mission(s) well before this. But how much before? Candragupta’s reign probably began in 321,7 and he was succeeded by his son Bindusara in 297. Seleucus and Candragupta signed a treaty in 304 or 303, so a date after that seems the most natural context for those ‘repeated visits’.8 If we assume that Megasthenes was a mature man when he was given the role of ambassador, we might give him the dates ca. 350–290, which would chime with

4 Commonly Anglicized as Chandragupta: I use the standard scholarly transliteration of Sanskrit words and names. 5 In what follows, I summarise my discussion in Stoneman 2019, 130–134. 6 I agree with Mehl 1987 that pollakis is best taken with ‘visited’ not with ‘states’. But one cannot be certain. 7 Thapar 1997, 16–17. 8 Wheatley 2014, 516 remarks that the only irrefutable dates are those in the classical tradition, such as this one.

2

INTRODUCTION

the statement of Clement9 that he was a ‘contemporary’ of Seleucus, who lived from 358 to 280. He would have written his book about 300. There is also the unanswerable question whether the ‘repeated visits’ were journeys to India from Kandahar, or journeys from a residence in India to the court at Pataliputra; the latter, implying an extended sojourn in India, would give Megasthenes the opportunity to penetrate Indian culture deeply, and perhaps learn a suitable language. In 1996, A.B. Bosworth argued for a recalibration of Megasthenes’ date, setting his visit (a single visit) in about 319/8 and the composition of his book around 310.10 At this date, he would be describing Alexander’s world, when Porus had only just died, while in 300 he would be describing Candragupta’s world. Bosworth’s key piece of evidence is a puzzling sentence of Arrian (Ind. 5.3) where he states that Megasthenes refers to his own visit(s) to ‘Candragupta, the greatest king of the Indians, and Porus, who was still greater’. On any reading this is nonsense. What can he have really said? The text is generally emended to ‘Candragupta, the greatest king of the Indians, one who was still greater than Porus’. Bosworth accepts the transmitted text and takes it that it refers to a time when Porus was a greater king than Candragupta, before the latter’s empire was fully established. Megasthenes is thus describing conditions in India around 319/8, immediately before the death of Porus. But this still does not make sense of the superlative, which can only have been used when Candragupta was ‘supreme’ king in India, which would still mean that Megasthenes was writing under Candragupta’s supremacy. The reference to Porus would then have to be a retrojection into the past, i.e. he also met Porus who had at one time been still greater. Bosworth adds several further points to his argument that the India Megasthenes describes reflects conditions in the immediate aftermath of Alexander’s expedition rather than those when Candragupta had already established his empire in northern India. I do not find them persuasive.11 9 Strom. 1.72.5 = Meg. T1J. 10 Bosworth 1996b, revisited in Bosworth 2003, 312–313. Wheatley 2014 accepts Bosworth’s early dating of Megasthenes’ mission, and adds further arguments to suggest that Alexander’s India collapsed immediately following Porus’ death. 11 1. He argues that many details reflect Alexander’s ‘Last Plans’ for western conquests, notably the surprising information about the Pharaoh Taharka’s western expedition (a fiction). But there could be many reasons for M. to mention Taharka, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar: see note on F 1b, cf. also F 13a. 2. Megasthenes states that no one from the west, apart from Alexander, had penetrated India, which would have been a tactless thing to write at a time when Seleucus had done just that. In fact, Arrian writes ‘Megasthenes says that the Indians had never attacked, or been attacked by, any other people’. But Arrian is excerpting what Megasthenes wrote, and is himself writing from the perspective of a historian of Alexander. He had no reason to excerpt what may perfectly well have been the conclusion of the sentence, the qualification ‘before Alexander’. 3. According to Megasthenes, there were many local kings in India, and there were also poleis, i.e. independent cities and autonomous peoples. Bosworth’s argument is that this was the case when Alexander arrived but not under the Mauryan Empire. However, the poleis certainly did not evaporate as a result of Candragupta’s rise to power, and the kings may have continued

3

INTRODUCTION

Bosworth’s view seems to erect too powerful a superstructure of argument on an insufficient foundation of data. Paul Kosmin argues in detail against Bosworth’s dating on the following grounds.12 (1) The phrase ‘still greater than’, however it is interpreted, makes no sense and should probably be regarded as intrusive. I would myself suggest that it is a gloss by a scribe who thought he knew better than the author because he was thinking about the time of Alexander, not that of Candragupta. (2) Arrian’s statement (Anab. 5.6.2) that Megasthenes spent time with Sibyrtius, the satrap of Arachosia, need imply no more than that Sibyrtius’ court provided a ‘base’ for Megasthenes’ repeated journeys to India. (3) An important point is that everything Megasthenes writes about India implies a unified state13: note especially Pliny NH 6.17.58, which makes no reference to either Porus or Sibyrtius, and categorises Megasthenes among diplomats not military expeditions. Pataliputra is the epicentre of his world and the end point of the Maurya ‘Royal Road’ (Str. 15.1.12 = F 3c). (4) I would myself add here that the way Megasthenes refers to the philosophers who wait on the king reflects an increased understanding of their categorisation. While Onesicritus simply refers to ‘naked philosophers’, Megasthenes has ‘brahmanes and sarmanes’, i.e. brahmanasramanam in the correct Sanskrit phrase.14 He knows that there are two varieties of philosophers, both of whom have a role to play with kings. There is no hint of this in Onesicritus. The fact that Megasthenes’ explicit distinction of the two kinds introduced an irredeemable confusion in later writers, who began to think of the naked philosophers as Brahmans, should not mislead us here. Megasthenes describes the conditions of the Maurya court. 5. Finally, Kosmin has an explanation for the startling fragment about Nebuchadnezzar (F 13), which acquires a context if Megasthenes’ ‘employer’ is lord of the erstwhile city of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon. If this is accepted, there is no need to consider Bosworth’s very hypothetical argument (120) that Megasthenes’ mission to India was to secure elephants for Eudamus’ (and Sibyrtius’) war against Peithon. Even if he did, this may have been only the first of his ‘repeated visits’. He may have come to prominence through negotiating the ‘Treaty of the Indus’ (as Kosmin calls it).15 A further consideration is his possible connection with Hecataeus of Abdera, who was writing about 320–205 BCE.16

12 13 14 15 16

to function as vassals, as Porus had done for a short time under Alexander. It is characteristic of ancient ethnographic writers to describe conditions that are slightly out of date, as a result either of time lag in information, or because their informants like to describe things as they were ‘in the good old days’ and ought to be now. Kosmin 2014, 265–271. So also Primo 2009, 55. This removes the force from Bosworth’s point 3, in n. 11. See Dihle 1964, 21: he comments that ‘his translations and transliterations of Indian names are astonishingly correct’. Kosmin 2014, 32–37. See Stoneman 2019, 142.

4

INTRODUCTION

In conclusion, I believe it is not necessary to abandon the traditional date for Megasthenes. He spent some time in India, either in Pataliputra or in an ambassador’s residence from which he frequently visited the court, and wrote about the established Maurya Empire.17 For what it is worth, the depth and quantity of his information seem to me to suggest a residence over an extended period, particularly when we consider the inferiority of the material that Ctesias managed to gather in a residence of 17 years at the Persian court! Though his account poses many problems, it is the work of a serious writer, and it was unfair of Strabo to brand him a ‘liar’; he recorded not only what he saw but also what he was told, and sometimes what he was told was Indian tradition which we now know to be untrue, such as the existence of people with the heads of dogs. Herodotus, who was also sometimes branded a liar, did the same, and regularly invites his readers to reflect on whether the stories he transmits can actually be the truth. If we had Megasthenes’ own words, we would very probably find him doing the same. Only a few years later, another ambassador, Daimachus, wrote a book about India which would be a valuable comparison if we had more than the exiguous snippets that remain.18

The nature of Megasthenes’ book What was Megasthenes setting out to do in writing a book entitled Indica? Felix Jacoby categorised him among those he defined as ethnographers, but then blurred the category by amalgamating it with local history, which to modern perceptions is a very different field.19 The three authors who provide us with our largest number of fragments of Megasthenes – Strabo, Diodorus and Arrian – are, respectively, a geographer, a historian and an author of another Indica (but otherwise known as a historian): at Ind. 17.7 he calls the subject of this first part τα Ἰνδῶν νόμιμα, ‘the customs of the Indians’. Some of Strabo’s complaints about Megasthenes’ unreliability can be understood by his different scientific perspective.20 In the generations before Megasthenes, Greeks had not written books of this nature. The roots of Greek ‘ethnography’ are commonly found in Homer (especially the Odyssey) and of course in Herodotus and his predecessor Hecataeus. 17 See commentary on F 28, F 33. 18 Schwarz 1966 pulls together what can reasonably be said about Daimachus. See also J. Engels’ edition of the fragments, with commentary, in Brill’s New Jacoby Online, no. 716. 19 Skinner 2012, 30–34. The project is different from that of the anthropologist, who aims to construct theories, probably on a comparative basis (like Lévi-Strauss, Mary Douglas). Dillery 2015, 384, remarks that Greeks expected their ethnographies to conform to certain models, whether written by Greek observers or by members of the people in question. 20 Strabo 2.1.9 is the author’s most comprehensive attack on his predecessors: All who have written about India have proved themselves, for the most part, fabricators, but predominantly so Daimachus; the next in order is Megasthenes; and then Onesicritus, and Nearchus, and other such writers, who begin to speak the truth, though with faltering voice.

5

INTRODUCTION

But these authors, and also Thucydides who includes a number of ethnographic observations,21 embed their observations in the course of a wider narrative, in the latter two cases that of a war; and even Homer in his Iliad was mainly describing a war. The ethnographic monograph is something new in the age after Alexander. Alexander’s companion Onesicritus does not seem to be an exception to this generalisation: Though most of the fragments we have of his work relate to India, to the extent that it is impossible to be sure what his book really covered, it was certainly some kind of narrative of the campaign.22 In discussion of Herodotus much discussion has centred on the idea of the other, of ethnographic description as Greek self-definition.23 Recognition of the relativity of cultural values in the age of the sophists led to an attempt to investigate the roots of Greekness. At its weakest, the ethnographic impulse is ‘an interest in foreign peoples’, something that could hardly be absent even in the most insular of communities. It is notable, however, that Megasthenes and the other writers on India do not customarily refer to the Indians as ‘barbarians’, in this doing better than, for example, Bartolome de Las Casas writing about the inhabitants of the West Indies.24 The age of Alexander ushered in some different perspectives, particularly after Alexander himself blew apart the idea of the barbarian by his adoption of Persian dress, his employment of Persian staff and troops, and his creation of a multinational empire. Perhaps Aristotle’s ideas and advice had some impact on this.25 Aristotle is relevant in another way to the ethnographic project, too. His approach to the understanding of the world, collecting and comparing data and attempting to classify these data, sometimes in ways that to us are unconvincing, represented a new kind of interest in the world. The extraordinary achievements of such works as the Historia Animalium spawned numerous successors, many of them of the degenerate kind known as paradoxography, a genre generally regarded as beginning with Callimachus in the third century BCE.26 Many paradoxographical works, including that attributed to Aristotle, are the merest hotchpotches of unlikely ‘facts’; but in a rare moment of theoretical reflection, Aelian offers a rationale for the project: That dumb animals should by nature possess some good quality and should have many of man’s amazing excellences assigned to them along with man, is indeed a remarkable fact. And to know accurately the special 21 3.94.4–51; 2.68.5; 6.2.3,6. cf. 1.3.3, where he notes that there is no word for barbarian or Greek in Homer. 22 See Pearson 1960, 87–88, for discussion of the problematic title, πῶς Ἀλέξανδρος ἤχθη. 23 This began with the work of Francois Hartog and Edith Hall; it is reviewed by Dougherty 2001 and Skinner 2012; some counter-argument from Gruen 2011, who argues for a less hard and fast position, but he does not discuss India except for some pages on Clearchus. 24 See Nippel 1996 for an interesting discussion. 25 Stern 1968. 26 See Stoneman 2018, with extensive bibliography.

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INTRODUCTION

characteristics of each, and how living creatures also have been a source of interest no less than man, demands a trained intelligence and much learning. . . . I have collected all the materials that I could . . . so if anyone considers them profitable, let him make use of them.27 Like ethnography, the impetus is a clearer understanding of the nature of humankind. Ethnography can be many other things too. Philosophical ethnography can be used as criticism or satire of one’s own society, as in the numerous utopias of the Hellenistic world, many of which made use of data first purveyed by Megasthenes: most Greek utopias are in India. Several authors have gone so far as to argue that Megasthenes’ own work was intended as a portrait of an ideal society.28 I do not think that this will wash, though one might argue it perhaps for part of Onesicritus’ work. Like Onesicritus, Daimachus seems to show a particular interest in philosophical aspects of Indian culture.29 It is not even yet established that Megasthenes’ book should be called an ethnography. There have been other proposals. Kuhrt and Sherwin-White proposed that the treatise was in effect a political report for Seleucus, designed to show what he was up against in a hypothetical project of conquest of the Maurya Empire.30 (Relevant to this interpretation would be Megasthenes’ discussions of social structure, of cities including Pataliputra/Palibothra, of manners and customs, and perhaps of elephants.)31 Their phrase is ‘a legitimation of Seleucus’ non-conquest’. Similarly, Paul Kosmin has recently argued, following a hint from Bosworth, that the book was in effect an apologia for Seleucus, justifying his abandonment of the empire east of the Khyber Pass on the grounds that India was in some sense unconquerable.32 Furthermore, Maurya India is presented as a kind of analogue of the Seleucid state, with the king as the nodal point. Another possibility is a genre familiar from the present day, not so much a travel book but a diplomat’s or an amateur researcher’s memoirs: Paul Scott’s The Jewel in the Crown introduces Mr Cleghorn, ‘an ordained member of the Church and an enthusiastic amateur scholar of archaeology and anthropology, and much concerned with the impending, nevergot-down-to composition of a monograph on local topography and social customs’.33 And could one imagine Megasthenes’ saying what Kipling says34 – ‘one of the few advantages that India has over England is a great knowability’? What 27 28 29 30 31 32

Aelian, HA prologue. Biffi 2000, 24; Zambrini 1982, 1985; Murray 1972; see Kosmin 2014, 50, 285 n. 138. Schwarz 1966 argues that even the Poliorcetica (‘Siegecraft’) was mainly about India. Kuhrt and Sherwin-White 1993, 97: their phrase is ‘a legitimation of Seleucus’ non-conquest’. Ff 28, 32–33, 34–36, 37. Kosmin 2014, 37. Kosmin 2013, 2014, 51f. shows how Megasthenes inverts the Herodotean view of nomadism: for Herodotus, the Scythians were unconquerable because they were nomads and had no cities; for Megasthenes, the Indians were unconquerable precisely because they did have strongly fortified cities. 33 Scott 2005, 21. 34 Serjeant 2013, 62, quoting ‘The Phantom Rickshaw’.

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INTRODUCTION

this seems to mean is that it is easy (for Kipling) to delineate the civilisation with broad brush strokes: as an anonymous contemporary critic wrote of Kipling’s India: ‘correct or not, it is – surely it must be – true’.35 Megasthenes insists on the truthfulness of the Indians, and thus presumably of his informants; but that does not make them omniscient, and his India must in some sense be packaged, not only for his readership but also by his informants. As I argued in 2019,36 these informants must be, in the main part, Brahmans. Vincent Smith37 asserts that Megasthenes certainly talked to courtesans; but if he did, why is there nothing about women’s lives in his book? Megasthenes’ subject matter nevertheless ranges widely, over natural history; human geography; history; mythography; collection of folktales or local anecdotes; paradoxography avant la lettre. His omissions are also surprising: besides women’s lives, there is nothing on religious ideas or practices, nothing on domestic arrangements or diet.38

The reliability of Megasthenes Megasthenes has acquired a bad reputation in antiquity and in modern scholarship as a result of Strabo’s contemptuous dismissal (2.1.9): All who have written about India have proved themselves, for the most part, fabricators, but pre-eminently so Daimachus; the next in order is Megasthenes; and then Onesicritus and Nearchus. . . . But especially do Daimachus and Megasthenes deserve to be distrusted. For they are the persons who tell us about the men that sleep in their ears, the men without mouths and the men without noses; and about men with one eye, men with long legs, men with fingers turned backward; and they revived, also, the Homeric story of the battle between the cranes and the pygmies, who they said were three spans tall. These men also tell about the ants that mine gold and Pans with wedge-shaped heads; and about snakes that swallow oxen and stags, horns and all; and in these matters the one refutes the other, as is stated by Eratosthenes also. There is a paradox here, since, as Dihle (1964) showed, Megasthenes also came to be regarded as a classic, the one indispensable account of |India for the rest of antiquity. Strabo’s criticism is misconceived, for, as Stein (1932) demonstrated, all the reports of the fabulous races that Strabo accuses Megasthenes of inventing were in fact reported by him from information he had been given by men well-versed 35 36 37 38

Quoted by Serjeant 2013, 63. Stoneman 2019, 144. Smith 1901, 75. cf. Stoneman 2019, 178–185.

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INTRODUCTION

in Indian affairs, probably Brahmans. See the discussion in the commentary on Ff 24–27. It is unfortunate that even after Stein wrote, scholars were ready to present Megasthenes as no more than a teller of tall stories.39 Difficulty has also been found in assessing Megasthenes as an informant on the Maurya kingdom. The great question that arises here is the relation between Megasthenes and the Arthaśāstra of Kautilya.40 According to tradition, Kautilya is to be identified with the apparently historical personage Canakya, who is known from the Jain traditions as the king-maker of Candragupta; he wrote the Arthaśāstra as a guide for the king in the administration of his empire. The probably fourth-century CE play, the Mudrarakshasa (The Rakshasa’s Ring), uses the names Kautilya and Canakya indiscriminately for this person. In XV.1.73 of the Arthaśāstra, the author is identified as one Viṣnugupta, and later scholars who commented on it in the sixth and eighth centuries CE identified all three names as belonging to the same man. As with all Indian writings, its date is intensely disputed, since no texts were written down until several centuries after the date of Megasthenes. Alongside the problem of the identity of the author is the dating of the content of the text. Some scholars regard the work as belonging in essence to a much later period; others presume a core that dates back to Maurya times, with later accretions. The earliest scholarship saw the book as a description of the Maurya polity – an exciting find given the paucity of material, let alone Indian material, for the history of early India. Breloer went so far as to call the work Candragupta’s Magna Carta.41 The view remains attractive and many Indian scholars have been glad of a straw to cling to in the ocean of uncertainty, and perhaps of an Indian text that reduces their dependence on a Greek outsider’s information, particularly if they are dazzled by Strabo’s attack on Megasthenes for unreliability, and his one or two obvious mistakes (as on slavery). R. Sharma Sastry’s 1922 edition of the work presents this view most forcefully, as does R.P. Kangle’s of 1965, and it underpins Mookerji’s book on Candragupta.42 Kalota (1978) also takes it as axiomatic that both Megasthenes and Kautilya provide evidence for the same period and polity. Stein in 1921 was already doubtful of the possibility of a match between the two texts, and observed that if any conditions in Megasthenes are closer to those implied by the Dharmasutras.43 The most trenchant recent treatment is that of S.R. Goyal (1985), who builds on the work of Thomas Trautmann (1971): both of 39 For some discussions of the reliability of Megasthenes, see Brown 1955; Majumdar 1958; also the works cited in n. 1. 40 Stein 1921; Goyal 1985, 2000. See m longer discussion in Stoneman 2019, 198–202. 41 Goyal 1985, 1, with extensive further doxography. 42 Mookerji 1966, 4 and passim. B.K. Majumdar 1960, 60 is typical: the picture given in the book may be looked upon as the one representing the age of Magadhan imperialism, especially when we remember the fact that the account of the Maurya administrative system as outlined by Megasthenes, tallies substantially with that laid down by Kautilya. 43 Stein 1921, 175, 202.

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INTRODUCTION

these argue for a late date for the Arthaśāstra in its entirety.44 Trautmann’s argument is based on stylistic analysis, showing that not all of the work can have been written at the same time or by the same author. This argument offers no absolute conclusion about the date of any individual element. So, in principle parts of the work could date back to the time of Candragupta. The first external references to the Arthaśāstra date from the fifth century CE.45 This has prompted a number of scholars, including the great Romila Thapar, to try to save parts of the Arthaśāstra as evidence for the Maurya period, alongside a discriminating use of Megasthenes. ‘Borrowings and similarities in other works throughout the centuries can be explained by the fact that only the original text was written at the end of the fourth century BCE’.46 The danger that lurks here is circularity: you may decide that a particular element looks Maurya, and then argue that that portion of the Arthaśāstra must be early and that it provides evidence for that detail. Goyal helpfully points out that the two texts are not congruent in their purposes: Megasthenes’ account is a description, whereas Kautilya’s is normative: it describes how things should be, not necessarily how they are. If Kautilya’s book is advice not description, there is no reason why it should match reality. The administrative system described by Kautilya is different from that of the Aśokan inscriptions.47 R.S. Sharma raises the question of whether the state control of production envisaged by Kautilya ‘suits the Maurya state’,48 and proposes that ‘the Maurya model may have continued with modification under the Satavahanas and the Kushanas’ up to the third century CE. But the level of state control envisaged by Kautilya is not evidenced in Megasthenes, and reminds us again that Kautilya’s account should be seen as normative not descriptive.49 Kautilya also seems to reflect a different religious world from that of the Maurya kingdom. There are large temples with large estates, and the gods include several who are not in evidence at the earlier date, notably Śiva.50 Several larger considerations suggest that the world of Kautilya is different from that of Candragupta. Among the more subjective is the assessment of the kind of kingdom implied by the Arthaśāstra: is it designed as a blueprint for a large empire like that, that Candragupta was establishing, or for a smaller-scale state beleaguered on every side by other small-scale states, as in the period of 44 See also the judicious summary by Singh 2009, 322–323. Brinkhaus 2016 surveys the history of the discussion and cites McClish’s view that it is to be dated in the second or third century CE, and that it influenced the Kamasutra. 45 Goyal 1985, 7. Trautmann 2012 offers an interesting discussion of the economic content of the work as an expression of royal power. 46 Thapar 1997, 225 (the conclusion to her appendix ‘The date of the Arthashastra’, which surveys the history of the argument.) Allchin 1995, 187 and Chapter 10, is also determined to use the Arthaśāstra as evidence for the Maurya period. 47 Goyal 1985, 11 following Sharma 1959. 48 Sharma 2009, 135–136. 49 Goyal 1985, 58–59. 50 Goyal 1985, 31–33.

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INTRODUCTION

Kushan decline? Both sides of the case can be argued.51 More specific points include the many items that appear in the Arthaśāstra but for which we have no independent evidence in Megasthenes; for example, the elaborate network of spies, including prostitutes. Further, the elaborate and often ferocious range of punishments detailed by Kautilya is at odds with the Greek authors’ observation of the minimalism of law in the lands they visited. Then again, the prominent role given to Brahmans in the state seems to imply a state run on Brahmanical principles. Megasthenes refers to the regular appearances of the ‘philosophers’ at court, but they do not seem integral to the running of the kingdom. If Bronkhorst is right to regard Magadha as a less Brahmanised region than the west and northwest, one would expect their role to be weaker. The tradition that Candragupta was a śudra, and in later life a Jain (Hemacandra 1998, 185), would lead one to expect he would be less receptive to Brahman dominance. As Trautmann showed, the book must belong to many different periods. Scholars commonly favour a date for its final form in about the third century CE. Olivelle would favour a somewhat earlier date, between 100 BCE and 100 CE, not least because the text refers only to silver and copper coins, never to gold, which was prolifically minted by the Kushan kings from the end of the first century CE.52 Can the Arthaśāstra be used as corroborative evidence for the reliability of Megasthenes, even though it postdates him by two or more centuries? The procedure may easily become circular, but it would be foolish to reject the evidence of the Arthaśāstra where it provides a parallel for something in Megasthenes. Two pieces of evidence are better than one. What it is unsafe to do is to use the Arthaśāstra to fill out the outlines derived from Megasthenes – for example, by assuming that Megasthenes’ chats with loose women imply the Kautilyan spy network. One cannot, however, use a statement in Kautilya to prove that Megasthenes is mistaken in something he asserts. Megasthenes needs to be treated as a responsible witness, and differences between him and other sources, including Kautilya, to be treated on an individual basis.

The structure of Megasthenes’ book The longer summaries of Megasthenes’ book in Diodorus, Strabo and Arrian all follow a broadly similar structure, one which was, to some extent, determined by the conventions of ethnographical writing. First comes a geographical description of India, with a lot of emphasis on its rivers. Strabo adds some information about Taprobane after the rivers section. Then comes the narrative about the expedition of Semiramis, and the gods Heracles and Dionysus in India (both Arrian and Strabo interrupt the section about Heracles with an account of pearl-fishing). Strabo now discourses on trees and plants and then returns to the topic of rivers. Strabo also

51 The cases are summarised by Singh 2009, 340–344. 52 McClish and Olivelle 2012, xiii–xiv with xx.

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INTRODUCTION

speaks of Taxila and various Indian rulers at this point. The other authors go straight from the account of Heracles and Dionysus to discuss the government of India, and the city of Palibothra, at which point Strabo rejoins the itinerary, as it were. Strabo slips in here some information about tigers, taken from Megasthenes. Then all three authors continue with a discussion of the seven so-called castes of India which Megasthenes described, and move to the description of elephant hunting. At this point the three witnesses diverge: Diodorus speaks of Indian magistrates, Arrian speaks of tigers, parrots and the ethnic characteristics of the Indians, while Strabo has a much more extensive description of beasts (taken from Nearchus) and then goes on to talk of the fabulous races and of the Brahmans. There are good reasons why Arrian would have broken off his account without including either of these two topics: he would have no patience with the fabulous races, and he had already spoken of the Brahmans in his Anabasis, where, furthermore, he promised a monograph on the Brahmans, which alas we do not have, unless it is incorporated in some way in the second part of Palladius’ de Bragmanibus.53 The similarities in the order of topics suggest both that the three authors are following a single source, Megasthenes, and that their accounts represent a more or less complete epitome of the kind of material that Megasthenes covered. Charles Muntz has argued that Diodorus is much more eclectic (or discriminating) in his use of sources than has previously been supposed: he proposes that Diodorus’ main source was Eratosthenes, supplemented by direct use of Megasthenes for the portion on Heracles and Dionysus.54 Even if this is so, it must be admitted that Eratosthenes was largely reliant on Megasthenes. Muntz finds evidence of direct use of Onesicritus, and of Daimachus (a slippery customer). Where Bosworth wrote that Diodorus’ account of the Ganges was ‘grafted on to a digest of Megasthenes’,55 Muntz finds that Diodorus regularly ‘selects and combines’.56 Muntz’s close examination of Diodorus’ procedures is valuable but it does not, in the end, eliminate the primacy of Megasthenes. The book was, then, mainly about geography and political structures, with an excursus early on about the Greek gods in India, and probably rather more at the end than either Arrian or Diodorus troubles to summarise, about beasts and fabulous peoples. It is surprising that only Strabo gives us what may be, to some scholars,57 the most extensive and interesting passage, about the Brahmans and other philosophers. All the extant fragments of Megasthenes can easily be fitted into this structure. Compare Photius’ summary of Ctesias, an author who probably did not visit India but only picked up stories from travellers. Photius no doubt picked out the bits he found striking as he read through, rather than making a systematic précis, but the 53 54 55 56

Stoneman 2012, and forthcoming b reviews the possibility. Muntz 2012; also, briefly, Muntz 2017, 73–74. Bosworth 1996, 188. A similar view is presented by Sulimani 2011, e.g. 59: Diodorus uses one key source, with interpolations. 57 e.g. Stoneman 1995.

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INTRODUCTION

structure is comparable: he starts with rivers and springs, interspersed with elephants and monkeys; then comes the manticore, then some ethnographic remarks and a passage about Indian weather; pygmies; more water features; griffins, goats and trees; more springs; the health of the Indians; serpents and various poisonous creatures; rivers again; a long passage on the dog-headed people; more strange beasts; yet another spring; and the long-lived Indians. Photius concludes that ‘these are the stories that Ctesias writes . . . and he asserts that they are completely truthful’. Apart from the strange obsession with springs and rivers, and the obviously fantastical character of much of the information, the overall structure is not unlike Megasthenes except for its patent lack of anything plausible about the real inhabitants of India, their way of life, beliefs and government, and its treatment of the data he conveys as essentially amazing wonders. It is remarkable, however, that both these Greek Indologists say absolutely nothing about so many topics that would interest us, such as mythology, religious practices, women, the life of the people, sanitation, sex, food. The contrast with Ctesias should not lead us to suppose that Megasthenes provided what we would regard as a comprehensive ethnography of India. Already the genre had its own implicit rules. Perhaps the most vivid extended description of India in a Roman writer is the excursus by Quintus Curtius in his History of Alexander, a ‘digression’ occurring just before Alexander advances to the conquest of India.58 Like the Greek writers, he begins with geography: Almost the whole of India faces eastward, and it is a country greater in length than width. The areas exposed to the south wind are of higher elevation, but the rest of the country is flat, and the many rivers that rise in the Caucasus [i.e. the Himalayas] are afforded a gentle course through its plains. The Indus is colder than the others, and its waters are little different from the sea in colour. The Ganges, greatest of all rivers of the east, flows in a southerly direction and, taking a direct route, skirts the great mountain ranges, after which it is diverted eastward by some rocky mountains which bar its course. Both these rivers flow in to the Red Sea [i.e. the Arabian Sea – clearly false]. And so it continues, sober geography written in a lively and colourful style, and with some egregious errors. The pattern is Megasthenic, but what can have been his source for the following bit of ‘information’? In that part of the world the earth inverts its regular seasonal changes, so that when other places are baking in the heat of the sun, India is covered with snow; conversely, when everywhere else is frozen, the heat there is intolerable.59 58 Curt. 8.9. 59 Curt. 8.9.13. Atkinson’s commentary offers no remarks on this passage at all.

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INTRODUCTION

Certainly not from anyone who had ever lived in India: the passage derives from geographical speculation about the Antipodes, believed to lie just beyond the southern limits of exploration. One cannot use Curtius’ description as firm evidence for what was in Megasthenes’ book, but on the other hand it is hard to know what might have been his alternative source for certain passages (for example that on the king’s palace, which is also described by Aelian).60 Another author who structures a description of India by beginning with rivers is Dionysius Periegetes. Indeed his account of India consists of little besides rivers and mountains – nothing on the people, diet and customs, law and polity. Rather he uses the description of the mountains of Nysa as a lead-in to a reappearance of one of the dominant deities of the poem, Dionysus. Jane Lightfoot in her edition shows how most of Dionysius’ descriptions conform to a standard order of ethnographic topics, though not all may appear in every case.61 They begin with situs, that is geographical location and disposition, or orientation; rivers are important in this context; then climate and natural resources; crops and livestock; human population, including origins and customs (line 1158). Dionysius’ India is particularly elaborate. He starts from the ‘southern Scythians’, who ‘live by Indus’ streams (1088): the river rises in the Caucasus and passes through desert lands to Patalene; though crops are hard to raise, the wealth of coral and sapphire provides the people with a livelihood. Then ‘Eastwards the Indians’ lovely lands extend (1107–1165). The inhabitants’ skin colour is first noted, then their exploitation of gold-bearing sands, of elephant tusks, and the precious stones hidden in the rocks,62 as well as millet. The orientation of India comes next (not at the beginning as one might expect). The rivers are recounted, and then Dionysius moves on to speak of the Rock Aornos. His final tableau is the beautiful portrait of Nysa ‘beside fair-flowing Ganges’ (which is a bit off course), where Bacchus set up his rites, slew his Indian enemies and began his progress ‘back’ to the River Ismenus (in Thebes). Dionysus is the most prominent god in the Periegesis, as he is, along with Heracles, in Diodorus.63 These two civilising gods are the makers of the known world. The disposition of material in all these authors should help us to envisage the organisation of Megasthenes’ book. Can we extrapolate from Strabo, Arrian, Curtius and Dionysius to a putative order of the fragments of Megasthenes? There seems to be a difference from some other authors of local histories: when writing a history, gods, religion and human origins seem to come first. This is the case in Hecataeus of Abdera, in Berossus and in Manetho.64 60 NA 13.18 and Curt. 8.9.24–26, Stoneman 2019, 171 61 Lightfoot 2014, 139–141, and 142–143 on India. See also Timmer 1930, 35 ff. Murray 1970 draws attention to the similar structure of Hecataeus of Abdera’s work, except that the latter begins with religion. 62 Gems have a function as ‘paragraph markers’, as Lightfoot remarks (152). 63 Sulimani 2011. 64 Murray 1970; Dillery 2015.

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INTRODUCTION

Barbara Timmer proposes the following ‘contents’ for Megasthenes65: I Borders and extent, nature II History and customs, society and urban life III Religion and philosophy. (Should Taprobane be tacked on here?) Josephus (Jacoby F1Δ) mentions a fourth book, but Jacoby emends Δ to A; the content, a comparison of Heracles to Nebuchadnezzar, is remarkable in any case, but if it fits anywhere it should be with the account of Heracles. The problem is that there are very few fragments suitable for Book II, and even fewer for Book III. The bulk of the fragments concern the natural world, religion and philosophy, though the long passages on kingship and caste would fit book 2. There appears to be no history in Megasthenes, though perhaps the ancient history about Heracles and Dionysus fills that slot, along with the brief mention of the list of succeeding kings. King-lists are certainly an integral part of most regional histories, notably in Berossus and Manetho,66 and they are also the armature of the later Brahmin Purāṇas, which presumably extend an oral tradition of past times; so perhaps the excerptors of Megasthenes simply recorded the total with no details. A list of 130 strange names could seem rebarbative. This topic should most naturally appear in Book I: that is where it belongs in Berossus, and that is where Arrian seems to position it. Many obvious topics that would fit customs and society do not appear: women and their lives (and deaths), music and arts, food, religious practices. Should we assume that those who used Megasthenes’ book for their own purposes never showed an interest in these topics, and thus they have not survived? Geography is probably over-represented in the fragments because that is Strabo’s primary interest, though he does also give us the fullest account of the philosophers. Arrian’s interest is primarily in society and he is hard-headed about religious and mythological matters. We long to know how big Megasthenes’ book was. Several topics, including ones that are certainly from Megasthenes, are difficult to place in the template: I instance Taprobane, the fable about the hoopoe, the long account of elephants. The latter is strangely positioned in the middle of the discussion of caste in Strabo, though after it in Arrian. And the disquisition on pearl-fishing is oddly positioned in the middle of the account of Heracles and Pandaea. In 2019 (183–185), I tentatively proposed a new order of fragments, which seemed to provide the most logical disposition of the material within the ethnographic template. The present book offers a few modifications of that order though it is constructed on the same general principles. It is largely consonant with Timmer’s outline but entails a different order from either that of Schwanbeck or that of Jacoby (and as noted I admit passages that were excluded by Jacoby).

65 Timmer 1930, 40. 66 Dillery 2015.

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INTRODUCTION

What is a fragment? Nothing that Megasthenes wrote survives in unmediated form. We know his work through summaries, paraphrases and perhaps direct quotations by a number of later authors. The main witnesses have been mentioned: Diodorus, Strabo and Arrian. In addition, he is cited in many other authors for specific pieces of information. These include Aelian, Athenaeus, Pliny and Solinus. In very few instances can we be sure that Megasthenes’ actual words are being quoted. A casebook instance of this problem is the account of the seven divisions of Indian society in F 1, where Diodorus and Strabo use the term meros, division, while Arrian uses the term genos, kind or ‘family’. Which (if either) did Megasthenes use? It may be argued that Arrian, writing in Ionic dialect in imitation of Herodotus, uses a Herodotean word instead of the more neutral term in the other authors. How much other distortion may Arrian have introduced by his generic choice of dialect? We cannot know. We cannot know even in what dialect Megasthenes himself wrote, and even if he came from Ionia he need not have selected Ionian as his medium. Many ancient authors survive only in ‘fragments’. In many cases, particularly in those of the early philosophers, we can be reasonably sure that the later witnesses took the trouble to quote their exact words. This is especially the case for those who wrote in verse, such as Parmenides and Empedocles. No such certainty pertains in the case of Megasthenes. A further problem is to establish when Megasthenes is actually being quoted. There are levels of certainty. If a later witness names Megasthenes as the author or source of his information, we may be confident that we are dealing with a genuine ‘fragment’. It often occurs that one author will quote Megasthenes for a particular piece of information, while another will retail the same piece of information without mentioning Megasthenes. In such cases, we are justified in treating the information as ‘Megasthenic’. But there are also many cases where a piece of information about India is given without attribution to any author, either Megasthenes or another (such as Daimachus). In this case, our reactions may range from caution to outright scepticism. The two previous editors of Megasthenes chose opposite paths. E.A. Schwanbeck (1846) aimed to be as inclusive as possible, while labelling a number of the fragments he included as ‘incertum’. J.W. McCrindle (1926) published a translation of everything that was in Schwanbeck, and added extensive footnotes both from Schwanbeck and of his own composition. Both authors thus printed a total of 59 fragments, of which 52–59 were ‘incerta’. Felix Jacoby, in Part III C of his Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (1958) included only those fragments which were attributed by name to Megasthenes (no. 715), and printed a total of 34 fragments. In addition, he printed an Anhang (Appendix: no. 721), which includes 21 passages of ancient authors, relating to India, some of which may well be from Megasthenes, and some of which were treated as such by Schwanbeck. Jacoby also provides seven Testimonia – not actual fragments, but passages containing information about Megasthenes. Schwanbeck does not make this distinction. 16

INTRODUCTION

In this edition, I have chosen to be as inclusive as possible, but to discuss in every doubtful case the grounds for and against believing it to be the work of Megasthenes. Given that Megasthenes was a ‘classic’, it is probable that much of what later authors knew and reproduced had its origin in Megasthenes, though it may have been mediated by intervening authors, for example Eratosthenes. If I have erred on the side of over-inclusiveness, perhaps in the inclusion of the fascinating story about the hoopoe (F 22), I believe that there is advantage in presenting as complete as possible a collection of the lore about India that was familiar to authors in the classical period. For this reason, I have also quoted extensively in the notes from other authors on India such as Onesicritus, Aristobulus and Nearchus, and have included as an appendix the long account of the philosophers in which Strabo drew on those three authors. The appendix also includes Pliny’s account of the tribes of India. He cites Megasthenes, and some of his information is consistent with what we learn from Megasthenes’ fragments; but he also used other sources, including Artemidorus of Ephesus, whom he names, to provide a conspectus that seems to go beyond what Megasthenes compiled. Nevertheless, the nature of the information in this long passage was not such as to change other writers’ view of what India was like, a view which remained essentially Megasthenic.

Other writers on India Few Greeks had ever been to India before Alexander, and what was known about it was vague and often distorted in transmission through informants. Herodotus wrote a little about India though he did not include it in his travels. He does tell us about an earlier writer, the Carian Scylax of Caryanda, who made a voyage, on the orders of the Persian king Darius I, in about 515 BCE, to Asia. As to Asia, most of it was discovered by Darius. There is a river Indos, which of all rivers comes second in producing crocodiles. Darius, desiring to know where this Indos issues into the sea, sent ships manned by Scylax, a man of Caryanda, and others in whose word he trusted; these set out from the city Caspatyrus and the Pactyic country, and sailed down the river towards the east and the sunrise till they came to the sea; and voyaging over the sea westwards, they came in the thirtieth month to that place whence the Egyptian king sent the Phoenicians aforementioned to sail round Libya. After this circumnavigation Darius subdued the Indians and made use of this sea. Thus was discovered that Asia, saving the parts towards the rising sun, was in other respects like Libya.67 Some later writers seem to have been familiar with Scylax’s book. Philostratus and Tzetzes (FGrH 709 F 7) mentioned that he described Troglodytes, pygmies, 67 Hdt. 4.44. Hdt. 3.98–116 are presumably derived from Hecataeus’ summary of Scylax.

17

INTRODUCTION

men with enormous ears and sciapods, one-eyed people and those who used their ears as blankets when asleep. The same wondrous people appear in the ancient Persian text the Videvdad (2.5), presumably from the same source that Scylax used.68 Athenaeus indicates an interest in rivers and plants, including the artichoke (kynara; F 3 and 4), while Aristotle tells us that, according to his book, there was ‘a great difference between the kings and those they ruled’.69 Whether Megsathenes knew of or used Scylax’ book, we cannot say. The route of Scylax’ voyage is controversial. I discussed the differing views in Stoneman (2019, 25–28), and need not repeat the arguments here.70 It is possible that Scylax actually sailed down the Ganges and not the Indus. If it was the Ganges that Scylax sailed down, the consequences are momentous. At the end of the sixth century BCE, a Greek in Persian service had already travelled to the east coast of India and circumnavigated the subcontinent. A further implication may be that Persian control in the reign of Darius extended right along the Ganges; this is hard to believe, and certainly did not last long, but the Achaemenid influence on the architecture of Pataliputra is unmistakable. No other Greek went so far, not even Alexander; and Herodotus and Ctesias had far more hazy views of the country than this intrepid explorer achieved.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Ctesias of Cnidus Herodotus mainly provides a list of tribes, sprinkled with delightful details.71 He is impressed by the large numbers of the Indians, and is the first author to tell the unforgettable account of the giant ants that dig up the gold dust guarded by griffins, which reappears in every subsequent writer (including Megasthenes) and has exercised the ingenuity of scholars to fathom what is really being described. He mentions the expedition of Scylax of Caryanda (4.44) but without any detail of what he said about it. Ctesias72 has a lot more to say about India; in fact he wrote a whole book about it, in which he makes clear that his information comes from Indian visitors to the Persian court, where he worked as a doctor for 17 years (he returned to Greece in 398 BCE). Several times he refers to acquiring information from Bactrian merchants (Bactrians and Indians are said to have reached the Black Sea according to Ps.-Scymnus, writing in the second century BCE).73 One of the latter explained 68 Cf. Stoneman 2015, 53. 69 Ar. Pol. 1332b12 = F 5. Parker 2008, 20 for the artichoke. 70 A discussion not known to me at that time is that of Raimund Schulz 2016, 177–183, who contends that the Ganges plain would not have been of interest to Darius as a possible object of conquest, and therefore that Scylax would not have attempted to go there. 71 Herodotus 3.94, 97–106, 7.65 and 86. 72 Ctesias ed. Lenfant; tr. Nichols 2011. The articles of Bigwood restore a good deal of Ctesias’ credit. 73 Ps.-Scymnus 930–934 in Diller 1952, 165–176 (173). ‘There is a Greek city of the Milesians called Phasis; it is said that sixty peoples, with different languages, descend on it, among whom it is said that barbarians from India and Bactria turn up here’.

18

INTRODUCTION

to him the miraculous properties of the pantarbe stone, which Ctesias seems to have fallen for, even though he was able to handle one74; and a Bactrian also gave him information about the silver mines of Bactria (which must include Tajikistan as well as NE Afghanistan).75 Bactrians spoke an Iranian language, which was presumably intelligible to people at the Persian court, but they may have known no more Sanskrit/Prakrit than was necessary to buy the goods they imported from India at a market. Ctesias probably had access to no written sources at all, and certainly in the case of India it is debatable whether there were writings to draw on.76 Oral literature did make some impact on Ctesias.77 Early forms of the Rämäyana and Mahäbhärata were in circulation. The Vedas and the Brahmāṇas and Purāṇas had taken shape, and the Upaniṣads were in process of formation. Some of Ctesias’ stories of fabulous peoples, which were repeated by Megasthenes, had their origin, as we shall see, in Sanskrit traditions. The wondrous pool Silas may be an equivalent, by metathesis of l and r, of Sanskrit saras ‘pool, water’.78 Magic springs feature several times in Ctesias, and Mahābhārata 3.80–155 is a long account of the sacred fords (tirthas) of India. It appears that Aristotle made use of Ctesias’ description of the elephant, and that the information he gained therefrom was of good quality.79 Ctesias never mentions Scylax but he may have made use of his report.80 The information Ctesias gives is often very circumstantial, and associated with precise numbers and quantities. Though some scholars have suggested that this circumstantiality is a ploy to create verisimilitude and a scientific appearance, or an arch joke,81 more detailed study of his work has led to an improved assessment of his qualities. In general, Ctesias reported well what he was told, and his information is no more unreliable than much that is in Herodotus.82

Onesicritus83 The most important of Megasthenes’ predecessors is Onesicritus, since the focus of his book seems to have been on India. His origin is variously reported as Aegina

74 75 76 77 78 79 80

There may be a connection with topaz, described by Agatharchides, fr. 84a. Ctes. F 45 paras 6 and 26; Nichols 2011, 24–25. See Stoneman 2019, 29–32. Nichols 2011, 22. See further the note on F 10, pp. 93–94. See Romm 1989; Bigwood 1993; Nichols 2011, 96 finds Ctesias’ information good on this point. On Scylax, see Shipley 2011, 4–6; Panchenko 1998, 2003, Philip Kaplan in Brill’s New Jacoby Online, no. 709. The latter is sceptical about the idea that Scylax’ voyage was down the Ganges. 81 Gomez Espelosin 1994 takes the former view, Auberger 1995 the latter. In antiquity, Lucian VH 1.3 wrote that Ctesias described what he had never seen nor heard from any truthful witness. 82 Ruffing 2011, who provides a useful doxography of earlier views; Almagor 2012, 1. Earlier scholars used such phrases as ‘mass of absurdities’ (Bunbury) and ‘worthless’ (Jacoby): Milns 1989, 358. 83 The major discussions are Brown 1955; Pearson 1960, 83–111; Arora 1991/1992; Winiarczyk 2011, 73–115; Müller 2014, 58–65.

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INTRODUCTION

or Astypalaea; if the latter, it is probably not the island of that name but the old (pre-Hellenistic) city on Cos, which was an intellectual centre in the fourth century.84 If he was also, as we are told, a pupil of Diogenes, he must have spent time in Corinth or in Athens. His military role seems to have been minor (he was subordinate to Nearchus, who criticised his history and his judgement of maritime matters)85 and he was perhaps primarily an intellectual. There is no knowing what became of him after the expedition ended. Onesicritus’ book had the puzzling title How Alexander Was Led; such a title would suggest that it gave an account of his career as a whole, but, apart from F 2 on the resources that Alexander had at the beginning of his expedition, and Ff 34–36 on Cyrus, Darius and their tombs, every fragment concerns aspects of the expedition from Central Asia onwards, and most of those are about India.86 There is in fact no evidence for his participation in the expedition before 331. One might surmise that the book was actually about Alexander’s expedition to the east, taking his position as ‘King of Asia’ as a given. Who was it that ‘led’ Alexander? Could it be Providence, or Fortune? If that is so, Onesicritus could reasonably be regarded as having written a book about India, rather than simply discussing India in a book about Alexander’s career. It may be right to regard his book as the first monograph on India since Ctesias’, though it is hard to determine whether Megasthenes knew the book. Strabo’s comment about the excess of ‘wonders’ in his book reflects derives from Strabo’s acerbity and is not evidence for the true content of his book,87 though he certainly made some mistakes, about trees and the latitude of India. It betrays strong philosophical interests, in his account of the ‘utopian’ kingdom of Musicanus, of Cathaea, and of the meetings with the naked philosophers of Taxila. It may well be that these passages reflect interests deriving from his education with the Cynic philosopher Diogenes, though Winiarczyk urges caution regarding this shibboleth.88

Nearchus89 Nearchus, a childhood friend of Alexander, also wrote on India but his book was about the homeward voyage from the mouth of the Indus to Carmania. However, he entered into dispute with Onesicritus, who seems to have published first, about 84 He mentions the dogs of Cos: Pearson 1960, 106. 85 Arrian Ind. 3.2.9–13, Arora 1991/1992, 45–49. Possibly, he commanded Alexander’s ship while Nearchus was admiral of the fleet. 86 FF 3 and 4 on Hyrcanian figs, F 1 and T 1 and T 8 on the Amazon queen’s visit in Zadracarta, F 5 on customs of Bactria and Sogdia. Ff 33–38 are about Persia but relate to the return there after the Indian expedition. I discount the doubtful F 39, which asserts that Onesicritus was an Assyrian and wrote about the Nectanebo story. 87 Müller 2014. 88 Winiarczyk 2011, 75–79. 89 The main discussions: Pearson 1960, 112–149; Müller 2014, 65–69.

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INTRODUCTION

some details of his account. The remains of his work indicate a rational writer with a positive view of Alexander. Androsthenes of Thasos (FGrH 711) wrote a ‘Circumnavigation of India’, but no fragments survive. It may have been a source for Theophrastus.

Aristobulus Arrian regarded Aristobulus (FGrH 139) as the most reliable, along with Ptolemy Soter, of those who travelled with Alexander and wrote about the expedition. There are 62 fragments of his work, many of them substantial, and of these nos 41–43 concern India. He is an important source on the naked philosophers of Taxila, on which subject Strabo quotes him in 15.1.61 (F 41). Jacoby’s collection also includes Tauron (710), Patrocles (712), who explored northern India before 281 BCE, Orthagoras (713), author of Indian Tales, Sosandros the Skipper (714: late Hellenistic), Dionysius (717, ca. 285–247 BCE), and Basilis (718, early second century BCE?). More important was Daimachus of Plataea (716), who, as mentioned, was an ambassador to India in the generation after Megasthenes. He may be the source of some information that is doubtfully attributed to Megasthenes.

After Megasthenes Megasthenes’ work became a classic, but that did not stop other writers composing works about India, or writing about the land in the course of more wide-ranging compositions. The next to do so was his successor as ambassador, Daimachus, who resided at the court of Candragupta’s son Bindusara, whom the Greeks called Amitrochates. The exiguous fragments of his work (FGrH 716) are concerned with the geographical situation of India and with the monstrous races, plus a reference to the green pigeons of India

Eratosthenes Both Megasthenes and Daimachus provided information for the geographer Eratosthenes of Cyrene (ca. 285–205 BCE) who worked in Alexandria.90 Like Megasthenes’, Eratosthenes’ work survives only in fragments, mostly preserved in Strabo; in some of these he refers to Megasthenes, whose work he regarded as unreliable, because he repeated the Indian tales about the monstrous races. Eratosthenes found Daimachus just as bad, since these are the only topics he cites him for. Eratosthenes was the first to create a grid of parallels and meridians by which the world could be measured and locations related to one another. Eratosthenes’ work, Geographica, was concerned with the geography of the world, its size 90 Roller 2010.

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INTRODUCTION

and shape, and the distances and relations between known locations. He divides the world into ‘seals’ (sphragides) focussed around the meridian of Alexandria. Accordingly, only a small part of it is concerned with India, and he does not aspire to offer new information about the land and its inhabitants. There are fleeting references to India in Agatharchides of Cnidus’ On the Erythraean Sea, the original of which is lost though we have substantial extracts in Diodorus, Strabo and the tenth-century Byzantine patriarch Photius.91 The descriptions that survive are of the coastal regions of the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, though F 105 refers to the port of Patala, ‘which Alexander founded beside the Indus River because he wished to have a port on the shore of the ocean’. The interest of the region derived primarily from the spice trade, though it was also important in the incipient trade between India and the west. Artemidorus of Ephesus, who wrote at the very end of the second century BCE (ca. 104–101), composed a geographical work in 11 books, known by various titles. It is lost except for a number of fragments92: Book 9 was devoted to the area from India, including Taprobane (Sri Lanka) to southern Asia Minor. Ff 106–107 are about Taprobane, and Ff 108–109 concern India. Ff 125–127 refer to the trade between Ephesus and India, showing his familiarity with the region had increased since the third century BCE. It appears that for the regions he discussed he gave information on the usual geographical features and climate, and probably on ethnographic matters such as education, customs and clothing. Most of the fragments relate to lists of toponyms and distances. His sources, besides his own personal observations, included Eratosthenes, Agatharchides and some earlier writers though there is no evidence that he cited Megasthenes. Diodorus regarded his work as very reliable and the later geographer Marcian commended his Periplous. Pliny the Elder seems to have based his account of the tribes of India (NH 6.56–80, appendix to this book) on the work of Artemidorus, whom he cites at 6.22.70 for the distance between the Indus and the Ganges. Alexander Polyhistor (‘Researcher of many things’) was born ca. 105 BCE in Miletus, and wrote a large number of encyclopaedic works on subjects including geography, paradoxography and the history of philosophy. We know that he wrote about India but nothing of interest survives. It is probable that he did no more than compile from earlier sources. Nicolaus of Damascus (first century BCE) wrote numerous works on contemporary and earlier history; his quasi-ethnographic work, Collection of Customs (of a great many peoples), includes some scraps about the Indians: F 103y informs us that judicial process is not employed in cases of theft, and that perpetrators of severe crimes have their heads shaved. It is likely that this comes from Megasthenes (F 36). At the end of the first century, both Strabo of Amaseia and Diodorus Siculus wrote their voluminous works, from which the bulk of our citations of Megasthenes

91 Burstein 1989. 92 Stiehle 1856.

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INTRODUCTION

are drawn. Diodorus’ Universal History and Strabo’s Geography (his historical work is lost) have different fields of interest, but what they report about India, from Megasthenes, coheres strongly. Strabo cites other earlier authors as well, but did not conduct independent research on India. Diodorus has the reputation of a compiler and is perhaps unfairly regarded as lacking in critical acumen; certainly, he does not provide information on India that was not in his predecessors. In the first century CE, an anonymous writer composed the Periplous Maris Erythraei, which contains valuable information about Roman trade with the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea coast, and the western Indian Ocean.93 The final chapters of this work (39–66) describe the lands from Barbarikon (Broach) to the northern Bay of Bengal, where he refers to the fabled Golden Island94 and the land of Thina (i.e. China) ‘from which silk floss, yarn and cloth are shipped by land from Bactria to Barygaza and via the Ganges River back to Limyrike (i.e. the Malabar coast)’ (64). The author provides a vivid picture of India as seen predominantly from a coastal perspective; many of the locations he mentions have been identified. He knew these southerly regions of India better than Megasthenes or any other earlier author. In the same century, Seneca (referred to by Pliny NH 6.60) wrote a book de situ Indiae which enumerated 60 rivers and 118 nations: we must regret that it is lost. Pliny’s own work, based on his encyclopaedic reading, including as mentioned Artemidorus, gives a rather thorough ethnographic survey of the sub-continent: he also refers to contemporary conditions of shipping between Rome and India. Pliny’s description of India is given in the Appendix. Early in the second century, Arrian (ca. 86–160 CE) wrote his account of Alexander and his Indica, the information in which is explicitly drawn from Megasthenes and the Alexander historians, especially Nearchus and Onesicritus.95 Two Christian authors are also important. Clement of Alexandria (c. ca. 150 CE) knew some things about India, not all of which may have come from Megasthenes: see F 43. Bardaisan of Edessa (ca. 154–222 CE: FGrH 719) wrote a book Indica and also The Book of the Laws of Countries, which contains information about the Brahmans and other religious matters.96 Ptolemy the Geographer, Claudius Ptolemaios (ca. 100–170 CE) carried out his wide-ranging scholarly work in Alexandria. The bulk of his output concerns mathematics, astronomy and astrology, while the Geography is not a world-description as such, but a treatise on the mathematical principles on which an accurate map of the world should be constructed.97 He uses astronomical data to construct a network of places, which is a great advance on earlier attempts, such as those 93 94 95 96 97

Casson 1989. See my brief remarks in Stoneman 2020, 259–261. Schunk 2019. Drijvers 1966. Text and translation: Stuckelberger and Grasshoff 2017. For India: Renou 1925; McCrindle 1927. On the science: Berggren and Jones 2000; Jones 2011. On the textual tradition and maps: Schnabel 1938; Gautier Dalché 2009.

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INTRODUCTION

of Eratosthenes and Marinus of Tyre, which relied on reports of distances and directions. Though the evidence is slippery, it seems likely that his work was accompanied even in antiquity by maps, though the maps found in some Renaissance editions of his work may not be based on ancient originals. In addition to the scientific discussion, Ptolemy provided in his eight books an extensive list of toponyms for every region of the world, with their co-ordinates. Many of these have been identified and are shown on the maps in Stuckelberger and Grasshoff (2017, vol. II), which follow the dimensions indicated in the text, and on the fine map of ancient India by Henry Yule, printed in William Smith’s Atlas of Ancient Geography, Biblical and Classical.98 Despite Ptolemy’s astronomical method, he represents the shape of India quite incorrectly, making it a flattened trapezium oriented eastwards rather than tapering to a point at its southern end. Ptolemaic maps look more like Strabo’s description of its dimensions than a modern map. Ptolemy’s book was a great advance on all previous treatments of the geography of India; but, as a list of toponyms, it did not set out to provide any information on human geography or ethnography. Megasthenes’ book remained the fullest account available for the rest of antiquity, as Dihle (1964) showed. When Megasthenes’ book was eventually lost cannot be determined. It is possible that Strabo’s dismissal of its value contributed to its loss.

98 London: John Murray 1875.

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THE FRAGMENTS

BOOK I Geography and resources

F 1 (1 S 4 J) Summary of geography, history and society Diod. 2.35–42 Now India is four-sided in shape: the side that faces to the east and that which faces south are enclosed by the Great Sea, while that which faces north is separated by the Emodus mountain from that part of Scythia which is inhabited by those Scythians known as the Sacae. The fourth side, which is inclined to the west, is defined by the river known as the Indus, which is the largest of all rivers after the Nile. The magnitude of the whole of India is said to be 28,000 stades from west to east and 32,000 from north to south. Because of its size it is thought to encompass a larger stretch of the sun’s course in summer than any other part of the world, and in many places at the extremity of India it is possible to see that a gnomon casts no shadow, while at night the Bears are not visible; in the furthest parts not even the Pole Star can be seen, and in this region, they say, the shadows incline to the south. India has a great many mountains, which abound in fruit trees of many kinds, and many cultivated plains, which are remarkable for their beauty and are watered by an abundance of rivers. Most of the country is well watered, and for this reason it produces two crops in a year. It is full of animals of many kinds, exceptional in size and strength, both terrestrial and winged. It breeds elephants of the greatest size and in the largest numbers, providing them with plentiful sustenance, on account of which these beasts far exceed in strength the ones native to Libya. Consequently, many of them are hunted by the Indians and trained for warfare, providing a powerful momentum towards victory. (36) The abundance of crops has a similar effect on the human inhabitants, making them exceptional in stature and bulk. Another consequence is that they are highly accomplished technically, since they breathe a pure air and drink the clearest water. The earth produces every kind of cultivated fruit and has underground veins of every kind of metal. A great deal of silver and gold occurs in it, and not a little bronze and iron; there is also tin, and everything else that is suitable for adornment, use and military equipment. Besides the crops of Demeter [wheat], much millet grows throughout India, which is irrigated by the abundance 29

THE FRAGMENTS

of running water from the rivers, many pulses of outstanding quality, and furthermore, rice and what is called bosporos, and in addition many other plants that are valuable as food. Most of these are native to the country. It also yields not a few other edible fruits, which are suitable as animal fodder, about which it would take a long time to write down all the details. This is why, they say, famine has never gripped India or even a shortage of what is necessary for a satisfactory diet. Since there are two rainy seasons in the country each year, during the winter one, as in other countries, the wheat crop is sown, and during the other, which takes place at the summer solstice, the rice and bosporos is sown, along with sesame and millet. In most years, the people of India are successful with both crops, but they never lose everything, since one or other of the crops comes to maturity. The fruits, which grow wild, and the roots, which grow in marshy places, with their remarkable sweetness, provide the people with a plentiful supply of food: for practically all the plains of India enjoy the sweet moisture that comes from the rivers and from the rains that fall in a startlingly regular annual cycle every summer. Warm showers fall in abundance from the surrounding atmosphere, while the heat ripens the roots in the marshes, especially those of the great reeds. The customs of the Indians also contribute to the non-incidence of food shortages; for among other peoples enemy attacks destroy the land and cause it to remain uncultivated, while here the farmers are treated as sacred and inviolable, so that those of them who labour near the battle lines are insensible of any dangers. Both sides kill the enemy combatants in battle, but leave the workers in the fields unharmed, as being benefactors of everyone; and they do not burn the lands of their opponents, nor cut down their trees. (37) The land of the Indians has many great navigable rivers, which have their sources in the mountains that lie towards the north, and flow through the plains; several of these unite their streams and flow into the river called the Ganges. This river, which is 30 stades wide, flows from north to south and debouches into the ocean, enclosing on their southern side the people of the Gandaridae, which has the largest and most numerous elephants. For this reason, no foreign king has ever gained power over this country, since all other nations are afraid of the multitude and the strength of the beasts. Even Alexander of Macedon, who subdued all of Asia, refrained from making war against the Gandaridae alone of all peoples: when he arrived at the Ganges with all his forces, after defeating all the other Indians, and learned that the Gandaridae had 4,000 elephants equipped for war, he abandoned his campaign against them. The river called the Indus, which is nearly the equal of the Ganges, rises likewise in the north, and by emptying into the ocean forms one of the boundaries of India. In its course through a wide expanse of level land it receives a number of other navigable rivers, of which the most notable are the Hypanis, the Hydaspes and the Acesines. Besides these rivers, a great number of other rivers of every kind flow through the land and cause it to be planted with gardens and crops of every kind. The native philosophers and natural scientists offer the following reason for the number of rivers and the abundance of water: the countries that surround India, they say, namely Scythia, Bactria and Ariana, lie higher than India, so that it is 30

BOOK I, F 1

natural that the waters flow from every side into the lower-lying land gradually cause the ground to become drenched and create a quantity of rivers. A peculiar thing happens in regard to one of the rivers of India, that named Silla, which flows from a spring of the same name: of all rivers this is the only one in which nothing that is thrown into it will float, but everything, astonishingly, sinks to the bottom. (38) The whole of India, being of such a great size, is inhabited by many peoples of every kind, not one of whom originates from a foreign land, but all are held to be autochthonous; furthermore, it has never received any foreign colonists or sent any to another people. According to their mythology, the earliest human beings made use of the fruits of the earth that grew wild for their sustenance, and for their clothing they made use of the skins of the native fauna, just as the Greeks did. Similarly, the discovery of the various arts and of other things, which are useful for life developed gradually, since necessity itself gave a lead to a creature that was well-endowed by nature and had as his assistants for every purpose hands, language, and quick intelligence. The most learned among the Indians recount a myth, which it may be suitable to summarise as follows. They say that in the most ancient times, when the people of India were still living in small villages, Dionysus appeared among them from the more western lands, accompanied by a considerable army. He traversed the whole of India, where there was no city of a size fit to oppose him. When the extreme heat came on, and the soldiers began to perish from some kind of plague, this leader, who was distinguished for his cunning, led the army out of the plains and into the mountains; here, under the influence of the cool winds and the waters that flowed pure at their very sources, the army got rid of its sickness. The name of this place in the hill country, where Dionysus steered his forces out of their sickness, is Meros; and because of this fact the Greeks have handed down to their descendants the story that Dionysus was nurtured in a thigh (meros). After this, he took charge of the storage of crops and passed this on to the Indians, and also handed on to them the discovery of wine and of the other things that are useful for life. In addition, he became the founder of notable cities by bringing together villages into well-situated places, and he taught them to honour the divine, and introduced laws and courts of law; in general, he introduced many fine works and as a result was regarded as a god and received immortal honours. They also relate that he led a large number of women along with his army, and that when the troops joined battle they made use of drums and cymbals, since trumpets had not yet been invented. After he had reigned over India for 52 years he died of old age. His sons inherited the leadership from him, and always handed it on to their descendants, until, in the end, many generations later, the sovereignty was dissolved and the rule of the people was established in the cities. (39) Such is the story that is told about Dionysus and his descendants by the inhabitants of the hill country of India. They say that Heracles, too, was born among them, and – much like the Greeks – they attribute to him the club and lion-skin. In bodily strength and courage he far exceeded other men, and cleared the land and sea of wild beasts. He married a number of women and had many sons, but only one 31

THE FRAGMENTS

daughter. When his sons became adults he divided India into as many equal parts as he had children, and created all his sons kings, and when he had raised his daughter he appointed her also a queen. He became the founder of not a few cities, of which the largest and most famous he named Palibothra. In this city, he built a magnificent palace and settled a large number of inhabitants; he fortified the city with impressive ditches, which were filled with water from the rivers. When Heracles departed from his mortal state he received immortal honours; his descendants, who ruled as kings for many generations and accomplished notable deeds, never made any military expedition beyond their borders or sent any colonies to any other land. Many years later, most of the cities went over to the rule of the people, but among some tribes kingship remained until the expedition of Alexander. There are a number of customs of the Indians, which are peculiar to them. Of these, one might consider the most remarkable to be one which was taught them by their philosophers of old: a law has been laid down among them that no one shall in any circumstances be a slave, but that all shall remain free and respect the equality of all. The principle is that those who have learned neither to dominate nor to subject themselves to others will have the kind of life best able to sustain all eventualities; for it is silly to make laws on the basis of the equality of all, and then to establish inequality of social relations. (40) The whole population of India is divided into seven sections/divisions (merē), of which the first is formed of the order of the philosophers, who are far fewer in number than the other sections, but by far pre-eminent in honour. The philosophers are exempt from any kind of state service, and they are lords of none and servants of none. They are called upon by the private citizens to the regular sacrifices of their lives and also for the rites of the dead, since by birth they are most dear to the gods and have the most experience in matters relating to the afterlife; for these services they receive gifts and significant honours. They also provide great services to the whole community of the Indians at the great synod that takes place at the New Year, making predictions to the crowds about droughts and rains, about healthful winds and diseases, and all other matters that can be beneficial to their hearers. Both the multitude and the king, by hearing in advance what is to occur, are able to store up what is likely to run short and to prepare in advance whatever will be needed. Any philosopher who makes an erroneous prediction receives no punishment other than obloquy and maintains silence for the rest of his life. The second division is that of the farmers, who would appear to be more numerous than any of the others. Being exempt from military duties and other state services, they devote all their time to agriculture. No enemy, coming upon a farmer in the country, will ever do him any harm, but will refrain from injuring him in any way as being a benefactor of everyone. Thus, the land remains unravaged and, being laden with fruits and crops, provides the people with great abundance of provisions. The farmers live on the land with their children and wives, and refrain entirely from coming into the cities. They pay rent to the king for their land, since all India is royal land, and no private citizen is permitted to own any land; in addition to this rent, they pay one quarter to the royal establishment. 32

BOOK I, FF 1–2

The third division is that of the cow-herds and shepherds and all the pastoralists who do not live in a city or a village, but live their lives in tents; being also hunters, they keep the country clear of beasts and birds. Since they are skilled in this pursuit, and enjoy it, they are taming India, although it still abounds in many birds and beasts of every kind, which eat up the seeds that are sown by the farmers. (41) The fourth division is that of the craftsmen. Of these, some are makers of weapons, others manufacture tools that are useful for the farmers in their work. They not only are free of taxes but also receive rations from the royal establishment. The fifth division is that of the military class, ready at hand in case of war; they are second in numbers, and in periods of peace have plenty of time for relaxation and pastimes. The whole body of the soldiers, and of war-horses and elephants, is maintained by the royal establishment. The sixth division is that of the overseers. These men pry into and inspect everything throughout India and report back to the kings; but if it is a city without a king, to the magistrates. The seventh division is the deliberative assembly that is concerned with the decisions affecting the community. They are the fewest in number, but in nobility of birth and wisdom are the most admired. They provide the king’s counsellors and the judges of disputes, and in general the leaders and magistrates are drawn from this class. Such, in general, is the division of the Indian body politic. It is not allowed to marry a person of another social group, or to change one’s calling or trade, as if for example a soldier should become a farmer, a craftsman or a philosopher. (42) The Indian country contains many very large elephants, far exceeding others in size and strength. This animal does not mate with the female in an exceptional way, as some say, but in a similar way to horses and other quadrupeds. Their period of gestation is at least 16 months and at most 18. Like horses, they generally give birth to a single offspring, and the mothers suckle their young for six years. They live as long as the longest lived of men, though in the most extreme cases they have reached 200. There are also among them Indian magistrates whose job is to pay attention to foreigners and to take care that no foreigner is wronged. If a foreigner falls sick, they provide him with a doctor and other necessary care, and bury him if he dies, and hand over whatever property he leaves to his relatives. The judges investigate matters of dispute vigorously and proceed severely against wrongdoers. As for India and its ancient history, we may be content with the account I have given.

F 2 (2 S 5 J) The geography of India (a) Arrian Anab 5.6.2–3 If the southern part of Asia is divided into four, the largest portion belongs to the Indians, according to Eratosthenes and Megasthenes. The latter, who was with Sibyrtius the satrap of Arachosia, says that he frequently travelled to Sandrocottus the 33

THE FRAGMENTS

king of the Indians. The smallest part is that enclosed between the River Euphrates and our inland sea. The other two are those that lie between the Euphrates and the Indus and are hardly worthy to be compared with the Indian land. The land of the Indians is bounded on the east and down to the south by the Great Sea; to the north it is bounded by the Caucasus as far as its junction with Mt Taurus; and on the west and north the Indus forms its boundary as far as the Great Sea. Most of the land is level plain, this having been deposited, as is conjectured, by the rivers. In other countries, too, such plains near the sea are created in each case by the action of rivers. So the countries were given their names in ancient times from their rivers, as for example the plain of Hermus, which rises from Mt Dindymene in Asia. (b) Arrian Ind. 5.3 He says that he associated with Sandrocottus, the greatest king of the Indians, and still greater than the aforementioned Porus.

F 3 (4 S + 6 S + 8 S, 6 J) The dimensions of India (a) Arrian Ind. 3.6–8 Ctesias of Cnidus (688 F 49) says wrongly that the land of the Indians is equal to the rest of Asia, and Onesicritus (134 F 6), equally wrongly, that it is one-third of the whole earth. Nearchus (133 F 5) says it is a four-month journey across the Indian plain. But for Megasthenes the width of India from sunrise to evening is equivalent to its length according to the other writers: he says that at its shortest it is 16,000 stades (1818 miles, 2909 km) across. And from north to south, which he calls its length, at its narrowest part it extends 22,000, 3000 stades (2534 miles, 4054 km). (b) Arrian Anab. 5.6.1–3 If one takes the view that Asia is divided between the west wind and the east wind by the Taurus and Caucasus mountain chains, it will be apparent that the two largest divisions of Asia are formed by Mount Taurus itself: one of these is inclined to the south and south-west winds and the other to the north and north-east winds. If then the southern part of Asia is divided into four, Eratosthenes and Megasthenes make India the largest part: the latter lived with Sibyrtius the satrap of Arachosia, and says that he often visited Sandracottus, the king of the Indians. The smallest part, they say, is that enclosed between the River Euphrates and our own sea. The other two are present between the Rivers Euphrates and Indus, and these two put together are scarcely to be compared with the extent of India. India on the side towards the dawn and the east wind is bounded as far as the south by the Great Sea and on the north by Mount Caucasus as far as its junction with the Taurus; on the side towards sunset and the west wind the River Indus is its boundary as 34

BOOK I, FF 2–4

far as the Great Sea. Most of it consists of level plain, which, as they conjecture, was deposited by the rivers. In other countries, too, plains near the sea are for the most part the product of rivers. Thus the country received its name in ancient times from this river. (c) Strabo 15.1.11–12 (Eratosthenes says) India is bounded on the north, from Ariane to the eastern sea, by the edges of the Taurus, which the natives refer to as Paropamisus, Emodos, Imaos and other names, while the Macedonians call it Caucasus; on the west by the river Indus; to the south and on the eastern side, which are much longer than the other two, it extends into the Atlantic ocean. The shape of the country is rhomboid, each of the longer sides extending beyond the opposite side by as many as 3,000 stades, which is the same amount by which the cape that belongs to the eastern and southern shores projects on each side beyond the rest. The western side from Mt Caucasus to the southern sea is said to be 13,000 stades long, along the Indus river to its mouths, so that the opposite side, the eastern, adding on the 3,000 stades of the cape, will be 16,000 stades. So much for the largest and smallest dimensions of the country. As for its length from west to east, one may speak more accurately about the land as far as Palibothra, for this has been measured with lines, and there is the royal road of 10,000 stades. The region beyond has to be estimated according to the voyage from the sea up the Ganges to Palibothra: it should be about 6,000 stades. So the whole must be at least 60,000 stades, as is estimated by Eratosthenes on the basis of the most reliable record of the stages. Megasthenes agrees with him, while Patrocles (714 F 3) says it is 1000 less. The fact that the cape projects further towards the east adds to this distance and these 3,000 stades make the greatest length. This extends from the mouths of the Indus along the neighbouring coast to the aforementioned cape and its eastern boundary. This is the home of the people called Koliakoi. From this it is possible to see how far the opinions of the authorities differ, since Ctesias says that India is the same size as the rest of Asia, Onesicritus that it is one-third of the inhabited world, Nearchus that it is four months journey across its plain, while Megasthenes and Daimachus are more moderate: they make the distance from the south to the Caucasus 20,000 stades, though Daimachus (716 F 2a) makes it over 30,000 in certain places; but I have spoken about this in an earlier place (2.1.4, Patrocles 714 F 2).

F 4 (3 S, X J) The Himalayas (‘Caucasus’) Arrian Ind. 2.1.7 The northern boundary of India is Mt Taurus. But it is not called Taurus in this country. In fact the Taurus begins at the sea coast of Pamphylia, Lycia and Cilicia, 35

THE FRAGMENTS

and extends towards the eastern sea, cutting through the whole of Asia, and it has different names in different places, at one place Paropamisus, at another Emodus, and elsewhere Imaon, and probably some other names as well. The Macedonians who campaigned with Alexander called it Caucasus, but a different Caucasus from the Scythian, so that the story got about that Alexander had reached even the land beyond the Caucasus. The western part of India is bounded by the River Indus, which reaches as far as the Ocean, where it issues through two mouths, not joined together like the five mouths of the Ister (Danube), but like those of the Nile, which form the Egyptian delta. In this way, the Indus creates an Indian delta, no smaller than the Egyptian one, and this is called Patala in the Indian language. In the southerly direction, the great sea forms the boundary of the Indian land and likewise on the eastern side.

F 5 (5 S, 6 J) Controversy on the size of India Strabo 2.1.7 Hipparchus also says in the second volume of his commentary that Eratosthenes impugned the veracity of Patrocles because of his divergence from Megasthenes regarding the length of India along its northern side, since Megasthenes says that it is 16,000 stades long while Patrocles says that it is a thousand less. Eratosthenes relies on a record of stages and thus distrusts both these authors because of their disagreement.

F 6 (7 S, X J) The size of India, again Strabo 2.1.4 Hipparchus contradicts this view [of Eratosthenes on the dimensions of India] and rejects the proofs offered. Neither is Patrocles to be regarded as reliable, when both Daimachus and Megasthenes bear witness against him, saying that in some places the distance from the southern sea is 20,000 stades, and in others 30,000. For this is what they say, and the ancient maps agree with them.

F 7 (9 + 10 S, 7 J) The northern stars (a) Strabo 2.1.19 It is the same when Eratosthenes sets out to show that Daimachus is an amateur and inexperienced in such matters. He says Daimachus thinks that India lies between the autumnal equinox and the winter tropic, thus contradicting the statement of Megasthenes that in the southern parts of India the Bears are concealed and the shadows fall in the opposite direction. Daimachus says that neither of these things is the case in India. 36

BOOK I, FF 4–8

(b) Pliny NH 6.69 Further into the interior from these [The Prasii and Palibothra] are the Monaedes and Suari, in whose territory is Mt Maleus, on which the shadows fall to the north for six months in winter, and in the summer to the south. The northern stars appear in that region only once a year and only for 15 days, as Baeton tells us. Megasthenes says that this occurs in several places in India.

F 8 (F 20 S + F 20 B S + F 9 J) Rivers (a) Arrian Ind. 4.2–11 Megasthenes wrote that of the two greatest rivers, the Indus and the Ganges, the Ganges far exceeds the other in size; the same is asserted by all others who have written about the Ganges. For the Ganges is actually large at its source, and it receives as tributaries the Cainas, the Erannoboas and the Cossoanus, all of which are navigable; in addition the rivers Son, Sittocatis and Solomatis, which are also navigable. Besides these there are Condochates, the Sambus, the Magon, the Agoranis and the Omalis. It is also joined by the Comminases, a great river, the Cacouthis, the Andomatis, which flows from the Indian tribe of the Madiandyni, and in addition to these by the Amystis, close to the city of Catadoupe, and the Oxymagis at the place called Pazalae. The Errenesis also joins the Ganges among the Indian tribe of the Mathae. Megasthenes says that none of these rivers is smaller than the Maeander, where the latter is navigable. Even at its narrowest the Ganges is as much as a 100 stades wide. Often it spreads out into lakes, so that the further bank is not visible where it is low and not marked by any hills. The same is true of the Indus. The Hydraotes, in the territory of the Cambistholoi, receives the Hyphasis among the Astrybai, the Saranges from the Cecaioi, and the Neudros from the Attacenae, and then flows into the Acesines. In the territory of the Sydracae the Hydaspes collects to itself the Sinaros among the Arispae, and then it too debouches into the Acesines. The Acesines joins the Indus in the land of the Malli. The Toutapus, another large river, also flows into the Acesines. The latter, swollen by all these tributaries, keeps its own name until it enters the Indus. The Cophen in Peucelaitis collects to itself the Malamantus, Soastus and Garoias and then empties into the Indus. Above these, the Parennos and Saparnos flow into the Indus quite close to one another. The Soanos flows from the mountain territory of the Abisarae and, without any tributary, flows into it. Megasthenes says that most of these rivers are navigable. (b) Strabo 15.1.35 (included in F 25 S) A letter from Craterus to his mother Aristopatra has been published, which describes many marvels, that agree with no one else, in particular in saying that Alexander advanced to the Ganges. He says that he himself saw the river, and the 37

THE FRAGMENTS

monsters on its banks, and a magnitude of both width and depth that is very far from what is credible. It is, to be sure, agreed that this is the largest of all recorded rivers in the three continents, followed by the Indus, while the third and fourth are the Danube and the Nile; the details about it are very variously reported, some giving its breadth as at least 30 stades, others only three; but Megasthenes says that even where it is of middling breadth it reaches as much as a hundred stades, with a depth of at least 20 fathoms. (c) Pliny NH 6.64–65 (= Anhang 16 J) The rivers Prinas and Cainas (the latter flows into the Ganges) are both navigable. The People of the Calingae are nearest to the sea; above them are the Mandei and the Malli, where Mt Mallus is located, and the border of this region is the Ganges (65). This river is reported by some to rise from an unknown source and to irrigate the neighbouring lands in the same way as the Nile, but by others it is said to rise in the Scythian mountains, and 19 other rivers flow into it; of these the following, in addition to those already mentioned, are navigable: Crenaccas, Eramnombovas, Casuagus, Sonus. Others say that it rises from its own spring with a tremendous noise and flows down through steep and rocky regions, until it finally reaches a level plain, where it spreads out into a lake; from there onwards it flows gently, with a minimum width of 8,000 paces, a medium range of 100 stades, and a depth of never fewer than 20 paces. The last nations that it passes are the Gandaridae and the Calingae, whose capital is called Pertalis. The king has 60,000 infantry, 1,000 horses and 700 elephants ready for war.

F 9 (F 24 S = F 9 J (end) Megasthenes’ knowledge of India Arrian Ind. 5.2–3 Megasthenes has recorded the names of many other rivers beyond the Ganges and the Indus, which empty into the eastern and southern seas, so that he gives the total number of Indian rivers as 58, all of them navigable. But even Megasthenes does not seem to me to have visited very much of India, though he did see more of it than those who accompanied Alexander the son of Philip. [F 2b follows].

F 10 (Ff 21–23 S, F 10 J) The River Silas (a) Arrian Ind. 6.1–3 Not everything that others have written about the region beyond the Hyphasis should be regarded as credible: up as far as the Hyphasis those who travelled with Alexander are not altogether untrustworthy. For example, Megasthenes writes of an Indian river, Silas by name, which flows from a spring of the same name through the territory of the Silaioi, who share their name with the spring and the river. He says that the river exhibits this characteristic, that nothing will float in it, 38

BOOK I, FF 8–12

and it is impossible to swim in it or sail upon it, but everything immediately sinks to the bottom: so unresisting is the water, and in quality more like air. (b) Strabo 15.1.38 (Megasthenes also says that) There is a river called Silas in the mountain country, in which nothing floats. But he says that Democritus, who had wandered throughout much of Asia, disbelieves this. Aristotle also disbelieves it.

F 11 (F 11 S, F 20 J) The fertility of India Strabo 15.1.20 Megasthenes demonstrates the fertility of India by the fact that it produces fruit and grain twice a year. Eratosthenes (F 75 Roller, III B 17 Berger) says the same, speaking of a winter and a summer sowing, and similarly of the rain. He says it is established that no year is without rain in both seasons; as a result, the country has good seasons, and there is never a year without crops. Tree fruits are always abundant, as are root crops, particularly the roots of the large reeds, which are sweet both by nature and through ‘heating’, since the water that falls from the sky as well as that from the rivers is warmed by the sun. What he is trying to say is that what is called by others the ripening of fruits and juices is by them called ‘heating’, and that ripening is as effective in producing a good flavour as heating by fire. For this reason too, the branches of the trees, which are used for making carriage wheels are flexible; and for the same reason some even blossom with wool.

F 12 (F 46 S = F 11 J + Anhang 3 J) Dionysus and Heracles (a) Strabo 15.1.7–8 (7) As for the accounts of Heracles and Dionysus, Megasthenes, along with a few others, regards them as trustworthy; but most of the other writers, including Eratosthenes, consider them untrustworthy and mythical, like the stories current among the Greeks. For example, in the Bacchae of Euripides, the youthful Dionysus boasts Leaving behind me the gold-bearing glades of Lydia, And Phrygia, I have travelled to the sun-beaten plains of Persia, The walls of Bactria, the wintry land of the Medes, and Happy Arabia, And all of Asia. In Sophocles too, there is a character, who sings the praises of Nysa as the mountain sacred to Dionysus: Whence I beheld the famous Nysa, where mortals roam in Bacchic frenzy, Which bull-horned Dionysus honours as his sweetest nurse Where there is no bird that does not sing 39

THE FRAGMENTS

and so on. He is also called ‘Merotraphes’. Again, the Poet [Homer] says as follows about Lycurgus the Edonian: Who once pursued the nurses of frenzied Dionysus down over the slopes of most holy Nysa. So much then for Dionysus. But as for Heracles, some record that he went only in the opposite direction, to the limits of the west, while others say he went to both. (8) On the basis of such stories, writers have named people the Nysaeans, and a city among them Nysa, founded by Dionysus, and have named a mountain above it Meros, giving as the reason for the name the ivy and vines that grow there, although the latter does not bear fruit, but the bunches of grapes fall off before they ripen on account of the excessive rain. They say that the Sudracae are the descendants of Dionysus, because of the vine that grows among them and because of their expensive processions, since the kings make their military expeditions and other progresses in the Bacchic style, with beating of drums and flowery robes, a custom also widespread among the other Indians. When Alexander captured a rock called Aornos, past whose foothills the Indus flows soon after it rises, his flatterers announced that Heracles had attacked this rock three times, and three times had been beaten back. They claimed that the Sibae were the descendants of those who took part with Heracles in this campaign, and that they retained clear evidence of their ancestry by wearing skins like Heracles, by carrying clubs, and by branding their cattle and mules with the mark of a club. They confirm this myth further by the stories about the Caucasus and Prometheus, which they have transferred here from the Pontus on a slight pretext, because they saw a sacred cave in the land of the Paropamisadae, which they identified with the prison of Prometheus, to which Heracles had come in order to release Prometheus. So they said this was the Caucasus, which the Greeks declared to be the prison of Prometheus. (9) But it is obvious that these stories are fabrications by the flatterers of Alexander . . . (b) F 1 B S: Diod. 3.63.3–5 They say that the most ancient of these Dionysuses was an Indian, and because this land, on account of its excellent climate, produced numerous vines without cultivation, he was the first to press the clusters of grapes and to devise the use of the products of wine, and also the first to give the proper attention to figs and other fruits, and to devise the harvesting and storing of fruits of this kind. This Dionysus is said to have worn a long beard, because it is customary among the Indians to carefully tend their beards until their death. This Dionysus came to all the inhabited world with an army in order to teach the cultivation of vines and the pressing of grapes in vats (lenai): this is why he is called Lenaios. Likewise, he allowed all people to share in his other discoveries, and after his departure from the mortal state he received immortal honours from those who had benefited from him. To 40

BOOK I, FF 12–13

this day, the Indians show you the place where it happened that he was born and cities that are named after him in the language of the natives. There remain many other notable pieces of evidence of his birth among the Indians, about which it would be a long task to write. (c) F 57 dub S: Polyaenus Strategemata 1.1–3 Dionysus, making war against the Indians, in order that the cities should accept him, armed his troops not with evident armour, but with light clothing and fawnskins. Their spears were made from ivy, the thyrsus had a sharp point; they signalled with cymbals and drums, not with trumpets, and by plying their enemies with wine they turned them to dancing. All these Bacchic revels were stratagems of Dionysus with which he gained mastery of India and the rest of Asia. When his army were unable to stand the extreme heat of India, he seized the triple-peaked mountain of India. One of the peaks is called Korasibie, one is Kondaske and the third is Meros, reminding him of his own birthplace. There, there are numerous sweet springs to drink, plentiful hunting, abundant fruits and refreshing snows. After spending time in these regions, the army showed itself suddenly to the barbarians on the plain, and by bombarding them with missiles from the heights the army easily put the enemy to flight. After capturing the Indians, Dionysus made them and the Amazons his allies, and invaded Bactria, the border of which is the river Saranges. The Bactrians retreated to the mountains above the river, so that they could attack Dionysus as he was crossing the river. He drew up his battle lines alongside the river and sent the Amazons and Bacchants to cross over: the Bactrians, out of contempt for these women, descended from the mountains. The women crossed over, the Bactrians came down and tried to beat them down in the midst of the stream. But the women made it over on foot. The Bactrians pursued them to the bank. Then Dionysus came to their assistance with the male troops and slaughtered the Bactrians as they were encumbered in the water; so he crossed the river safely.

F 13 (F 47 S, F 11 J) Dionysus and Heracles as civilisers (a) Arrian Ind. 5.4–12: 5.4–8 only in J Megasthenes says that the Indians never made an expedition against any other people, neither did any other people attack the Indians. Sesostris the Egyptian, after conquering much of Asia, and invading Europe also with an army, returned home; Idanthyrsus the Scythian made an expedition from Scythia, subdued large parts of Asia and even conquered Egypt. Semiramis the Assyrian did attempt an expedition against the Indians, but died before she could carry out her plans. It is often said that before Alexander, Dionysus made an expedition against the Indians and subdued them, while this is also sometimes said of Heracles. As for Dionysus, the city of Nysa is a notable memorial of his expedition, along with Mt Meros and 41

THE FRAGMENTS

the ivy that grows on this mountain; the fact that the Indians go to battle with the sound of drums and cymbals, and their dappled clothing which resembles that of the Bacchants of Dionysus, is a further piece of evidence. Of Heracles there are few memorials. The story that Heracles was unable to capture the rock of Aornos, which Alexander reduced by force, seems to me a piece of Macedonian boasting. In the same way, the Macedonians called the Paropamisus Caucasus, even though it has nothing to do with the Caucasus. They saw a cave among the Paropamisadae and said that this was the cave of the Titan Prometheus, in which he was hung up because of his theft of fire. Again, among the Sibae, when they saw these people dressed in skins, they said that they had been left behind after the expedition of Heracles. Furthermore, the Sibae carry clubs and brand their cattle with a club, so they related these things too to Heracles’ club. If this is to be believed, it would have to be some other Heracles, not the Theban, the Tyrian or the Egyptian, or else some great king who dwelt in the high country not far from India. (b) F 46 S, Anhang 3 J; cf. 48 S, 48 BCD S, 49 S; Strabo 5.1.6 What credence could we give to the information about India based on such an expedition made by Cyrus, or Semiramis? Megasthenes appears to be of the same opinion, since he advises us to disbelieve the ancient stories about the Indians. He says that no military expedition was ever sent abroad by the Indians nor did one ever come from outside the country and conquer it, except those led by Heracles and Dionysus and that of the Macedonians. Yet Sesostris the Egyptian and Tearco the Ethiopian advanced as far as Europe; and Neduchadnezzar, whose reputation among the Chaldaeans was even higher than that of Heracles, advanced as far as the Pillars. He says that Tearco, too, reached this far, and that Sesostris also led his army from Iberia to Thrace and Pontus; and that Idanthyrsus the Scythian overran Asia as far as Egypt; but none of these got as far as India. He also says that Semiramis died before the attempt; and that, although the Persians summoned the Hydracae as mercenaries, they did not make an expedition there, but only came close, when Cyrus was marching against the Massagetae. (c) F 48 B S, 1 J; Josephus Ant. Jud. 10.227, repeated in Eusebius (Armenian) Chron. P. 23.14 ff. K (IbJ) Megasthenes in the first book of his Indica records of the deeds of Nebuchadnezzar, and attempts to show that this king exceeded even Heracles in courage and the magnitude of his achievements; for he says that he overcame Libya and much of Iberia. (d) F 50 S = Ff 12–14 J; Arrian Ind. 7–9 Megasthenes says that the number of Indian tribes is 118. I myself agree with Megasthenes that the tribes are very numerous, but I cannot guess how he discovered and recorded the exact number, since he visited only a small proportion of 42

BOOK I, F 13

India, and most of these tribes do not mix at all with each other. He says that in the old days the Indians were nomads, like the non-agricultural Scythians, who wander in their wagons and change their settlements from one place to another in Scythia, and neither dwell in cities nor worship at shrines of the gods. In the same way, the Indians did not have cities or settle shrines of the gods, but went clothed in the skins of such animals as they killed and fed on the bark of trees. These trees were called in Indian tala and strands of wool grew on top of them like the growth on the top of palm trees. They also ate raw such animals as they could catch – until, that is, Dionysus arrived in the land of the Indians. But when Dionysus arrived and gained control of India, he built cities and made laws for them, and became the giver of wine to the Indians as to the Greeks, and he taught them to sow the land, providing them with seed. (Either Triptolemus did not come this way when he was sent out by Demeter to sow the whole earth, or it was before Triptolemus that this Dionysus came to India and gave them the seeds of cultivated plants.) Dionysus also yoked oxen to the plough for the first time, making many of the Indians cultivators instead of nomads, and armed them with weapons of war. Dionysus also taught them to worship the gods, especially himself, with the sound of cymbals and drums; he instructed them in the satyric dance which is called the kordax by the Greeks, and taught them to wear long hair and turbans, and to anoint themselves with perfumes, so that even against Alexander the Indians drew up for battle with cymbals and drums playing. (8) When Dionysus departed from India after making all these arrangements, he appointed as king of the land Spatembas, who was the most expert of his companions in Bacchic rites; when Spatembas died the kingship passed to his son Boudyas. The father was king for 52 years, and the son for 20. His son Cradeuas came to the throne, and from him onwards the kingship passed for the most part to his descendants, son inheriting it from father; but if the family lapsed, then kings were appointed for the Indians according to merit. Heracles, who the story says also travelled to India, is according to the Indians themselves indigenous. This Heracles is particularly honoured by the Suraseni, an Indian tribe, who have two great cities, Methora and Cleisobora. The navigable river Iomanes runs through their territory. Megasthenes says that the outfit worn by this Heracles resembled that of the Theban Heracles, according to the description of the Indians themselves. A great many sons were born to him in the land of India, for this Heracles too married many wives; but he had only one daughter. The girl’s name was Pandaea, and the land where she was born, and which he turned over her to rule, was called Pandaea after the girl. She was given 500 elephants by her father, 400,000 horsemen and 130,000 foot soldiers. [Continuation: see F 17] (9) In this country, where the daughter of Heracles was queen, the girls are marriageable at seven years, and the men do not live longer than 40 years. There is a story about this among the Indians: Heracles, who was advanced in years when his daughter was born, realised that his own end was approaching, and because he could not find a man who was worthy to marry his daughter, copulated with her himself when she was seven years old, so that a line of kings for the Indians might 43

THE FRAGMENTS

be born from her and himself. In this way, Heracles made her marriageable, and from thenceforward the whole race which began with Pandaea had the same privilege. But it seems to me, that if Heracles was really able to accomplish anything so bizarre, he could also have extended his own life in order to couple with his daughter at a proper age. But if this story of the age of puberty among the girls of this region is true, it seems to me to be in harmony with the report of the age of the men, who die at most at the age of 40. For among those to whom old age comes so much sooner, and the death that follows it, the peak of maturity is likely also to be in proportion to the end. Thus men of 30 would be on the threshold of old age, and those of 20 would already be past their youth; the peak of maturity would be at about 15; by the same reckoning, the marriageable age for women would come at 7. For even the fruits ripen earlier in this country, and decay earlier, as Megasthenes again tells us. (9) From Dionysus to Sandrocottus the Indians counted 153 kings, over a period of 6,042 years: in this period three times to liberty , again for 300 years, and another for 120 years. The Indians say that Dionysus was 15 generations earlier than Heracles, and that none one ever invaded India in war, not even Cyrus the son of Cambyses, though he attacked the Scythians and in other respects was the most interfering of the kings of Asia. But Alexander came and conquered all those he encountered by force of arms, and would have conquered the whole world, if his army had been willing. Then again, the Indians never sent any warlike expedition outside their own land, because of their just nature. (e) F 50 C S = F Anhang 7 J Pliny NH 6.21.58 and 59–60 India has been revealed not only by the armed forces of Alexander the Great and of the kings who succeeded him . . . but also by other Greek authors, who spent time with the Indian kings, such as Megasthenes, and Dionysius who was sent by Philadelphus for that cause and to discover the strength of those nations. (59) The Indians are almost the only race that has never migrated outside its own boundaries. From Liber Pater to Alexander there have been counted 153 kings over 6,451 years and three months.

F 14 Pandaea (a) F 58 S Polyaenus Stratagemata 1.3.4 Heracles fathered a daughter in India, whom he called Pandaea. He allotted to her the southern portion of India as far as the sea, and distributed her subjects into 365 villages, with the instruction that on each day one of the villages was to bring tribute to the palace, so that the queen should have the donors as allies and should have control of those who were obliged to make the gift. 44

BOOK I, FF 13–15

(b) F 51 S, 13c J) Phlegon, Mirabilia 33 Megasthenes says that the women who live in Pandaea are able to give birth at the age of six.

F 15 (F 18 S = F 26 + Anhang 10 J) Taprobane (a) Pliny NH 6.81 Taprobane was long considered to be another world, under the name of ‘the Antichthones’: but the era and the deeds of Alexander the Great demonstrated that it is an island. Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, wrote that the elephants found there are bigger and more bellicose than those in India; Megasthenes recorded that it is divided in two by a river, that the inhabitants are called the Palaeogoni (ancient race), and that they produce more gold, and larger pearls, than the Indians. Eratosthenes also gives the dimensions of the island, as 7,000 stades long and 5,000 stades wide, and says that it has no cities, but there are 700 villages. Beginning from the eastern sea it extends along the side of India from the rising to the setting sun; it was once believed to be 20 days’ sail distant from the nation of the Prasii, but more recently, because it was approached with boats of papyrus reeds and the rigging used on the Nile, it was established that the journey for our ships was seven days’ sail. The intervening sea is shallow, no deeper than six paces, but in certain channels it is so deep that anchors can find no hold. For this reason, the vessels have two prows, so that they will not need to turn around in the narrow passages; these ships are big enough to carry 3,000 amphorae. The people take no observations of the stars in travelling, and indeed the seven stars (Great Bear) are not visible; but they carry birds on board and send them out at frequent intervals, and follow the course they take as they make for land. They sail in no more than four months of the year, and particularly avoid the 100 days following midsummer, when the weather is bad at sea (84). These are the reports of the earliest writers. But we have obtained more accurate information . . . . (b) Aelian Historia Animalium 16.17–19 (17) They report that in the Great Sea there is a very large island, the name of which is Taprobane. I learn that this island is very long and high, its length being 7,000 stades and its width 5,000; it has no cities, but there are 750 villages; they have shelters where the natives live, which are made of wood and even of reeds. In this sea are born turtles of huge size, the carapaces of which are made into roofs; for a single shell is 15 cubits across, so that not a few people can live under it. It shelters them from the fiercest of the sun and affords shade for them to enjoy; 45

THE FRAGMENTS

additionally, it provides protection from torrents of rain. It is stronger than any tiles, shakes off the downpours of showers, and those who live beneath it can listen to the pattering of the rain as if the water were descending on a tiled roof. And they do not need to replace them as is the case with broken tiles, for the shell is hard and resembles a hollowed rock or the roof of a cavern that has been vaulted by nature. (18) Now this island in the Great Sea that they call Taprobane has palm trees planted with wonderful regularity in rows, in just the way that those responsible plant shade trees in luxurious parks. It also contains pastures for numerous very large elephants. The elephants of the island are stronger and larger in appearance than those of the mainland, and may be considered more intelligent and sharp in every way. So the people build large ships (since the island of course is well forested) and transport the elephants to the mainland opposite; after the crossing, they sell them to the king of Kalinga. Because of the size of the island the inhabitants of the interior know nothing of the sea, but live a mainlander’s life, and know only by report of the sea that surrounds and encircles them. Those who live near the sea, on the other hand, are unaware of the way that elephants are hunted, and know of this too only by hearsay: their attention is all directed to the hunting of fish and sea-monsters. They say that the sea that surrounds the island breeds an inestimable quantity of fishes and sea-monsters, and furthermore that they have the heads of lions, leopards, wolves and rams, and – even more wonderful – there are monsters which have the forms of satyrs with the faces of women, who are accoutred with spines instead of hair. They tell of others too of remarkable shapes, whose appearance could not be conveyed even by those skilled in drawing and in combining bodies into monstrous appearances, with an artist’s skill. These creatures have very long, curly tails, and instead of feet they have claws or fins. I understand that these creatures are amphibious, and at night they graze on the fields, eating grass like flocks and rooks. They particularly enjoy the fruit of the date-palm, so that they shake these trees by entwining them with their coils, which are supple and flexible. Then they feed on the fruits that have fallen from the trees as a consequence of the shaking. When the night is waning and it not yet full day, they dive back into the sea and disappear as the dawn begins to brighten. They say that there are also many whales, but these do not come up on to land, but lie in wait for tunnies. They also say that there are two kinds of dolphin, one savage, with sharp teeth and unsparingly merciless towards fishermen, the other gentle and tame by nature. It frisks and splashes around like a fawning puppy, and if you handle it, it makes no objection; if you throw food to it, it will take it happily. (19) The sea-hare (the one that is found in the Great Sea, I mean, not the one I described earlier), resembles the land-hare in all respects except its fur. The fur of the land hare is smooth and does not resist one’s touch; but the sea-hare has a prickly, upright fur, and if one touches it, it pricks the skin. They say that it swims on the surface of the sea and does not descend to the depths, and is a very fast swimmer. It is not easy to capture alive. This is because it neither falls into a net nor can it be caught with a fishing-rod and bait. But when this hare falls ill and is unable to swim, it washes up on shore, and anyone who touches it with his hand 46

BOOK I, FF 15–16

will die if he is not treated. Even if he touches it with a stick he will suffer the same fate, just as happens if one touches a basilisk. But they say that there is a root which grows on the island near the Great Sea, which is well known to everybody, which is an antidote to fainting. At any rate, if it is applied to the nose of a man who is fainting, it brings him back to life. But if it is neglected the man’s sickness grows worse until he dies. Such is the evil power of the sea-hare. (20–21). See my F 16. (22) The Sciratae also are a people on the farther side of India: they have snub noses, whether because they are pressed in when they are tender babies, or because they are born like that. In their region there are enormous snakes, some of which seize and feed on the flocks, while others suck their blood like the goatsuckers of Greece, which I know I have mentioned at an earlier juncture (3.39).

F 16 (F 15 B S, F X J) The kartazon Aelian Hist. Anim. 16.20–21 In the innermost regions of India they say that there are impassable mountains full of wild beasts, and that they contain as many animals as our own land produces, but they are wild. They say that even the sheep there are wild, and the dogs and goats and cattle, and that they wander freely of their own accord, untouched by the control of any herdsman. Indian historians assert that their numbers are beyond counting: among these it is right to include the Brahmans, since they too agree with them in this report. There is said to exist among them a one-horned beast, to which they give the name of kartazon. It is the size of a full-grown horse, and has a horse’s mane, reddish hair and is very swift of foot. Its feet, like those of the elephant, are without joints, and it has the tail of a pig. Between its eyebrows there grows a horn, which is not smooth but naturally spiral in form, and is black in colour. This horn is said to be exceedingly sharp. I understand that its voice is highly discordant and powerful. When other animals approach it, it is placid and gentle, but with its own kind it is rather quarrelsome. Not only do the males instinctively butt and fight each other, but there is the same spirit in the females also, and they pursue their hostility even as far as the death of the defeated rival. In fact, every part of its body is very strong, but the strength of its horn is invincible. It likes lonely grazing grounds and wanders there in solitude, but in the mating season when it teams up with a mate, it becomes gentle towards the female, and the two even graze side by side. When the season is past and the female has become pregnant, the male Indian kartazon becomes savage again and reverts to its solitary state. They say that the foals are taken when quite young to the king of the Prasii, and that they demonstrate their strength against each other in public shows; there is no record, however, of a full-grown animal being captured. (21) When one has crossed the mountains that border on India, densely wooded glades become visible on the inner slopes. The Indians call this region Colunda, and they say that in these glades creatures resembling satyrs roam; they have shaggy 47

THE FRAGMENTS

bodies and a tail like a horse’s. If they are left to themselves and are not disturbed, they pass their days in the thickets, feeding off the trees; but whenever they detect the sound of huntsmen, and hear the baying of hounds, they run up on to the heights at a speed that cannot be overtaken, for they are accustomed to mountain-climbing. There they fight back by rolling stones down on to their pursuers, and those they hit are often killed. For this reason they are hard to capture, and it happens scarcely ever, and only at long intervals, that some are brought to the Prasii. Those that are captured are usually either sick, or females who are pregnant; so the former are taken because of their lassitude, and the latter because of the weight of their bellies.

F 17 Pearls (a) F 50 S = F 13 J: Arrian Ind. 8.4 + Pliny NH 6.76 Some other Indians relate of Heracles that, having travelled all the land and sea and cleared them of what was evil, discovered in the sea a new form of feminine ornament. Even to this day, those who bring merchandise from India to our lands take a lot of trouble to purchase and export them: rich and prosperous Greeks in the past, and the Romans of today are eager to buy what are called in the Indian tongue the pearls of the sea. Because Heracles was so impressed by the beauty of this adornment, he collected pearls from every sea and brought them to India, as adornments for his daughter. Megasthenes also says that their shells are caught in nets; many of these shells (oysters) live together in the sea, like bees. The pearls too have a king or queen, as bees do. If anyone succeeds in catching the king, he can easily net both him and the rest of the swarm; but if the king escapes, he will never be able to catch the others. Those who catch them wait for the flesh to rot, and use the ‘bones’ as ornaments. Even among the Indians the pearl is worth three times its weight in refined gold; and gold too is mined in India. (b) F 50 B S = Pliny NH 9.55.111) Some relate that, like bees, the ranks of oysters have individuals pre-eminent in size and age who are like leaders to them and are skilled in taking precautions; these leader-shells are diligently sought by pearl-divers, for when they are caught the rest become disorientated and can easily be caught in nets; then they are enclosed in clay jars with a quantity of salt; when all the flesh has been eaten away the nuclei of their bodies, that is the pearls, drop to the bottom.

F 18 (F 19 S = F 25 J) Trees that grow in the sea Antigonus Hist. Mir. 132 (Callimachus says that) Megasthenes, who wrote an account of Indian matters, says that trees grow in the sea in India. 48

BOOK I, FF 16–20

F 19 (17 S, 24 J) Poisonous fish Aelian Hist. Anim 8.7 I hear that Megasthenes says that in the seas around India there exists a certain little fish. When it is alive, it is invisible, as it swims very deep down, but when it dies it floats to the surface. If anyone touches it, he faints and loses consciousness at first, but later he actually dies.

F 20 (Ff 12, 13, 14 S, 21 J) Monkeys (and other animals) (a) Strabo 15.1.37 It is generally agreed that the country beyond the river Hypanis is best; but the descriptions are not accurate, because of ignorance and the region’s remoteness, and everything is made bigger and more monstrous, as in the case of the golddigging ants and other beasts, and the men of unusual form and with exceptional powers. For example, they say the Seres are very long-lived, surviving to more than 200 years. They describe a kind of aristocratic order of constitution, consisting of 5,000 councillors, each of whom provides the state with one elephant. Megasthenes says that tigers grow very large among the Prasioi, nearly twice as big as lions, and so strong that a tame one, being led by four men, seized a mule by its hind leg and drew it to itself. There are monkeys larger than the largest dogs, white except for their faces, which are black. (The opposite is found in other areas.) Their tails are more than two cubits long. They are very tame and not evilly disposed to attacking and thieving. Stones are dug up that are the colour of frankincense and taste sweeter than figs or honey. Elsewhere there are snakes two cubits long with membranous wings like bats: these fly at night, letting fall drops of urine, or of sweat, which cause people’s flesh to rot if they do not protect themselves. Ebony also grows there. There are also brave dogs, which do not let go of what they have seized in their jaws until water is poured into their nostrils. Some are so ferocious in their biting that their eyes twist around and sometimes fall out. Even a lion and a bull were held fast by a dog, and the bull actually died, because the dog had seized his muzzle, before he could be released. (b) F 13 S, 21b J Aelian Hist. Anim. 17.39 In the land of the Prasioi (this is in India), Megasthenes says that there are monkeys no smaller than the largest dogs. They have tails five cubits long. They also have forelocks and long thick beards. Their faces are entirely white, the rest of their bodies black. They are tame and well-disposed to humans, without the mischievous disposition that characterises monkeys elsewhere. 49

THE FRAGMENTS

(b) F 14 S, 21c J Aelian Hist. Anim. 16.41 Megasthenes says that in India there are enormous scorpions with wings, and that they inflict a sting much like that of European ones. There are also winged snakes there, which fly about not by day but at night, and let fall their urine, which if it falls on anybody below immediately causes the flesh to rot. That is what Megasthenes says. Further, Polyclitus says that in the same country there are enormous, multicoloured lizards, whose skins are amazingly dappled with bright hues and they are extremely soft to the touch. Aristotle says that there are lizards in Arabia two cubits long. (c) (F 15 S, 27b J (part)) Strabo 15.1.56 Megasthenes says that there are stone-rolling monkeys, who lurk on precipices and roll down stones on those who pursue them. Most of the animals that are tame in our country are wild in theirs. He speaks of horses with one horn and the head of a deer; and of reeds 30 fathoms tall, and upright, and others that lie along the ground, 50 fathoms in length, so thick that some have a diameter of three cubits, others twice that.

F 21 (F 16 S, 22 J) Snakes Pliny NH 8.36 Megasthenes writes that in India snakes grow to such a size that they can swallow entire stags and bulls.

F 22 (F 59 dub S; ch. 5 only in Anhang 18 J) The hoopoe (and other birds) Aelian Hist. Anim. 16.2–16 I learn that in India there are parrots, of which I also made mention earlier; but it seems a good idea to put down here what I did not relate earlier. I hear that there are three kinds, all of which can be taught like children and become talkative and speak with a human voice. In the forests, however, they utter the sounds of birds, and do not produce articulate and distinct speech, remaining untaught and not talkative. There are also peacocks in India, the largest to be found anywhere, and pigeons with green plumage; anyone seeing one for the first time, and without ornithological knowledge, would think that they were parrots and not pigeons. They have beaks and legs similar in colour to those of partridges in Greece. Cocks there are of the largest size, and their combs are not red like those among us, but multi-coloured like garlands of flowers. Their tail-feathers are not arched or curved into a spiral but flat, and they trail them as peacocks do when they are not raising them up and displaying them. The wings of the Indian cock are of a golden colour, with a sea-green glitter like an emerald. 50

BOOK I, FF 20–22

(3) There is also in India another bird, of the same size as a starling, which is variegated in colour and if it is taught human speech it is even more talkative than the parrot, and more intelligent. But it does not easily endure human keeping, but in its longing for liberty and its desire for freedom of association, it welcomes starvation in preference to enslavement in comfort. The Macedonians who settled in the city of Bucephala and the region round about, and in the so-called city of Cyrus, which were founded by Alexander the son of Philip, call it kerkion. This name has its origin in the fact that it waggles its rump, as a wagtail does. (4) I hear that there is also in India a bird called kelas. It is three times the size of a bustard, and it has a remarkably impressive beak and long legs. It also has an enormous crop much like a wallet and a very harsh voice. Most of its plumage is ash-grey in colour, but its wing-tips are pale. (5) I hear too that the Indian hoopoe is twice as big as ours and more beautiful in appearance. Homer says that the bit and trappings of a horse are the special treasure of a king, but for the Indian king the hoopoe is his special delight: he carries it on his hand and delights in it, and gazes continually in wonder at the splendour of the bird, and its natural beauty. The Brahmans tell a legend about this bird, and the legend they recite is as follows. A son was born to a king of the Indians, and he had brothers who, when they grew up, became most lawless and violent. They despised their brother because he was the youngest, and insulted their father and mother, showing no respect for their advanced age. As a result, the parents refused to live with them, and both the boy and the old people went into exile. The journey became very laborious for them, their strength failed and they died; but their son did not neglect them: he cut his head open with an axe and buried them therein. The same Brahmans assert that the Sun, who sees all things, was pleased at the boy’s extreme piety and turned him into a bird, most beautiful to look upon, and very long-lived. From his crown there sprang up a crest, as if in commemoration of what he had done when they went into exile. The Athenians tell some similar kind of wondrous tale in a myth regarding the lark, which it seems to me Aristophanes the comic poet was following when he wrote in his Birds: Because you’ve a blind uninquisitive mind, unaccustomed on Aesop to pore. The lark had her birth, so he says, before Earth; then her father fell sick and he died. She laid out his body with dutiful care, but a grave she could nowhere provide; For the Earth was not yet in existence; at last, by urgent necessity led, When the fifth day arrived, the poor creature contrived to bury her sire in her head. So it seems that the Indian fable, which was actually about a different bird, spread to the Greeks as well. The Brahmans say that it was an endless age ago that the Indian hoopoe, while it was still a human being and the age of a child, did this for its parents. (6) In India, there is an animal that rather resembles the land-crocodile. It is the size of a Melitean lapdog. It is covered with scales that are so rough and close-set 51

THE FRAGMENTS

that when the animal is skinned they can be used as a file. They will even cut through bronze and iron. They call the creature phattage (pangolin). (7) [The sand-partridge of Pisidia]. (8) The Indian Ocean produces sea-snakes with broad tails; the lakes also produce water-snakes of huge size. But the snakes that live in the sea have biting jaws that resemble a saw, instead of being poisonous. (9) In India, there are herds of wild horses and wild asses. They say that when the asses mount the mares, the latter take it quietly, and take pleasure in the coupling, and give birth to mules that are reddish in colour and exceptionally swiftfooted, but in other respects difficult to harness and generally skittish. The people are said to catch them in snares and then to take them to the king of the Prasii. If they are caught as two-year-olds they do not resist being broken in, but when they are older they differ in no respect from biting and carnivorous beasts. (10) They say that among the Prasii in India there is a race of monkeys that have human intelligence; to look at they are the size of Hyrcanian hounds, and it can be observed that they have a natural forelock: one who did not know the truth would suppose that these forelocks were artificial. They have a satyr-like beard beneath the chin, and their tail is as long as a lion’s. The whole of their body is white, but the head and the tip of the tail is red. They are well-behaved and naturally tame. They live in the forests and feed on wild plants that are in season. They visit the city of Latage in crowds (Latage is a city in India), and feed on the cooked rice that is put out for them by the king. This nicely cooked meal is laid out for them every day, when they have eaten their fill, it is said that they retire to their accustomed forests in an orderly fashion, and do not damage anything with their feet. (11) In India, there is an animal that eats grass and it is twice the size of a horse. It has a very bushy tail of a dense black colour; the hairs of it are finer than those of a man, and the women of India are very eager to obtain them; they make braids out of them and adorn themselves beautifully by binding them in with their own hair. The length of each hair reaches a length of two cubits, and as many as 30 may spring from a single root, like a tassel. This animal is of all creatures the most timid; if it is observed by someone, and realises that it has been seen, it runs away as fast as it can, and its eagerness to escape is even greater than the swiftness of its feet. It is hunted on horseback with good hounds; but if it realises that it is going to be caught, it hides its tail in a thicket, turns to face its pursuers and waits for them with better courage, believing that it will not seem hunting down if its tail is not visible; for it is well aware of the beauty of its tail. But its expectations are in vain; someone will shoot it down with a poisoned arrow, kill it, and cut off its tail, the prize of the hunt. After it has been skinned (for the hide is also useful), he leaves the carcase lying, because the Indians have no use for the flesh of these animals. (12) There were apparently sea-monsters in the Indian Ocean five times the size of the largest elephant. At any rate, a single rib of a sea-monster may be 20 cubits long; it has a jaw of 15 cubits, and the fin beside each of the gills is seven cubits wide. The trumpet shells and purple shellfish one chous easily; and in fact the shells of the sea-urchins could contain 52

BOOK I, F 22

the same. The size of the fishes is astounding, especially the Basse, the Bonito and the Gilthead. And I have heard that at the season when the rivers are running violently because of the floods and overflow the land, the fish also are carried over the fields and are borne about without direction in the shallow water. But when the rains which have over-filled the rivers cease, and the streams withdraw again and return to their natural courses. Then fishes as much as eight cubits long are left behind in low-lying places and in the marshes and bogs, where what are called the new lands have depressions. The farmers then catch them because their power to swim is reduced since they have to float on the surface instead of swimming in the depths, though they are glad to snatch even a limited existence from the shallow waters. (13) Here are some other peculiarities of Indian fish. Skate there grow as large as an Argive shield, while the prawns of India are larger than crayfish. The latter ascend the Ganges from the sea; they have very large claws that are rough to the touch, whereas I understand that the ones that leave the Red Sea for the Indus have smooth spines, while the feelers that are attached to them are indeed long and curly, but have no claws. (14) The River Turtle of India has a shell as large as a rowing boat. It will contain ten medimni of pulses. There are also Land Tortoises, which may be as large as the largest clods of earth that are turned up in deep ploughing, in places where the soil is yielding, the plough can go deep and cut the furrow easily, bringing up the clods. They say that these tortoises slough their shells. The ploughmen and all those who labour in the fields dig them out with mattocks and extract them as we extract caterpillars from worm-eaten plants. Their flesh is sweet and fat, not bitter like that of the sea-turtles. (15) There are intelligent animals among us, indeed, but fewer and less numerous than in India. There, for example, are the elephant, the parrot, monkeys and the so-called satyrs. The Indian ant, too, is notably clever. It is true that the ants of our country dig their holes and tunnels under the ground, and construct hidden lairs by excavating the ground, exhausting themselves with mysterious and invisible mining operations. But the Indian ants build little houses of gathered materials, and make them not in flat and low-lying places, which may easily be flooded, but high up in lofty positions. In these, with indescribable skill, they bore passages and what may be called Egyptian galleries or Cretan labyrinths, and make homes for themselves, which are not of direct or easy access, but out of the way through twisting lanes. They leave a single hole on top through which they enter and bring the seeds they have collected into their storehouses. They construct their caves on the heights in order to escape the floods and inundations of the rivers. As a result of this clever behaviour they are able to live as it were in watch-towers or on islands when everything around their little hillocks is covered in water. Now these mounds, although they are built of gathered materials, are so far from being weakened or washed away by flooding that they are actually strengthened, in the first place by the morning dew: they are clothed, so to speak, with a fine but strong garment from this condensation, while at the base they are bound round with 53

THE FRAGMENTS

bark-like coating formed by the river mud. Juba too once wrote about the ants of India, so let that suffice for my discussion. (16) Among the Ariani of India there is a chasm of Pluto, and at the bottom there are certain mysterious galleries, hidden paths and passages that are never seen by man, though they are deep and go a long way; but how they came to be, and in what way they were excavated, the Indians are unable to say, and I have not made the effort to discover. The Indians bring to this place more than 30,000 beasts – sheep, goats, cattle and horses – and anyone who has been frightened by a dream, or some chance utterance, or who has seen a bird in an inauspicious position, throws into the chasm whatever his means can afford, in order to ransom himself by giving the life of an animal for his own soul. The victims are led there without being bound by ropes, or driven, but each one makes the journey of its own free will, as if under a mysterious spell. Then they stand on the brink and jump willingly into the chasm, and are no longer visible to the eyes of man after they have fallen into the mysterious and yawning chasm of earth, while above can still be heard the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep and goats, and the neighing of horses. Anyone who walks on the surface above and extends an ear will hear all these sounds for a very long time. This mixture of sounds never ceases, since almost every day people send in animals on their own behalf. I do not know whether it is only the most recent animals that are heard, or some of the earlier ones too, but they are definitely heard. This is the singular tale that has been told me of the animals of that region.

F 23 (F 39 S and 40 S, 40 B S, F 23 J) The gold-guarding ants (a) Arrian Ind. 15.4 Nearchus also speaks about the ants (133 F 8). He says that he did not see an ant himself, of the kind, which several authors have described as living in the land of India, but that he saw a great many of their skins, which were brought into the Macedonian camp. Megasthenes, however, reports that the story about the ants is true: these are the ones that dig up the gold, not for the sake of the gold itself but it is their nature to dig in order to nest, in the same way as our own little ants make small excavations in the soil. But these are larger than foxes, and make holes of a proportionate size; and the soil is auriferous, so this is where the Indians get their gold. However, what Megasthenes reports is hearsay, and since I do not have anything more reliable to say on the matter, I am happy to pass on from the tale of the ants. (b) Strabo 15.1.44 Nearchus says that he had seen skins of the gold-digging ants, resembling those of leopards. Megasthenes, however, speaks as follows about the ants: among the Derdae (Dards) a numerous people among the more easterly and mountainous Indians, 54

BOOK I, FF 22–24

there is a plain about 3,000 stades (375 miles, 600 km) in circumference; below this are seams of gold, which are mined by the ants, creatures not smaller than foxes, which are very fast-moving and live on animal prey. They dig up the earth in winter, and pile up the soil at the entrances to their burrows, like moles; the dust needs only a little smelting. The neighbouring people go after the gold by stealth, with beasts of burden; if they go openly the animals fight with them and chase after them; and, when they catch them, they destroy both men and beasts. In order to escape notice the men scatter pieces of meat here and there, and when the ants are thus drawn away from their holes, they gather the gold-dust, and offer it in an unworked state to traders for what they can get, since they do not know how to smelt it. (c) F 40 B S, Dio Chrysostom Or. 35.24 The people who live in the vicinity cross the intervening land, which is desert but not very extensive, in chariots to which they harness the swiftest horses; they arrive at midday when the ants have gone underground; then they seize what they have cast up and flee. When the ants realise what has happened, they give chase, overtake the men and fight with them until they die or kill them: for they are the most courageous of all creatures.

F 24 (F 29 S, F 27 J extended) The monstrous races (a) Strabo 2.1.9 All those who have written about India have been predominantly tellers of lies, most of all Daimachus, and next after him Megasthenes; but Onesicritus, Nearchus and others like them mumble something like the truth. I was especially able to observe this when I was writing my study of the acts of Alexander. For these are the writers who write about the Ear-sleepers, the Mouthless Ones and the Noseless Ones, the One-Eyes and the Long-Legs and the Reverse-Feet; they also revived the Homeric battle of the Pygmies against the cranes, describing them as three spans tall. They also write about the gold-digging ants and Pans with wedgeshaped heads, and snakes that can swallow oxen and stags complete with horns. In these matters, the one refutes the other, as Eratosthenes also remarks. (b) Strabo 15.1.56–57 These customs of theirs are very unwonted in relation to our own, but there are others that are even more so. Megasthenes says that the inhabitants of the Caucasus [Hindu Kush] have intercourse with women in the open, that they eat the bodies of their dead relatives, and that there are stone-rolling monkeys that roll stones from the cliffs where they live on to their pursuers. Most of the animals that are tame with us are wild with them. He describes horses with a single horn and the heads of deer; and reeds that are 30 fathoms high when upright, but when lying 55

THE FRAGMENTS

on the ground 50 fathoms; and the thickness of the one is three cubits, of the other five. Breaking all bounds into the realm of myth, he mentions men who are five spans and three spans tall, some of whom have no nostrils, but only two breathing holes above the mouth. The three-span men are at war with the cranes (as Homer also bears witness) and the partridges, which are as big as geese. They collect the eggs of these birds and destroy them (since that is where the cranes lay their eggs): for this reason, eggs and young of the cranes are nowhere to be found; and very often a crane escapes from their blows with a bronze arrow-head in its body. Similar are the stories about the Ear-Sleepers and the Wild Men and other monstrosities. The Wild Men, he says, could not be brought to Candragupta, because they would starve themselves to death: they have their heels in front, with the toes and flat of their feet behind. But some Mouthless Men, who are very gentle, were brought to court: they live around the springs of the Ganges, and take their nourishment from the smells of cooked meat, fruits and flowers. They have breathing holes instead of noses, and find bad smells painful; for this reason they can scarcely survive, particularly in an army camp. Other matters were described to him by the philosophers [F 32 J], who spoke of the Okypodes (Swift-Feet) who can run faster than horses; the Ear-Sleepers, whose ears reach to their feet, so that they can sleep under them: they are strong enough to pull up trees and to snap bowstrings; then there are other One-Eyed people, who have dogs’ ears and a single eye in the middle of their foreheads, whose hair stands on end and their chests are shaggy. The Noseless Ones eat everything including raw meat, and live only a short time, dying before they are old; their upper lips protrude beyond the lower. Regarding the Hyperboreans who live 1,000 years he says the same as Simonides F 65 = 570 PMG) and Pindar (O. 3.16) and other mythographers. A more plausible statement in Megasthenes is that the rivers carry down gold dust, which is brought as tribute to the king.

F 25 (F 30 S = F 28 J) The reverse-feet (a) Pliny NH 7.22 In a mountain called Nulo there are men with reversed feet, with eight toes on each one, according to Megasthenes. [Next is Ctesias 688 F 45 pα.]

F 26 (F 30 S cont., F 29 J + F 30 B S) The Mouthless Ones and the Dog-heads (a) Pliny NH 7.25–26 Megasthenes names people, the Sciritae, who live among the nomad Indians: they have mere holes in place of nostrils, and legs that are twisted like snakes. On the far borders of India, in the east near the mouth of the Ganges, is the race of the Mouthless Ones, with bodies that are hairy all over; they dress in the feathery 56

BOOK I, FF 24–27

leaves of trees, and live by breathing and by the inhalation of scents through their ‘nostrils’. They do not eat or drink, but live on the various scents of roots, flowers and fruits of the forest, which they carry with them on long journeys so as not to go short of scents. They die easily if exposed to stronger smells. (26) Beyond these, in the mountainous region, the Three-span people and the Pygmies are described, who are not more than three spans in height. They have a salubrious and always spring-like climate, as the mountains face away from the north wind. Homer mentions them as being attacked by the cranes. The story goes that they mount on the backs of rams and goats, armed with arrows, and in spring descend en masse to the sea and eat the eggs and young of those birds. They complete this expedition in three months, and without it they could not stand up to the flocks that would ensue. Their houses are constructed from mud, feathers and eggshells. (b) F 30 B S = Solinus 52.26–30 On a mountain called Nulo live the people who have reversed feet and eight toes on each foot. Megasthenes describes, on various Indian mountains, people with dogs’ heads and claws, clothed in skins, who do not speak with human voice but only bark with harsh snarls. Those who live near the source of the Ganges eat no solid food but live on the smell of fruits of the forest, and keep some always with them when they go on a long journey, in order to feed on the smell. But if they are exposed to strong smells, they inevitably die.

F 27 (F 31 S, F 30 J) Plutarch on the Mouthless Ones Plutarch De fac. lun. 24, 938 C That Indian root, which Megasthenes says that those who neither eat nor drink, because they have no mouths, kindle and cause to smoulder, and are nourished by its scent – how could anyone imagine that it grows there, if it is not watered by rain from the moon?

57

BOOK II Political structures

F 28a, F 32 S, F 19 J, Arrian Ind. 11–12, The seven ‘castes’ All the Indians are divided on the whole into seven classes (genea). One of these consists of the wise men, who are fewer in number than the others, but most respected in reputation (time). There is neither an obligation on them to do any physical labour nor to contribute to the commonweal from the products of their labour. In fact, there are no sorts of obligation whatever for the sages, except to carry out the sacrifices on behalf of the community of the Indians. Whenever anyone conducts a private sacrifice, one of the sages is always there to direct him, because otherwise the sacrifice would not be pleasing to the gods. They are also the only Indians who have an understanding of prophecy, and no one except a sage is allowed to make prophecies. They prophesy only about the seasons of the year and events that will affect the whole community; they are not concerned with making private prophecies for individuals, either because the art of prophecy does not encompass petty matters or because it is beneath their dignity to work on such things. Anyone who has made three mistaken prophecies is not punished in any way, but must keep silence in future; and no one would ever compel a man on whom such silence has been imposed to speak. These sages live their lives naked, during the winter in the open air and sunshine, but in the summer, when the sun is strong, in meadows and marshes beneath large trees; Nearchus says that these trees may be as much as five plethra around, and that up to 10,000 men could shelter under a single tree. The sages eat seasonal fruits and the bark of trees, which is as sweet and nourishing as the fruit of the date palm. Second to these are the farmers, who form the most numerous group of Indians. They have no weapons of war and have no concern with military operations, but they cultivate the land and pay taxes to the king and to the autonomous cities. If war should break out among the Indians, it is the custom neither to lay hands on the tillers of the earth nor to destroy the land itself, but while the one group are making war and killing each other wherever they can, the others close by are peacefully ploughing, picking fruit, pruning, or harvesting. The third section of the Indians are the herdsmen, who pasture sheep and cattle. They do not dwell in cities, or even in villages, but they are nomads and live their 58

BOOK II, F 28

lives on the hill slopes. These too pay taxes from their animals, and they also hunt birds and wild beasts in the country. (12) The fourth class is the craftsmen and tradesmen. These also have public duties, and pay taxes on their products, except for those who manufacture weapons of war: these in fact receive payment from public funds. In this group are included the shipwrights and those sailors who sail on the rivers. The fifth class of the Indians is the warriors, who are second to the farmers in numbers, but who enjoy the greatest freedom and good living. They are devoted solely to military exercises. Others make their arms, others again provide their horses, others act as servants in camp, looking after the horses and keeping their weapons clean, managing the elephants and keeping the chariots in good condition as well as driving them. Whenever they are called on to fight, they do so, but in time of peace they can enjoy themselves. They receive so much pay from public funds that they can easily support others too. The sixth class of the Indians are those known as overseers. These supervise everything that goes on in the cities and in the country, and report it to the king, in the parts of India that are ruled by kings, or to the authorities in autonomous cities. It is not lawful to make any false reports to them, and nor has any Indian ever been accused of such falsification. The seventh class consists of those who deliberate about public affairs with the king, or with the rulers in the autonomous cities. This group is small in numbers, but the most distinguished of all for wisdom and justice. From this class they select their archons, nomarchs, hyparchs, treasurers, military and naval commanders, stewards and supervisors of agriculture. It is unlawful to marry outside one’s class, for example for a craftsman to marry into the farmer class or vice versa; neither is it lawful for one man to practice two crafts nor to transfer from one class to another, as it might be to turn farmer from being a shepherd, or shepherd from craftsman. The only exception is that a sage can be drawn from any class, because their way of life is in no way soft, but the most arduous of all. (b) F 33 S, F 19 J cont.; Strabo 15.1.39–49 (Megasthenes) says that all the Indians are divided broadly into seven sections (mere). The first in status (timē) are the philosophers, though fewest in number. These philosophers are used, each one individually, by those who make sacrifices to the gods or offerings to the dead, but as a group by the kings at the so-called Great Synod, at which, at new year, all the philosophers gather at the gates of the king; and whatever each one has assembled (συντάξῃ) or observed as useful for the prosperity of crops or animals, or for the state, he brings it forward in their midst. But if anyone is discovered three times to be giving false information, the law is that he shall remain silent for the rest of his life; but those who provide information that proves correct are exempted from tribute and taxes. (40) The second section, he says, is that of the farmers, who are the most numerous and the most practically capable (epieikestatoi), and are exempt from military 59

THE FRAGMENTS

service and untrammelled in their farming. They never come into the cities either for public gatherings or on any other business. At any rate, it can often happen, he says, that at the same time and place the one group are drawn up for battle and are in imminent danger from the enemy, while the others are ploughing or digging, unharmed, relying on the others as their defenders. The whole country is royal property; they work the land on the basis of a rent calculated at one quarter of the production. (41) The third is that of the shepherds and hunters, who alone are permitted to hunt, to breed cattle and to sell and rent out beasts of burden; and in return for freeing the land from wild beasts and birds that steal seeds, they receive a grain allowance from the king, while living a wandering life in tents. No private citizen is allowed to keep a horse or an elephant: the possession of both is a royal monopoly, and there are attendants for them. [(42–43) horses and elephants; see F 37; (44) ants; see F 23; (45) Nearchus, Onesicritus and Aristobulus on various beasts]. (46) The fourth section, he says, after the hunters and shepherds, is that of the craft workers, the tradesmen and the manual workers. Of these, some pay a tax and provide certain services, but the armourers and shipbuilders are allotted wages and rations by the king, since they work for him alone. The commander of the army provides the arms for the soldiers, while the naval commander lets out the ships for hire to sailors and merchants. (47) The fifth section is that of the warriors, who spend much of their time at leisure and in drinking, at the expense of the royal treasury, so as to be available for expeditions quickly when the need arises, for which they need to bring nothing with them beyond their own bodies. (48) The sixth are the overseers (ephoroi), whose role is to keep an eye on what is done and to report secretly to the king, using the courtesans as colleagues, the city overseers employing the city courtesans and the camp overseers the camp ones. The best and most reliable men are appointed to this status. (49) The seventh are the advisers and councillors of the king, in whose hands are the chief offices of state, the courts and administration of everything. It is not legal for a man either to marry a wife from another genos or to change his pursuit or type of work from one to another; or may one man take part in several , unless he is one of the philosophers; this is permitted because of his superiority (aretê).

F 29 (F 26 S, F 15 J) Funeral rites Arrian Ind. 10.1 It is said also that the Indians do not erect monuments for their dead, but regard the virtues of the men as sufficient memorial for the dead, and the songs that they intone for them.

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BOOK II, FF 28–33

F 30 (F 26 S, F 16 J) Absence of slavery Arrian Ind. 10.8 This is a great thing in the land of the Indians, that all the Indians are free men, and there is no such thing as an Indian slave. The same condition applies to the Indians as to the Lacedaemonians. [Among the Lacedaemonians of course the helots are slaves and do the work of slaves, but no Indian has another as a slave, at any rate not an Indian.]

F 31 (F 28 S, F 2 J = Athenaeus 4.39) Meals Megasthenes says in the second book of his Indica that at meals each person has his individual table. This resembles a tripod, and on it is placed a golden bowl, into which they put first rice, boiled as one would boil barley, and then cooked items prepared according to the Indian recipes.

F 32 (F 26 S, 17 J) Cities Arrian Ind. 10.2–4 It is not possible to give an accurate count of the cities of the Indians because they are so many. But all those that are built beside rivers or on the coast are made of wood; for if they were made of brick they would not last very long because of the quantity of rain that falls, and because the rivers frequently break their banks and flood the plains. But those that are on higher ground and in high or steep places are built of bricks and mud.

F 33 (F 25 S + F 26 S, F 18 J) Palibothra (Pataliputra) (a) Arrian Ind. 10.5–7 (F 26 S) The largest city among the Indians is that called Palibothra, in the land of the Prasioi, where is the confluence of the Erannoboas and the Ganges – the Ganges being the largest of the Indian rivers, and the Erannoboas third in size; however, the latter is still larger than any river elsewhere, but it yields this honour to the Ganges after it flows into it. Megasthenes says that this city has an extent on either of the long sides of 80 stades, and a breadth of 15 stades. There is a ditch around the city six plethra wide, and 30 cubits deep; the wall includes 570 towers, and 64 gates. (b) Strabo 15.1.36 (F 25 S) At the confluence of this river [the Ganges] and *the other* river is located the city of Palibothra, which is 80 stades long and 15 wide, shaped like a parallelogram and

61

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provided with a wooden wall which is pierced with loopholes for firing arrows. Before it is a ditch for defence and for the reception of the city’s refuse. The people among whom this city is situated are called Prasioi, and are superior to all the rest. The king who rules it bears the name of the city, being called Palibothros in addition to his own birth-name, as for example Sandrocottus, to whom Megasthenes went as an envoy

F 34 (F 34 S, F 31 J) City officials Strabo 15.1.50–52 Of the officials, some are market inspectors, others city managers, and others are in charge of the soldiery. Of these, the market inspectors are responsible for river works and measurement of the land, as in Egypt, and are also in charge of the small canals from which the water is distributed into the conduits, so that all may make use of the water on an equal basis. The same men are in charge of hunters and have the power of reward and punishment over those who deserve it. They also collect the taxes and oversee the crafts connected with the land – woodcutters, carpenters, bronze-workers and miners. They build the roads and place markers every ten stades to indicate the turnings and the distances’. (51) The city inspectors are divided into six colleges of five. One group is in charge of the artisans, another of the accommodation of foreigners: they assign lodgings, follow their behaviour closely, provide them with attendants and send them on their way, or forward their property if they should die; they also care for them when they are sick and bury them if they die. The third group are registrars of births and deaths – when and where – both for the sake of taxation and in order that the births and deaths of both the better classes and the worse shall be known. Fourth are those in charge of retail trade and barter, who are responsible for measures and for seasonal produce, to ensure that it is sold as marked [an obscure sentence]. The same man may not barter more than one thing without paying taxes twice. The fifth group are those in charge of the products of craftsmen, and their sale according to the mark, keeping the old and the new separate: there is a penalty for mixing them. The sixth and last group are those who exact a ten per cent sales tax: the penalty for theft is death. (52) After the city inspectors there is a third joint administration, which is concerned with military matters: this is divided into six groups of five men each. One of these is allocated to the naval commander, another to the man in charge of the ox-teams, by which machines of war are transported as well victuals for the men and the animals, and the other necessities of an army. These also include the support staff, drummers and gong-bearers, and also the grooms, the technicians and the latter’s assistants. They send out foragers to the sound of gongs, and ensure their speed and safety by rewards and punishments. The third group consists of those in charge of the infantry; the fourth, of those in charge of the horses; the fifth, of those in charge of the chariots; and the sixth, of those in charge of the elephants. The stables of the horses and the other beasts are the property of the king, as is the 62

BOOK II, FF 33–35

armoury. The soldiers have to return their armour to the armoury and their horses to the stables, and likewise with the elephants. They make no use of bridles on the animals. On the roads, the chariots are drawn by oxen, while the horses are led by halters so that their legs will not suffer chafing, and their enthusiasm for drawing chariots will not be blunted. In each chariot, there are two riders in addition to the charioteer; but in the case of elephants, the driver makes the fourth alongside three archers, who shoot while riding.

F 35 (27 S, 32 J) Laws and customs Strabo 15.1.53–55 All the Indians are frugal in their way of life, especially when on campaign. They do not like a great crowd, and therefore keep good order. They very rarely turn their hands to theft; Megasthenes says that when he was in the camp of Sandrocottus, which consisted of 400,000 men, on no day was any theft reported of a value above 200 drachmas. And this is among a people who have no written laws; for they do not know writing, but commit everything to memory. Nevertheless, they live a good life as a result of their simplicity and frugality: they do not drink wine except at sacrifices, and they drink a beverage made from rice instead of barley. Their meals consist mainly of boiled rice. Their simplicity with regard to laws and contracts is proved by their lack of litigiousness; they have no lawsuits about pledges or deposits, and they have no need of witnesses or seals, but make their deposits on a basis of trust. Their houses are for the most part unguarded. These things indicate their good sense, but one cannot be so approving of other matters: they always eat alone, and there is not one common meal time for breakfast and dinner, but each pleases himself. The former custom is of course better for communal and civil life. (54) As regards exercise, they favour massage, in various ways but especially by smoothing the skin with ebony rollers. Their tombs are plain and consist of slight mounds. In contrast to their general simplicity, they love ornament; they make use of gold and jewellery, and they wear flowery robes and are accompanied by sunshades. In their high regard for beauty they affect whatever will adorn their appearance. They esteem truth and virtue highly, for which reason they do not accord any special honour to those of advanced age, unless they are also superior in wisdom. They marry many wives, whom they purchase from their parents in exchange for a yoke of oxen, some of them for their obedience, and others for pleasure or for the making of children. Unless the wives are kept under control they may prostitute themselves. No one performs a sacrifice wearing a garland, or burns incense or makes libations; they do not slaughter the victim, but suffocate it, so that it may be offered whole and unmutilated to the god. One who is convicted of false witness suffers mutilation of his extremities, while he who maims another not only suffers the same fate but also has his hand cut off; if he cuts off the hand or puts out the eye of a craftsman, he is put to death. He [sc. Megasthenes] says that no Indian makes 63

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use of slaves, but Onesicritus (134 Ff 24/5) says that this is peculiar to those in the kingdom of Musicanus, and that it is very successful, just as he says that many other things are successful in this country because it is so well governed. (55) The care of the king’s person is entrusted to women, who are bought from their fathers. The guards and the rest of the soldiery attend outside the gates. A woman who kills the king when drunk has the honour of becoming the wife of his successor, and the sons succeed their father. The king does not sleep during the day, and at night he is compelled to change his sleeping quarters to avoid conspiracies. Of his departures from the palace, other than to war, there are those to give judgement, in which he may spend an entire day hearing cases, even when the time comes for his bodily therapy (i.e. the rubbing with rollers); he goes on listening while he is being massaged, with four masseurs in attendance. Another of his departures is for sacrifice, while a third is a kind of Bacchic hunting expedition, surrounded by a crowd of women, with a circle of spearmen around them. The road is fenced off and it is death for anyone, even the women, who crosses the fence. The procession is led by trumpeters and drummers. The king hunts in his enclosures, firing arrows from a platform, while two or three armed women stand beside him, but when he is hunting in open country he shoots from the back of an elephant. Some of the women who accompany him ride on chariots, some on horses, and some on elephants, but they are all fully armed.

F 36 (27 B S, X J) Loans and punishments (a) Aelian VH 4.1 Indians neither lend money nor do they know of accepting loans. It is not right for an Indian to wrong another or to be wronged by him. Therefore, they do not make written contracts or deposits. (b) F 27 CD S Nicolaus of Damascus, Customs F 103y; from Stobaeus, Anthol. 4.2 Among the Indians, if anyone deprives another of a loan or deposit, there is no court case, but the one who entrusted the money has to blame himself. He who deprives a craftsman of a hand or an eye is punished by death. By order of the king, the most heinous criminals have their heads shaved, as this is regarded as the most extreme disgrace.

F 37a (F 37 S, 20a J) Arrian Ind. 13–14, Elephants The Indians hunt other wild animals as the Greeks do, but their method of hunting elephants is quite unlike any other, because these beasts do not resemble any 64

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others in any way. They select a level, sun-baked piece of ground and dig a ditch around it, big enough for a large army to camp in; the width of the ditch is five fathoms and the depth four. They pile up the soil excavated from the ditch along both its edges like a wall. Under the mound on the outer side of the ditch they make dugout hides for themselves, and they leave gaps in them to let in the light and allow them to see the beasts as they approach and are driven into the enclosure. Then they position inside the enclosure some three or four of the tamest females. They leave one entrance open across the ditch by bridging the ditch, and on this they pile a lot of soil and grass so that the bridge will not be visible to the beasts, leading them to suspect a trick. They conceal themselves out of sight in their hides below the ditch. Wild elephants do not approach inhabited areas in the daytime, but at night they wander freely and roam in herds, following the largest and most noble of them in the way that cattle follow bulls. When they approach the fenced area, they hear the voices and detect the smell of the females, and advance at a rush to the enclosure; they proceed around the lip of the ditch until they find the bridge, and plunge across it into the enclosure. When the men observe that the wild elephants have entered, some of them quickly tear down the bridge, while others run to the nearby villages with the news that the elephants are in the trap. The villagers mount the strongest and tamest of their elephants and ride them to the enclosure; once there, they do not engage in battle immediately, but allow the wild elephants to become weak from hunger and to suffer from thirst. Once they seem sufficiently enfeebled, they rebuild the bridge and ride into the enclosure. To begin with there is a great battle between the tame elephants and the captured ones, but then it normally happens that the wild ones are defeated because they are weakened and demoralised by hunger. The men then jump down from their elephants and tie together the feet of the exhausted wild elephants; they order the tame elephants to keep punishing the wild ones with heavy blows, until they fall to the ground. Then they put nooses around their necks and mount them as they lie on the ground. So that they will not throw their riders or do them any other mischief, they make a cut all the way around their necks with a knife and tie the noose tightly in the cut; the beasts are forced by the cut to hold their heads and necks still, and if they try any kind of aggression, the wound is chafed by the rope. Thus they are held still and, acknowledging defeat, are roped to the tame elephants and led away (14). Any baby elephants or those not worth keeping because of their inferiority are released to look after themselves. They lead their captives to the villages, and to begin with give them green bamboo and grass to eat; they are depressed and reluctant to eat, but the Indians stand around them and soothe them by singing songs, accompanied by the banging of drums and cymbals. The elephant, you see, is an intelligent beast like no other; some of them pick up their riders who have been killed in war and carry them personally to burial, while others fight in defence of the fallen at great risk to themselves; if, as may happen, one kills his rider, he dies of shame and sorrow . . . . Elephants mate in the spring like cattle and horses, when the openings on the temples of the females open and exhale. Pregnancy lasts at least 16 months, and sometimes 18. Young are born 65

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singly, like horses, and suckle up to the eighth year. Elephants generally live up to 200 years, but many die of disease before that time. The remedy for eye disease is to wash it with cow’s milk, while for other ailments draughts of black wine are administered; for wounds, a poultice of roast pork is applied. Such cures are used by the Indians themselves. (b) F 36 S, 20b J Strabo 15.1.42–43 They hunt these beasts [sc. elephants] in the following way. They surround a smooth open area of about four or five stades with a deep ditch and bridge the entrance with a narrow bridge. Then they let in three or four of the tamest females, while they themselves lie in wait in hidden shelters. The animals do not approach during the day, but at night they charge in one by one; when they have entered, the men quietly close up the entrance and then, letting in the most courageous of their tame combatants, they engage them in battle, at the same time bringing them low with hunger. When they are worn out, the bravest of the riders creep in quietly under the bellies of their own animals, and then leap out from their hiding places on to the wild elephants and tie their feet together. Next, they order the tame elephants to batter the bound ones so that they fall to the ground. When they are down, they bind them by their necks to the tame ones with thongs of raw oxhide. To prevent them throwing off those who attempt to climb on to them, they make cuts all around their necks and place the thongs in them, so that the pain compels them to submit to the bonds and become calm. Then, weeding out the elephants that are too old or too young to be of use, they lead the rest to the stables, where they tie their feet together and their necks to a firmly planted column, and subdue them by hunger; then they restore them with green bamboo and grass. Afterwards they train them to be obedient, some by words and others by a kind of chanting and the beating of drums. Those that are hard to tame are few, for they are by nature gentle and mild animals, almost like rational creatures. Sometimes in battle they pick up their wounded riders who have fallen to the ground and rescue them from the melee. Sometimes they protect them by fighting for them while standing over them. If one of them in anger kills one of his feeders or trainers, he pines for him, so strongly that he will not eat, and sometimes even dies of starvation. (43) They copulate and bear young like horses, mostly in spring. It is mating time for the male when he is seized by lust and becomes crazy – at this time he discharges a fatty substance through the breathing holes by his temples – and for the female when this same passage opens up. Pregnancy generally lasts 18 months, or at the least 16. The mother suckles her baby for six years. They live as long as the longest-lived men, and some even last as long as 200 years They are subject to many diseases and hard to cure. The remedy for ophthalmia is to wash the eye in cow’s milk, while for most other diseases a draught of black wine is administered. 66

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For wounds, butter is applied, which draws out the fragments of iron, and a poultice of pig’s flesh is then placed on the wound. (c) F 38 S, X J Aelian Hist. Anim. 13.7 Elephant medicine The Indians heal the wounds of elephants they have captured in this way. They wash them in warm water, as Patroclus washed the wounds of Eurypylus according to Homer [Il. 11.829), and then anoint them with butter. If the wounds are deep, they soothe the inflammation by applying pig’s flesh, warm and bloody. They treat ophthalmia with applications of cow’s milk, and the elephants open their eyelids and are pleased at the benefit it gives, which they can sense just like humans. The Indians continue to bathe the eyes until the inflammation ceases, for this is a sign that the ophthalmia is cured. As regards the other diseases that befall them, the remedy is black wine; but if this does not cure the ailment, then they are beyond saving. (d) (F 37b S, X J) Aelian Hist. Anim. 12.44 Elephant training In India, if a mature elephant is captured, he is difficult to tame, and becomes bloodthirsty in his desire for freedom. If you bind him with ropes he becomes even more angry, and refuses to be made a slave and prisoner. But the Indians spoil him with food and try to mollify him with a variety of tempting delicacies, offering him whatever will fill his stomach and soothe his spirit. Yet he is angry with them and ignores them. So what device do they think up? They introduce their native music, and sing to it to the accompaniment of a certain instrument that is in common use: this is called the skindapsos. The elephant lends his ear and is pacified, his rage subsides, and his spirit is subdued and allayed, so that little by little he begins to pay attention to his food. Then he is released from his bonds but remains captivated by the music, and feeds enthusiastically like a diner at a feast. He will never run away because of his love for the music.

F 38 (F 35 S, X J) Aelian Hist. Anim. 13.9, Horsecraft It is not for everybody to control an Indian horse and to hold him back when he leaps forward to run away, but only for those who have been trained in horsemanagement from childhood. It is not the Indian custom to control a horse with the reins, and thus to keep it steady and direct it, but rather with a spiked muzzle; thus the tongue goes unpunished and the roof of the mouth is unhurt. However, those who are skilled in horsemanship compel them to go round in circles pivoting on a point. A man who is to do this requires strength of hand and a good understanding of horses. Those who have achieved the summit of expertise in this science even try by these means to drive a chariot in circles. It would be no contemptible achievement to make a team of four hungry horses circle with ease. The chariot holds two passengers. But a war-elephant carries three warriors on what is called 67

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the howdah, or even on his naked back. Two hurl their weapons to either side, and the third behind, while a fourth holds the goad in his hands and directs the elephant with it, as the helmsman of a ship, or the skipper, controls a ship with the rudder.

F 39a (52 dub S, X J) Aelian Hist. Anim. 13.8, Elephant ethics An elephant belonging to a herd, which has been tamed, generally drinks water, but when he fights in battle he is given wine – not indeed that made from grapes, since the men prepare a kind of wine from rice, or from cane. These elephants go out to gather flowers for themselves, for they love sweet scents and are led out into the meadows for training under the influence of the sweetest scents. An elephant using its sense of smell will pick out a flower, while the trainer holds out a basket for the animal to drop it into. When he has filled it, as fruit-gatherers do, he has a bath, in which he luxuriates as do the softer kind of humans. After his bath he wants the flowers, and roars if they are slow arriving, and refuses all food until the flowers he collected are brought. Then he picks them out of the basket with his trunk and sprinkles them on the rim of his manger, since he regards them as a sweetener for his food, as it were. He also scatters many flowers over the place where he sleeps, as he longs for a fragrant slumber. Indian elephants are said to be nine cubits high and five wide: the largest are those that are called Prasian, and the next in size are those from Taxila. (b) (53 dub S, X J) Aelian Hist. Anim. 3.46 An Indian elephant-trainer came upon a young white elephant and reared it while it was young; gradually he tamed it, and rode on it, and became fond of the beast, which returned his affection and was grateful for the care he had given it. Now when the king of the Indians heard about it he demanded to be given the animal. But the trainer was possessive like a lover and even grieved at the thought of another being its master; he refused to give it, and rode away into the desert on the back of his elephant. The king was angry, and sent men to seize the elephant and to bring the man back for judgement. When they arrived they tried to apply force. So the man struck at them from his mount, and the beast fought for him in indignation at the injury to itself. That was the beginning of the affair; but when the Indian was wounded and slipped to the ground, the elephant stood over his keeper as armed men cover a comrade with their shields, and killed many of the attackers, putting the rest of them to flight. Then, winding its trunk around its keeper, it picked him up and carried him to the stables, and stayed by his side like a devoted friend, in demonstration of its kindly nature.

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BOOK III The Indian philosophers

F 40 (F 41 S, F 33 J) The philosophers Strabo 15.1.58–60 Regarding the philosophers, (Megasthenes) says that those who live in the mountains are celebrants of Dionysus, who point as evidence to the wild vine, which grows only among them, as well as the ivy, bay, myrtle and box, and other evergreens, none of which is found beyond the Euphrates except rarely in parks, where they require much effort to keep them alive. Dionysiac too is the custom of wearing linen garments, headbands and perfumes, of dyeing fabrics in floral colours, and of accompanying the king on his processions with drums and gongs. Those in the plains, by contrast, worship Heracles. These statements are mythical and are refuted by many, especially the part about the vine and wine; for on the far side of the Euphrates lie the lands of Armenia, the whole of Mesopotamia and beyond these Media, as far as Persis and Carmania; and large parts of these regions are reported to be productive of vines and wine. (59) Megasthenes makes another distinction also regarding the philosophers, asserting that there are two kinds, whom he calls respectively the Brahmanes and the Garmanes. The Brahmanes have a much higher reputation, because there more consistent in their doctrines. Even while they are still in the womb they are under the care of learned men, who go to the mother under the pretext of singing incantations to promote an easy birth, but in fact to ply them with advice and precepts. The women who most enjoy listening to them are believed to be the most fortunate in their children. After the birth, a series of different men undertake the care of the children, who as they grow older at each stage receive the most suitable teachers. The philosophers dwell in a grove outside the city in a suitable enclosure, living frugally on straw mattresses and skins, abstaining from the flesh of living things and from sex, listening to serious discourses, and sharing their lives with those who wish it. The listeners are not permitted to speak or to cough, or even to spit; anyone who does so is ejected from the company for that day, as being unable to control himself. After living in this way for 37 years, they return, each one to his own property, where they live in a freer and more relaxed way, wearing garments of linen and moderate ornaments of gold in their ears and on their hands; 69

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they partake of the flesh of such animals as are not used as labouring partners, but abstain from spicy and seasoned foods. They marry as many women as possible, to produce plentiful children, for the more wives they have the more serious offspring they will produce. Because they have no slaves, more of their needs have to be supplied by their children, who are the closest to them. The Brahmans do not discuss philosophy with their wedded wives, on the grounds that, if they were of low character, they might reveal some forbidden secret to the profane, whereas if they were reflective women, they might abandon them: for no one who can despise both pleasure and toil, and indeed life and death, will be willing to remain subject to another; and that is what the reflective man and the reflective woman will be. Most of their discussions are about death, for they regard this present life as the culmination of a pregnancy, and death, for those who engage in philosophy, as a birth into the true life, the happy life. They therefore train to be ready for death. They hold that nothing that happens to human beings is good or bad, for otherwise some would not be distressed and others delighted by the same things, holding conceptions which are merely dreamlike, and changing so that the same people are now distressed and now delighted by the same things. As for the natural world, he says that in some respects they display simplemindedness, being more powerful in deeds than in words, supporting most of their opinions through myths. In many matters, they hold the same opinions as the Greeks; for example, they too assert that the universe was born and is destructible. Also that it is spherical in shape, and that the god who made it and directs it pervades the whole of it; and that the first principles of all things are various, but that that of the creation of the universe is water. In addition to the four elements there is a fifth nature, from which heaven and the heavenly bodies are formed; the earth is situated at the centre of the whole. Many more similar doctrines are advanced about seed and soul. They also weave in myths, in the manner of Plato, about the indestructibility of the soul, the judgements in Hades, and so on. This is what he says about the Brahmans. (60) As for the Garmanes, he says that the most honoured among them are known as Forest-dwellers: they live in forests on leaves and wild fruits, clothed in the bark of trees, and without sex and wine. They associate with the kings, who enquire through messengers about the causes of things, and through their agency worship and make petitions to the divine. After the forest-dwellers, the second in honour are the physicians who are, as it were, philosophers of humanity; they are plain-living men but do not live in the open air, and they subsist on rice and barley, which is offered to them by those from whom they beg, or who give them hospitality. They are able by the application of drugs to cause women to bear many children, or male children, or female. Most of their treatments are carried out with grains rather than drugs; of the drugs, they favour ointments and poultices, as the other kinds have harmful side-effects. Both these and the former group practice strength, both in effort and in endurance, so that they can spend a whole day in a single position without moving. There are others who are diviners and enchanters, and others who are experienced in the prayers and rituals for the dead; they go 70

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about begging through the villages and cities. There are yet others who are more conversable and urbane, yet even these do not abstain from the common talk about Hades. In addition, some of these philosophers even have women associates, who in their turn abstain from sex. [The next chapters of Strabo, 61–67, are explicitly not drawn from Megasthenes; but because of their close relevance to the subject of this fragment they are translated as Appendix 1 of this book.]

F 41 (F 44 S, F 34 J; with F 45 S) Calanus and suicide Strabo 15.1.68 1 As an example of the lack of agreement among the historians we may consider the account of Calanus. They all agree that he went with Alexander and died a voluntary death by fire; but they do not agree on the manner of his death, or the reasons for it. Some say as follows: he accompanied the king as an eulogiser, going beyond the boundaries of India, which is against the common custom of the philosophers, for the latter attend kings in India only, guiding them in all matters relating to the gods, in the same way as the Magi of Persia. Then in Pasargadae he became ill, which was the first time he had ever suffered an illness, and released himself in the 73rd year of his life, paying no attention to the entreaties of the king. A pyre was built, and a golden couch placed upon it, on which he lay down, covered himself and was burnt up. Others however report that a wooden hut was built and filled with leaves, and a pyre was constructed on its roof; in this he was shut up as he had commanded, after the procession in which he had taken part, and threw himself into the flames and was burnt up like a log along with the house. But Megasthenes says that self-slaughter is not a dogma among the philosophers: those who do so are adjudged to be immature. Some, who are hardy by nature, rush to meet a blow or over a precipice, while the less courageous plunge into the flood, and those who are very resilient hang themselves. Those of a fiery temperament throw themselves into fire, as was the case with Calanus, a man without self-control and addicted to the dinner-table of Alexander. For this reason Calanus is censured while Mandanis is commended: the latter, when he was summoned by Alexander’s messengers to meet the son of Zeus, and was promised gifts if he obeyed but punishment if he did not, replied that he was certainly not the son of Zeus, since he did not rule over even a small part of the earth, and that he himself did not need any gifts from Alexander, of which there would never be satiety; furthermore, he was not afraid of threats, since while he was alive the sustenance of India would be sufficient for him, and if he died he would be freed from his flesh that was wasted by old age and would be translated to a better and purer life. On hearing this, Alexander praised him and acquiesced. 1 Only the second part of this paragraph can be directly drawn from Megasthenes, who was not – as far as we know – present at the suicide of Calanus.

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F 42 (F 45 S, X J) Calanus and Dandamis Arrian Anab. 7.2.2–4 When he (Alexander) arrived in Taxila and saw those of the Indian sages who go naked, he conceived a desire to have one of them keep company with him, because he admired their endurance. The oldest of the sages, of whom the others were the disciples, and whose name was Dandamis, said that he would neither come along with Alexander nor allow any of the others to do so; he is said to have replied that even if Alexander was a son of Zeus, he himself was also Zeus’ son, and that he had no need of any of the things that Alexander possessed, since his present situation was perfectly fine; furthermore, he could see that Alexander’s companions were wandering over so much land and sea for no benefit, and that there would be no limit to their many wanderings. He neither did desire anything, which it was in Alexander’s power to give, nor did he fear being deprived of anything that might be in Alexander’s power: while he was alive, the land of India would provide him with a sufficiency of seasonal fruits, and when he died he would be released from his body, which was no agreeable companion. So Alexander did not try to coerce him, recognising that he was a free man. Calanus however, one of the sages who were there, was won over: Megasthenes writes that the other sages regarded Calanus as especially lacking in self-control, and blamed him for abandoning their blessed state in order to serve a master other than God. [(3) continues with an account of Calanus’ self-immolation, presumably from one of the eyewitnesses].

F 43 (F 43 S, Anhang 20 J) The Brahmans Clement Stromateis 1.71.3–6 Philosophy flourished of old also among barbarians. Pre-eminent therein were the prophets of the Egyptians, the Chaldaeans of the Assyrians, the Druids of the Gauls, the Samanaioi of the Bactrians, the philosophers of the Celts and the Magi of the Persians . . . and the Naked Philosophers of the Indians, and all the other barbarian philosophers. Of the Indians, there are two types, those known as the Brahmans, and those of the Sarmanes who are called Forest-dwellers, who do not live in cities or houses, clothe themselves with the bark of trees, feed on the fruits of trees, drink water with their hands, and know nothing of marriage or procreation, like those who are today called Encratites. There are also Indians who believe in the preaching of the Buddha, whom they honour as a god because of his extreme sanctity.

F 44 Strabo 15.1.69–71 (= Anhang 15 J, X S) Strabo on Indian religion and philosophy The following information is also in the historians: the Indians worship Zeus the god of Rain, the River Ganges and the local gods. When the king washes his hair, 72

BOOK III, FF 42–45

they hold a great festival and bring great gifts, each man in competition to display his wealth. They say that some of the gold-digging ants have wings, and that gold dust is brought down by the rivers, as it is among the Iberians. In the processions held as part of the festivals, numerous elephants are paraded adorned with gold and silver, as well as many four-horse chariots and yokes of oxen. The army follows in full regalia and golden vessels including large bowls and mixing-kraters a fathom across. Then tables, chairs, cups and baths all made of Indian bronze, most of them set with emeralds, beryls and Indian anthrakes, colourful garments embroidered with gold, tame bonasoi, leopards and lions, and quantities of the most colourful and tuneful birds. Cleitarchus speaks of four-wheeled carriages bearing trees of broadleaved type, from which are suspended various types of tame birds: of these he says that the most tuneful is the orion, but that the most splendid in appearance, and with the most colourful plumage, is the so-called catreus, since this most closely resembles the peacock. But the rest of the description must be obtained from Cleitarchus. (70) Among the philosophers, they distinguish the Brahmans from the Pramnae, who are disputatious and combative. The Brahmans mainly study natural philosophy and astronomy, but are derided by the Pramnae as charlatans and fools. Some of the Pramnae are defined as mountain-men, others as naked, others as city or neighbouring. The mountain-Pramnae clothe themselves in the skins of deer, and carry wallets full of roots and drugs, pretending to carry out cures by means of spells and incantations and amulets. The naked ones, as their name indicates, live naked, for the most part in the open air, practising the austerities I described earlier, for 37 years; women associate with them but do not have intercourse with them. These philosophers are exceptionally admired. (71) The city Pramnae wear linen garments and live in the city or else in the fields, wearing skins of fawns or gazelles. In general, Indians wear white clothing, either of linen or cotton, contrary to the statements of those who say that they wear very colourful garments. They all wear long hair and beards, and they braid their hair and wear turbans.

F 45 (F 54 S, Anhang 21 J) Brahman austerity Dio Chrysostom Oration 35.22 Such being the case in India, with such an abundance of goods, there are also men called Brahmans, who, bidding farewell to the rivers and the things they throw up, turn aside to gather in private groups and contemplate, undertaking remarkable hardships with their bodies, quite without compulsion, and enduring fearsome pains. They say that their most favoured spring is that of truth, which is the best and most divine, and from which those who taste it can never have enough. What issues from it is undeceiving speech. Such has been related by some earlier travellers, for not a few have travelled there for commerce, and these have mingled with those who live near the sea. To the Indians, these are an ignoble race, and the other Indians avoid them. 73

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F 46 (F 42 S, F 3 J) Brahmans and Jews Clement Stromateis 1.72.4 The clearest account is in Megasthenes, the companion of Seleucus Nicator, who writes in the third book of his Indica ‘everything that is said about nature by the ancients is said also by those who pursued philosophy outside Greece, for example by the Brahmans among the Indians, and by those who are called Jews among the Syrians’.

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(a) Other accounts of the philosophers Strabo 15.1.61–67 Aristobulus (F 41) says that he saw two of the sages at Taxila, both Brahmans: the older one had his head shaved, while the younger one had long hair, and both of them were accompanied by disciples; at other times they lingered in the marketplace, receiving honour as counsellors, and having the right to receive as a gift anything that was there for sale. If one of them approached anyone, that person would anoint him with sesame oil, so that it ran down over his eyes. Because there was much honey and sesame available, they would make cakes of it and obtain their nourishment free of charge. They also came to the table of Alexander, ate their meal standing and gave a lesson in endurance by retiring to a nearby spot, where the older one fell on to his back and suffered the rain and the sun (for spring had come and the rain had begun), while the other stood on one leg, holding a log about three cubits long in both hands; when his leg became tired, he switched to the other one and stayed thus for the whole day. The younger one seemed to be the more adept in endurance. He accompanied the king for a short way but soon returned to his house, and when he was pursued he ordered the king to come to him if there was something he wanted. But the other attached himself to the king to the end, and while he was with him he changed his clothing and his style of life; when he was reproached by some, he said that he had completed the 40 years of askesis that he had undertaken. Alexander gave gifts to his children. (62) Aristobulus (F 42) mentions some novel and unusual customs at Taxila. One is that those who cannot find husbands for their daughters because of their poverty, bring them into the marketplace at the peak of their youth and summon a crowd with the sound of conch shells and drums, such as are used for signalling in war; to any man who comes forward they draw up her clothes to her shoulders behind, and then at the front; if she pleases him and is willing to accept him, they dwell together on such terms as are agreed. And they throw the dead to the vultures. To have several wives is common, as it is in other places. He says that he heard from certain people that wives willingly have themselves burned alongside 75

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their husbands, while those who resist this are regarded as dishonourable. Others too mention this custom. (63) Onesicritus (F 17a) says that he himself was sent to interview these sages. Alexander had heard that these men always went naked and practised endurance; they were held in highest honour, and would not go to others when bidden, but demanded that the others come to them, if they wanted to share in anything that they did or said. This being the case, and since it did neither become the king to visit them nor did he wish to compel them to come to him contrary to their ancestral custom, he sent Onesicritus. He found 15 men 20 stades from the city, each one maintaining a different posture, standing or seated or lying naked, motionless until evening, when they would return to the city. The hardest thing for them was to endure the sun because it was so hot that at midday no one else could easily bear to walk on the ground with bare feet. (64) He spoke to one of them, Calanus by name, who then accompanied the king as far as Persis, where he died in the traditional manner, placed on a pyre. At this time he was lying on stones when Onescritus arrived; the latter went up to him and explained that he had been sent by the king to hear about their wisdom and to report back to him: if there was no objection, he was ready to attend the lecture. When Calanus saw him dressed in cloak and hat and boots, he laughed at him. In olden times, he said, everything was full of barley and wheat flour, as it now is of dust; fountains flowed, some of water and some of milk, and honey, and wine, and olive oil; but human beings fell into a condition of arrogance because of this abundance and luxury. Zeus disliked this state of affairs and took all this away, and appointed a life of toil instead. When self-control and the other virtues began to prevail, the abundance of good things took hold again. Now the condition of things is again close to satiety and arrogance, and there is a danger that all these things will disappear again. So saying, he ordered Onesicritus, if he wanted to listen to him, to put off his clothes and lie down naked on the rocks to hear the lecture. While he was undecided what to do, Mandanis, who was the oldest and wisest of the sages, chastised Calanus as arrogant, even in the act of condemning arrogance, and then called Onesicritus to himself, saying that he commended the king because, although he had such an empire to run, he was eager for wisdom; he was in fact the only philosopher in arms he had ever seen; and it would be really beneficial if wisdom were pursued by those who have the power to persuade the willing, and to compel the unwilling, to act rationally. But he asked for forgiveness if, conversing through three interpreters, who apart from their knowledge of languages had no more understanding than the common crowd, he was unable to make any demonstration forceful enough to be useful: for it would be like expecting water to flow pure through mud. 76

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(65) What he said, according to Onesicritus, tended towards the following: the best teaching is that which takes away pleasure and suffering from the soul. Suffering is different from toil, for the former is man’s enemy, the latter his friend, since bodies are trained for toil so that judgement will become stronger, as a result of which men can put an end to dissension and be counsellors of what is best for everyone, both singly and as a society. He had in fact just advised Taxiles to receive Alexander, on the grounds that if he received a mightier man than himself he would be well treated, but if an inferior, he would improve him. After saying this, Mandanis asked whether such discussions were held also among the Greeks. Onesicritus replied that Pythagoras said something similar, enjoining abstention from living creatures, as did both Socrates and Diogenes, and that he had himself studied with the latter. Mandanis replied that their opinions seemed to be generally sensible, but that they were wrong in one thing, in rating custom above nature; otherwise, they would not be ashamed to go naked, like himself, and keep to a frugal diet. He said that the best house is the one, which requires fewest repairs. They also (says Onesicritus) investigate numerous natural phenomena, including prognostics, rains, droughts and diseases. When they go to the city they disperse through the marketplaces; if they come across someone carrying figs or grapes, they take some of them as a gift; but if it is oil, they have it poured over them as anointment. Any wealthy house is open to them even including the women’s quarters and they enter and share in meals and conversation. Bodily disease is regarded by them as shameful: if anyone suspects himself of such disease, he has himself despatched by fire. He builds a pyre, anoints himself, sits on the pyre and orders it to be lit and is burned up without moving. (66) Nearchus says the following about the sages. The Brahmans engage in affairs of state and accompany the kings as counsellors, while the others occupy themselves with natural phenomena. Calanus was one of the latter. Women also engage in philosophy with them, and the way of life of all is hard. As regards the customs of the rest of the Indians, he imparts the following: their laws, both public and private, are unwritten, and comprise features that are unaccustomed in other places. For example, virgins are set out as prizes for the man who wins a boxingmatch, so that they can marry him without a dowry. Among others, who cultivate the crops in common on the basis of kinship, when they bring them in, each carries a load sufficient for a year’s supply, but they burn the rest so that they will have to work again and will not be idle. Their weapons consist of a bow and arrows three cubits long, or a javelin, and a shield and a broad sword three cubits long. Instead of bridles they use bands that much resemble muzzles; and the horses’ lips are pierced with spikes. (67) Explaining the craftsmanship of the Indians, Nearchus says that when they saw the Macedonians making use of sponges, they imitated them by sewing hairs and light cords and threads into tufts of wool, compressing the wool into felt and then drawing out the threads and dyeing them in bright colours. Makers of strigils and oil-flasks quickly sprang up in numbers. They write letters on tightly woven sheets of linen, though other writers say they make no use of writing. They 77

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use cast bronze rather than forged: he does not say why, though he mentions the following strange consequence, that vessels of cast bronze shatter like pottery if dropped. Another thing he says about the Indians is that instead of making obeisance to the kings, it is the custom to pray to them and to all those in authority or of superior status. The country also produces precious stones of all kinds, including all kinds of crystals and anthrakes, as well as pearls.

(b) Pliny’s account of India Pliny NH 6.56–80 The point from which the races are clearly definable is the Emodus mountain range, where the race of the Indians begins. This borders not only on the Eastern sea but also on the Southern which we call the Indian Ocean. The part facing east extends in a straight line for a distance of 1,875 miles until reaches a bend; from there it curves to the south for 2,475 miles, as Eratosthenes says, until it reaches the River Indus which is the western boundary of India (57). Many authors, however, have defined its total length as 40 days’ and nights’ voyage in a sailing ship, and from north to south 2,850 miles. Agrippa offers a length of 3,300 miles and a breadth of 1,300 miles. Posidonius gives a measurement from the summer rising of the sun to the northern, positioning it opposite to Gaul, which is measured from the summer sunset to the winter sunset, and places it entirely in the direction of Favonius (the N–W wind). Thus, he shows by a watertight argument that India has the advantage of receiving the gusts of this wind, which make it healthy. (58) The appearance of the heavens and the rising of the stars are different there, there are two summers and two harvests in each year, with a winter in between them when the etesian winds blow; and in our winter the breezes are gentle and the sea is navigable. Its peoples and cities are innumerable, if anyone should wish to pursue the matter. It has been revealed not only by the armed forces of Alexander the Great and of the kings who succeeded him, Seleucus and Antiochus, in whose reigns their commander of the fleet Patrocles sailed even into the Hyrcanian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, but also by other Greek authors, such as Megasthenes, and Dionysius who was sent by Philadelphus for that cause and to discover the strength of those nations (59). But there is no chance of exactitude in this matter, since so many discrepant and incredible things are reported. Those who accompanied Alexander the Great have written that, in the portion of India that he subdued, there were 5,000 towns, none of them smaller than Cos, and 9,000 peoples, and that India forms one-third of the whole earth and its population is innumerable, which is very probably the case. The Indians are almost the only race that has never migrated outside its own boundaries. From Liber Pater to Alexander there have been counted 153 kings over 6,451 years and three months (60). The size of the rivers is remarkable: it is stated that Alexander never made fewer than 600 stades per day in sailing the Indus, and yet could not reach its mouth in under five months plus a few days; and this river is agreed to be smaller 78

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than the Ganges. Seneca, who among our own writers attempted a book about India, states that it has 60 rivers and 118 peoples. It would be equally laborious to enumerate the mountains. A continuous chain is formed by Imavus, Hemodus, Paropanisus and Caucasus, from which the whole country slopes down into an immense plain, not unlike that of Egypt. (61) However, in order to make clear the layout of the land, we will follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. Diognetus and Baeton, the surveyors of his expedition, have written that from the Caspian Gates to the Parthian city of Hecatompylus it is the number of miles we stated earlier (ch. 44: 133 miles); from there to Alexandria of the Arii, which was founded by that king, is 575 miles; from there to Prophthasia in Drangiana is 199 miles, to the town of the Arachosii 565 miles, to Ortospana 175 miles (62), from there to the city of Alexander 50 miles (in some copies different numbers are given); this city is said to be located directly below the Caucasus. From there to the River Cophes and the Indian town of Peucolatis 237 miles; from there to the River Indus and the city of Taxila 60 miles, to the famous river Hydaspes 120 miles and to the no less distinguished river Hypasis 390 miles. This was the end-point of Alexander’s expedition, though he had crossed the river and erected altars on the far bank. The king’s own letters agree with these data (63). The remaining distances were covered by Seleucus Nicator: to the Sydrus 169 miles; the same again to the Iomanes (some copies add an extra five miles), from there to the Ganges 112 and a half miles, to Rhodapha 569 miles (others make it 325 miles), from there to the town of Callinipaza 167 and a half miles, from there to the confluence of the Iomanes and the Ganges 625 miles (several sources add another 13 and a half), to the town of Palibothra 425 miles, to the mouth of the Ganges 637 and a half miles. (64) It will not be pointless to enumerate the peoples from the Hemodi mountains (a promontory of which is called Imaus, which in the language of the locals means ‘snowy’): they are the Isari, Cosiri, Izi and along the mountain range are the Chirotosagi and a number of peoples who are called Bragmanae, among them the Mactocalingae [from here to the end of 65 = F 8]. The rivers Prinas and Cainas (the latter flows into the Ganges) are both navigable. The people of the Calingae are nearest to the sea; above them are the Mandei and the Malli, where Mt Mallus is located, and the border of this region is the Ganges (65). This river is reported by some to rise from an unknown source and to irrigate the neighbouring lands in the same way as the Nile, but by others it is said to rise in the Scythian mountains, and 19 other rivers flow into it; of these the following, in addition to those already mentioned, are navigable: Crenaccas, Eramnombovas, Casuagus, Sonus. Others say that it rises from its own spring with a tremendous noise and flows down through steep and rocky regions, until it finally reaches a level plain, where it spreads out into a lake; from there onwards it flows gently, with a minimum width of 8,000 paces, a medium range of 100 stades, and a depth of never fewer than 20 paces. The last nations that it passes are the Gandaridae and the Calingae, whose capital is called Pertalis (66). The king has 60,000 infantry, 1,000 horses and 700 elephants ready for war. 79

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Now the life of the more civilised people of India is conducted in several categories: some cultivate the land, others take on military activity, others export their own merchandise and import foreign goods, the best and wealthiest administer public affairs, give legal judgements and advise the kings. There is a fifth class (genus) dedicated to wisdom, which is highly honoured among them and treated almost as a religion; they end their lives with a voluntary death by ascending a blazing pyre. There is one additional class of half-savage people who are immersed in the heavy labour – from which the classes previously mentioned are kept away – of hunting and taming elephants. They use these for ploughing and for transport, and they are their most familiar working animals; from them they select war-animals according to strength, age and size (67). There is an island in the Ganges of considerable size, which contains a single people, by name Modogalinga. Beyond them are the Modubae, Molindae, Uberae (with their magnificent city of the same name), Modressae, Praeti, Calissae, Sasuri, Passalae, Colebae, Orumcolae, Abali, Thalutae. The king of the latter has an army of 50,000 infantry, 4,000 horse and 4,000 elephants. Next, the more powerful people of the Andarae, with numerous villages and 30 towns fortified with walls and towers, provides its king with 200,000 foot-soldiers, 2,000 horsemen and 1,000 elephants. The Dardae are highly productive of gold, the Setae of gold and silver (68). But of all the races in almost the whole of India, not just in this part, the Prasi are supreme in power and fame; they have an exceptionally large and wealthy city named Palibothra, after which some persons call this people, and even the whole region beyond the Ganges, Palibothri. The king of the latter maintains a permanent army of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 horse and 9,000 elephants, from which one may conjecture the extent of his wealth (69) [the next three sentences = F 7]. Further into the interior from these are the Monaedes and Suari, in whose territory lies Mount Maleus, on which the shadows fall to the north for six months in winter and to the south in summer. The northern stars appear in that region only once a year and only for 15 days, as Baeton tells us. Megasthenes says this occurs in several places in India. The Indians call the southern pole dramasa. The river Iomanes runs through the Palibothri lands into the Ganges between the cities of Methora and Chrisobora (70). In the region south of the Ganges the people are tanned by the sun to a brown colour, but not as black as the Aethiopians: the closer they get to the Indus, the deeper their tan. The Indus is located right beyond the people of the Prasii, in whose mountains there are said to be Pygmies. Artemidorus gives the distance between the two rivers as 2,100 miles. (71) The Indus, known as Sindus to the natives, arises in a range of the Caucasus, which is known as Paropanisus, towards the sunrise, and receives as tributaries 19 other rivers, of which the most famous are the Hydaspes, which brings along four others, the Cantaba with three, and the Acesinus and Hypasis, which are themselves navigable; but because of their relatively modest flow of water it is neither wider than 50 stades nor deeper than 15 paces; it forms one very large island, called Prasiane, and a smaller one called Patale (72). The river is navigable for a distance of 1,240 miles, according to the most restrained accounts, and issues 80

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into the Ocean after, as it were, accompanying the sun on its journey to the sunset. I will give the measurement from the coast to the Indus as I find it, although none of the measurements agree with each other. From the mouth of the Ganges to the promontory of the Calingae and the town of Dandaguda, 625 miles, to Tropina 1,225 miles, to the promontory of Perimula, where is to be found the most famous market in India, 750 miles, to the town on the island of Patala, which we mentioned on p. 36, 620 miles. (73) The mountain peoples between the Indus and the Iomanes are the Caesi, the forest-dwelling Caetriboni, then the Megallae, whose king has 500 elephants and an uncertain number of footmen and horsemen, the Chrysei, the Parasangae, the Asmagi, whose land is infested with wild tigers; they keep in arms 30,000 infantry, 300 elephants and 800 horsemen. These are bordered by the Indus and enclosed in a circle of mountains and by deserts. Beyond the deserts, 625 miles away, are the Dari, Surae, then more desert for 187 miles; these places are largely surrounded by sand in just the same way as islands are by the sea (74). Below these deserts are the Maltachorae, Singae, Maroae, Rarungae and Moruni. These peoples, who inhabit the long tract of mountains, which reaches to the Ocean, are free and not ruled by kings. Their numerous cities occupy the hills of the mountain chain. Next, the Nareae, who are bordered by the highest mountain of India, Capitalia: its inhabitants on the other side work extensive mines of gold and silver (75). After these come the Oratae, whose king has only ten elephants, but plentiful foot soldiers, the Suarattaratae, who have a king but are without elephants, and rely on infantry and cavalry, the Odonbaeorae, the Sarabastrae, with their beautiful city of Thorax, defended by marshy moats, in which crocodiles, eager to taste human flesh, prevent access except by a bridge. Another town of theirs is referred to, Automula, which stands on the bank of the confluence of five rivers, and has a famous market. Its king has 1,600 elephants, 150,000 infantry and 5,000 horsemen. The less wealthy king of the Charmae has 60 elephants and the rest of his forces are small (76). Next come the Pandae, the only realm in India ruled by women. They say that Hercules had only one child of the female sex, and because he favoured her he presented her with a fine kingdom; her descendants rule over 300 towns, 150,000 foot soldiers, and 500 elephants. After this series of 300 cities come the Derangae, Posingae, Butae, Gogaraei, Umbrae, Nereae, Brangosi, Nobundae, Cocondae, Nesei, Palatitae, Salobriasae, Orstrae, adjacent to the island of Patala; and from the extremity of this island to the Caspian gates they give a distance of 1,925 miles. (77) From this point the people who dwell on the Indus, in order as one travels upstream, are the Mathoae, Bolingae, Gallitalutae, Dimuri, Megari, Ardabae, Mesae, Abisari, Silae; then comes desert for 250 miles; after this has been crossed, come the Oranagae, Abortae, Brasuertae, then more desert of similar extent to the previous one. Then the Sorofages, Arbae, Marogomatrae, Umbritae and the Ceae, whose 12 tribes each possess two cities; the Asini, inhabitants of three cities; their capital is Bucephala, founded at the burial place of Alexander’s horse who bore that name (78). Mountain people below the Caucasus are the Sosaeadae 81

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and Sondrae; crossing the Indus and descending the other side are the Samarabiae, Sambraceni, Bisambritae, Orsi, Andiseni and the Taxilae with their famous city. Now the region descends into a plain, the name of the whole of which is Amendae, where there are four peoples, the Peucolitae, Arsagalitae, Geretae and Assoi. Many authorities do not set the boundary at the Indus, but add four further satrapies, the Gedrosi, Arachoti, Arii and Paropanisidae, with the ultimate border at the River Cophes; but others regard all this territory as belonging to the Arii (79). Some also include Mount the city of Nysa in India, and Mount Merus, sacred to Father Liber, from which arose the legend that he was born from the thigh of Jupiter. There are also the people of the Aspagani, whose land abounds in vines, olives, box and all the fruits that grow in Greece. There are almost fabulous reports of the fertility of the land and the kinds of fruits and trees, beasts and birds and other animals, some of which will be recorded in their proper places in the rest of this work (very soon in the case of the four satrapies); but at present our thoughts are hastening towards Trapobane. (80) But first come some other islands: Patale, which we have mentioned, at the mouth of the Indus, which is triangular in shape, 200 miles across; outside the mouth of the Indus are Chryse and Argyre, which as I believe are rich in metals, since I can scarcely believe what other writers have claimed, that they produce only gold and silver. Twenty miles from these is Crocala and 12 miles from that, Bibaga, full of oysters and shellfish; then Coralliba, eight miles from the last, and many others of no note. [F 15, Taprobane, follows]

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COMMENTARY ON BOOK I Geography and resources

F 1. Summary of geography, history and society This passage of Diodorus is the longest continuous account of India in any Greek or Roman writer apart from Chapters 1 to 17 of Arrian’s Indica. It was printed in full by both Schwanbeck and Jacoby as a ‘fragment’ of M.; A.B. Bosworth (1996a, 188) described it as ‘his digest of Megasthenes’ account of India’. This treatment has been readily accepted by most scholars, who adhere to the view that Diodorus’ method was to use only one source at a time, making a precis of each one he used in turn. For this passage he had M. open before him, and when he had reached the end he turned to another source. There is no doubt that most of the information in it goes back to M., but Charles Muntz (2012) has argued for a more discriminating and selective procedure by Diodorus, who for him was accustomed to use several sources at once to produce something like a collage of information. He has investigated the content and structure of the passage in detail and reached the conclusion that many pieces of information cannot be from M. since they disagree with other evidence for what M. wrote. Moreover, in certain places Diodorus overlaps with Strabo who gives his source as Eratosthenes; it is thus highly likely that much of Diodorus’ account is derived in the first instance from Eratosthenes. The latter of course was basing what he wrote largely on M. Diodorus’ discussion of the dimensions of India differs from that of Strabo, who cites M. and Eratosthenes as his sources: Muntz suggests Daimachus as a possible alternative source here. Diodorus’ account of the rivers differs from M.’s, and he mistakenly says that Alexander reached the Ganges. Bosworth admitted that the discussion of the Ganges must be ‘grafted on’ to the digest of M. Diodorus discusses the farmers twice, under ‘caste’ and at 2.36–37, so that if the first passage is derived from M., the second cannot be and so on. In what follows, I note these problematic passages. Nonetheless, it can still be maintained that in its overall structure Diodorus’ account reflects that of M., and indeed resembles the structure of many other ethnographic accounts written in the last three centuries BCE (see Stoneman (2019, 177–183), and the introduction to this volume). The remaining fragments in this volume are arranged on the assumption that M.’s book followed this order of topics. 85

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(35) On the dimensions of India see the note on F 3. On the shadows falling to the south, Strabo 2.5.37. Diodorus is close to M.’s info in Strabo 2.1.19–20, but his source could be Onesicritus or Nearchus: see Karttunen (1997, 125–128), Muntz (2012, 24I). Elephants: see Ff 37–39 for M.’s fullest data on elephants. (36) Bosporos. Elsewhere called bosmoron (F 11). Strabo 15.1.13 writes ‘in the rainy season, flax is sown, and millet; in addition to these, sesame, rice, bosmoron. In the winter seasons wheat, barley, pulse and other edible crops of which we have no experience’. Probably, ‘bulrush millet’ (Pennisetum glaucum) according to Dalby (2003, 219). Sen (2015, 17), calls this grain ‘pearl millet’ (Hindi bajri). For a survey of Indian pulses and grains, see Sen (2015, 14–20). ‘Heat ripens the roots’. The Greek verb is ἕψειν. Strabo 15.1.20 (= F 11) uses the same verb, explaining that the Indians use the term ‘to heat’ to mean ‘to ripen’. The use of the same verb in both writers suggest that each is here drawing on M. (37) Rivers. See F 8 for several accounts of the rivers of India. Hypanis: elsewhere called Hyphasis. See F 8–9. River Silla. Elsewhere called Silas. See F 10. The Gandaridae. Also called the Gangaridae: inhabitants of the Middle Ganges. It is the region where Candragupta established the Maurya kingdom. The proud boast that no foreign king has ever held sway over the Indians sounds rather like a Maurya party line, given that Candragupta in his youth saw the retreat of Alexander, and some years later made a treaty with Seleucus to define the boundaries of their empires. M. would have been in a position to absorb the party line as ambassador in Pataliputra and may in fact have been instrumental in negotiating the ‘Treaty of the Indus’ (Kosmin 2014, 32–38). See also F 13b. (38) Dionysus. See F 12 for Strabo’s version of this tradition, and F 13a and c for Arrian’s. Muntz (2012) noting the reference to Dionysus’ army, which is not in Arrian’s version, proposes that Arrian is therefore following Megasthenes, while Diodorus follows a different source. Given that both accounts are merely summaries of a longer predecessor, the inference seems risky. On the content of the myth, see Sulimani (2011). (39) ‘The inhabitants of the hill country’. That is around Nysa, which is perhaps Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Since M.’s experience of India was centred on the region further east, around Pataliputra, one must ask if Diodorus is hinting at a different source here. On the myth: Sulimani (2011, 268). Heracles. See F 12, 13 and 14 for other, fuller accounts of Heracles in India. No slavery. See F 30, and the commentary there. (40) ‘Seven Castes’. See F 28a and b: Arrian Ind. 11–12, Strabo 15.1.39–49. The discussion of the seven ‘divisions’ of Indian society has occasioned an enormous amount of discussion, on the assumption that Diodorus, and hence his source M., are discussing caste here. See my discussion in Stoneman (2019, 212–217). Strabo also uses the term meros here, while Arrian instead speaks of genos, literally a tribe or kind (at 1.73–74, speaking of Egypt, Diodorus uses the terms meros, meris and moira). Caste is a term of variable application: it translates varna, 86

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literally ‘colour’, which refers to the four castes Brahman, Kśātriya, Vaiśya and Śudra, and also jat, which denotes the very numerous occupational ‘castes’ into which the population is divided. Otto Stein did not believe that M. had talked to an Indian about the matter, but imposed the sevenfold division because Herodotus (2.164–168) had said there were seven population classes (genea) in Egypt. Singh (2009, 339) also sees the sevenfold division as M.’s own invention, while Falk (1991) ingeniously argued that M. was using an account of the taxation classes as outlined in Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra. Timmer (1930, 66–69) proposed that M. included elements of both varna and jat in his seven, while Thapar (1997, 62–63) argued that M. was speaking entirely about categories of production, jat, and muddled it with a recollection of the seven limbs of the body politic as described in the Arthaśāstra. We can safely say that this is not an account of the four castes, but of the main politico-social functions represented in the Maurya state. It is notable that the twelfth-century geographer Idrisi (I. 10.8–14) also asserts that Indian society is divided into seven castes (ajnās, plural of jins) (Ahmad 1960, 145–147). His immediate source is probably Ibn Khaldun, but the idea must be derived from some Arab author’s understanding of the Greek writer, perhaps via Strabo. However, the seven ajnās are not the same as M.’s: they are al-Sākhariya (?), al Barāhima (Brahman), al-K.satnaya (Kśātriya), al-Shudaya (Śudra), al-Fasiye (Vaisya) al-Sandāliya (Candala), al R.k.ba/al Dhumbiya (Dombas). Apart from the puzzling first, these are clearly the four varnas plus two extra classes of untouchables. It seems that Idrisi’s source had access to correct information but adapted it because M. had said there were seven ‘castes’. ‘The philosophers exempt from state service’. The Greek is hypourgia. ‘Called upon for sacrifice and rites of the dead’. This is predominantly the role of the Brahmans in present-day India: see Babb (1975, esp. 177–214), but nonBrahman religious practitioners are also widely involved. The complex situation is present-day Varanasi is described by Parry. Erroneous predictions. Strabo 15.1.39ff and Arrian Ind. 11 (= F 28a and b) specify that there have to be three erroneous predictions to incur this sanction. Farmers unharmed. So also in F 28. Cf. Diodorus’ ch. 36. Farmers pay rent to the king. All the Greek sources report that landowners pay a regular tribute to the king: Diodorus uses the term misthosis, Strabo misthos, Arrian phora. Diodorus adds that they pay one-quarter of their production (presumably). Diodorus says that all land belongs to the king and no private person may own land. This is clearly incorrect, since the law books contain many discussions of issues of possession ownership and title (Singh 2009, 491–492), and the notion of private property had certainly emerged by the sixth century BCE. The position is that, as Timmer (1930, 120–124) concludes, all land was notionally the king’s and this provided the basis for a form of taxation. The Katyayana Smriti (16) states that the king is owner of the soil and hence can claim one-fourth of the farmers’ produce: Sharma (2009, 162), cf. 124–125; the Laws of Manu (10.188) allows for the levying of a tribute of one-quarter in an emergency. So the king was lord of the land but not its owner. What M. reports chimes perfectly with the 87

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statement of the Katyayana Smriti. For a longer discussion and further references, see Stoneman (2019, 210–212). The third division. This time Diodorus uses the word phylon instead of meros. This could be translated as ‘set’ or perhaps ‘tribe’. Probably the variation is not significant. (41) The fifth division: soldiers. Strabo, characteristically, expands the idea of the peacetime leisure of the warriors with the suggestion that they spend a lot of time drinking. Inter-caste marriage. Now Diodorus uses the word genos. Marriage between varnas is discouraged in Hindu society, but the rigorous separation of the trades and professions seems to be an exaggeration of the position. (42) Elephants. See F 37, 38, 39. The gestation period of the elephant is now reckoned as between 620 and 680 days, close to 22 months. The period of suckling given by Diodorus is in accord with modern observation. Elephants generally live to about 60 or 70 years, but had a reputation in antiquity for great longevity (like some of the human inhabitants of India). Philostratus in his fictional Life of Apollonius (Vit. Ap.2.12) introduced an elephant named Ajax that had lived from Alexander’s day to that of Apollonius, about 350 years. The ‘exceptional’ way of mating Diodorus refers to is presumably the false supposition that elephants mate face to face, because the female’s vulva face forward and her breasts are positioned, like a human female’s, between her forelegs. As Diodorus says, elephants mate in the same position as other quadrupeds. See Wylie (2008, 55–56). For everything to do with ancient elephants, see Scullard (1974). Foreigners. Only Diodorus provides this information about the Indians’ care for foreign residents. Judges. Cf. F 35 and 36. See also Stoneman (2016a).

F 2. The geography of India On this subject see in general Cunningham (1871), Law (1954), Shastri (1996) and the map by Henry Yule in Smith (1875). Eratosthenes the geographer (ca. 285–ca. 203 BCE), who worked in Alexandria, drew on M. extensively for his account of India. See Roller (2010) for a translation of the fragments, and for further discussion Roller (2015, 121–135), also Kosmin (2017) for an interesting discussion of his assumptions. Caucasus. The ancients conceived the world as bisected by a continuous eastwest chain of mountains, comprising Taurus, Caucasus, Hindu Kush and Himalayas. The term Caucasus is used to refer the easterly extension of the range. South, north: Arrian refers to them by the wind-names, Apeliotes and Iapyx. Sibyrtius; Sandrocottus. Not much is known about the satrap of Arachosia (in office 325–316/5), but the implication is that M. was a member of his staff, until he was appointed to act as ambassador to Candragupta Maurya, presumably when the Treaty of the Indus was being negotiated in 305/4 BCE. Arrian’s sentence is ambiguous: it could mean ‘he frequently states that he travelled’ or ‘he states that 88

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he frequently travelled’. Brunt insists that the former is the only possible meaning, but there seems to be little point in Arrian’s drawing attention to his repetitiveness, and to state that he travelled to Pataliputra frequently, and therefore knew it well, is a much more significant statement. See the full discussion of this problem, and the following textual problem, and their implications, in the introduction. ‘The Greatest king of the Indians, and still greater than . . . Porus’ is a textual problem. For discussion of the implications of these words for M.’s date and the focus of his work, see Stoneman (2019, 131–135) and the Introduction to this volume. The Greek actually says ‘Candragupta, the greatest king . . . and Porus, who was still greater’. This is clearly nonsense, so the text is usually emended to the text I have translated. If the transmitted text is accepted, it refers to a time when Porus was a greater king than Candragupta, i.e. before the latter established the Maurya Empire. M. would thus be describing conditions in India about 319/8, before the death of Porus. This puts M.’s work about a decade earlier than is usually supposed, which fits with the fact that the remains we have of M.’s book are clearly describing a unified Indian state.

F 3. The dimensions of India Ancient writers on geography and ethnography regularly begin their accounts of a people or country with a physical description of the land. It seems likely that M. did the same, and hence these extracts form the first fragment of his description. Eratosthenes relied on M. for his information about India. The calculation of its extent is based on the determination of its boundaries – the sea to the east and south, the river Indus to the west and the mountain chain of the Himalayas to the north. This is similar to the modern political boundaries of India, though the ancients normally regarded what is now Pakistan as part of India and Afghanistan was ‘India Minor’. Pliny (NH 6.21.56) writes Hemodi montes adsurgunt Indorumque gens incipit. That is, India begins as you cross the mountain range, an orientation conceived as being as much east as south. The description of the country as rhomboid results from the fact that the southernmost point Cape Comorin was conceived as lying to the east. This error in understanding the shape of India persisted throughout antiquity: Ptolemy’s India is flattened in an easterly direction, since his co-ordinates were based on imperfect astronomical observations (cf. Jones 2011), and the distortion is even more extreme in the Tabula Peutingeriana. Renaissance editions of Ptolemy reproduce the same outline. The correct shape of India was not determined until the Portuguese began sailing to India at the end of the fifteenth century, using both a compass, on which portolan maps were based, and fresh astronomical observations. M.’s calculations of distance are not too far out. He gives the north side of India as 16,000 stades, roughly 1,800 miles or 3,000 km, which is approximately the distance from the mouth of the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges (Roller 2018, 850). The north-south extent of 22,300 stades corresponds to 2,534 miles, 89

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4,054 km, close to Pliny’s 2,850 Ṃ. (NH 6.21.57), while modern calculations give 3,000 km, 2,000 miles: the shortness of M.’s measurement contributes to the flattened shape of the map of India. Strabo, quoting Eratosthenes but ultimately deriving from M., gives the western side as 13,000 stades and the eastern side as 16,000 stades or 3,200 km/2,000 miles, which is roughly the distance from the mouth of the Indus to that of the Ganges (Roller 2018, 850). The notes in McCrindle (1926, 45–47) and Schwanbeck (1846, 29–30) contain much valuable material. Ancient geographers conceived of the oikoumene as divided by a mountain range that ran more or less directly from west to east, incorporating the Taurus, the Caucasus, the Hindu Kush (Paropamisus) and Pamirs and the Himalayas. Thus the whole could be referred to by a single name, Taurus or Caucasus, or the same range could be given different names, such as the doublets Emodos and Imaos (thus the Tabula Peutingeriana gives both names, Imeus attached to the long chain representing the Himalayas, and Lymodus much further south, in approximately the place where the Vindyas should be. It also has Paropamisus in a dislocated position north of Palibothra). The name probably derives from Skt. h(a)imavata, ‘snowy’: McCrindle (1926, 132). Strabo says that the distance from the west to Palibothra may be described more accurately because it has been measured with lines. It seems that a royal road, perhaps an extension of the famous royal road to Susa, reached as far as Palibothra (see comm. on F 35). It must have coincided to a great extent with the later Grand Trunk Road. This city always lay on a main west-east route passing through Mathura to the Ganges mouths (Srinivasan 1989, further reff). Alexander employed bematists to note the stages of their journey, with distances and other basic information. Such travellers’ logs formed the basis of most geographical accounts in antiquity: P. Janni (1984) has emphasised the dominance of the ‘hodological’ perspective over the cartographic in most ancient writers (though one must except Ptolemy from that generalisation). Koliakoi (Koniakoi). The mention of this obscure people must derive from M. They are not named in Varahamihira (Shastri 1996). Possibly the modern name Kerala is related. Ctesias. An important predecessor of M., Ctesias (FGrH 688) was a Greek doctor who spent 17 years at the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, returning to Greece in 398 BCE. He wrote books on Persica and Indica: the fragments of the latter are translated by Nichols (2011). His books contain many tall tales but probably reflect what he heard from his informants quite faithfully. On the other authorities cited by Arrian and Strabo, see the Introduction.

F 4. The Himalayas (‘Caucasus’) On the designation as Mt Taurus, see on F 3. Patala. Now Hyderabad, Pakistan.

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F 5. Controversy on the size of India Hipparchus. An astronomer of the second half of the second century BCE, who lived in Rhodes. He also wrote a treatise on geography, which was a polemic against the work of Eratosthenes, and made clear for the first time that reliable position of places on a map must depend on astronomical co-ordinates, not simply on surface distances and orientations. See Roller (2015, 131–133). Strabo took his work very seriously though he had some important disagreements and was unable to refrain from being scathing when he did disagree. See Dueck (2000, 57–58). Patrocles (FGrH 712). Under Seleucus (after 321 BCE) Patrocles governed the region from the Caspian to north-west India and explored the Caspian Sea; however, he wrote mistakenly that the Oxus and Jaxartes flowed into the Caspian, and also that it was possible to sail from the Caspian to India. Measurements of distance could be very variable because they depended essentially on journey times.

F 6. The size of India, again See on F 5 for the issues in question.

F 7. The northern stars Daimachus is right in so far as no part of India lies south of the equator, though in the map devised by Ptolemy, the equator ran further north, so that the southern part of Taprobane (Sri Lanka) lay in the southern hemisphere (Harley and Woodward I 1987, 184). However, between the tropics the direction of the shadows would vary according to the time of the year (Berggren and Jones 2000, 13). Eratosthenes’ criticism of Daimachus is thus probably misconceived, since the Tropic of Cancer (which is actually the ‘summer tropic’) runs through north central India: Strabo seems to have mistakenly written ‘winter’ for ‘summer’, though the mistake might be Daimachus’. It is the case that the Bears are not visible in southernmost India (8° north) (Dicks 1960, 126–127, 172–174), so M.’s statement is true, and what Daimachus says does not contradict him. Curtius Rufus 8.9.13 extravagantly claims that India has a southern hemisphere climate, so that it is covered with snow when it is warm in Europe, and vice versa. Monaedes and Suari. The latter are presumably the Saora tribe (and possibly Pliny’s Sabarrae), and the Monaedes may be the Munda. McCrindle (1926, 51) cites Cunningham (1871, 508–509) for these identifications. André and Filliozat decline to identify them. On the tribes of India in Pliny see Appendix. Mt Maleus. No such mountain is to be found in India, but André and Filliozat (2003, 99) suggest that the name corresponds to the Tamil word for a mountain, Malai. They further suggest a connection to Ptolemy’s Maleoukolon (Geog. 7.2.5), a cape in the Golden Chersonese, which they identify with a cape at the foot of a mountain in Sumatra. This region was known by the second century BCE (in the Periplus Maris Erythraei), and to Roman traders, but not in M.’s time.

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Baeton is one of the ‘bematists’ who accompanied Alexander to record the distance travelled. The same information is given by Solinus, 52.13 (deriving from Pliny).

F 8. Rivers It is not clear what M. meant by saying the Ganges is ‘large at its source’. The Ganges rises from a glacier about 18 km from the village of Gangotri, Uttarakhand, and emerges from the mountains at Hardwar. McCrindle (1926, 62–63) reproduces some interesting details about its course. Of the many tributaries of the Ganges mentioned by Arrian (from M.) not all can be identified, and none appears in recognisably similar form in Ptolemy. Cossoanus is probably Pliny’s Casuagus (see p. 93), Skt. Kauśikī. The Erannoboas represents the Indian name Hiranyabahu, ‘the golden-armed’. This is an alternative name for the Son, and Sir William Jones was able to use the identification to fix the site of ancient Pataliputra, which lies where the Son used to join the Ganges in antiquity (the junction is now further west). This means that M.’s listing of the Son as another tributary is a doublet arising from confusion because of the two names. M.’s comparison of the width of the Ganges to that of the Maeander (in western Turkey) may be a hint of the writer’s place of origin. See also McCrindle (1927, 97–99). Condochates: probably Gaṇḍakī, modern Gaṇḍak: Sircar (1971, 51). The tributaries of the Indus are the Punjab rivers: Hydraotes (Skt. Iravati, now Ravis); Hyphasis (in some writers Hypanis; Skt. Vipasa, now Beas); Acesines (Skt. Candrabagha or Asikni, now Chenab); M. does not mention here the Zaradrus/Hesidrus (Skt. Śatadru, now Sutlej), which flows into the Hyphasis. Brunt’s note on the passage in the Loeb Arrian (II. 316–317) discusses various proposed explanations for the omission, the simplest being that Alexander’s army never crossed the Sutlej. The Cophen (Skt. Nadistuti, now Kubha or Kabul), Soastus (now Swat) and Garoias (Panjkora) are not Punjab rivers but do flow into the Indus. The remaining rivers cannot be easily identified. Arrian gives another account of the Indus tributaries at Anabasis 6.14.5. The Attacenae (elsewhere Assaceni) were located in the region of Peucelaotis/ Peucelaitis (Skt. Puśkalavati, now Charsadda). The Sydracae are the Kśudrakas, known to the Alexander historians as the Oxydracae, the Malli are the Malava people: see map. (b) The letter of Craterus (FGrH 153 F 2) cited by Strabo is the only statement that Alexander reached the Ganges. It is possible that Craterus was sent on a scouting party that reached the upper stretches of the Ganges, at the time when Alexander reached the kingdom of Phegeus, probably at Phagwara, east of Jalandar; the latter certainly provided Alexander with information about the terrain beyond the Indus to the Ganges. See Stoneman (2019, 67). Strabo characteristically rejects what purported to be the report of an eyewitness about the dimensions of the Ganges, the monsters on the banks were presumably crocodiles (gharials, Lacerta gangetica, differing in appearance from the mugger crocodiles, Crocodylus 92

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palustris, of the Indus, which are similar to the more familiar Nile crocodiles, Crocodylus niloticus). (c) This passage of Pliny is also included in the Appendix to this book. The rivers Prinas, mentioned only by Pliny, and Cainas may be the Parṇāśā and Ken though these are actually tributaries of the Yamuna. McCrindle (1927, 97–98) quotes Yule for the suggestion that the Prinas is the Punpun, which joins the Ganges just west of Patna. Calingae: the inhabitants of Kalinga, on the southern coast of Odisha. The Battle of Kalinga (265 BCE), in which Aśoka was victorious, was the occasion of his renunciation of warfare and violence and adoption of Buddhism. See Sircar (1971, 91). Mandaei: probably Mandalai of Ptol. Geog 7.1.72. Malli. These are not the Malavas of the Indus referred to by Arrian (a), but a Nepalese people, the Malla, known from Buddhist texts. The mountain then would be Malla(giri) in the Himalayas. This identification by André and Filliozat (2003, 93) does not take account of their identification of Mt Maleus in F 7 (Pliny) with a more southerly peak, and the derivation of the name from Tamil word for a mountain, malai. Sircar (1971, 46) n. 1 notes that there are seven regions in India called Malava. One of them, Malayāla, in southern India, north of Kerala, is discussed by Sircar (1971, 95). Another, Mālava, north of the Godavari: Sircar (1971, 98). The Erannombovas is presumably the same as Arrian’s Erannoboas (see p. 61) and therefore also the same river as the Son. Casuagus is probably Arrian’s Cossoanus, Skt. Kauśikī. Pliny’s account of the source of the Ganges is tolerably accurate; the dimensions vary from one author to another, but the medium breadth of 100 stades is consistent with Arrian’s report based on M. Gandaridae: the people of the lower Ganges, in Bengal. Ptol. Geog. 7.1.81. See Sircar (1971, 213–224). Pertalis the capital of the Calingae is usually identified with Tosalī.

F 9. Megasthenes’ knowledge of India These sentences do not add much to the information in the previous fragment. Arrian is of course right that M. did not see the whole of India: his experience was largely confined to the region of Magadha, where Pataliputra is situated; that means that he travelled some 1,500 km further east than Alexander. Whether he visited other parts of India or went south, we do not know though he has surprisingly full information about Taprobane.

F 10. The River Silas The same information about this river is given by Diodorus (F 1: 2.37) and by an anonymous author (Boissonade, Anecdota Graeca I., p. 419), probably deriving from Strabo’s account. McCrindle mentions an Indian source for the same tale, 93

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that the river turns everything to stone and nothing floats in it. The name may be an equivalent of Skt. Saras, with metathesis of l/r; but Salila is also one of the 108 names of the Ganges (Stoneman 2019, 32). However, a persuasive identification is with the mythical Indian River Śailodā, which flows between Mt Meru and Mt Mandara in the northern (Hyperborean) land of Uttarakuru: Rāmāyana 4.43.37 (White 1991, 122–123). Mahābhārata 2.48.1 refers to this river with its ‘pleasing shade of bamboo and cane’; its kings bring gifts to the Yudhiṣthira including the gold ‘which is granted as a boon by the pipilika ants’. M. knew about these ants, too: see F 23; so both pieces of information may have come from the same source. The Silaioi people are not mentioned elsewhere. Democritus of Abdera (ca. 460–385 BCE), the philosopher, had the reputation of having travelled widely in Asia, including Babylonia and Persia, and also to Egypt (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers 9.7): ‘some say that he associated with the Naked Philosophers in India’. Laertius lists a great many titles of books by Democritus, ranging from physics and mathematics to ethics and the arts. There is no knowing in which of these he might have mentioned the River Silas. Nor do we know where Aristotle touched on the topic.

F 11. The fertility of India Strabo gives rather similar information about India in 15.1.13, where he seems to be drawing mainly on Eratosthenes (F 74 Roller, IIIB12 Berger): it is because of the rising of vapours from these rivers and the Etesian winds, as Eratosthenes says, that India is inundated by summer rains and the plains become lakes. At the time of the rains, flax and millet are sown, and in addition sesame, rice and bosmoron [cf. F 1, Diodorus 2.36.]. In the winter season there are wheat, barley, pulse and other edible crops unused by us. (tr. D. Roller) Many kinds of roots are eaten in tribal areas of India, even now as is shown by von Fürer-Haimendorf (1982, 7) (with illustration), and so is ‘the sago-like pith of the caryota palm’ (ibid. 8). ‘Some trees blossom with wool’. Pliny NH 12.13.25 describes ‘the tree from which they make linen for clothing’, which ‘resembles a mulberry by its leaves, but the calyx of its fruit is like that of a dog-rose’. Several trees of India produce pods that burst open when ripe and scatter cotton-like fibres and seeds in the wind: the fibres can be used in the same way as regular cotton. These are the floss-silk tree (Ceiba speciosa), which has pink flowers, the white floss-silk tree (Ceiba insignis) and the semal (Bombax ceiba), which has red flowers. A correspondent informs me that in some parts of India the silk-cotton tree is known as semal. However, these trees have compoundly palmate leaves, not at all like a mulberry, though the general size and shape of the tree are similar. See Krishen (2006, 209–213). 94

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Pliny NH 5.1.14 also reports a North African tree, the leaves of which are covered with ‘a thin downy floss, so that with the aid of art a dress-material like that obtained from the silkworm can be made from them’.

F 12. Dionysus and Heracles These two passages were not included by Jacoby among the fragments of M., except for the preceding paragraph (6) of the Strabo passage (= F 13, 46 S, 12 J); however, he admitted the remainder of the Strabo passage in his Anhang of otherwise unplaceable fragments about India. It would seem that, to pronounce these stories authentic, M. must have recounted them in some form, so I take our two authors to be paraphrasing M. here. Euripides: Bacchae 13–17. Sophocles: F 959. The poet: i.e. Homer, Iliad 6.132. Nysa. It was here that Alexander first developed the idea that he was following in the god’s footsteps. Dionysus was said to be worshipped in a place called Nysa in Ethiopia (Hdt. 3.97), and at (presumably) Indian Nysa by Sophocles (see pp. 39–40). Dionysus was conceived as having set the boundaries of the civilised world (and brought civilisation to the east: Arrian, this fragment), though this idea first becomes prominent in Q. Curtius’ History of Alexander (3.10.5, 9.4.21). It was Alexander’s mission to go beyond those limits. Following Alexander’s Indian conquests, historians including Cleitarchus began to describe Dionysus as a conqueror of India, a development, which reached its apogee in Nonnus’ long poem about the campaign, Dionysiaca. As for Alexander, the coincidence of the name Nysa and of Mt Meros, which seemed to echo the Greek word for ‘thigh’, since Dionysus had been born from Zeus’ thigh, combined with their experience of the vegetation of the place – ivy and vines, familiar in Greece but rare in the east, and both associated with Dionysus – to suggest that this was a holy place of Dionysus. It is also possible that they encountered the Indrakun festival which takes place in Kafir lands in November or January, which involved a dancer dressed as a horned goat, behaving lewdly, while wine was pressed and drunk (Carter 1992, 2015, 355–376; Karttunen 1989, 210–219). This would seem to the Greeks and Macedonians to be a Dionysiac festival. The parallel is almost inescapable, as G.O. Trevelyan (in 1864) found on observing another Hindu festival: If it had not been for the colour of the faces around, I should have believed myself to be on the main road to Eleusis in the full tide of one of the Dionysiac festivals. The spirit of the scene was the same, and at each step some well-known feature reminded one irresistibly that the Bacchic orgies sprung from the mysterious fanaticism of the Far East.1 1 The passage is quoted at greater length in Stoneman 2019, 97. See also Stoneman (2021).

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The Sudracae: Elsewhere Oxydracae, Skt. Kśudrakas. Aornos. The legend of Heracles’ attack on this rock seems to have been invented, as Eratosthenes was aware, by those around Alexander, to flatter him. Stoneman (2019, 86–87). Sibae. This people were located west of the Acesines, below the junction with the Hydraotes (McCrindle 1901, 14). Shastri (1996, 92) places Sibipura at Shorkot, east of the Acesines, but notes that the sixth-century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian places this people in the Swat Valley. Prometheus. On the definition of ‘Caucasus’ see F 3c and F 4. Prometheus was chained to a rock in the Caucasus by Zeus as punishment for the theft of fire which he gave to mortals, as told in ‘Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. Once the companions of Alexander had decided that Heracles had come to the Hindu Kush (Paropamisus), it was natural to suppose that one of his reasons for coming there was to release Prometheus from his bonds as the legend told. Diodorus on Dionysus. Diodorus’ account of Dionysus in Book 3 of his history is not entirely consistent with his account in Book 2 (= F 1). There, Dionysus is the conqueror of India; here, he is an Indian. His birth in India, at Nysa, is consistent with what Strabo recounts in F 12a: can we therefore assume that what he writes here is drawn from M., while the story of conquest in Book 2 is from another source, such as Cleitarchus or Duris of Samos? However, the accounts seem to converge in the rest of this passage, regarding Dionysus as a bringer of cultivation of the vine, though in Book 2 he introduces cultivation of all crops, as well as religion and law, and becomes the founder of a dynasty. Polyaenus (second century CE, author of a book on military stratagems) is one of the most explicit sources for Dionysus as a military leader, a subject which provided the theme of the lost Hellenistic epic Bassarica of Dionysius (first century CE?), as well as the extant 48 books of Nonnus’ Donysiaca (fifth century CE). See Benaissa (2018), Stoneman (forthcoming a). The use of wine to make the enemy drunk was also referred to by Duris of Samos FGrH 76 F 27 (fourth– third century BCE) and picked up by Nonnus D. 14.411–415.86, 25.278–299, 39.40–43: for some further allusions see Benaissa (2018, 194–195). The ‘triplepeaked mountain’ is not referred to elsewhere, and though Meros is often referred to, the other two peaks are not named elsewhere. The bombardment from a height may possibly recall the story about the stone-rolling monkeys referred to by Aelian (F 16). Amazons do not normally figure in Dionysus’ army and are explicitly contrasted with his Bassarids in Nonnus D. 20.198. Alexander, however, according to the Alexander Romance, enlisted the Amazons as allies (and subordinates) in his march to the east (AR 3.26) and this legend may lie behind the story here. The River Saranges is not otherwise identifiable, though the name resembles that of the mythical River Stranga in the AR (but this is not in Bactria).

F 13. Dionysus and Heracles as civilisers The information that the Indians never made or repelled any foreign army is also given by Strabo. 96

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Cyrus’ conquest of India. Strabo refers again at 15.2.5 to the alleged expeditions of Cyrus and Semiramis to India, from which the queen returned with only 20 men and Cyrus with 7. It is unlikely that Cyrus conquered India though he did campaign in Central Asia, which could include Bactria; Strabo refers to his expedition against the Massagetae, an east Iranian tribe living east of the Caspian Sea, a few lines below. According to Xenophon (Cyropaedia 1.1.4), Cyrus ruled India. In fact, some parts of India were probably included in the Achaemenid empire by the end of the reign of Darius, whose inscriptions at Persepolis refer to Indian and Bactrian subjects; Josephus AJ 11.33 refers to Indian toparchs at Darius’ court. Herodotus 3.94 includes ‘India’ (probably meaning the Punjab and Sind) as the 20th satrapy; he also tells us that Xerxes’ army in 480 BCE included Indians, though they may have been mercenaries rather than subjects. Belief that ‘India’ had been part of the Achaemenid Empire may have been a prime motivation for Alexander’s expedition there. See also Chattopadhyaya (1974), Briant (2002, 139–140), Stoneman (2019, 37) for a summary. Alexander’s emulation of his predecessors is probably also the origin of the story that the legendary Assyrian queen Semiramis made an expedition to India. Diodorus 2.16.2–4 is the earliest evidence for this expedition; in Herodotus (1.184) she is chiefly remembered as a great builder. Cf. Sulimani (2011, 61). At 2.20.2, Diodorus refers to her as ‘queen over all Asia with the exception of India’ and in the next sentence gives his source for his account of her career as Ctesias. The Indian expedition must therefore come from a different source; one is inclined to surmise one of the flatterers of Alexander. Sesostris the semi-legendary Egyptian Pharaoh also known as Sesoosis or Sesonchosis, was said by Herodotus 2.110 to have conquered Scythia, and by Diodorus (1.55.3–4) to have conquered India ‘up to the Ocean’. His story is loosely based on the career of the 12th Dynasty Pharaoh Senwosret III; he was the subject of a Hellenistic novel in which, like Alexander, he travelled to the ends of the earth: see Trnka-Amrhein (2018). As Sesonchosis, he plays a significant role in the Alexander Romance; at 2.31 (gamma recension) Alexander comes upon an inscription of the Pharaoh proclaiming that no one may go beyond this point: ‘Here I, Sesonchsosis, ruler of the world, turned back and departed this life’. Though this episode appears only in the late gamma recension (and thereafter in the Byzantine epsilon as well as the early modern Phyllada), visions of Sesonchosis occur in the Romance version at the beginning and end of Alexander’s career: 1.33 (Alexandria) and 3.24 (the Cave of the Gods). It is quite likely that the exploits of Alexander and their contemporary celebration influenced the development of his legend as a world-conqueror. Tearco (Taharka). Taharka (25th Dynasty) was the son of the Nubian Piye who conquered Egypt: he ruled from 690 to 664 BCE. Much of his reign was occupied with wars against the Assyrians. This passage is the only one that makes reference to his entering Europe, and is probably fictional. It may reflect Alexander’s ‘Last Plans’ for further conquests: Stoneman (2019, 132). 97

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Nabuchodonosor. Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 BCE). Though his conquest of Jerusalem is well known, he is not otherwise known to have entered Europe, let alone reached Gibraltar (the Pillars of Heracles). M. may have connected the Assyrians with the Asuras, opponents of the Aryan invaders of India (Stoneman 2019, 148). Idanthyrsus. In about 513 BCE, Darius I made an expedition up the west shore of the Black Sea to attack this king: Hdt. 4.92–142; the king is named at 126–127. See also Strabo 7.3.8 and 14. The Hydracae are probably the people elsewhere called Sudracae or Oxydracae, Skt. Kśudrakas. (c) The reference to Nebuchadnezzar is also attributed by Josephus (AJ 10.227 = F 1 and 3 (Δ) J) to Book 4 of M.’s book. As this is the only indication that M.’s Indica contained more than three books, this was emended by Jacoby to Book 1 (A instead of Δ). I believe this is correct, as it fits naturally in the narrative of India’s ancient past. (d) 118 tribes. The number of tribes in India, then and now, is very large, and they speak a number of different languages: see for example, Russell (1916). FürerHaimendorf (1982) describes a few of them, and others have been studied in books by Verrier Elwin; see also Fuchs (1973). Pliny NH 6.56–80 lists (by my count) some 95 tribes and related toponyms: see Appendix. Arrian’s scepticism about the exact number is well-taken, but there seems no reason to suppose that M. did not collect 118 tribal names from his informants. Nomadism. The Scythians were a nomadic tribe of Central Asia, Hdt. 4.11. Herodotus describes their religious shrines and practices at 4.62: they were not altogether without religious sites. M. seems to be describing the condition of tribal India before the ‘Aryan invasion’, represented by the arrival of Dionysus. This supposedly historical event, placed in about the ninth century BCE (Parpola 2015), is much contested in scholarship, but it is based on the self-perception of Hindu Brahmans vis-à-vis the indigenous tribes or dasas. The Ṛg Veda reflects a society of horse-riding warriors led by the storm god Indra, who wears a beard, carries a mace and is a lusty consumer of the sacred drink soma. The god could thus (to a Greek observer) combine some features characteristic of both Dionysus and Heracles, and he is not only a civilising conqueror but also a killer of monsters. There is, however, no archaeological evidence for such an invasion, and it may be better to regard the emergence of the Aryans as a power shift among indigenous populations (Allchin 1995), possibly following the drying up of the River Sarasvati, on which the Indus Civilisation depended, in the third millennium BCE. The main observable changes are the use of horses (not present in the Indus Civilisation) and the differentiation of the dominant Aryans from the rest by their lighter skin colour. For a general survey of the period see Singh (2009, 182–255), and the brief summary in Stoneman (2019, 147–149). By the end of the period, the Vedic culture was dominant in north-west India (the part that Alexander visited), but less prevalent in the remainder of India. M.’s 98

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informants in Pataliputra were presumably drawn from the educated Brahman class that advised the king and his presentation will reflect their self-perception. Dionysus in M.’s description therefore in some respects stands for Indra, the preeminent Vedic god. But this does not mean that every time a Greek author mentions Dionysus, they are referring to Indra! The use of cymbals and drums and dance in his cult, as well as the long hair, turbans and perfumes, are M.’s observation of the practices around him but interpreted in Greek terms. The placing of this Dionysus as the bringer of civilisation to India seems to have been the mainspring of the Hellenistic perception of Dionysus (and Heracles) as world culture-heroes. The process of this idea is tracked by Sulimani (2011). The details of the dress and diet of the tribal inhabitants is not dissimilar to that of present-day tribes: the eating of bark probably refers to the edible sago-like pith of the katyota palm, Fürer-Haimendorf (1982, 8). Wine was not much drunk in India outside the north-west; in Bactria, even distilling equipment has been found: Carter (2015, 159–161). The parenthesis about the relative chronology of the arrival of Dionysus and the mission of Triptolemus (familiar from Homeric Hymn to Demeter 143–158) may be an aside by Arrian rather than due to M. himself. The succession of kings after Dionysus, as well as partial change to a more democratic forms of government, corresponds broadly to Diodorus’ account F 1: see also 9.9 in this passage of Arrian. Spatembas and Cradeuas are not otherwise identifiable, by the name of the former’s son, Boudyas, prompts one to speculate whether M. had heard of the Buddha, though his role in this genealogy has nothing to do with his historical career. Methora and Cleisobora. Methora is the present-day city of Mathura, between Delhi and Agra, on the River Yamuna (M.’s Iomanes) the birthplace of Kṛṣṇa, but there may be some confusion with Madurai in south India here. Cleisobora: Various identification have been proposed: Stoneman (2019, 28 with 192). My preference is for the view that it represents Keśavapūra, ‘city of the Lord’, a district of present-day Mathura. Heracles and Pandaea. It is a mistake to try to identify Heracles in the Greek authors with any single Indian god, though many scholars have attempted it. McCrindle (1926, 37) assumes that M. ‘means’ Śiva. Dahlquist (1962) argued for Indra, but Karttunen (1989, 210 ff.) rejected his view, and his book has been heavily criticised for false assumptions. In some cases, it seems that Heracles connotes the god Kṛṣṇa (Stoneman 2019, 87), but this identification cannot be universalised. If Heracles were to be identified with Indra, there is a problem in finding a candidate to match Pandaea in this story. This has led to much speculation in the literature. Dahlquist 111–112 cited ṚV 10.61.5, one of many stories in the ṚV concerning the incest of an unnamed god with his daughter, but none of them is a story about the origin of a race of queens. J. Filliozat (1980) proposed a connection with a story of the king of the southern Mathura who married a daughter of Śurasena: he offers a sacrificial fire to be blessed with a son, but in the fire there appears a girl of three years old, who is given the name of Panti, or Tatatakai. Panti 99

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is the ancestor of the people of Pandaea, but she is not the spouse of the king of Mathura. There may be more mileage in the proposal of S.R. Goyal (2000, 75–79), that Heracles here stands for Manu, the first man and the establisher of sacrifice. After escaping from the Great Flood, he had sexual relations with his daughter and thus procreated the human race. In the later Purāṇas, Manu is the lord of the Dravida country, that is south India, where the Pandya kingdom lay, and he is said to have flourished 135 generations before Candragupta Maurya, which is very close to Megasthenes’ figure of 138 generations. The connection of Manu with Madurai (Mathura) in south India, the capital of Pandaea, and that of Kṛṣṇa with Mathura in north India may have strengthened M.’s inclination to identify Heracles in both places. A point not made by Goyal is that in the Laws of Manu (9.84) there is a provision that a man of 30 should marry a girl of 12, and a man of 24 should marry a girl of eight. I discussed the whole matter at greater length, and reviewed some more unconvincing theories, in Stoneman (2019, 192–197). Pliny NH 6.76 also refers briefly to the story of Pandaea: see Appendix. Arrian’s account of Heracles is interrupted here by an account of pearl-fishing, which I give as F 17. From Dionysus to Sandrocottus. If Dionysus was 15 generations earlier than Heracles, there were 138 generations between the latter and Candragupta, as noted above. The same information is given by Pliny NH 6.21–60 = F 13e. M. presumably drew his information from Brahmanic king-lists of the kind that were later codified in written form in the Purāṇas. However, there is no exact match with the latter since they give 113 kings from Viṣṇu to Candragupta: Sethna (1989, 124). On the absence of military expeditions outside India, and invasions of India, see also F 1 and F 13c and e. (e) Dionysius. FGrH 717. Solinus 52.3 repeats Pliny’s information. His account of Dionysus’ invasion of India was also mentioned by a scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 2.904/10a (= F 1).

F 14. Pandaea Polyaenus’ account of Pandaea adds the information that her kingdom was divided into 365 villages, which sounds like pure legend or folktale, well integrated into the rest of her story. Phlegon’s reference makes the girls even younger at puberty but the information is the same.

F 15. Taprobane Sri Lanka, Skt. Tāmrapaṇṇī, Pali Tambapaṇṇi. The idea that this island was ‘another world’ is found in Pomponius Mela 3.70 and repeated by Solinus (53) in a chapter, which derives entirely from Pliny’s account. Alexander’s expedition never went near Sri Lanka, despite Solinus’ claim that Onesicritus was sent to investigate the island. On the size of the elephants of Sri Lanka, see also Strabo 15.1.14. André and Filliozat suggest that Palaeogoni represents Skt. *Palaiyakāṇaṃ, with a 100

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similar meaning of ‘the ancient ones’, preferable to Lassen’s view that he referred to a race of giants, or Schwanbeck’s conjecture (1846, 38 n. 35, translated by McCrindle 1926, 60–61) that it represents Pali-jānas, ‘men of the sacred doctrines’. Eratosthenes probably derived his information from M. (Roller 2010, 180). An important general study is Weerakkody (1997). The dimensions of the island are given as 5,000 stades long (Onesicritus F 12 in Strabo 15.1.15, without a breadth), 5,000 × 3,000 (Strabo 2.1.14), representing 787 × 472 km. The actual dimensions are 435 × 230 km (approximately 271 × 137 miles). Pliny’s would be equivalent to 1,102 × 787 km. Aelian NA 16.17 states that there are 750 villages, and it is likely that Pliny’s text should be emended to give the same number (DCCL for DCC). The distance from the mainland is approximately 100 km at its nearest point. Onesicritus F 12) gave the figure of 20 days’ sailing, Eratosthenes (F 74 Roller = Strabo 15.1.14) that of seven. Pliny is presumably drawing on the latter writer, whose residence in Egypt would have given him access to the data about papyrus boats and not on M. at this point. What Pliny says about the capacity of the ships seems to reflect Roman experience: but 2,000 was already a cargo for a very large ship (André-Filliozat ad loc.). On the visibility of the Seven Stars (Great Bear) see comm. on F 7. (b) Aelian’s account of Taprobane is very full. His account of the wildlife, though it revels in the exotic, is not too difficult to square with reality, particularly if his information came from M., who in turn was relying on what other people told him about the creatures. Turtles. Aelian’s data about the turtles seems to reprise what he said about Ganges turtles in 16.14. Of the sea turtles, the largest is the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), which can reach up to 7 feet (2 metres) in length, while the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) reaches 3–5 feet (1–1.5 metres). Probably, the leatherbacks (now endangered) would be the providers of these shells used as roofs, or as boats by the Turtle-eaters of the Persian Gulf (Pliny NH 6.28.109, Strabo 16.4.14, etc); but their shells are leathery, not rock-hard. See Kitchell (2010, 187). Idrisi I. 8.9–10 (Ahmad 1960, 25) refers to two kinds of sea turtles but mentions no artefacts larger than combs. See also Ahmad (1960, 131). (18) Elephants. See Ff 37–39 for the bulk of M.’s information about elephants. Kalinga is a region in the present state of Odisha, and does not lie opposite Sri Lanka, but considerably further north. See in general Brandtner (2001). Sea Monsters. Pliny NH 9.2.7 has a similar account of sea-creatures ‘resembling sheep’ that emerge from the sea to graze on the roots of bushes on land: he mentions them directly after the account by Alexander’s admirals (sc. Nearchus and Onesicritus) of the Gedrosi who build their houses and their doorways out of the bones and jaws of huge sea-creatures. The origin of the account of the sea monsters may also therefore be from one of these authors. Pliny does not mention the creatures with faces of women, and Aelian seems to make a distinction between the spiny ‘mermaids’ and the amphibious creatures. Otto Keller’s identification of the latter with the dugong has generally been accepted: these marine 101

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mammals inhabit coastal waters and feed on submerged grasses. Dugongs may also be the originals of the mermaids: they suckle their young at nipples near the axilla of each front flipper. See Kitchell (2010, 62), with further references. Dolphins. The two kinds of dolphins are somewhat problematic. The gentle dolphin is probably the Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) (Kitchell 2010, 55), while the savage dolphin may in fact be a river dolphin, of which there are two species in Indian waters: both have interlocking teeth, which are visible even when the beak is closed and give them an unfriendly appearance. Strabo (15.1.72), Quintus Curtius (8.9.9) and Pliny (NH 9.17.46) refer to freshwater dolphins in India: Pliny’s name for these is Platanista, the modern scientific name for the river dolphin, but he exaggerates their size, making them 18 cubits (24 feet) long, about three times their maximum size. See Kitchell (2010, 57). (19) Sea-hare. The ‘one described earlier’ is normally identified with a sea-slug, Aplysia depilans, a poisonous mollusc: referred to by Aelian at HA 2.45 and 9.51. The sea-hare referred to in this passage is probably a spiny Globe-fish (Diodon); its poisonous quality is mentioned by Pliny NH 9.155, cf. 32.8. Linnaeus gave the name Lagocephalus (hare-head) to a member of the allied species Tetraodon (puffer fish). See Thompson (1947, 142–144). (22) Sciratae. These may be identified with the Kirāta of Sanskrit literature, whose flat Mongoloid features characterise in particular the Nagas of north and north-east India. The name may survive in the present-day Kiranti of eastern Nepal. They are also called Kirradai in the Periplus 62 (‘a race of wild men with flattened noses’) and in Ptolemy Geog. 7.2.2, and they appear on the Tabula Peutingeriana XII B 4/5 as Cirribe Indi. Pliny NH 7.2.25: ‘Megasthenes tells of a race among the nomads of India that has only holes in the place of nostrils, like snakes, and bandy-legged; they are called the Sciritae’. But Pliny 6.21.64 also has the Chirotosagi, perhaps meaning ‘mountain people’ (André and Filliozat ad loc.). Strabo 15.1.57 also mentions these people as ‘noseless ones’; Pliny NH 7.2.25 puts the Mouthless Ones in the same region, further to the east; on the latter see on F 24. Manu 10.44 refers to Kirātas among groups which have declined in caste status, along with Puṇḍrakas, Coḍas, Dravidas, Kāmbojas, Yavanas (‘Greeks’), Śakas (Scythians), Pāradas, Pāhlavas (Persians), Cīnas (Chinese) and Daradas (Dards). The Rāmāyana, Sarga 39, 23–27 (vol. 4, 141–142 in the Princeton translation by Roslaind Lefeber 1994) refers to the Kirātas among those who dwell in Mt Mandara: the Karṇaprāvaranas and the Oṣṭhakarṇakas, and the terrible Lohamukkhas, and the swift one-legged men, and the strong, imperishable maneating men, and the handsome golden-limbed Kirātas with ear-ornaments, and the terrible Kirātas known as tiger-men who live on islands, eating raw fish and moving through the waters; compare McCrindle (1926, 177–178). They thus combine the features of several of the ‘monstrous races’: see F 24 and n. 102

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Goatsuckers, aigothelai. Also known as the nightjar, Caprimulgus europaeus. See Aelian HA 3.39. Their bloodsucking propensity is fictional.

F 16. The kartazon Strabo 15.1.56 (F 72b J) says that M. mentions ‘horses with one horn and the head of a deer’. In the preceding sentence, Strabo also refers to the stone-rolling monkeys as a subject covered by M.; as Aelian also describes the stone-rolling monkeys in the chapter following the kartazon (21), it is likely that all of this passage of Aelian is drawn from M.: it was accepted by Schwanbeck (F 15b) but excluded by Jacoby. Karttunen (1997, 185) accepts it as from M. Ctesias (F 45) has an even more exotic description of what is clearly the same animal: There are wild asses in Indian the size of horses and even bigger. They have a white body, crimson head, and deep blue eyes. They have a horn in the middle of their brow one and a half cubits in length. The bottom part of the horn is bright white. The tip is sharp and deep vermilion in colour, while the rest in the middle is black. They say that whoever drinks from the horn (which they fashion into cups) is immune to seizures and the holy sickness and suffers no effects from poison. The name kartazon resembles medieval Persian karkadann, which is the name of a mythical unicorn-like creature; but it is also the word for a rhinoceros. It probably represents a Sanskrit word something like khadgadanta, ‘sword-tooth’. Al-Biruni describes the karkadann in almost the same terms as Aelian (Sachau 1910, I. 204). All these passages are likely to be referring to the rhinoceros, which was widely distributed in India (Alexander’s men saw them in the north-west: Curt. 8.9.17 and 9.1.1) though they are now close to extinction in India except in the Brahmaputra valley: Enright (2008, 139–143). Babur also described rhinoceroses in detail, while his descendant Jahangir is said to have kept two unicorns at court: Dale (2004, 361), Moraes and Srivatsa (2003, 24–25). Further discussion at Stoneman (2019, 269–271). (21) Colunda. The name does not appear elsewhere. Pliny NH 6.76 refers to a people called Cocondae, but they are close to the mouth of the Indus, whereas Colunda should be in the north of the country. Satyrs. One of the species of monkey that are widespread in India. Cf. F 22 paras 10 and 15, probably the macaque.

F 17 (a and b). Pearls This detailed account by Arrian of pearls is strangely inserted in the middle of his narrative about Heracles and Pandaea. Though prompted by the story of Heracles, it seems unlikely that M. treated it as such, but it is hard to surmise where in his book it fitted in: Stoneman (2019, 183–184). The similarity of Pliny’s account to Arrian’s suggests that his ‘some’ refers to M. 103

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Pandya is one of the main regions of India for pearl-fishing: see also Periplus 59 (describing the kingdom of Pandion), Ptol. Geog. 7.1.10–11, Bṛhatsaṁhitā 81 (Shastri 1996, 317). Greeks had never seen pearls before Alexander’s expedition, as is clear from Theophrastus’ reference to ‘that which is known as the oyster’ (de lapidibus 6.36). Athenaeus 3.45–46 (93 C) quotes several of the Alexander historians for information on oysters and related shellfish. The fact that the value of pearls is mentioned in both Arrian and Pliny suggests that M. was aware of the trade in them, which was certainly flourishing by the time of the Periplus (first century CE). But it may have been a purely internal trade at this time, though Thapar (1997, 86) takes it to refer already to external trade. The tall story about the obedience of the oysters to their king or queen, facilitating their capture en masse, is repeated by Aelian (HA 15.8), but it is surprising that M. fell for it and included it in his book, apparently with a straight face. For further discussion, see Stoneman (2019, 228–231). Idrisi II. 7.97 (55 and 133 Ahmad) refers briefly to pearl-diving in the region of Kuli (Kulinar) and Sūbāra (Suppara), near Mumbai. Earlier Arab writers usually refer to the oyster-beds in the region of Sri Lanka.

F 18. Trees that grow in the sea The first mention in western literature of mangrove swamps.

F 19. Poisonous fish Perhaps a kind of jellyfish. Edible jellyfish, Crambionella annandalei, are found all along the coast of Andhra Pradesh; interest in these might have attracted particular attention to the poisonous kind.

F 20. Monkeys (and other animals) Seres. This normally refers to the inhabitants of China (the land of silk), who are placed in the far east by Ptolemy (6.16.8) and the Tabula Peutingeriana (XII B). Strabo seems to regard them as inhabitants of India. Ptolemy says that their southern border touches ‘India beyond the Ganges’. Their longevity is a utopian trait attributed to other Indian peoples by, for example, Onesicritus (FGrH 134 F 24, the land of Musicanus). For other references to the longevity of the Seres see Winiarczyk (2011, 240–241). Their constitution does not seem to be discussed elsewhere. Tigers. Tigers were familiar to Greek visitors to India from the time of Alexander, and the first one to arrive in Greece was a gift to Athens from Seleucus I: Athen. 13.590ab. So M. did not need to explain tigers in detail. Kitchell (2010, 183–185) provides an excellent summary of ancient knowledge about tigers. Prasioi: Skt. Prācya, ‘eastern people’. . . Schwanbeck (1846) = McCrindle (1926, 55) gives other classical variants of the Sanskrit name. 104

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Monkeys. Those referred to are the black-faced langurs, with their very long tails. Aelian (b) reverses the colours, presumably out of carelessness. Stones. Perhaps some kind of root vegetable. Ebony. Theophrastus HP 4.4.6; Bretzl (1903, 206). Flying snakes. These may be flying foxes: Stoneman (2019, 262). Strabo’s information is duplicated by Aelian. HA 16.41 = b, p. 50. (c) Strabo 15.1.56 is a ragbag of information, some of which repeats his earlier account in 15.1.39. Stone-rolling monkeys. See also F 16, Aelian. Giant reeds. The upright ones are probably bamboo, also mentioned by Herodotus (3.98) and Ctesias (Ff 1b, 17.5, and Ff 45.14 and F 45c; Theophrastus, HP 4.11.13). Detailed discussion is in Bretzl (1903, 203–206). The horizontal ones may be (fallen) palmyra palms, Borassus flabellifer, though Karttunen (1997, 139) is sceptical. See also F 24 (init.). One-horned horses: see F 16. Dogs. Another description of ferocious and tenacious dogs at Curt. 9.1.31–34.

F 21. Snakes See also Onesicritus F 16a–c, describing ‘the country of Abisarus [or Abisares] who, according to the ambassadors that came from him, kept two serpents, one eighty cubits in length and another one hundred and forty’ (Strabo 15.1.28, repeated not quite verbatim by Aelian HA 16.39). The snakes in question are probably rock python (Python molurus): Kitchell (2010, 2–14, 156–157).

F 22. The hoopoe (and other birds) Parrots. The common parakeet of northern India (Palaeornis cynocephalus), with green plumage, as is implied by Aelian’s reference to green pigeons immediately below. First mentioned in Greek literature by Ctesias, for their ability to speak; also in Pliny NH 10.42.58; Apuleius Florida 12. Further references: D’Arcy Thompson (1936, 336). Peacocks. The Greek name ta(h)ōs corresponds to the Arabic and Persian words and it was sometimes known as ‘the Persian bird’. Peacocks were known in Athens by the fifth century BCE and are referred to by Antiphon and Aristophanes (Birds 102, 270, Acharnians 63). Aelian NA 5.21 mentions that they were imported from ‘the barbarians’, and describes how they were bred by Indian kings (NA 13.18). Alexander so admired their beauty that he forbade anyone to kill them: Aelian NA 5.21 (cf. Curt. 9.1.13 for the first encounter). See Thompson (1936, 277–281). Indian cock: the guinea fowl. Green pigeons. Treron sp. Also mentioned by Aelian at VH 1.15, deriving from Daimachus F 4 (Athen. 9.51, 394e). (3) Kerkion. The mynah bird. (4) Kelas. The Adjutant bird, Leptopilus argala. 105

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(5) The hoopoe. Aelian’s account of the hoopoe may well be drawn from M., as I proposed in Stoneman (2016b) and Stoneman (2019, 265–269). It is excluded by Jacoby as there is no definite attribution to M., and Schwanbeck too regarded it as ‘doubtful’. The fact that the source is stated to be the ‘Brachmanes’ suggests that it may originate in M.’s conversations with scholars at the court in Pataliputra; Ctesias, for example, would not be able to cite such a source since he relied for his information on eastern visitors to Persia. I have not been able to find any similar story in Indian sources. Aelian, observing that Aristophanes (Birds 470–475, here given in B.B. Rogers’ translation) alludes to a version of the story involving the crested lark, suggests that the story may originally have been attached to a different bird. This seems to me very likely, particularly as the hoopoe in the story as described as a king’s pet. Hoopoes are not to my knowledge domesticated, whereas another crested bird, the parrot, was a favourite pet of Indian kings, and parrots also feature frequently as the protagonists of the Buddhist Jataka stories (about the Buddha’s previous births), sometimes also illustrating the theme of filial piety (e.g. Jataka 484). I surmise that the Brahmans’ tale was originally a parrot story. (6) Pangolin. Melitea is perhaps Malta but more probably the Dalmatian island of Mljet. (8) Sea-snakes. These may be the sea snakes of the Indian Ocean (Hydrophiinae), but these are poisonous; alternatively, Aelian may mean the Moray eel, which has the sharp teeth he mentions. See Kitchell (2010) s.v. sea snakes. (9) Wild horses. The importance of horses to the kings of Prasiake is clear from the attention paid to them in the Arthaśāstra 2.30.1–41. (10) The monkeys with white bodies and red faces are presumably the pinkfaced macaques, ubiquitous in Northern India. Today, they are more accustomed to feed on nuts from the hands of tourists. (11) Large herbivore. The yak, Bos poephagus grunniens. Kitchell (2010), s.v. remarks that if Aelian’s source actually saw a yak, it was probably a domesticated one, since yak live at high altitudes and mostly in Tibet. (12) Sea-monsters. These are whales. Cf. Pliny NH 9.2.4. Nearchus F 1 describes how the ‘Fish-eaters’ (Ichthyophagi) used the bones of whales to construct their dwellings, Arrian Ind. 30 and Str. 15.2.13. The large size of animals in India was a commonplace. (13) Skate. An Argive shield was about one metre in diameter. Prawns: Palaemon carcinus, which grows to the size of a lobster. Red Sea: i.e. the Arabian Sea. (14) River Turtle. Cf. ch. 17 (= F 19 and F 15). It is impossible to determine which of the many species of freshwater turtle is meant here. The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) can reach five feet in length. Kitchell (2010, 186) states that there are 59 species of turtle in India. One medimnus = about 12 gallons. Land tortoises. These burrowing tortoises cannot be identified. (15) Satyrs. N. Wilson ad loc. (in the Loeb edition) suggests the gibbon, but in ch. 10 the term seems to suit the macaque. Cf. F 16, end. Indian ants. These are apparently termites and are to be distinguished from the gold-guarding ants of F 23. 106

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Juba II, king of Mauretania (ca. 49 BCE–23 CE), wrote several books on natural history among other matters, which are frequently cited by Pliny in his Natural History. His researches earned him a monument in Athens. See Roller (2003). (16) Ariani. Ariana or Areia comprises eastern Iran and western Afghanistan. Alexander’s foundation of Alexandria in Areia is modern Herat. No other source mentions this remarkable Chasm. The region is further west than those with which M. became most familiar, so it is possible that Aelian has another source for this tale. But who? The passage continues with Aelian’s account of Taprobane (F 15).

F 23. The gold-guarding ants Both Nearchus and Megasthenes referred to the Indian gold that was gathered by ants, originally described by Herodotus (3.102–105). Strabo simply cites the former for the information that ‘the skins of gold-mining ants are like those of leopards’ (Str. 15.1.44, Nearchus F 8b), but Arrian (Ind. 15.1) is a little fuller: ‘Nearchus says that he himself did not see one like those which some other authors have described as existing in India, but that he saw many skins of these animals which had been brought into the Macedonian camp’ (he had also seen skins of tigers). This unforgettable tale reappears many times in classical and later literature, including writers as diverse as Pliny, NH 11.36.111, Philostratus, VA 6.1, Pomponius Mela 2.1 and Buzurg ibn Shahriyar, as well as Ogier de Busbecq’s letters from Constantinople (Letter 4). Dio Chrysostom Or. 35.24 mentions them in the context of a generally utopian account of India (18–24): see F 45. Ctesias, however (F 45h = Aelian NA 4.27; Bolton 1962, 65–66) wrote that it was griffins that had to be eluded, not ants. The story has occasioned an enormous amount of scholarly discussion over the centuries, with rationalising explanations of the ants including actual Mongolian giant ants (Laufer in 1908 and Nesselrath 1995, 36 n. 27), mastiffs (Rawlinson in 1926), leopards (Humboldt in 1847), pangolins (favoured by Kitchell 2010, 97–98), Tibetan miners (McCrindle 1926, 94) and marmots (Peissel 1984, ridiculed by Tarn 1951, 107 but favoured by Parker 2008, 22). Laufer, quoted by Bolton (1962, 81–82), also mentions ‘red ants as huge as elephants and wasps as big as gourds’. Later discussions include Pearson (1960, 124–125), Arora (2005, 63–64) (gold from Ladakh), Parker (2008, 22), Karttunen (1989, 171–176) provide a pretty comprehensive list, though Peissel’s publication was unknown to him. The most exhaustive recent discussion is Nesselrath (1995, esp. 23–26, nn. 7 and 8). Tarn (1951, 107) pointed out that the ants are always located just beyond the regions known to the writer in question: in the Thar Desert for Herodotus, in Dardistan for Megasthenes and Pliny and in Siberia for the Indians. For ‘ant-gold’ is indeed an Indian term, pipīlika, found in the Mahabharata 2.48.4, where it is brought by the northern nations to Yudhiṣṭhira; from pipilī, an ant. The kings who live by the river Śailodā between Mt Meru and Mt Mardara and enjoy the pleasing shade of bamboo and cane, the Khasas, 107

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Ekāśanas, Jyoghas, Pradavas, Dīrghaveṇus, Paśupas, Kuṇindas, Tanganas, and Further Tanganas, they brought the gold called Pipīlaka, which is granted as a boon by the pipīlaka ants, and they brought it by bucketsful and piles. (Additional gifts included yak-tail plumes and Himalayan honey). Tarn also refers, sceptically, to the theory advanced by Laufer that the story might arise from the confusion of the name of a Mongolian tribe, Shiraighol, with the Mongolian word for an ant, shirghol. He rightly regards this as quite imponderable. The contribution of Dr Michel Peissel (1984) is worth quoting. In September 1982 . . . the informant told me, in Ladakhi (an archaic form of Tibetan . . .) that his grandparents and forefathers used to travel to the Dansar flats or plains (thang) to collect there the sandy earth from the burrows of the local marmots (Arctomys himalayanus) as it contained a high concentration of gold dust. This account, confirmed by two other residents in Dartzig . . . is, I believe, the first local oral account to be recorded which confirms the story of Herodotus, which many believed to be merely a fable. This circumstantial statement fits most of the data – the sand mixed with gold, the desert, the plateau. The general location, Dardistan, fits well for Ladakh. McCrindle (1927, 107) notes that the regions along the Upper Indus – Dardistan – were prolific in gold. As for the ants, I wonder whether the Sanskrit term, ant-gold, might in fact refer to the size of the grains (cf. Puskas quoted by Karttunen 1989, 175), and in communicating this from an Indian informant to a Greek it was misunderstood as referring to the creatures that dug it up. The skins Nearchus saw might well have been marmot furs. See further Stoneman (2019, 271–274), Kitchell (2010, 97–98).

F 24. The monstrous races Strabo discusses these peoples twice, in Book 2 and in Book 15. His account of the acts of Alexander, which he mentions, does not survive. (b) Sexual intercourse. For his account of Indians having sexual intercourse in public, Strabo cites both M. and Onesicritus; see also Herodotus 3.101; Sextus Empiricus PH 3.200 compares the practice with that of the Cynic philosopher Crates. The practice is particularly associated in India with the north-west, and the Mahābhārata (8.44) speaks with disapproval of the openly lewd behaviour of the women of Bactria. This perceived ‘promiscuity’ of the women of the northwest is entailed by the custom of polyandry, which remained prevalent in the region even until recent times. See Karttunen (1989, 202–207), Stoneman (2019, 233–236). 108

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Stone-rolling monkeys: see F 20c. Horned deer: see F 16. Giant reeds: see F 20. The pygmies and the cranes: Homer Iliad 3.3–6 describes how the cranes flee to the southern streams of Oceanus and bring death to the pygmies. Their battle is frequently depicted in Greek art, first on the François vase (ca. 570 BCE). Ctesias F 45, 21–24 and F 45 fα describes the pygmies in some detail but without referring to the cranes: they are barely two cubits (three feet) tall and have long hair and beards that obviate the necessity of wearing any clothes. Their penises reach to their ankles, and all their livestock are on the same miniature scale as they themselves. They are very just and are excellent archers. See also F 2. The monstrous races. M.’s is the fullest Greek repertoire of the legendary peoples, though most of them appear in one or other of the earlier writers on India. See Reese (1914, 49–50). They have an enormously long afterlife in classical literature, where Pliny NH 7.9–29 gave them their defining form, and especially in the Middle Ages: Friedman (1981) is the classic account. Homer (see previously) spoke of the pygmies who were at war with the cranes, though they were not specifically located in India, and his one-eyed giants likewise were not in India but in the fantasy-Mediterranean where Odysseus’ adventures take place. But both Scylax and Ctesias put the One-Eyes in India. Scylax described the Shadow-feet, those with a single foot they use as an umbrella, and they reappear in Antiphon (F 117 Blass), in Ctesias (F 51a = Pliny NH 7.23) and in Philostratus, VA 6.25 (who locates them in Ethiopia). The Ear-Sleepers (Skt. Uṣṭrakarṇikas, Mbh 2.28.49) are also in Scylax and Ctesias. The latter also describes the Dog-heads (F 45 pα = Pliny NH 7.23) and the Otoliknoi (F 45.50), who have eight toes on each foot, bear one child only and have white hair which becomes dark with age. Some of the peoples appear again in Agatharchides, a century after M.: the Dog-milkers (61), the Troglodytes (62), the Locust-eaters (59), who Agatharchides says are very short-lived though Pliny says they are long-lived, and the Dog-Heads (75). The fullest list of ‘monstrous races’ is in Pliny NH 7.9–30, who gave them their defining form for antiquity and the Middle Ages. He cites a great many authors, some otherwise scarcely known, as sources for his list. It comprises (Megasthenic races in bold), Reverse-feet, Dog-Heads, Monocoli (i.e. ShadowFeet), Men with faces in their shoulders, Satyrs who can run on either two or four feet (sc. apes), screaming hairy men (from Tauron), people with very big and very small feet (from Eudoxus), Sciritae (in M. under the name of Noseless Ones), Mouthless Ones, Pygmies (citing Ctesias 58.11), Long-lived People (various kinds, from Isigonus, Crates and Ctesias, Agatharchides, et al.), Very Tall and Very Short People (citing Onesiritus for the latter) and the Calingi (cf. NH 6.64). Most of these are repeated in Solinus, whose work essentially derives from Pliny. Given the large number of early Greek authors who treated these races, one wonders why Strabo singled out M. for scorn. 109

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Various stratagems have been adopted to save the credit of M. and to defend him against the charge of writing a fantasy (see for more detail Stoneman 2019, 277– 278). However, Strabo himself gives us the clue, when he says that M. mentions being told by ‘the philosophers’ about certain of these races. M. was not describing his own observations but retailing what he was told by Brahman informants. Most of these people appear in Sanskrit literature, and we can assume that the traditions go back to a period well before M. Otto Stein assembled the data nearly a century ago in his hundred-column Realenzyklopädie article (1932, especially cols 241ff and 304, with a firm conclusion at 325: ‘the “wonders” are from Indian sources’). Besides the Ṛg Veda and the epics, a valuable conspectus is given by Varahamihira, whose Bṛhatsaṃhitā was written in about 505 CE and was translated into Arabic by al-Biruni, who admired it. Shastri (1996) has compiled from it a gazetteer of the peoples and places of the India of his time: many of the real peoples encountered by Alexander can be identified in it, and many of the fantastic races appear in the classical authors, but others do not. See further Stoneman (2019, 278, n. 119). The cannibals are also mentioned by Herodotus (3.38 and 99) and Strabo 4.5.4, and by the Periplus maris Erythraei, which states that they have the faces of horses; this equates them with the Aśvamukha of Varahamihira (see also Casson 1989, 234). The Noseless Ones (Pliny NH 6.195, and 187 f, Agatharchides 62), mentioned also in the Periplus maris Erythraei under the name of Kirradai, in Pliny as Scyrites, and in Aelian 16.22 as Skiratai, are certainly the Kirata of Sanskrit literature, who appear in Ramāyana 4.40.28 and indeed in Ṛg Veda 5.29.10 as well as Bṛhatsaṃhitā 14.26. They can be identified with the pre-Aryan inhabitants of the subcontinent, the dasyus or dasas, whose flat Mongoloid features characterise the peoples of the north and north-east. The name may survive in the Kirantis of present-day eastern Nepal (Casson 1989, 234). The Swift-feet or Okypodes of Strabo/M. are probably a mistake for Sanskrit Ekapada, which means one-footed, i.e. the Sciapods. These occur frequently in Sanskrit literature (e.g. Mbh 1.114.57, Ram. 4.20–26, Varahamihira 14.7). The long-eared people are in Mahābhārata (2.28.44–50) under the name of Karnapravārana, or Uṣṭrakarṇikas (camel-eared: Mbh 2.28.49) and in Varahamihira 14.18, as well as in the Purāṇas. Stein also quotes a Chinese source. The One-eyes (Skt. ekāksha) and the pygmies again occur in Chinese literature, appearing in illustrations to a book of the fifth century BCE (Sayce, note on Herodotus 1.201 in his edition of 1883). The reverse-feet are in Mbh 10.8.136, paścādanigulayah. The Hyperboreans, who live a happy life beyond the North Wind, are referred to, as Strabo says, by Simonides (PMG 570) and Pindar (P. 10.30). They share their characteristics and location with the people called in Sanskrit Uttarakuru, which also means ‘beyond the north’. See for a full treatment Bridgeman (2005), also Stoneman (2019, 242–247).

F 25. The reverse-feet Solinus 52.26–30 (F 30 B Schwanbeck) more or less paraphrases Pliny’s information. 110

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F 26. The Mouthless Ones and the Dog-heads The Sciritae. These are named the Kirradai in the Periplus, the Skiratai in Aelian (HA 16.22), and are certainly the Kirata of Sanskrit literature (Ramayana 4 (Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa), 20–26, Ṛg Veda 5.20.10, Bṛhatsaṁhitā 14.7 (Stein 1932, 239) but the Sanskrit sources do not mention their lack of mouths; the wearing of leaves described is a characteristic of the Gonds (Forsyth 1871, 15). The Mouthless Ones are not just the subject of something Megasthenes was told, but he says that some ‘were brought’ to Sandrocottus in his ‘camp’. It seems he must have seen them. What did he see? One parallel that is sometimes deployed is Herodotus’ description (1.202) of a people dwelling on the Araxes who sniff the smoke of their bonfires in order to get intoxicated; but these people are in the wrong place and the purpose of their sniffing is quite different from that of the Mouthless Ones. Sushma Jansari and Richard Ricot (2016) have argued that the reference is in fact to Jains, who, though not strictly mouthless, do cover their mouths and restrict their diet to a very limited range of foods. However, they certainly do not make use of roasted meats! Intriguing is the detail that Candragupta had these people ‘brought’ to him; Jansari and Ricot link this to the tradition that Candragupta later in life abdicated and became a Jain: this then would be the beginning of his investigation into the requirements of the Jain life. The suggestion is attractive but not compelling. I am drawn to another possibility, the practice of Brahmin priests who are supposed to gain their nourishment by sniffing the fumes of sacrifices: Doniger (2009, 116). Stein (1932, 306) suggests ascetics, who are referred to as ‘smoke-drinkers’ in the Mbh (cf. Parry 1994, 201: ‘from a number of contexts it is clear that to smell something is to consume it’). It is possible to imagine Candragupta summoning Brahmans to his court for their usual functions of performing sacrifices, during which they would not eat but only sniff the sacrifice, which would of course include at this date roasted meat. M. can hardly have failed to observe, however, that these were normal people with mouths. A suggestion by H. Horten made in 1912 (see Stoneman 2019, 281) seems to have been forgotten. He suggested that the reference is to a Himalayan people who are accustomed to sniff frequently at onions and garlic as a way of averting mountain-sickness. They could thus be described (loosely) as ‘living on smells’; but still they had mouths. The Dog-heads. People with dogs’ heads are localised on the fringes of India from the earliest times and constitute one of the most persistent strands of ‘monstrous’ neighbours to India’s people. Ctesias (F 45.37–41) notes that they trade with the Indians, are noted for their justice and inhabit inaccessible mountains ‘as far as the Indus’, which from his perspective should presumably mean ‘north-west of the Indus’; but one cannot be sure. The name he gives them, Kalystries, has proved unidentifiable in any language (Karttunen 1989, 181–185; Amigues 2011, 35). It bears no resemblance to any of the ethnic names in Varahamihira, for example, or in the Purāṇas, though dog-headed people appear in the Sanskrit texts under various names, including śunamukha, svamukha (see Mbh 9.44.54–100 111

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for various animal-headed races). M puts the dog-heads ‘in the mountains’, while the reverse-feet are localised on the mountain called Nulus (Pliny NH 7.2.23; cf. Solinus 52.27; F 25 in this volume): they ‘wear a covering of wild beasts’ skins, their speech is a bark and they live on the produce of hunting and fowling, for which they use their nails and weapons; he says that they numbered more than 120,000 when he published his work’. For Herodotus, the dog-heads were North African baboons, and this seems to be the case also for those of Agatharchides (F 75 in Burstein 1989), but it seems fairly clear that the later writers are describing an actual race of human beings whose features evoked remark as different. The dog often seems to be a marker of the outcaste, and some ‘savage’ peoples are also known as dog-cookers or dog-milkers (śvapāka, śvapaca). These are generally seen as Indians of low caste and often identified with the caṇḍālas (KA 7.1.34 and 9.2.6: in a battle between a dog and a boar, the caṇḍāla is always the winner, because he will eat either) (Nagas also eat dog: Sen 2015, 270). But these were located within India whereas the Dog-heads were always outside. Karttunen (1984) places the dog-cookers in Ethiopia and regards them as a tall story. The Alexander Romance (2.34, gamma recension) brings the hero in contact with dog-heads, though they do not appear in the earliest recensions of the Romance. However, their appearance in the Latin Letter of Alexander to Aristotle (13), as one of the many bizarre opponents of Alexander’s army, suggests that they may have belonged to the earliest, lost version of the Letter which was abridged in the Greek alpha-recension (and is now lacunose). The priest of the trees of the sun and moon in the Letter also has the head of a dog. Unlike Ctesias’ Dog-heads, those of the Romance are ferocious, and they are described as cannibals when they are included in the list of Unclean Nations in AR 3.29. Cannibals are mentioned in the same breath as ear-sleepers in Mbh 2.28.44. Chinese sources also place dog-headed people in Central Asia (White 1991, 130–131). Though M. has been made to take the blame for this long tradition of a race of dog-heads, it is clear that here too he, like Ctesias, was only reporting information derived from native sources. The people of Central Asia, with their un-Aryan features and suspect diet, were seen as beyond the pale. What started as a metaphor turned into a legend. For a longer discussion, see Stoneman (2019, 281–285).

F 27. Plutarch on the Mouthless Ones Plutarch embeds his recollection of this traditional tale in a complex argument about the place of the moon in cosmology.

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F 28 (a and b). The seven ‘castes’ These two passages correspond closely to the discussion of the same subject in F 1a, Diodorus 2.40–41. As noted in the commentary there, there are certain differences of terminology: Arrian’s genea (classes) correspond to the merē (sections) of both Strabo and Diodorus. Probably Arrian, writing in an Ionic dialect in imitation of Herodotus, has chosen this word because it is the one used by Herodotus (2.164) in his description of the seven classes into which Egyptian society is divided (priests, warriors, cowherds, swineherds, retailers, translators and pilots). It has been suggested (Thapar 1997, 57) that the term goes back to M. himself and that he said there were seven classes in India because Herodotus had said the same about Egypt. However, the fact that the term is different in the two earlier writers suggests that it is Arrian who has introduced the change. Timmer (1930, 67) notes that such sevenfold divisions occur elsewhere in the Greek world, for example at Philadelphia, but does not favour the idea that M. is making up a scheme simply in order to imitate Herodotus. The divisions in question are not the same, anyway. However, the division into seven classes does seem to be M.’s own invention (Singh 2009, 339–340). Much ink has been spilt over the question of whether M. is trying to talk about the four castes of Indian society. Though the four varnas – Brahmans, kṣatriyas, vaiṣyas and sudras – can be found among M.’s seven, Stein (1921, 119–124) did not believe that M. had talked to an Indian about the matter, since his divisions place the kṣatriyas in fifth place. Falk (1991, 48–56) believed that M. was actually describing the three tax categories enumerated in the Arthaśāstra 5.2 (farmers, merchants and professionals, temple personnel). In fact it is uncertain whether the four castes existed in such clear-cut form in the time of M. and Candragupta; Bronkhorst (2011, 73) remarks ‘no one seems to have stated what now seems obvious, viz. that M. spent time in Magadha during a period when this region had not yet been brahmanized’ (not all would agree). Thapar (1987, 2013, 296 ff) proposes that M. is talking not about caste but about categories of production, jati not varna. He has heard of the political term sapta-prakṛti, referring to the seven limbs of the body politic, which is in the Arthaśāstra (6.1), and has applied this to his own observation of the society around him. Thus caste is irrelevant to M.’s hierarchy of Indian society. See further Stoneman (2019, 212–217). 113

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(b) For comments on M.’s information about the seven divisions of society and on intermarriage, see my notes on F 1. (39) The philosophers/sages. That is the Brahmans, who also today are responsible for most religious rituals. The Great Synod of Brahmans is not referred to in Indian sources, but is presumably something that M. observed during his residency. ‘Whatever each one has assembled’. The Greek is συντάξῃ. The verb can mean ‘compose in writing’, and the passage has been interpreted as meaning that the Brahmans brought written reports to the king. But M. tells us in F 35 that writing was not in use in Magadha (though we know from Nearchus F 23 that it was employed in the north-west: for discussion see Stoneman 2019, 29–32) so the word here simply means ‘assembled’. (48) Overseers (ephoroi). The employment of courtesans and prostitutes as spies is also referred to by the Arthaśāstra (4.4.3, cf. 1.12), which, though probably later in date than M.’s stay in Magadha, seems to reflect (an idealised version of) the Maurya state. On spies, see McClish and Olivelle (2012, 98–110).

F 29. Funeral rites It is surprising that Arrian/M. does not more specifically refer to the fact that Indians customarily burn their dead. The absence of graves seems to have been a piece of common knowledge, reflected in Alexander’s question to the naked philosophers in Alexander Romance III.6, ‘Do you have no graves?’. Idrisi II. 8.21 (Ahmad 1960, 61) also notes that Indians cremate their dead and ‘have no tombs’ (i.e. do not bury the dead). Songs for the dead. These songs seem to have perished with time, though they may include the tales of past kings that are embedded in the Purāṇas, and of heroes like Kṛṣṇa and Rāma that later became components of epics like the Rāmāyana.

F 30. Absence of slavery The statement seems patently false in view of the evidence of such early texts as the Arthaśāstra and the Laws of Manu, both of which give detailed prescriptions for dealing with slaves, and their legal position. What did M. mean? Was he simply mistaken, or, worse, making up a ‘utopian’ feature of Indian society? According to Diodorus (2.39; see F 1), M. explained the absence of slavery by saying ‘it is foolish to make the laws apply to all on an equal basis, and yet to establish inequality of status (ousia)’ (for this translation see Stoneman 2019, 218). Following Timmer, Thapar (2013, 286) follows the MS reading and ‘sees in this passage an attempted criticism of the Greek system. Megasthenes is suggesting that the Greeks cannot see that an equality of laws and slavery are incompatible’. However, the comment may be Diodorus’ not M.’s; furthermore, it is risky to base such an important conclusion about M.’s views on such an uncertain basis. M. presumably wrote with knowledge of Onesicritus’ description of the kingdom of Musicanus in Upper Sind. According to Onesicritus F 1.24 (Str. 15.1.34), 114

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there was no slavery in that kingdom, but people made use of the young men to carry out the work of slaves, in the manner of the helots in Sparta and the Aphamiotae in Crete. But in ch. 54 (= Onesicritus F 25) Strabo says that what Onesicritus describes is slavery. Onesicritus’ Cynic credentials might well make him opposed to slavery, but it is difficult to see that he would then be neutral about helotage. M., however, seems to imply that there was nothing corresponding to Onesicritus’ ‘helotage’ in Magadha, either. It is probably true that India did not know slavery on the Greek model (Thapar 2013, 284–288). The Arthaśāstra, while insisting that an Arya can never be a slave (dāsa, dāsī), specifies ‘slaves are of four kinds – born in the house, inherited, bought or obtained in some other way’. These other ways might include capture in war, gifts and purchase (Arthaśāstra 3.13.20). Manu (8.415) states that there are seven types of slave: capture in war, ‘becoming a slave in order to eat food’, born in the house, bought, given, inherited from ancestors, or enslaved as a punishment. A key point is that a slave, though lacking property, continued to have ‘human rights’ and was to be treated with dignity; a slave could buy his or her way out of slavery at any time, and temporary slavery to earn money was not uncommon. Gosaala, the leader of the Ajīvikas, was of servile origin, which suggests considerable freedom of self-determination in life (Chanana 1960, 75). A man should regard his slave ‘as his own shadow’, while wife and son are ‘his own body’ (Manu 4.184–185). The word dāsa, fem. dāsī, is also the term for a person of the lowest caste, or aboriginal. Dasa was not the same as doulos since the former could own property and earn money; it is primarily a racial distinction, connoting ‘non-Aryan’, and in many contexts may be better interpreted as ‘serf’ or ‘peon’. This leads to the suspicion that the line between slave and śudra, or the lowest caste, is very blurred: this would support Onesicritus’ characterisation of slaves in the kingdom of Musicanus as a kind of helot. However, the Spartans famously treated their helots with great and arbitrary cruelty: it was no crime to kill one at any time. The differences from Greek slavery are marked. There were no industrial slaves, for example, and workers on the land were not invariably slaves. R.S. Sharma (2009, 137), in his important but still not definitive study, epigrammatically states that ‘ancient India can be called a slave owning society in the sense that people employed domestic slaves, but it cannot be characterized as a society based on the slave mode of production’. M. may have been led into error on this matter by the fact that observation that slaves in India were often treated kindly (Chanana 1960, 102). Aśoka (e.g. Rock Edict 11) requires ‘proper behaviour towards servants and employees’, and the Arthaśāstra details many punishments for the abuse of slaves, especially those on the point of redemption (Stoneman 2019, 220). However, slaves were also sometimes treated with cruelty, as several Jataka stories make clear (Thapar 2013, 287). Even if M. is a victim of the summarising of Arrian and Strabo, it seems that what he reports is based on inadequate information. I would be tempted to say that 115

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M. was describing what he saw, a society where people (of the class that he met) did not lose their freedom and become the property of others. When they worked for others, it was as free agents (just about).

F 31. Meals This is the only fragment that we are told comes from the second book of the Indica. ‘Cooked items’, Greek ὄψα, is a very unspecific term, applied to any relish that gives the starch some flavour, though in Attic usage it often referred to fish (hence the diminutive in Modern Greek ψάρι, fish). This is as close as M. comes to describing a curry. The Mahavāṁsa (ca. 477 CE) refers to Kassapo eating a dish of ‘rice dressed in butter, with its full accompaniment of sūpa’. The word kari, incidentally, is Tamil: a Dutch traveller in 1598 wrote ‘Most of their fish is eaten with rice, which they seeth in broth, which they put upon the rice, and is somewhat sour but it tasteth well and is called Carriel, which is their daily meat’ (cited in Davidson 1999, 284). M. seems to have observed the separation of castes at meal times, of which Strabo (15.1.53) expressed disapproval: no man could approve of those other habits of theirs, of always eating alone and of not having one common hour for all for dinner and breakfast instead of eating as each one likes; for eating in the other [sc. Greek] way is more conducive to a social and civic life. (see F 35 (53)) Dumont (1980, 138–139) explains the practice: ‘[the Brahman] eats alone or in a small group in a pure ‘square’ (caukā) in the kitchen or a nearby part of the house carefully protected from intrusion. Any unforeseen contact . . . would make the food unfit for consumption’. The practice was also observed by al-Biruni and Babur (Sachau 1910, 180; Dale 2004, 370).

F 32. Cities The large number of cities in India recalls the Greek characterisation of Bactria as a land of a thousand cities. The India M. knew was that of the ‘second urbanisation’, when in the Ganges plain and in Gandhara, growing agricultural surpluses, the development of iron technology and the extensive trading networks that crisscrossed the whole subcontinent led to the coalescence of settlements into villages, towns and cities: Thapar (2002, 138–164), Stoneman (2019, 45). The wooden buildings of the Ganges plain differed little from those that are still common there now. Reliefs at Bharhut and Sanchi, dating from the time of Aśoka, depict circular and rectangular thatched huts closely resembling those that one may still see in the villages. Close to the river, nothing is permanent and dwellings are made of brushwood, bamboo and straw; when swept away by floods, the 116

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fragments are salvaged and the structure resurrected. ‘On higher ground’, writes Ilay Cooper (Cooper and Dawson 1998), it is possible to build with greater permanence. Here, the walls are of sun- or kiln-baked bricks, or are built up in courses of mud or dung. In the east the roof is pitched, or thatched with paddy straw. In Punjab and Haryana it is generally flat, surrounded by a low parapet.

F 33. Palibothra (Pataliputra) Palibothra is the Greek version of the name Pataliputra. The name is explained in the Yūga Purāṇa 41–43 (Mitchiner 2002, 103) as ‘the city of flowers [patali]’. The Prasioi are the prācyas, ‘the easterners’. As noted in the commentary on F 8, the Erannoboas is the Hiranyabahu, ‘the golden-armed’, an alternative name for the Son, which in antiquity joined the Ganges at Pataliputra, though the confluence is now further west. It is off that Strabo (b) does not name the Erannoboas/ Son but simply calls it ‘the other river’. Allchin (1995, 200–208) gives a good description of the archaeological record at Pataliputra. The city walls of Pataliputra were identified by Rennell in 1783, excavated by Waddell (1892–1899), by P.C. Mukharji (1897–1898), and Spooner (from 1912), who conducted the excavations at Kumrahar that exposed the remains of the central area of the city (1913) (see Singh 2004, 145 n. and 317– 319). The timber rampart was excavated in 1927–1928: it consisted of a double line, 4 metres wide, with an earth infill. Pataliputra went beyond other contemporary Indian cities in including stone in its architecture, though most probably not before the reign of Aśoka (on the slender evidence for stone architecture before the third century – Rajgir’s sixth-century walls, stone ramparts at Kausambi ca. 400, a gateway at Sisupalgarh – see Stoneman 2019, 170–172). The roof of the huge audience hall was supported by 80 sandstone pillars: the surviving one exhibits the beautiful ‘Maurya polish’. Most of the other structures were of wood, including the column bases, and a passageway over 75 metres long. The wooden drains were particularly advanced (Jha 1998, 236). Nehru (2004, 136–137) exclaimed on the ‘incredible state of preservation’ of the massive wooden pillars sunk beneath the water-table but remarked that, despite resemblance in layout to the apadana of Persepolis, a ‘characteristically Indian artistic tradition is visible’. The question of the architectural antecedents of Pataliputra, raised here by Nehru, is a matter of debate (see Nilakanta Sastri 1957, 356–391). Spooner observed the resemblance of the audience hall to the hundred-column hall of Persepolis (see also Falk 2006, 139–141: Achaemenid architects?). He also thought that the polish on the pillars was an Achaemenid technique, but the lustre of a Maurya sculpture is beyond that of anything at Persepolis, or indeed of any subsequent achievements of Indian art. If Persepolis was at the other end of the royal road that Eratosthenes refers to, Persian craftsmen, and even Greeks, 117

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may have moved back and forth on it. Sastri (1957, 88–89) accepts Spooner’s judgement and states ‘there is good reason to believe that Aśoka consciously adopted the plan of the Achaemenid hall of public audience to proclaim the glory of his empire to his subjects’. Aelian HA 13.18, in a passage for which he gives no source (though it may well be M.) makes a direct comparison with the Persian palaces: ‘in the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country live, there are so many objects for admiration that neither Memnon’s city of Susa with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence of Ecbatana is to be compared with them. In the parks tame peacocks and pheasants are kept, and they live in the cultivated shrubs to which the royal gardeners pay due attention. Moreover there are shady groves and herbage growing among them, and the boughs are interwoven by the woodman’s art. There too parrots are kept and crowd around the king’. Quintus Curtius (8.9.24–26), too, remarks on the extravagance of the king’s style, lounging in a golden litter fringed with pearls, and dressed in linen clothes embroidered with gold and purple. The litter is attended by men-at-arms and by his bodyguard amongst whom, perched on branches, are birds which have been trained to sing in order to divert the king’s thoughts form serious matters. The palace has gilded pillars with a vine in gold relief running the whole length of each of them and silver representations of birds.1 The resemblance to Achaemenid palace architecture is notable, though the parrots and peacocks are an Indian idiosyncrasy. M.’s description may be compared with the discussion of city architecture in the Arthaśāstra. Here the ideal capital city is described in some detail (KA 2.3.3–32 and 2.4.1–31; Kautilya 1992, 184–194). It is to be built in the centre of the country, on both land and water routes and with a lake or tank in the vicinity. The fort is to be surrounded by three moats, full of lotuses and crocodiles, and by a rampart planted with thorny bushes and poisonous creepers, and broad enough for chariots to drive along the top. All this is to be of stone or brick, not wood, as a precaution against fire. A removable bridge over the moat will lead to a gateway with a tower and a hall within (various designs are permitted). Within the city there are to be three east-west ‘royal roads’ and three north-south; the palace in the centre and the varnas distributed by locality. Temples are to be in the centre of the city and at each of the four main gates. All workers with fire (e.g. blacksmiths) are to be concentrated in a single area, and crematoria are to be situated outside the city. ‘Heretics’ and candalas are to live beyond the cremation grounds. It appears that the city is to be square in shape: apart from what M. tells us of Pataliputra, only the third-century foundation of Śiśupālgarh fits this ground plan. 1 Sastri 1957, 358 asserts that fragments of golden vines were found in the excavations.

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The description is tidy-minded to the point of obsession. Such a city plan obviously requires a completely blank canvas to be put into effect, though certain provisions, such as making the untouchables live beyond the cremation-grounds, are observable in present-day India. But it is not at odds with what M. tells us about Pataliputra except for the number of gates – one or four in Kautilya, 64 in M. The insistence on stone may point to a later date however, in the light of the discussion on p. 118. The only cities where there seems to have been an opportunity to create a grid plan such as that recommended by the Arthaśāstra are Śiśupālgarh and Taxila. ‘Kautilya’’s ideal city does, however, look not unlike what we know of Pataliputra as described by M. The differences may be accounted for by the fact that M. is writing a description, ‘Kautilya’ a normative account of an ideal city (see Stoneman 2019, 199–200). Paul Kosmin (2014, 45, 47) has suggested that M. interpreted the city he knew as if it were a Hellenistic city. But he may not have been wrong to do so if the links between Magadha and the Achaemenid world were as significant as I have suggested. Both traditions fed into the cities of the Hellenistic east.

F 34. City officials The information M. gives is clear and on the whole unremarkable. It corresponds broadly to the provisions of the Arthaśāstra, though the latter has more subdivisions, including overseers for customs and tolls, alcohol, butchers, courtesans, leopards and elephants among others, as well as Ministries of the Interior, of Works and of Letters (the last-named evidently belonging to an age of literacy, which M. says the Maurya period was not) (see Timmer 1930, 184–192; Stoneman 2019, 223). The seniority of the market inspectors is suggested by the inclusion of water-supply in their remit, since water-supply was always of especial importance to Maurya and later kings and is emphasised also in the Laws of Manu 9.279 (Stoneman 2019, 223). (51) The details in this section are precise; nothing conflicts with what is written in the Arthaśāstra though ‘Kautilya’ is more abstract and less punctilious: Timmer (1930, 225). (52) The army described by M. is the classic caturaṅga army, with four divisions of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants (see in general Singh 1965; Trautmann 2015, 107–119). Arrian (Ind. 16) provides more detail about the weaponry of the Indian army, a subject on which M. might have been expansive if he was writing a report on Maurya power for Seleucus. However, this chapter of Arrian does not mention M., and follows closely on several pieces of information explicitly taken from Nearchus, so we cannot be sure that he is using M. for these details. Arrian does not mention the absence of bridles for horses, though he has a lot to say about bits. The Arthaśāstra’s treatment of warfare is extensive (Books 9–10) and goes into great detail about strategy rather than administrative structure. Military, or at least ceremonial, processions are depicted on the reliefs of the main stupa at Sanchi, which probably date from the third century BCE (and later). 119

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F 35. Laws and customs M.’s observation of Indian frugality is consistent with a largely vegetarian diet such as many Indians follow today. Truth-telling is also much emphasised in the Dharmasutras (e.g. Āpastamba D. 1.7.11), and it is hardly irrelevant that the motto of the present Republic of India is ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’ (Satyameva Jayate), from the Mundaka Upaniṣad 3.1.6. Truth is a cosmic power in Mbh 5.42, cf. 44: see Timmer (1930, 253–254) for some further examples. Indian justice was famous among the Greeks: Ctesias (F 45.16) states ‘that the Indians are very just people’ (cf. 45.30), a characteristic they share with the Dogheads (F 45.43). Though the description ‘most just’ is attached by various Greek writers to other peoples as well, including the Abii/Gabii in Homer and Aeschylus and the Fish-eaters in Agatharchides (see Stoneman 2016a), many other writers have emphasised the justice of the Indians, including Xuan Zang (Stoneman 2016a, 254) in the sixth century and Idrisi II. 8.17–18 (Ahmad 1960, 60), who states ‘they are noteworthy for the excellence of their justice, for keeping their contracts, and for the beauty of their character’; he refers to ‘the submission of the common people to truth (haqq) and their practice of it, also of their abhorrence of falsehood’. When the British ruled India they took dharma to be the equivalent of Law and attempted to introduce the Laws of Manu (Dharmasutra) as a law code for India. It seems to be dharma that the Greeks were observing when they extolled the ‘justice’ of the Indians. The high level of justice is also a Utopian trait: Winiarczyk (2011, 247–250). Candide was struck by it in Eldorado (Voltaire, Candide ch. 18). The statement that the laws are unwritten need not be in conflict with Nearchus’ evidence about the use of writing in the north-west, a thousand miles from Magadha: see Timmer (1930, 245) and Stoneman (2019, 29–32). The rarity of lawsuits is also referred to by Nicolaus of Damascus Customs F 103y and Aelian VH 4.1 (= F 36) and also Onesicritus F 24 (= Strabo 15.1.34), describing the country of Musicanus: ‘there is no process at law except for murder and outrage, for it is not in one’s power to avoid suffering these, whereas the content of contracts is in the power of each man himself, so that he is required to endure it if anyone breaks faith with him, and also to consider carefully who should be trusted and not to fill the city with lawsuits’ (Timmer 1930, 246–253 collects the passages). This corresponds broadly to the distinction made today between civil and criminal law. The Arthaśāstra paints a less rosy picture, with extensive discussion of the procedure for civil suits in court as well as the ‘Eradication of Thorns’ (criminal cases): see McClish and Olivelle (2012, 71–96) (civil law), 97–118 (criminal law). Mealtimes: see note on F 31. (54) Strabo seems to be offering a set of notes on his reading of M., who it is difficult to imagine had presented the various pieces of information in such a disordered and sometimes repetitive form. Massage. Strabo returns to this topic in 55 where he remarks that massage may continue (with four masseurs) even while he is hearing cases in court. The Arthaśāstra 120

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(1.19.6.9–24) allots the second hour and a half after sunrise to the hearing of petitions but makes no mention of simultaneous massage. Marriage. The information offered by Strabo is brief in the extreme. The payment of a bride price was customary among the large tribal group of the Gonds in the 1870s, as James Forsyth (1871, 148) observed: they differ from the Hindus chiefly in the contract and performance [of marriage] both taking place when the parties are of full age. Polygamy is not forbidden; but, women being costly chattels, it is rarely practised. The father of the bride is always paid a consideration for the loss of her services, as is usually the case among poor races where the females bear a large share in the burden of life. Strabo 15.1.66 also offers the information, from Nearchus (which therefore refers to the north-west) that ‘among some tribes the virgins are set before all as a prize for the man who wins the victory in a fist-fight, so that they marry the victor without dowry’ [and presumably without bride-price either]. More variants of marriage customs are reviewed in Stoneman (2019, 235–236). The danger of prostitution is not further explained. Arrian (Ind. 17.3–4) says that Indian women are very moral and not corruptible at any price, ‘except that a woman will have sex with anyone who gives her an elephant’. Promiscuity was often attributed by Indian writers to the women of the north-west, where the custom of polyandry prevailed; the Pandava brothers of the Mahābhārata shared a single wife. Stoneman (2019, 233–236) collects some examples of alleged promiscuity in ancient and later writers. Idrisi II. 8.25 (Ahmad 1960, 62, cf. II. 8.47 and commentary on 151) says ‘fornication is permissible in the whole country of Ballahrā [? Bactria] except with married women’ (incest is acceptable too). Unfortunately, the evidence is too scrappy to allow a proper evaluation of what M. says, let alone what he might have said before he was reduced to snippets by Strabo. Sacrifice. Vedic civilisation is founded on animal sacrifice. Strabo here notes only the most obvious differences from Greek practice. Animal sacrifice is at present practised in various parts of India, including in the service of Kali (at Kalighat in Kolkata), but blood is expected to flow in this ritual. Elsewhere, the desire of the goddesses (especially) for blood, which would pollute the Brahman officiants, is satisfied in a metaphorical form by the use of red flowers, red cloth or a sliced cucumber: Babb (1975, 241). Ancient Brahmans sometimes avoided the same crisis by the use of strangulation: see Satapatha Brahmana 3.8.1.15: They then step back (to the altar) and sit down turning towards the Âhavanîya, ‘lest they should be eye-witnesses to its being quieted (strangled)’. They do not slay it on the frontal bone, for that is human manner; nor behind the ear, for that is after the manner of the Fathers. They either choke it by merely keeping its mouth closed, or they make a noose. Therefore he says not, ‘Slay! kill!’ for that is human manner, but, ‘Quiet 121

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it! It has passed away!’ for that is after the manner of the gods. For when he says, ‘It has passed away,’ then this one (the Sacrificer) passes away to the gods: therefore he says, ‘It has passed away’.2 Timmer (1930, 273) therefore goes too far in regarding M.’s statement as simply a mistake. For a far-reaching account of Indian sacrifice, see Heesterman (1993). Punishments. See also Diod. 2.42.4 (= F 1) on the severity of punishments. Discussion: Timmer (1930, 254–258). The Arthaśāstra provides many examples of punishments for particular crimes and misdemeanours, but most of them take the form of fines: McClish and Olivelle (2012, 92–93, 106–110). Officials who inflict torture, execution or blinding on miscreants may find themselves the victims of similar punishment. The 8th book of The Laws of Manu is largely devoted to classification of punishments, including various forms of mutilation for those of lower caste who injure Brahmans, such as cutting out the tongue for insulting a twiceborn (270), or removal of the limb with which the doer has injured the victim of higher caste (279–284, cf. 334) (the classification seems to go beyond reason when it prescribes cutting off the anus (?) for farting at a Brahman: 282). Timmer (1930, 255) also quotes The institutes of Vishnu (5.72) for examples of ius talionis. Nicolaus of Damascus F 103y (= F 36) mentions shaving as a punishment for severe crimes, which concurs with Manu 8.379 where this is treated as equivalent to execution in the case of a priest (who must never be killed). Whether Nicolaus got this from M. cannot be determined. The severity of the punishments listed by M. suggests that they were specifically for those who injured Brahmans – from whom it is likely that he got much of his information. Slaves: see on F 30. (55) The royal household. M. does not go into detail about the institution of kingship in Magadha, which he takes as read. Though he gives some information about the role of the ‘philosophers’ as advisers to the king in F 28a and b (the ‘seventh caste’), the passages excerpted by Strabo here evince only an interest in daily life. The king’s female bodyguards are also alluded to in the Arthaśāstra 1.21.1: when he rises from bed he should be escorted by teams of female guards armed with bows; in the second courtyard by the eunuch stewards wearing robes and turbans; in the third by hunchbacks, dwarfs and Kirātas [probably forest tribesmen]; in the fourth by Counselors and relatives and by the gate-guards armed with spears. (McClish and Olivelle 2012, 13) The custom was maintained by the Mughal rulers too; in Akbar’s case they were mainly Russian and Abyssinian women. Strabo continues with the information that ‘a woman who kills a king when he is drunk receives as her reward the privilege of consorting with his successor; and 2 I am grateful to Richard Seaford for directing me to this passage.

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their children succeed to the throne’, which cannot be paralleled elsewhere. Timmer (1930, 262–263) quotes the statement in the Mahābhārata (12.61) that a bad king should be slain as one would a mad dog: but Strabo does not specify that a drunken king is synonymous with a bad king. The following sentences, about the king’s security and constant changes of sleeping place, depict a situation closely similar to that expounded in the Arthaśāstra (1.21 with 1.17), where the price of safety is constant vigilance (several relevant passages are collected by Rangarajan 1992, 152–167). In the drama The Rakshasa’s Ring, a plot is devised to kill king Candragupta in his sleep (Timmer 1930, 283). One is reminded too of Alexander’s lament to Dandamis in The Life of the Brahmans (II. 33): what shall I do, seeing that I live with incessant fears, and drowning in continuous disturbance? . . . By day I torment the nations, but when night comes on I am tormented by my own reflections, my fear that someone may come at me with a sword. If, as has sometimes been suggested (Plutarch. Alex. 62), Candragupta was inspired to empire-building by the example of Alexander, he may have discovered that its disadvantages remained constant too. The nightly change of sleeping quarters can be paralleled in later history, as a passage quoted by McCrindle (1926, 70) indicates, referring to the king of Ava. Curtius (8.9.28–30) is eloquent on the luxury of the Indian king’s life: women prepare the king’s meals and they also serve him his wine, which is drunk in copious quantities by all Indians. When a drunken drowsiness comes over him, the concubines carry him to his bedroom, at the same time chanting a traditional hymn to the gods of the night. No such statement occurs in the Arthaśāstra, which does however devote a good deal of discussion to arrangements for succession, while the detailed programme for the king’s day does not include any mention of strong drink. One wonders why Strabo picked this particular fact about the king’s drinking to report, and whether M. did not provide a more ordered account of the king’s routine (and whether Curtius is making it up). Of the ‘non-military departures’ from court the first is to the law courts: the Arthaśāstra (1.19.6.9–24, Kautilya 1992, 147f.) allots the second one and a half hours after sunrise to the hearing of petitions; however, the king’s role in deciding cases at law, which is often mentioned in Buddhist texts, and in the epics, is not specified in the Arthaśāstra (Timmer 1930, 284) (the one and a half hours before sunrise are specified for ‘religious, household and personal duties’ as well as discussions with ritual specialists and astrologers). The second ‘departure’ is to sacrifices. This is almost the only mention in Megasthenes of any kind of religious practices, and one longs to know more, given the 123

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importance of sacrifice in the life of later Indian kings (Heesterman 1985). The place of sacrifice is positioned north-east of the palace according to Arthaśāstra 2.4.22 (McClish and Olivelle 2012, 23). The ‘Bacchic chase’ seems to be a hunting expedition, in which, as in the Moghul court, he is accompanied by women, which must have been surprising to Greeks: it is presumably their presence that inspired the thought of Dionysus and his maenads, thus strengthening the inclination to find traces of Dionysus everywhere in India. Hunting parks are mentioned in the Arthaśāstra (2.2.20): Timmer (1930, 288). In Kalidasa’s Śakuntala (Act 6), King Duhsanta’s female bodyguard plays a part when he goes hunting: cf. McCrindle (1926, 70).

F 36. Loans and punishments See the discussion under F 35.

F 37. Elephants The two passages from Arrian and Strabo are among the longest reports of M.’s book. Their similarity means we can be reasonably sure that they faithfully reflect the original. The abundance of detail makes one wish that more of M.’s work had been preserved at this level of detail, rather than the telegraphic scraps so often offered by Strabo. The subject of elephant hunting clearly caught the fancy of the Greek writers. M. had various predecessors in writing about the elephant: Scylax, Ctesias, Onesicritus and Nearchus. By the time he wrote Aristotle had probably composed his passages on the elephant. In the years and centuries following, elephants became quite well known to the Greco-Roman world, as a result of the employment of elephants in warfare by the Hellenistic kings. This began when Candragupta made Seleucus a present of 500 elephants as part of the ‘Treaty of the Indus’. In Ptolemy’s Grand Procession the elephant was the representative animal for India. The importance of the elephant is not explicitly stated in the passage of M., which concentrates on the method of capture. It is of course implicit in this description that they were important to the kings: in fact their prominence in India coincides with the rise of kingship (Trautmann 2015, 68, 101). Elephants do not appear in the Ṛg Veda, in which the gods universally ride on chariots. Nor do they become royal beasts as such until relatively late: neither the Arthaśāstra nor the Mahābhārata regard them as such, but in the Ramāyana they are the conveyance of kings (ibid. 128). Rather, elephants are an essential component of the royal army, the caturaṅga (Singh 1965, esp. ch. 4, 72–84). The word is the origin of ‘chess’ and the chessboard represents the four (catur) components of the Indian royal army: the elephants (rooks or castles), cavalry (knights), chariots (‘bishops’) and infantry (the pawns). Alexander’s inquiries about the Nanda forces produced the information that the Nanda king had 20,000 horse, 200,000 foot, 2,000 chariots and 3,000 or 4,000 elephants (Curt. 9.2, Diod. 17.93). For further detail see Stoneman (2019, 254–262). 124

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Elephants take a long time to grow to maturity. Strabo’s information (43) is that the mothers nurse their young for six years. This is an exaggeration, but elephants do take 16 years to reach adulthood. For this reason it is uneconomic to breed elephants – they need to be fed at considerable expense for 16 unproductive years – and the only way to acquire a herd is by capture of wild elephants. This is what M. describes. A number of Sanskrit treatises, of the usual uncertain date, describe the capture and care of elephants (Trautmann 2015, 145–149). One of these, by Nilakantha (1931) lists five methods of catching elephants: by trap pen, by enticement with cows, by pursuit, by assault and by pits – the last two being undesirable as likely to destroy the elephants (the pit, covered by twigs, is not only the method favoured by Winnie the Pooh in the construction of his heffalump trap but also that described by the Mauretanian king Juba, as transmitted by Plutarch, de sollertia animalium 17, 972B, and by Idrisi II. 9.5 (Ahmad 1960, 70). The pen should be about one and a half miles across, fenced around with stout trees and a ditch on the outside; into this pen a lane is constructed from bamboos. Raising aloft and fastening a great door-panel, (sharp-)edged, at the entrance inside the trap pen, making it very stout with wooden pillars on this side and on that, he shall deposit sugar cane, etc, there, and then, rounding up the elephants with drums, etc, he shall drive the frightened animals in there (by the bamboo pathway leading to the gate), and then quickly cut the cords holding the top of the bolt (so that it shall drop and fasten the door). (Nilakantha 1931, 88) The huntsmen then wait two or three days until the elephants are weakened before going in with fetters and goads to bind them. He then goes on to describe how to catch elephants by ‘cow-seduction’, anointing the cows with fragrances to attract the males. M. describes a combination of these two methods in terms very close to those of Nilakantha. Did he observe all this? It seems more likely that he was given a detailed account by a native informant, on which he took notes, with the result that his account bears an uncanny similarity to that in the Sanskrit handbook (though he, or perhaps Strabo and Arrian alike, omits the details of the scent applied to the female elephants’ posteriors). Arrian continues with details about mating, pregnancy and medical treatments; Strabo provides almost exactly the same information. The discharge from the male elephant’s temples in musth is falsely attributed to the females (apparently) by Arrian, but correct in Strabo. Aelian (F 37c) gives the same information about the use of milk for eye inflammations, and pork steak poultices for wounds. His source is presumably M., which suggests that his account of elephant training (F 37d) is also from M., especially as the information that elephants love music corresponds to what Arrian gives us in (14): Aelian further specifies that they love the music of the skindapsos, a four-stringed chordophone, either a lyre or a 125

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lute; the association with India here (cf. Aristoxenus F 97, ‘foreign’) may make the latter more likely. But M.L. West, Ancient Greek Music (1992), 60 prefers the lyre model.

F 38. Horsecraft Nothing indicates that Aelian drew this information from M., except that the statement about the use of a muzzle rather than a bit seems to correspond to Arrian’s statement (Ind. 16.10–12) that horses wear a studded band of rawhide around the muzzle, and within the mouth an iron band to which the reins are attached (see also F 34 (52). The circumstantial detail in the rest of the passage suggests that M. might have observed horse-training in Pataliputra.

F 39. Elephant ethics The two charming stories in this fragment may come from M., since the passages preceding and following the first (HA 13.8) are surely from his book. Few writers on elephants can resist retailing stories of the sensitive and often human-like activities and tastes of the beasts (an enjoyable example is Shand 1991, passim). The affectionate attitude of elephants towards their human companions is also reported by Plutarch de sollertia animalium (Mor 972b): an elephant at Alexandria was in love with a flower girl: ‘as he passed by the market, he always brought her fruit and stood beside her for a long time, and would insert his trunk, like a hand, within her garments and gently caress her fair breasts’. The loyalty of Porus’ elephant is remarked by Plutarch, Alex. 60.13. The key sources on ancient elephants are Scullard (1974) (Greek and Roman) and Trautmann (2015) (Indian).

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F 40. The philosophers Strabo’s report of what M said about the doctrines of the ‘philosophers’ of India is detailed and valuable. It is likely that his full account took up most of Book III of the Indica, since Clement (F 45) says that the account of the philosophy of the Indians came from that book. Whether Book III contained anything else is impossible to say. If it was a full-length ‘book’ (papyrus roll) there must have been a good deal more content than is now preserved; so M.’s account of the philosophers of India may have been very full indeed. Strabo begins by revisiting the distinction between mountain and plain dwellers, which he equates with a difference between worshippers of Dionysus and Heracles. As we have seen (comm. on F 12), the ‘Dionysiac’ elements consisting in the use of wine, of bright garments and of drums and gongs can indeed be associated with dwellers in the north-west – though the bright colours and loud music may be found in every part of India, including Pataliputra – but this does not mean that all these people worshipped a single god identifiable as ‘Dionysus’, still less that his worshippers are all philosophers. The similarly erroneous attribution of worship of ‘Heracles’ to plain dwellers is still less to be associated with any philosophical position. It seems that Strabo, having announced that he was about to write about philosophers, got distracted by a different topic and wrote a paragraph about Dionysus, Heracles and vines, before beginning his announced subject at (59). His information about the vine (against those who deny its existence beyond the Euphrates) is broadly accurate. The grape vine was probably first brought into cultivation in the Caucasus around 4000 BCE; it became widespread everywhere not only in west of the Euphrates but also in eastern Iran, Bactria and Sogdiana, where the climate was favourable (Dalby 2003, 163). On Alexander’s encounter with wine drinkers in Bactria and the north-west, see on F 12; Carter (1992) and Stoneman (2019, 94). (59) Strabo now begins his serious discussion of the ‘philosophers’ by introducing M.’s distinction of the Brahmanes and Garmanes. The latter is certainly a scribal slip for ‘Sarmanes’, the Sanskrit term śramāna denoting an ascetic: while 127

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Brahman lore is enshrined in the Upaniṣads, the rules for the ascetic way of life are found in the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads (see Olivelle 1992) and the Samaññaphala Sutta (Bodhi 1989). The grouping of the two as a single category – brahmanasramanam – is also found in Aśoka’s Rock Edict XIII (in Kandahar): see Falk (2006, 244–245), Bloch (2007), there is a convenient English translation of the edicts in Allen (2012, 413–414). It seems to imply that the two groups constitute the entire class of religious ‘philosophers’. Pillar Edict VII makes a slightly different categorisation, of ‘The saṁgha, Brahmans and Ajīvikas’. The saṁgha is the normal name for the Buddhist community, so that this passage could imply that the class of śramānas includes both Buddhists and Ajīvikas (but apparently no others, not even the Jains who were admired by Aśoka’s grandfather, Candragupta, who is said to have become a Jain at the end of his life (Hemacandra 8. 435; Mookerji 1966, 44). The Brachmanes of M. are brought up from infancy (indeed, from before birth!) by learned men, a description that fits very well the education of Brahman priests up to the present day. They dwell in groves on rushes and deer skins (Idrisi I. 10.9 refers to leopard skins, as worn by Śiva: see Ahmad 1960, 147), abjuring meat and sexual relations, for a period of 37 years, and then retire to their own property, after which they do eat meat, but not spicy food. They have many wives and devote themselves to preparation for death. This information seems to combine facts about Brahmans in general with details specific to ascetics or renouncers (Dihle 1964 praises M.’s accuracy and believes that all the philosophers are Jains). The description thus applies to Brahmans who have withdrawn from the role of householder for life in the forest, as prescribed by the Laws of Manu (6.87), which details four stages of the Brahmanical life: the chaste student of the Veda, the householder, the forest-dweller, and the ascetic. They are often called vānaprastha, ‘forest-dweller’ (Bronkhorst 2016, 245–246). The stated term of 37 years in the forest corresponds well to the prescription of Manu (3.1) that recommends 36-year study with one’s guru, ‘or half of that, or a quarter of that, or whenever the undertaking comes to an end’ (Stoneman 1995, 106). Hausner (2007, 101) notes that 12 or 14 years of wandering is common. According to the Bodana Dharmasutra, Brahmans are never to visit the cities. Dwelling in groves on rushes and deer-skins belongs specifically to the life of the renouncer: the ultimate renouncer, Śiva, is always portrayed with his deer-skin (or leopard-skin) over his shoulder, ready to settle into meditation. The apparent contradiction between the assertion that the Brahmans abstain from sexual relations, and their stated polygamy, can be resolved by regarding these as separate stages of the life span. Strabo appears to have compressed a text that probably made the distinctions clearer. ‘The Brahmans do not share their philosophical speculations with their wives’. In general, it is true that women were and are excluded from such practices, though there clearly were female students since our oldest philosophical text, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, introduces a clever female participant in debate in the person of Gārgī. Manu 2.66 asserts that it is all right for women to be educated. Strabo (66 = Appendix I) cites Nearchus for the inclusion of women in philosophical 128

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discussion. A relief panel at Kanaganahalli depicts female students of Buddhism: Zin (2018, 198, pl. 18). Renouncers today include a small proportion of women in their ranks, though male sādhus are far more numerous (Hausner 2007). ‘Most of their discussions are about death’. The concern with death and the view of the world as illusion are recognisable Indian philosophical tenets. In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.2), Death is the first thing that existed in the nothingness, and Death created other beings in order to supply himself with food. Death as a ‘birth into a real and happy life’ meshes not only with the surprising demand of the sages in the Alexander Romance that the king give them immortality, but with such passages as Bṛh. Up. 1.3.28: ‘the unreal is death, and the real is immortality – so, when he says “From the unreal lead me to the real”, what he is really saying is “From death lead me to immortality”; in other words, “make me immortal”’. Cf. Bṛh. Up. 2.4.3. According to Hausner, one of the hardest disciplines of the sādhu is to learn that everything that surrounds him in the physical world, including his body and its sensations and passions, is illusion. ‘As for the natural world’. Strabo moves on to outline briefly the physical doctrines of the Brahmanes. M. apparently stated that these ideas were crude and largely based on fables, yet that their views resemble those of the Greeks (see also Clement Strom. 1.72.4 = F 46). Indeed, if he was told about any ideas that did not resemble Greek ones (e.g. karma), he does not mention them. The instances he gives relate to cosmology: the world had a beginning, and will end, and god is diffused throughout – a recognisable account of the Vedic accounts of the creator-god and the idea that Brahmān permeates the universe. Cf. Manu 1.5–13. This may remind one of Chronos in Pherecydes F 51 DK. Bernabé and Mendoza (2013) compare the Pythagorean cosmogony with that of ṚV 10.129 (without citing M.) and, despite differences, are driven to the conclusion that the two accounts must be connected, coming from thinkers at opposite ends of the Achaemenid empire. In Śatapatha Brahmana 11.1.6.3 the world begins as a golden egg, floating on the waters, from which Prajāpati emerges (Basu 1969, 229; Jurewicz 2016, 53). M. might have compared this with Pherecydes (50 KRS), or with the Orphic Egg described in Aristophanes’ Birds 693–703. M. also notes that the world is spherical, which puts one in mind of Parmenides’ notion that the universe is spherical; but for Parmenides it is uncreated and unchanging; Xenophanes 21A1 DK similarly asserted that God is spherical, and Empedocles 31B28–29 DK also speaks of a spherical cosmos. There are four elements plus a fifth, which produced the heaven and stars: this corresponds to the akasa of Sanskrit terminology. The earth is in the centre of the universe, as in Anaximander T 26 = 123–124 KRS. To Strabo’s testimony may be added the remarks of Clement and Eusebius that ‘all that has been said regarding nature by the ancients is asserted also by philosophers out of Greece, on the one part in India by the Brachmanes, and on the other in Syria by the people called the Jews’ (= F 46 and Eusebius Praep. Evang. 9.6). Bar-Kochva (2010, 152–154) observes that Strabo presents a Stoicised view of M.s’ analysis, which is expressed in Pre-Socratic terms. B.K. Matilal (2005, xiv) writes 129

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I believe that anyone who wants to explain and translate systematically from Indian philosophical writings into a European language will, knowingly or unknowingly, use the method of ‘comparative philosophy’. In other words, he cannot help but compare and contrast the Indian philosophical concepts with those of western philosophy, whether or not he is conscious of so doing. This is as true of a fourth-century or first-century Greek as of a twenty-firstcentury Oxford professor. It is an interpretative strategy, not a testimony of direct influence of either culture on the other. The reference to the myths of Plato seems to be to the myth of Er in the Republic (10.614b–621d), who died and returned to life after observing the judgements and arrangements for reincarnation in the underworld. But M. does not apparently mention reincarnation as such. It is pertinent to add here a passage of the fourth-century author Ps.-Origen, Philosoph. 24, which is included by Schwanbeck as fragm. incertum 54, but excluded by Jacoby. Nothing in the passage indicates that Ps.-Origen is drawing on M., but it covers similar ground to the above. There is also in India a sect of philosophical doctrine among the Brahmans, who favour a self-sufficient life, abstain from all living creatures and cooked foods, subsisting on fruiting branches, and not even eating these as such, but they pick up what falls to the ground and live off these, drinking water from the river Tagabena. They go naked, saying that the body was created by god as clothing for the soul. They say that god himself is light, not such as we see, nor like the sun or fire, but god is for them word (logos), and not the embodied word but that of intellect, through which the secret mysteries of knowledge are seen by the sages. This light, which they call god the word, can be seen only by themselves the Brahmans, they claim, because they alone discard all empty opinions, the last garment of the soul. They despise death. They always refer to god by the same term, as we mentioned before, and send up hymns. There are no women among them, nor do they have children. Those who aspire to a life like theirs, once they have crossed the river from the land opposite, remain there permanently and never return. These too are called Brahmanes; but they do not lead a life of the same kind, for there are women in the land, by whom those who live there father children and are born. This word, which they call god, has a body, but its body is external to itself, just as if one were to wear the fleece of a sheep; when it removes the body that encloses it, it is visible to sight. The Brahmans say that there is war in its surrounding body, and they consider that their own bodies are full of warfare. So they fight against their bodies as if in battle against an enemy, as we have indicated. They say that all humans are prisoners of their own innate enemies, stomach and genitals, hunger, anger, joy, grief, 130

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desire and such like; he alone goes to god who has erected a trophy of victory against them. Thus the Brahmans sanctify Dandamis, who was visited by Alexander the Macedonian, as having achieved victory in the war within the body, but they dismiss Calanus as an impious apostate from their own philosophy. Setting aside the body, the Brahmans gaze upon the pure sun, like fishes peering out of the water. This passage, though it covers much of the same ground as Strabo’s description, also draws on other accounts of the Brahmans, particularly their presentation in the Alexander Romance (III. 5–6) or a source text, where their dwelling beyond a river is specified (but the river is not named in the alpha recension: in beta it is the Euphrates. Later texts give various names to this river, including Tiberoboam in Palladius de vita Bragmanorum (II.6). McCrindle (1926, 120) takes it to be the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Krishna). In addition, the discussion of ‘god the word’ seems to be tinged with Christian theology. For God as Light compare perhaps ṚV 7.44, in praise of many gods of dawn, sun, light and fire. The description of humans as prisoners of the body is also found in Plato Phaedo 66c, though it is not alien to Vedanta: Bṛh. Up. 3.7.3–24 is a discourse on the difference of the self from the body in which it dwells – but it is the controller not a prisoner. Cf. Bṛh. Up. 2.3.4; in Śv. Up. 1.11, when one has known God, the fetters fall off. (60) ‘Garmanes’. There can be no doubt that this is the Greek version of Sanskrit śramaṇa, meaning a seeker, or ascetic. One of the earliest occurrences of the term is in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (4.3.22). Ascetics of the present day fall into a great variety of categories – of doctrine, of practice, of dress, of attitudes to suffering and death – and in antiquity there were probably no fewer though the categories were probably less differentiated. Nonetheless, we know of several kinds of ascetic, both Vedic and non-Vedic, mostly mendicant, prevalent in Magadha from the sixth century BCE onwards. Buddhists, Jains, Ajīvikas were all to be found and a number of distinct schools of philosophy (whose adherents were not necessarily ascetics or renouncers) were also active (King 1999). It would be risky to assume that the practices of the sects were neatly compartmentalised. The fruit diet and nudity of Dandamis and his companions comes closest to the customs of present-day Jains (of the Digambara, or air-clad, variety), but it is probably otiose to seek to label the naked ones too neatly, particularly since the information about their doctrines is so scrappy. The term may thus be of fairly broad application. M.s’ information, filtered through Strabo, is somewhat heterogeneous: the most honoured among them are the hylobioi or forest-dwellers, who abstain from sex and wine and live on fruits and leaves. Thus far they resemble Alexander’s ‘naked philosophers’, or presentday sādhus. But they also maintain close contact with the kings, and the kings perform their religious duties through the hylobioi. These sound more like Brahmans, since it is the role of Brahmans to carry out the religious rituals that kingship requires: this is in fact stated by Nearchus (F 23 = Str. 15.1.66; see Appendix). 131

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‘Next in honour to the hylobioi are the physicians’: these live by begging (rice and barley) and can influence the sex of births by the use of pharmaka (drugs), but in the next clause he states that most of their cures do not involve pharmaka, but are reliant on diet, as well as using salves and poultices (ἐπίχριστα καὶ καταπλάσματα). These sound more like Buddhists or their ilk, since these practices are known to be characteristic of Buddhist medicine, and could not be practiced by Brahmins because of the danger of pollution by physical contact. (The kingdom of Musicanus, too, gave honour to physicians: Onesic. F 22 = Str. 15.1.22.) Both classes of hylobioi are said by Strabo to practice asceticism (karteria, endurance) and to remain fixed for a whole day in a single posture. To these he adds diviners and epōidoi, performers of incantations, who travel from village to village begging – a description applicable to any serious sādhu, as well as to Buddhist monks (however, those experienced in rituals for the dead ought to be Brahmans). Even the most cultivated of them, he says, purvey ‘superstitions’ (θρυλουμένων) about the afterlife to instil piety and holiness. Though not very explicit, this could imply the notion of karma, and the need to do good acts in the good life for the sake of one’s future lives: if so, it would be the only reference to karma in any Greek writer. He also mentions that some women also pursue philosophy with the men, despite his earlier statement about the Brahmans. See the note on 59. Overall, Strabo offers a list of different types of ‘philosopher’ who seem to fall into different categories: the heading Garmanes seems to encompass Hindu ascetics, Buddhists and even Brahmans. It is possible that M.’s original classification was more ordered than Strabo’s summary. See also Timmer (1930, 98–105). As for the word śramāna, it is likely that Buddhists often classified themselves as śramānas despite their difference from Hindu practitioners. Beckwith (2015, 97) insisted that śramāna was the only word for ‘Buddhist’ in the period in question (‘it meant specifically and only “Buddhist practitioner”’), and that M. was writing about Buddhism when he refers to śramānas, but this seems to go too far. On the question whether M. ever mentioned Buddha by name, see F 43 and n. Clement seems to regard Buddhists as different from the other ‘Sarmanes’, the details of whom correspond to Strabo’s account.

F 41. Calanus and suicide Calanus was one of the naked philosophers whom Alexander encountered at Taxila. The fullest account of him is in Strabo 15.1.64, taken from Onesicritus (= Onesic. F 17a), who was sent to interview them. The passage is reproduced in full in the appendix to this book. Calanus was rude to Onesicritus, but Dandamis/ Mandanis then spoke more accommodatingly to the envoy. Calanus, however, was drawn to Alexander’s entourage and travelled with him until his death by suicide in Babylon. Strabo notes that by so doing he contravened the Brahman rule of never crossing water or leaving the country. Nearchus (F 23) states that Calanus was not a Brahman, but in later writers (after Plutarch) the word Brahman 132

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is used to designate any Indian philosopher. M. (who may not have met Calanus) describes him here as ‘without self-control and addicted to the dinner-table of Alexander’. His naked companions disapproved of his decision to attach himself to Alexander, who however may have benefited greatly from his conversation on the long voyage down the Indus. Understanding Calanus is critical to the interpretation of the religious/philosophical affiliations of the naked philosophers. I discussed this in detail in Stoneman (2019, 312–319), and summarise my conclusions here. It seems evident that not all the naked philosophers of Taxila believed the same things, though all were ‘severe’ in their mode of life (Nearchus FGrH 133 F 23). Dandamis, though an extreme ascetic in that he rejects all food other than that which falls from the trees, is nevertheless not a seeker of pain like Calanus who insists that Onesicritus should sit naked on burning hot rocks to listen to his teaching. If, as Nearchus says, Calanus was a seer, he was a ‘bad renouncer’ since according to the Sāmaññaphala Sutta (56: Bodhi 1989, 35) renouncers are supposed to abstain from prophecy and fortune-telling, which are a ‘wrong means of livelihood’. Calanus’ self-immolation in Babylon also puts him at odds with the general rejection of violent suicide by renouncers, including Jains and Buddhists. Suicide is nevertheless not uncommon as the conclusion of an ascetic existence (Filliozat 1963, 1967). Jains commonly seek death, but by passive means such as self-starvation (sallekhana), or, allegedly, stopping the breath (Strong 2001, 82, 85). The Buddha, however, famously tried extreme self-mortification as a road to enlightenment but rejected it as a false trail; thereafter he was opposed to it, and Buddhist doctrine is opposed to suicide. Both Buddhists and Jains found themselves in disagreement with other kinds of ascetics in the still-fluid world of ascetic practice in fourth- and third-century BCE Magadha. Chief among the targets of their ire were the Ajīvikas, with the result that the latter died out by the seventh century CE (Singh 2009, 303), while Buddhism and Jainism continued to flourish. What we know of the Ajīvikas we mainly know from hostile sources, both Buddhist and Jain (the standard work remains Basham 1951). The latter accused them of ‘false austerities’. In addition to habitually going naked, they commonly committed suicide; one drowned himself in public at a miracle contest (Basham 1951, 84). But Buddhists accused them of hypocrisy: they were said to have meeting places where they would sing and dance, but would also feast in secret; and Jains accused them also of sexual licence (Basham 1951, 115, 124). This may suggest use of Tantrik practices among the Ajīvikas. They also acted as fortune-tellers (ibid. 127). All these qualities and accusations interestingly echo the objections of the naked philosophers of Taxila to Calanus. In addition, the Ajīvikas had a veritable handbook of possible forms of suicide (I owe this information to Sushmita Basu Majumdar, in a lecture given in Exeter in July 2014). Most Ajīvika books were destroyed by the Jains because of their popularity with fortune-tellers, but the Jain accounts list 48 different forms of death that Ajīvikas might seek, from drowning and jumping off cliffs to leaping into a fire. Death by self-torture was admired, 133

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since pain was pursued for its own sake; the caves in the Barabar hills that were dedicated to the Ajīvikas by Aśoka were known as ‘the forest of pain’. The combination of luxurious tendencies with pain-seeking that characterised Calanus makes it likely that he was an Ajīvika. On Strabo’s description of the suicide of Calanus (not taken from M.) see Stoneman (2019, 302–305) (and a more general discussion of suicide by fire, 305–312). Timmer (1930, 109–111) concludes that the opinions expressed about suicide are authentically Indian.

F 42. Calanus and Dandamis The main points made by Arrian in this passage resemble the account of Strabo in the previous fragment, so it is likely that Arrian had M.’s book in his mind, as well as the first-hand accounts of the philosophers by Aristobulus and Onesicritus when he wrote these sentences. Stoneman (2019, 290–300) recapitulates and modifies several earlier discussions. The name Dandamis is probably related to Skt. danda, a staff, both the emblem of royal justice and the marker of a Śaiva ascetic (Ahmad 1960, 147). Schwanbeck includes as F 55 part of Palladius, On the life of the Brahmans, with the Latin translation by Ambrose. Though this gives much space to Dandamis, it is not clear that any of it is directly based on M. For a translation of Palladius’ work see Stoneman (2012).

F 43. The Brahmans Clement of Alexandria (late second century CE) was an exceptionally well-read Christian apologist, who brought together Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy and Christianity in his three major works, the longest of which is the Stromateis (‘Tapestries’). In this passage, he surveys many categories of ancient sage. The Samanaioi appear to be another form of the name Sarmanes: for his information on the Brahmans and Sarmanes Clement is clearly summarising M. The final sentence represents the first extant reference in Greek literature to the Buddha. Clement may also be referring to Buddhists in 3.60.2–4, which is about the ‘Semnoi’ ‘who pay reverence to a certain pyramid, under which they consider the bones of a certain god to lie’ (see Stoneman 2019, 326). The question has been raised whether all of this fragment draws on M., but it seems more likely that Clement is adding information of his own from his wide reading. Timmer (1930, 85–86) reaches the same conclusion. Beckwith (2015, 100–104) accepts that Clement’s naming of Boutta is not from M., but goes on to develop his theory that śramaṇa ‘exclusively meant “Buddhist practitioner” in all early languages in which it is attested’ (ibid. 97) – so that M. does know of Buddhism but refers to its adherents as śramaṇas. The inference is unjustified and the statement about the word śramaṇa unsustainable: see Goodman’s review of Beckwith (Goodman 2018, 989). 134

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F 44. Strabo on Indian religion and philosophy These chapters of Strabo offer a miscellany of information, much of which he has already provided elsewhere: ants F 23; the information about elephants supplements that about processions in F 35. Probably this is because Strabo is summarising a different source, which is likely to be Cleitarchus since he mentions this author twice in ch. 69. Cleitarchus travelled with Alexander and wrote a laudatory and sometimes fanciful account of his adventures, which includes quite a lot about Indian fauna (Stoneman 2019, 122, 264). See in general Pearson (1960, ch. 8). The Indian god whom Strabo represents as Zeus Ombrios (god of rain) cannot be readily identified: perhaps Indra, as storm god? The point of the hair-washing detail is obscure and there is no knowing what state it was supposed to be true of. The Vedic coronation ritual included bathing and cutting of the hair after a raiding expedition: but these are not repeated events: Stoneman (2019, 208). The orion bird (Aelian NA 17.22–23) is probably a kind of heron, perhaps Grus Antigone, while the catreus is probably the manal pheasant, Lophopus impeyanus: Karttunen (1997, 206–207), Arnott (2007, 159, 186), Thompson (1936, 132–133). But Thompson (ibid. 338) regards the orion as entirely fanciful. (70) Pramnae. These are mentioned nowhere else, and the name may be another distortion of śramaṇa. The mountain-men clothe themselves in the skins of deer, which is characteristic for Hindu ascetics and devotees of Śiva, sādhus. However, the use of roots and drugs for healing, as well as of amulets, seem characteristic of Buddhist healers, while incantations are more associated with Brahman practitioners, who would be defiled by physical contact with another’s body. See Stoneman (2019, 231), citing Naqvi (2011). The naked ascetics who live for 37 years in the open are following the prescriptions of Manu for Brahmans: Stoneman (1995, 105–106) (Laws of Manu 3.1. recommends 36 years’ study with one’s guru). This is a different kind of austerity from the mortification of the sadhu. The white linen clothing might be regarded as typical of (Śvetambara) Jains. Strabo or his source have lumped together four kinds of ascetic who by present-day categorisation are radically different.

F 45. Brahman austerity Dio Chrysostom (‘golden-mouthed’) was a second-century CE sophist and travelling orator. He wrote at a time when commercial exchange between India and the Roman Empire had become regular, and India was no longer a land of mystery. This passage comes near the end of a speech in praise of the city of Celaenae in Phrygia, whose people Dio declares to be unrivalled in their blessings except by the Brahmans of India. This is thus explicitly a utopian account (longevity and good health are characteristic of such accounts: Winiarczyk 2011, 240, 243). It draws on utopian topoi such as are found in parts of M.’s work as well as in 135

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Onesicritus’ account of the kingdom of Musicanus. The next chapter retails the story of the gold-guarding ants to illustrate the extreme wealth of the Indians. It is not clear why Dio says that the other Indians look down on the Brahmans: of course the opposite is true and it was stated by M. and others that the ‘philosophers’ were held in honour by the Indians (F 1, F 28).

F 46. Brahmans and Jews Clement attributes this statement of M., which is clearly one of the sources of his run-down of ancient philosophers in F 43a, to the third book of the Indica. Presumably, the whole discussion of the philosophers was contained in M.’s Book III; this suggests that he must have said a great deal about them, if this was a book (papyrus roll) of similar length to the others; or else that other subjects were covered in Book III which we cannot now attribute to it. The comparison of Indian philosophers with the Jews is also found in Josephus Against Apion 1.179, who describes the Jews as ‘descendants’ of the Indian philosophers, ‘known as Calani’. According to Diogenes Laertius (I. 9), Clearchus of Soli (F 13) traced the descent of the Indian philosophers from the Magi, and Diogenes adds that Jews are also descended from the Magi. Clearchus is probably the man who erected at Ai Khanum an inscription enshrining the Delphic maxims. Perhaps he travelled still further into India and exchanged views with M. about this matter that interested them both. Stoneman (2019, 140–141), with further references.

136

COMMENTARY ON APPENDIX

(a) (61) Aristobulus. See introduction. Two of the sages. The one with the shaven head might be a Buddhist while the other could be any kind of sadhu. The practices of self-mortification, while characteristic of sadhus in general, are such as were rejected by the Buddha as profitless in achieving enlightenment; however, some Buddhists did make use of ascetic practices lie those of other sects: see Bronkhorst (2009, 58–60). Forty years of askesis. Apparently, this sage was another who, like Calanus, attached himself to Alexander’s court and travelled with him as far as – Strabo implies – Babylon. M. tells us (F 40, Str. 15.1.59, and F 43, Str. 15.1.70) that the life of renunciation was pursued by the Pramnae (Pramanikas) for 37 years, while the Laws of Manu (3.1) prescribe 36 years of study with one’s guru. See Stoneman (1995, 105–106). (62) Marriages. Cf. M. F 35, and Stoneman (2019, 236). Strabo returns to this subject in (66). The display of naked daughters to prospective husbands, asuravivaha is condemned by Manu (3.31), but apparently continued into modern times in some parts of the Himalayas: Karttunen (1989, 223). ‘They throw the dead to the vultures’. Here Aristobulus is presumably referring to the Persian inhabitants of Taxila, which had been an Achaemenid city: Stoneman (2019, 463–465). ‘wives have themselves burned alongside their husbands’. The custom horrified the Greeks, though some were able to gloss it as a marker of wifely virtue. Despite attempts at abolition, cases still occur in India: Stoneman (2019, 305–312). (63) Onesicritus. See introduction. The naked sages. A similar group of sages of assorted loyalties is described in the ninth-century Harṣacarīta (Bāna 1897, 234), where the company includes Buddhists, Jains, white mendicants, followers of Kapila, Lokayatikas, followers of Kaṇāda and many others, including owls reciting the births of the Bodhisattva and a few vegetarian tigers (Stoneman 2019, 296, cf. also 314–315). Calanus. See F 41 and comm. ‘three interpreters’. Perhaps local dialect-Sanskrit-Persian-Greek. (65) Taxiles. The king of Taxila, whom the Greeks also referred to as Omphis (perhaps Skt. *Ambhi). 137

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The doctrines of Mandanis. Other writers (Arrian, Palladius) call him Dandamis, which is probably closer to the correct form. On his teachings, see Stoneman (2019, 290–297), with reference to earlier discussions. The removal of suffering is the avowed aim of Buddhist teaching, but not of Buddhism alone; the rejection of pleasure (or even comfort) is an ascetic ideal and a Buddhist would enjoin rather the elimination of desire. When Dandamis asks Onesicritus whether such discussions are held also among the Greeks, Onesicritus replies on a completely different subject, namely vegetarianism; it seems that Strabo has jumped in his note-taking from one topic to the next: he could do with some instruction in preciswriting. Pythagorean vegetarianism is well-known (e.g. Porphyry De abstinentia I. 3.3), though its attribution to Socrates is suspect (ibid. I. 15.3). That of Diogenes is controversial, since the latter enjoined ‘a life according to nature’ and is said to have died while attempting to eat a raw octopus (Diog. Laert. 6.76, cf. 6.34). ‘they investigate natural phenomena’. On the philosophers as counsellors to the kings, see the next para (66), and M. F. 28 (Str. 15.1.39). Alms in the form of food is what present-day ascetics, including Buddhists, will accept. On the anointing with oil, see para (61). ‘bodily disease . . . despatched by fire’. See the discussion of Calanus’ suicide in F 41; Stoneman (2019, 314). (66) Nearchus. See introduction. Brahmans. See F 1 on the kings’ counsellors. ‘Women also engage’. See F 40, where M. asserts that women do not engage in philosophy, and commentary. ‘Laws’. On the lack of need for extensive legislation see F 35 and commentary. But the Arthaśāstra and the Laws of Manu paint a darker picture of law and punishments: Stoneman (2019, 222). Bride-winning by contest. The custom still prevails among the Bhils, according to Fuchs (1973, 145). See also Stoneman (2019, 236). A monetary bride-price ‘seems to be practically the norm in rural Chhattisgarh’: Babb (1975, 82). Burning of surplus crops. Not referred to elsewhere. Weapons. The information corresponds to that given by Arrian, Indica 16. See Singh (1965, 109–110), also Stoneman (2019, 225). Horses: cf. F 38. (67). Writing. Writing was apparently known and practiced in the north-west, which had been in the Achaemenid sphere of influence. M., however, says that writing was unknown in Magadha, where he had experience. See Stoneman (2019, 29–32). Cast bronze. Many artefacts of cast bronze survive from every period of Indian civilisation, for example the famous ‘dancing-girl’ from Mohenjodaro (Singh 2009, 162). Bronze is widely used for small-scale sculptures, made using a lost-wax technique and for small objects like pins and fish-hooks (Singh 2009, 239). By the middle of the first millennium BCE iron was in widespread use: Thapar (2002, 143). Praying to the kings. This imponderable statement may be based on the role of the kings in religious rituals, or may refer to particular honorific gestures, which Greeks associated with worship. 138

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Precious stones. A correct observation. Anthrakes, originally ‘charcoal’, is a term for any kind of dark-red stone – garnet, carbuncle – and may be so-called because of its resistance to fire: Arist. Mete. 387b18. (b) Pliny the Elder (23/4–79 CE) wrote an encyclopaedic Natural History, covering most aspects of contemporary human knowledge. He discusses India in Book 6.64–79 and also in Book 12.83–84, and elsewhere. He relied for his information not only on the Alexander historians and on M. but also on the geographer Artemidorus of Ephesus, who wrote 11 books of Geographoumena (now lost) ca. 100 BCE: on his work see Stiehle (1856). Pliny’s work was largely repeated in abridged form in the Collectanea rerum memorabilium of Solinus (probably third century CE). (58) Seleucus I (ca. 358–281 BCE): a general of Alexander and his successor as ruler of eastern empire centred on Babylon. Antiochus I (324/3–261 BCE) succeeded his father Seleucus as king in Babylon. Patrocles (fl. 312–270 BCE): His fragments are collected by Jacoby, FGrH 712. Dionysius (fl. 285–287 BCE): His fragments are collected by Jacoby, FGrH 717. (60) Rivers: see F 7 and commentary. Seneca the philosopher (4 BCE–65 CE). His work on India is sadly lost. (64–78) Pliny’s account of the tribes and people of India is the fullest surviving from antiquity. Many, but by no means all, of the names he give can be matched with other sources, including Ptolemy’s Geography (second century CE), ancient Sanskrit sources, the reports of the Chinese pilgrims of the sixth and eighth centuries and even modern Indian names. The table here following attempts to record as many of these correspondences as possible. The most detailed modern accounts of Indian tribes are Russell (1916) and Fuchs (1973). McCrindle (1926, 129–162) records a great deal of information, which was certainly current in his time. Pliny probably follows Artemidorus for this gazetteer of Indian peoples. It takes the form of a roughly circular tour, starting in north-west, then covering the Ganges valley and Central India, returning to the Lower Indus and working gradually northward until he reaches the northern Indus region. (64–65) These chapters are also included in F 8, on which see the commentary. (66) On the categories or classes of the Indians see F 1, F 28 and commentary. On elephants, see F 37 and commentary. (69) The northern stars: see F 7 and commentary. (75) Thorax, defended by crocodiles. The Arthaśāstra (2.3.3–32, 2.4.1–31 = Kautilya 1992, 184–194) recommends surrounding a city with a moat full of crocodiles.

139

PLINY’S INDIAN TRIBES ( NH 6.56–80) Region

Pliny

NW

Isari Cosiri

Lower Ganges

L. bank of Ganges

[Doab]

Iz(g)i Chirotosagi Bragmanae Mactocalingae Calingae Mandei Malli Gandaridae/ Gangaridae Modogalingae

Ptolemy

McCrindle

André-F

Khasira

Kauśika?

Kauṣika/ Khashar

Kirata

Kirata1

Kalinga Kalinga

Kalinga Kalinga Al-Mand2

Sizyges?

Mandalai

Malla

Y Mālava

Mudugal inga Mūtiba

Modubae Molindae Uberae Modressae Praeti Calissae Sasuri Passalae Colebae

Varahimihira, etc

Malada

Moutiba

Pulinda Śabara Madra ? Pancāla

Modern

Bhars

Koluta3

Panchala Kiu-lo-to4

Arrian et al

Skiratai

Upper Narmada North-west

West

141

On Gulf of Kacch8 Kacch

Surae Maltachorae Singae Maroae Rarungae Moruni Nareae11 Oratae Suaratarratae Odonbaeorae

Koranda – koloi? Tiladai Derdai Prācya Souara

Tanralipta

Andhra Suvastu ?? ??

Śabara

Dards Swat5 (Bihar) Munda Saora

Prasii6 Mandei

Khesa, Kashva Kshatrivaneya Māvela Karoncha7

?

Aśvaka? Dhars Saurabhira9 Maruha

Y

Sanghi Rangha10 Nairs?12 Rathors Udumbari13 (Continued)

P L I N Y ’ S I N D I A N T R I B E S ( N H 6 .5 6 – 8 0 )

Jharkand Odisha

Orumcolae Abali Thalitae Andrae Dardae Setae Prasii Monaedes Suari Pygmies Caesi Caetriboni Megallae Chrysei Parasangae Asmagi Dari

(Continued) Region

Desert E of Indus

142 Indus N

Sindh

Sarabastrae Automula Horatae Charmae Pandae Syrieni Derangae Posingae Butae Gogaraei Umbrae Nereae Brangosi Nobundae Cocondae Nesei Palatidae Salobriasae (Or)Ostrae Mathoae Bolingae Gallitalutae Dimuri Megari Ardabae Mesae Abisari

Ptolemy

McCrindle

André-F

Varahamihira, etc

Surastra

Posinara?

Surastra Bolingai

Bhaulingi16 Galata Dumra Mokar Mazari

Arrian et al

Saurashtra Charmar Pandya Suriani

Dhrangadra

Nubēteh

Modern

P L I N Y ’ S I N D I A N T R I B E S ( N H 6 .5 6 – 8 0 )

Gujarat Bundelkhand

Pliny

Budda Kokeri14 Umrani Nharoni Kokonada15

Konda? Gond?

(Patala) Gehlot Mehar Sileni –Sulala

Abisari

Upper Indus

143 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Brasuertae Sorofages Arbae Marogomarae Umbritae Ceae Asini Sosaeadae Sondrae Samarabiae Sambraceni Bisambritae Orsi Andiseni Taxila Amendae Peucolitae Arsagalitae Geretae Assoi Aspagani

Manu X. 44; see McCrindle 133 n. Idrisi 145. Also in Ramayana. Xuan Zang. But Yule’s map puts them east of the Thar desert. Alexander Romance. Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

Sibarae – Sauvira17 Sarabhān18 Ambastae?

Ambastha

Ambastae (Bucephala)

Charsadda

Gandhara?

Taxila Peucolaitis

Gandhara? Assaceni

P L I N Y ’ S I N D I A N T R I B E S ( N H 6 .5 6 – 8 0 )

Mountains

Silae Organagae Abortae

Xuanzang II. 260 n; McCrindle 146. The reference to coastal mountains suggests this location. Harivāṁṣa. Now east of the Sutlej/near Delhi: McCrindle 147 n. Mt Capitalia = Abu. But the Nairs belong in Kerala. Panini. On the Sutlej. In Mahabharata. Panini. Mahabharata. An Afghan people.

144

P L I N Y ’ S I N D I A N T R I B E S ( N H 6 .5 6 – 8 0 )

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

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152

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Acesines, R. (Skt. Candrabagha or Asikni, mod. Chenab) 30, 37, 80, 92, 96 Achaemenid empire 1, 97, 118–119, 137, 138 Aelian 6–7, 14, 16, 45–48, 49, 50–54, 64, 67–68, 96, 101, 103–104, 105–107, 110, 111, 120, 125, 126 Aethiopians 80, 109 Agatharchides of Cnidus 19n74, 22, 109, 110, 112, 120 Ajīvikas 115, 128, 131, 133 Alexander III of Macedon ix, 4, 6, 30, 32, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 51, 55, 71, 72, 75, 77, 78, 79, 85, 88, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 103, 105, 107, 123, 124, 131, 132–133, 135 Alexander Polyhistor 22 Alexander Romance 96, 97, 112, 114, 129, 131 Alexandria: in Arachosia 2, 79; in Areia 79, 107; by Egypt 88, 126 Amazons 20n86, 41, 96 Amitrochates see Bindusara Anaximander 129 Androsthenes of Thasos 21 Antigonus of Carystus 48 Antipodes 14, 45 ants 53–54, 106; gold-guarding 8, 18, 54–55, 73, 94, 107–108, 136 Aornos, Rock of 14, 40, 42, 96 Apollonius of Tyana 88 Ariana 30, 35, 54, 107 Aristobulus 17, 21, 75, 134, 137 Aristophanes 51, 105–106, 124 Aristotle 6, 19, 39, 50, 94, 124 army, Maurya 62–63, 119, 124 Arrian 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 33–36, 37, 38, 41–44, 48, 54, 58–59,

60–61, 64, 85, 86, 88, 92, 95, 99, 100, 103, 104, 107, 113–114, 115, 119, 121, 125, 134, 138 Artemidorus of Ephesus 1, 17, 22, 23, 80, 139 Arthaśāstra 9–11, 87, 106, 112, 113, 114, 115, 118–119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 138, 139 Aryan ‘invasion’ 98 ascetic practices 75, 111, 127–128, 131, 133, 135, 137 Aśoka 10, 115, 116, 117, 128, 134 Athenaeus 16, 61 Babur 103, 116 Babylon 132–133, 137, 139 Bactria 18–19, 23, 30, 39, 41, 72, 97, 99, 108, 116, 121, 127 Baeton 37, 79, 80, 92 bamboo 65, 66, 105 Bardaisan (Bardesanes) of Edessa 23 Bears (constellations) 29, 36, 45, 91, 101 Berossus 14–15 Bindusara 2, 21 al-Biruni 110, 116 bosmoron/bosporos 30, 86, 94 Bosworth, A.B. 2, 85 Boudyas 43, 99 Brahmān 121–122, 129 Brahman(e)s 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 23, 47–51, 69–70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79, 87, 98, 99, 106, 110, 111, 114, 116, 121, 122, 127–132, 135–136, 138 Bucephala 51, 81 Buddha 72, 99, 132, 133, 134 Buddhists 96, 106, 129, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138

153

INDEX

Calanus 71, 72, 76, 77, 131, 132–134, 137–138 Calingae (Kalinga) 38, 46, 79, 81, 101, 109 Canakya see Kautilya Candragupta ix, xi, 2, 9, 10, 21, 33–34, 44, 56, 62, 86, 88–89, 100, 111, 113, 123, 124, 128 cannibalism 110, 112 Caspatyrus 17 castes 12, 16, 32, 58–60, 85, 86–87, 102, 112, 113–114, 116, 139 Casuagus, Cossoanus, R. (Skt. Kauśiki) 79, 92, 93 Cathaea 20 catreus bird 73, 135 Caucasus (i.e. Himalayas) 13, 34, 35–36, 40, 42, 80, 81, 88, 90, 96 chariots 67, 124 China (Thina) 23, 102, 104 Chryse (Golden Island) 23, 82 cities 61, 116–117, 128; administration 62–63 Clearchus of Soli 136 Cleisobora 43, 50, 99 Cleitarchus 73, 95, 96, 135 Clement of Alexandria 3, 23, 72, 74, 127, 129, 132, 134, 136 climate of India 14, 30, 32, 57 clothing 73, 99 coinage 11 Colunda 47, 103 Cophen, R. (Skt. Nadistuti, mod.Kabul) 37, 79, 92 cosmology 70, 129 counsellors 33, 59, 60 courtesans 114, 119; see also prostitutes Cradeuas 43, 99 craftsmen 33, 59, 60, 62, 64 Craterus 37, 92 crocodiles 51, 81, 92–93, 118, 139 crops 29, 31, 32, 39, 40, 86, 94, 96, 138 Ctesias 1, 5, 12–13, 18–19, 34, 35, 90, 97, 103, 105, 106, 107, 109, 111, 124 curry 116 Curtius Rufus, Q. 13–14, 91, 102, 105, 118, 123 Cynics 20, 108, 115 Cyrus 42, 44, 51, 97 Daimachus, ambassador to India 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 16, 21, 35, 36, 55, 85, 91 Dandamis 72, 123, 131, 132–134, 138; see also Mandanis

Danube, R. 36, 38 Darius I 17–18, 97 death 32, 70, 129, 137 Democritus 39, 94 Derdae (Dards) 54, 80, 102, 107–108 Dharmasutras 9, 87, 120, 128 diet 8, 13, 14, 15, 30, 58, 61, 63, 70, 72, 76, 77, 99, 116, 120, 128, 130 Dio Chrysostom 55, 73, 107, 135–136 Diodorus Siculus 5, 11, 12–14, 16, 22–23, 29–33, 40, 41, 85, 95–96, 97, 113, 114 Diogenes 20, 77, 138 Dionysius: ambassador of Philadelphus 44, 78, 100, 139; epic poet 96 Dionysius Periegetes 14 Dionysus 11, 12, 14, 15, 31, 39–42, 43–44, 69, 95–100, 124, 127 disease 138 divination 132 Dog-heads 5, 13, 56–57, 109, 111–112, 120 dogs 49, 51, 52, 105 dolphins 46, 101–102 drums and cymbals 31, 40, 41, 42, 43, 64, 65, 69, 99, 127 Duris of Samos 96 Egypt 36, 41, 86, 94, 97 elephants 4, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 29, 30, 33, 43, 45, 46, 53, 62–63, 64, 67, 73, 80, 81, 86, 88, 100, 101, 119, 121, 124–126, 139 Emodus mountain 29, 35, 36, 78, 90 Encratites 72 Erannoboas, R. 37, 38, 61, 79, 92, 93, 117 Eratosthenes of Cyrene 1, 8, 12, 17, 21, 24, 33–35, 36, 39, 45, 55, 78, 85, 88, 89, 91, 94, 100–101 ethnography 5–8, 13–14, 22–23 Euripides 39, 95 Eusebius 129 farmers 30, 32, 58, 59–60, 80, 85, 87 Faxian 96 fish 46, 49, 53, 104, 116 Fish-eaters 106 foreigners 33, 62, 88 forest dwellers 70, 72, 128, 131–132 funeral rites 60, 114 Gandaridae (Gangaridae) 30, 38, 79, 86, 93 Gandhara 116 Ganges, R. 2, 12, 13, 14, 18, 22, 23, 30, 35, 37, 38, 53, 56, 57, 61, 72, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 89, 90, 92, 93, 101, 104, 116, 139

154

INDEX

Garmanes 69, 70, 127, 131–132 geography 13, 15, 21, 23, 30, 35, 37, 38, 53, 56, 57, 61, 72, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 89, 90, 92, 93, 101–104, 116, 139 goatsucker 47, 103 gold 23, 29, 45, 48, 54–55, 63, 69, 73, 80, 107–108 Gonds 111, 121 Great Sea 29, 34, 35, 46–47 guinea fowl 105 Hades 70, 71 hair and beards 43, 73, 98, 99, 135 Hecataeus of Abdera 4, 14 Hecataeus of Miletus 5 Heracles (Latin Hercules) 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 31–32, 39–40, 41–42, 43–44, 48, 69, 81, 86, 95–100, 103, 127 Herodotus 2, 5, 6, 7n32, 16, 18, 19, 97, 105, 107–108, 111, 112 Himalayas 88, 89, 90, 137 Hipparchus 36, 91 Homer 5–6, 40, 51, 55, 57, 67, 95, 99, 120 hoopoe 15, 17, 59–61, 105–106 horses 33, 67–68, 77, 98, 105, 106, 119, 126, 188 hunting 59–60, 64–66, 124 Hydaspes, R. (Jhelum) 30, 37, 79, 80 Hydraotes, R. (Skt Iravati, mod. Ravi) 37, 92 Hypanis, Hyphasis, R. (Skt. Vipasa, mod. Beas) 30, 37, 38, 79, 80, 86, 92 Hyperboreans 56, 110 Idanthyrsus 41, 42, 98 Idrisi 87, 101, 104, 114, 120, 121, 125, 128 Imaos 35, 79, 90 incest 99 Indian Ocean 78 India passim see entries on specific topics, e.g. climate, rivers Indra 98–99, 135 Indus, R. 2, 4, 13, 17–18, 20, 22, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 53, 78, 80–81, 82, 88, 89, 90, 92, 111, 124, 133, 139 Indus Civilization 98 Iomanes, R. (Yamuna) 43, 80, 99 ivy 40, 41, 42, 95 Jacoby, Felix ix, 1n1, 5, 16, 85, 95, 98, 106, 130 Jains 11, 111, 128, 131, 133, 135, 137 Jātakas 106, 115

jellyfish 104 jewellery 63, 73, 139 Jews 74, 136 Josephus 42, 97, 136 Juba of Mauretania 54, 107, 125 judges 33, 88 justice 44, 59, 63, 109, 120 Kalidasa 124 Kanaganahalli 129 Kandahar 2, 3; see also Alexandria, in Arachosia kartazon (rhinoceros) 47–48, 50, 55, 103 Kautilya 9–11, 87, 118–119, 123, 139 keles bird 51, 105 kerkion bird 51, 105 Khyber Pass 7 king-lists 44, 100 kings 32–33, 34, 38, 40, 51, 52, 59, 64, 68, 70, 72–73, 78, 79–80, 87, 105, 106, 114, 118, 122–123, 124, 138 Kipling, Rudyard 7–8 Kirāta, Kirradai see Sciratae (Sciritae) Koliakoi 35, 90 Kśudrakas see Sudracae Kushanas 10 land-ownership 32, 87–88 Las Casas, Bartolome de 6 law 11, 31, 32, 43, 59, 63, 64, 77, 114, 120–121, 138 Laws of Manu 87, 100, 102, 114, 115, 119, 122, 128, 129, 135, 137, 138 Liber Pater, i.e. Dionysus 78, 82 lizards 50 loans 64, 124 longevity 66, 88, 104, 109, 135 McCrindle, John ix, 16 Maeander, R. 2, 37 Magadha ix, 11, 93, 113–114, 119, 120, 131, 133, 138 Magi 71, 136 Mahābhārata 19, 94, 107–108, 112, 115, 121, 123, 124 Maleus, Mt. 37, 80, 91, 93 Malli, Malavas 37, 79, 92–93 Mallus, Mt. 79 Mandanis 71, 76–77, 132, 138; see also Dandamis Manetho 14, 15 mangroves 48, 104 manticore 13

155

INDEX

Manu 100 Marinus of Tyre 24 marriage 38, 59, 60, 75, 77, 88, 121, 137, 138 massage 63–64, 120–121 Mathura 80, 90, 99–100 Maurya kingdom ix, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9–10, 79–80, 86, 87, 89, 114; administration 87; magistrates 119; palace 122 medicine 33, 67, 70, 132, 135 Megasthenes passim Mela, Pomponius 100, 107 Melitea, Is. 51, 106 mermaids 101–102 Meros, Mt. 31, 40, 41, 82, 95, 96 Methora (Mathura) 43, 80, 99 millet 29, 86 mines, metals 29, 138 Monaedes (Munda) 37, 80, 91 monkeys 13, 49, 52, 53, 104–106; stonerolling 48, 50, 55, 96, 103, 105, 109 monstrous races 8, 18, 19, 21, 55–56, 102, 109–110 mountains 29 mouthless men 8, 55, 56–57, 102, 109, 111–112 Muntz, Charles 85 music 67, 125–126 Musicanus 20, 64, 104, 114, 120, 132, 136 mynah bird 51, 105 naked philosophers ix, 58 Nearchus 8, 12, 17, 20–21, 23, 34, 35, 54, 55, 58, 77–78, 86, 101, 106, 107–108, 114, 119, 120, 121, 124, 128–129, 131, 132–133, 138 Nebuchadnezzar 15, 42, 98 Nicolaus of Damascus 22, 64, 120, 122 Nile, R. 29, 36, 38, 79 nomadism 58–59, 98 Nonnus 95, 96 Northern Stars 29, 37, 45, 80, 91, 101, 139 noseless men 8, 55, 56, 110 Nulo, Mt. 56, 57, 112 Nysa (Jalalabad) 14, 39–40, 41, 82, 86, 95, 96 Ocean 36, 81, 109 Okypodes (Ekapada) 56, 102, 110 old age 44, 63 Onesicritus ix, 4, 7, 8, 12, 17, 19–20, 23, 34–35, 45, 55, 63–64, 76–77, 86, 100,

101, 104, 108, 114–115, 120, 124, 132, 134, 137, 138 orion bird 73, 135 overseers 33, 59, 60, 114 Oxydracae see Sudracae Palaeogoni 100–101 Palladius, de Bragmanibus 12, 123, 131, 134, 138 palmyra palm 105 Pandaea 15, 32, 43–45, 81, 99–100, 103–104 pangolin 52, 106 paradoxography 6, 8 Parmenides 129 Paropamisus, Paropamisadae 35, 36, 40, 42, 80, 90, 96 parrots 50, 53, 105, 106, 118 Pasargadae 71 pastoralists 33, 58–59, 60 Patala 14, 22, 36, 80, 81, 82, 90 Pataliputra, Palibothra 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 18, 35, 37, 61–62, 79, 80, 86, 89, 90, 92, 93, 99, 106, 117–119, 126, 127 Patrocles 21, 35, 36, 78, 91, 189 peacocks 50, 73, 105, 118 pearls 11, 15, 45, 48, 78; oysters 82, 100, 103–104 Peithon 4 perfumes 43, 68, 69, 125 Periplus Maris Erythraei 1, 23, 91, 102, 104, 110, 111 Persepolis 97, 117–118 Persia(n) 105, 117–118 Pertalis (Tosali) 38, 79, 93 Peucelaotis (Skt. Puśkalavati, mod. Charsadda) 79, 82, 92 pheasants 50, 118, 135 Phegeus 92 Pherecydes 129 philosophers 11, 12, 17, 20, 30, 32, 58–59, 69–71, 75–78, 80, 87, 110, 114, 127–132; naked 72–73, 94, 130–131, 133, 137–138 philosophy 15, 20, 72–73, 77, 131–132, 135 Philostratus 17, 88, 107, 109 Phlegon of Tralles 45, 100 pigeons, green 21, 50, 105 Pindar 56, 110 Plato 70, 131 Pliny the Elder 1, 4, 16, 17, 22, 23, 37, 38, 44, 45, 48, 50, 56–57, 78–82, 91, 92,

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INDEX

93, 95, 98, 100–101, 102, 103, 104, 107, 109, 110, 139, 140–144 Plutarch 57, 112, 123, 125–126, 132 Pluto, chasm of 54 Polyaenus 41, 44, 96 polyandry 108, 121 Polyclitus 50 Porus 3, 4, 34, 89 Prajāpati 129 Pramnae 73, 135, 137 Prasii 37, 45, 47, 48, 49, 52, 61–62, 68, 80, 104, 106, 177 Prometheus 40, 42, 96 prophecy 58, 87 prostitutes 11, 63, 114, 121; see also courtesans Pseudo-Origen 130–131 Pseudo-Scymnus 18 Ptolemy, Claudius, geographer 23–24, 89, 90–91, 102, 104, 124, 139 Ptolemy Soter 21 puberty, age of 43, 44 punishments 63, 64, 122, 124 Purāshm 15, 19, 100, 110, 111, 114, 117 Pygmies 8, 13, 17, 55, 56, 57, 80, 109, 110 Pythagoras 77, 129, 138 Rakshasa’s Ring, The 9, 123 Rāmāyana 19, 94, 110, 111, 114, 124 Red Sea (i.e. Arabian Sea) 13, 22, 23, 53, 106 reeds, giant 55–56, 105, 108 reincarnation 130 religion 8, 13, 15, 23, 31, 131–132, 135 Ṛg Veda 98, 110, 111, 124, 129 rhinoceros 103 rivers 2, 11, 14, 30–31, 37–39, 78, 86, 92–94, 131, 139 royal road 90 Sacae 102 sacrifice 32, 58, 59, 63, 64, 111, 121–122, 123–124 Samanaioi 72, 134 Samaññaphala Sutta 133 Sanchi 116, 119 Sandrocottus see Candragupta Sanskrit 19 Sarasvati, R. 98 Sarmanes 72, 127, 132, 134; see also Garmanes; Samanaioi satyrs 46, 47, 53, 103, 106, 109

Schwanbeck, Eugen A. ix, 1n1, 16, 85, 106, 130, 134 Sciratae (Sciritae) 47, 56, 102, 109, 110, 111, 122 scorpions 50 Scylax of Caryanda 17–18, 19, 109, 124 Scythia 29, 30, 38, 41, 43, 44, 98, 102 sea-hare 46–47, 102 sea monsters 46, 52, 101, 106 seasons 13, 30 Seleucus I 2, 3, 7, 78, 79, 86, 91, 104, 119, 124, 139 Semiramis 11, 41, 42, 97 Seneca, L. Annaeus 23, 79, 139 Seres 49, 104 Sesostris 41, 42, 97 sex in public 55, 108 sexual practices 73, 128, 133 shadows fall to the south/north in winter 29, 36, 37, 86 Sibae 40, 42, 96 Sibyrtios, satrap of Arachosia and Gandhara 2, 4, 33–34, 88 Silas, pool/spring/river 19, 31, 38–39, 86, 93–94 silk 23, 104 silk-cotton 39, 43, 94–95 Simonides 56 Śiśupālgarh 118–119 Śiva 10, 128, 135 slavery 32, 61, 63–64, 70, 86, 114–116, 122 snakes 8, 13, 47, 50–55; flying 49, 50, 105; sea- 52, 106 Socrates 77 Solinus 16, 57, 92, 100, 109, 110, 138 Son, R. 38, 79, 92, 93, 117 Sophocles 39, 95 Sparta (Lacedaemon) 61, 115 Spatembas 43, 99 spies 11, 114 sponges 77 śramanas 4, 127, 131–132 Stein, Otto 8, 9, 87, 110, 113 Strabo 1, 5, 8, 9, 11–12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22–23, 35–36, 37–38, 39–40, 49, 50, 54–56, 59–60, 61, 62–64, 69, 71, 75–78, 85, 86–87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96–97, 100–101, 102, 103, 105, 109–110, 115, 120, 122, 124–125, 127–132, 135, 137–139 Suari (Saora) 80, 91 Sudracae, Sydracae, Oxydracae, Hydracae 37, 40, 42, 92, 96, 98

157

INDEX

Suicide 71, 77, 80, 132–134, 138 Suraseni 43

utopian ideas 7, 20, 104, 120, 135 Uttarakuru 94, 110

Tabula Peutingeriana 89, 90, 102, 104 Taprobane (Sri Lanka) 11, 15, 22, 45–47, 82, 91, 93, 100–102, 107 Taurus, Mt. 34, 35 taxes 59–60, 62 Taxila 12, 20, 21, 68, 72, 75, 77, 79, 82, 119, 132–133, 137 Tearco (Taharka) 3n11, 42, 97 Thapar, Romila 10, 87, 113 Theophrastus 21, 104, 105 Thucydides 6 Tiberoboam, R. 131 tigers 12, 49, 81, 104, 137 Timmer, Barbara 15, 87, 113, 134 tortoises 53, 106 tribes of India 17, 18, 22, 32, 79–82, 91, 98, 139, 140–144 Triptolemus 43, 99 Tropic of Cancer 36, 91 truthfulness 8 turtles 45, 53, 101, 106 Tzetzes, John 17

Varahamihira 110, 111 Vedas 19 vines 40, 69, 82, 95, 127; golden vine 118 Vilde 100

unicorn 103; see also rhinoceros Upanicero 19, 120, 128

yak 52, 106, 108 Yamuna, R. 93, 99; see also Iomanes, R.

warfare 30, 33, 43, 58–59, 60, 62–63, 80, 88, 119 water-supply 119 weapons 77, 138 whales 46, 106 widow-burning (sati) 75–76, 137 wine 31, 69, 95, 99 women 8, 13, 15, 31, 41, 63, 69–70, 71, 73, 77, 122–123, 124, 128–129, 132, 138 wonders 20 writing 77, 138 Xenophanes 129 Xenophon 97 Xuan Zang 120

158