Maurya and Shunga Art c5.12

c5.12

After the withdrawal of the Macedonian army of Alexander, and the establishment of an alliance *jus connubii* of Chandragupta Maurya with Seleukus, the Mauryas came into very intimate friendly relations with the Seleukid Greek houses, and this relation continued from generation to generation. Besides contracting a matrimonial alliance Chandragupta repeatedly received Megasthenes, an officer from Arachosia, as an ambassador from Seleukus; is reported to have sent Seleukus some strange Indian drugs presumably through his own envoy, and is further said to have been used to offer sacrifices in Hellenic manner to Alexander's altars on the Hyphasis. The ceremonial at the court of this king described by classical writers also reveal Achaemenian influence.²³ His son Bindusāra had in his court a Greek envoy, Deimachus of Plataea, sent by Antiochus Soter, son of Seleukus. Bindusāra also like his father seems to have been a Hellenophile; he wrote back to Antiochus requesting him to buy and send on to him sweet wine, dried figs and a Greek sophist. From Antiochus came the reply: "we shall send you dried figs and sweet wine, but it is not lawful in Greece to sell a sophist." Diodorus speaks of a Greek author Iamboulus by name who found his way to the king of Palibothra, and this king of Palibothra, presumably Bindusāra or atleast one of the first three Maurya monarchs, "is credited with having a great love for the Grecians." The court of Bindusāra or of his son was visited by a Greek envoy Dicnysius sent by Ptolemy (II) Philadelphos, King of Egypt, while Deimachus was another Greek ambassador from the king of Syria who presented his credentials to Bindusāra. If the evidence of Dion Chrysostom is to be believed, the Indians sang the poetry of Homer which was translated into Indian language and Indian mode of expression. Aśoka’s friendly relations with the Yavanas or the Greek states of Western Asia and Egypt are much to well-known; the world that he claims to have contacted in pursuance of his policy of ‘Dhammavijaya’ was pre-eminently this Hellenistic world; he arranged for the medical treatment of men and cattle among others in the dominions of Antiochus Theos and his neighbours; he despatched ‘dūtas’ or envoys to the realms of the five Greek frontagers to initiate or encourage various works of piety and public utility, to inculcate the principles of Dhamma, and further to assure his frontagers of his sincere desire to respect their territorial integrity, and of his solicitude and good will.