The Classical Accounts of India c11: IV. Diodorus Siculus

The Classical Accounts of India c11

Language: English

c11.s1 I. General Description of India (Book II) — 23 parts
c11.s2 II. Incidental Notices — 17 parts

IV. Diodorus Siculus

I. General Description of India (Book II)

c11.s1.1

For an account of this author see p 162 above. The Extract I, reproduced below, is based on the English translation of McCrindle (M-II, pp 30ff) who, following Dr Schwanbeck, regards it as an epitome of Megasthenes There is, however, no valid ground for this claim (See Appendix I) The Extract II is based upon M-II, pp. 36-37 and M-V, pp 201-205) There is an English translation of the whole work of Diodorus by C H Oldfather, published in 1935. McCrindle's translation of Extract I has been corrected in the light of this work. The portion, so corrected, has been marked with an asterisk

c11.s1.2

II. 35. India, which is in shape quadrilateral, has its eastern as well as its southern\* side bounded by the great sea, but on the northern side it is divided by Mount Hemodos from that part of Skythia which is inhabited by those Skythians who are called the Sakai, while the fourth or western side is bounded by the river called the Indus, which is perhaps the largest of all rivers in the world after the Nile. The extent of the whole country from east to west is said to be 28,000 stadia, and from north to south 32,000. Being thus of such vast extent, it seems well-nigh to embrace the whole of the northern tropic zone of the earth, and in fact at the extreme point of India the gnomon of the sundial may frequently be observed to cast no shadow, while the constellation of the Bear is by night invisible, and in the remotest parts even Arcturus disappears from view. Consistently with this, it is also stated that shadows there fall to the southward.

c11.s1.3

India has many huge mountains which abound in fruit-trees of every kind, and many vast plains of great fertility, which are remarkable for their beauty, and are supplied with water\* by a multitude of rivers. The greater part of the soil, moreover, is well watered\* and consequently bears two crops in the course of the year. It teems at the same time with animals of all sorts,—beasts of the field and fowls of the air,—of all different degrees of strength and size. It is prolific, besides, in elephants, which are of monstrous bulk, as its soil supplies food in unsparing profusion, making these animals far to exceed in strength those that are bred in Libya. It results also that, since they are caught in great numbers by the Indians and trained for war, they are of great moment in turning the scale of victory.

c11.s1.4

36. The inhabitants, in like manner, having abundant means of subsistence, are of unusual height and bulk of body.\* They are also found to be well skilled in the arts, as might be expected of men who inhale a pure air and drink the very finest water. And while the soil bears on its surface all kinds of fruits which are known to cultivation, it has also under ground numerous veins of all sorts of metals, for it contains much gold and silver, and copper and iron in no small quantity, and even tin and other metals, which are employed in making articles of use and ornament, as well as the implements and accoutrements of war.

c11.s1.5

In addition to cereals, there grows throughout India much millet, which is kept well watered by the profusion of river-streams, and much pulse of superior quality, and rice also, and what is called *bosporum*, as well as many other plants useful for food, of which most are native to the country. The soil yields, moreover, not a few other edible fruits fit for the subsistence of animals, about which it would be tedious to write. It is accordingly affirmed that famine has never visited India, and that there has never been a general scarcity in the supply of nourishing food. For, since there is a double rainfall in the course of each year,—one in the winter season, when the sowing of wheat takes place as in other countries, and the second at the time of the summer solstice, which is the proper season for sowing rice and *bosporum*, as well as sesamum and millet—the inhabitants of India almost always gather in two harvests annually; and even should one of the sowings prove more or less abortive they are always sure of the other crop. The fruits, moreover, of spontaneous growth, and the esculent roots which grow in marshy places and are of varied sweetness, afford abundant sustenance for man. The fact is, almost all the plains in the country have a moisture which is alike genial, whether it is derived from the rivers, or from the rains of the summer season, which are wont to fall every year at a stated period with surprising regularity; while the great heat which prevails ripens the roots which grow in the marshes, and especially those of the tall reeds.

c11.s1.6

But, further, there are usages observed by the Indians which contribute to prevent the occurrence of famine among them; for whereas among other nations it is usual, in the contests of war, to ravage the soil, and thus to reduce it to an uncultivated waste, among the Indians, on the contrary, by whom husbandmen are regarded as a class that is sacred and inviolable, the tillers of the soil, even when battle is raging in their neighbourhood, are undisturbed by any sense of danger, for the combatants on either side in waging the conflict make carnage of each other, but allow those engaged in husbandry to remain quite unmolested.¹ Besides, they neither ravage an enemy's land with fire, nor cut down its trees.

c11.s1.7

37. India, again, possesses many rivers both large and navigable, which, having their sources in the mountains which stretch along the northern frontier, traverse the level country, and not a few of these, after uniting with each other, fall into the river called the Ganges.

c11.s1.8

Now this river, which* is 30 stadia broad, flows from north to south, and empties its waters into the ocean forming the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai, a nation which possesses the greatest number of elephants and the largest in size.* Owing to this, their country has never been conquered by any foreign king: for all other nations dread the overwhelming number and strength of these animals. Thus Alexander the Macedonian, after conquering all Asia, did not make war upon the Gangaridai, as he did on all others; for when he had arrived with all his troops at the river Ganges, and had subdued all the other Indians, he abandoned as hopeless an invasion of the Gangaridai when he learned that they possessed four thousand elephants well trained and equipped for war. Another river, about the same size as the Ganges, called the Indus, has its sources, like its rival, in the north, and falling into the ocean forms* the boundary of India; in its passage through the vast stretch of level country it receives not a few tributary streams which are navigable, the most notable of them being the Hupanis, the Hudaspes, and the Acesines. Besides these rivers there are a great many others of every description, which permeate the country, and supply water for the nurture of garden vegetables and crops of all sorts. Now to account for the rivers being so numerous, and the supply of water so super-abundant, the native philosophers and proficients in natural science advance the following reasons:—They say that the countries which surround India—those of the Skythians and Baktrians, and also of Ariana*—are more elevated than India, so that their waters, agreeable to natural law, flow down together from all sides to the plains beneath, where they gradually staturate the soil with moisture, and generate a multitude of rivers.

c11.s1.9

A peculiarity is found to exist in one of the rivers of India, —that called the Sillas, which flows from a spring* bearing the same name. It differs from all other rivers in this respect,—that nothing cast into it will float, but everything, strange to say, sinks down to the bottom.

c11.s1.10

DIODORUS SICULUS

c11.s1.11

38. It is said that India, being of enormous size when taken as a whole, is peopled by races both numerous and diverse, of which not even one was originally of foreign descent, but all were evidently indigenous; and moreover that India neither received a colony from abroad, nor sent out a colony to any other nation. The legends further inform us that in primitive times the inhabitants subsisted on such fruits as the earth yielded spontaneously, and were clothed with the skins of the beasts found in the country, as was the case with the Greeks; and that, in like manner *as with them*, the arts and other appliances which improve human life were gradually invented, Necessity herself teaching them to an animal at once docile and furnished not only with hands ready to second all his efforts, but also with reason and a keen intelligence.

c11.s1.12

The men of greatest learning among the Indians tell certain legends, of which it may be proper to give a brief summary. They relate that in the most primitive times, when the people of the country were still living in clan\* villages, Dionysus made his appearance coming from the regions lying to the west, and at the head of a considerable army. He overran the whole of India, as there was no great city capable of resisting his arms. The heat, however, having become excessive, and the soldiers of Dionysus being afflicted with a pestilence, the leader, who was remarkable for his sagacity, carried his troops away from the plains up to the hills. There the army, recruited by the cool breezes and the waters that flowed fresh from the springs\*, recovered from sickness. The place among the mountains where Dionysus restored his troops to health was called Meros; from which circumstance, no doubt, the Greeks have transmitted to posterity the legend concerning the god, that Dionysus was bred in *his father's thigh*. Having after this turned his attention to the storing of the fruits,\* he communicated the secret to the Indians, and taught them the way to make wine, as well as other arts conducive to human well-being. He became the founder of notable cities by gathering the villages together in well-situated regions,\* while he also showed the people how to worship the deity, and introduced laws and courts of justice. Having thus achieved altogether many great and noble works, he was regarded as a deity and gained immortal honours. It is related also of him that he led about with his army a great host of women, and employed, in marshalling his troops for battle, drums and cymbals, as the trumpet had not in his days been invented; and that after reigning over the whole of India for two and fifty years he died of old age, while his sons succeeding to the government, transmitted the sceptre in unbroken succession to their posterity. At last, after many generations had come and gone, the sovereignty, it is said, was dissolved, and democratic governments were set up in the cities.

c11.s1.13

39. Such, then, are the traditions regarding Dionysus and his descendants current among the Indians who inhabit the hill-country. They further assert that Heracles was\* born among them. They assign to him, like the Greeks, the club and the lion’s skin. He far surpassed other men in personal strength and prowess, and cleared sea and land of evil beasts. Marrying many wives he begot many sons, but one daughter only. The sons having reached man’s estate, he divided all India into equal portions for his children, whom he made kings in different parts of his dominions. He provided similarly for his only daughter, whom he reared up and made a queen. He was the founder, also, of no small number of cities the most renowned and greatest of which he called Palibothra. He built therein a costly palace,\* and settled within its walls a numerous population. The city he fortified with trenches of notable dimensions, which were filled with water introduced from the river. Heracles, accordingly, after his removal from among men, obtained immortal honours, and his descendants having reigned for many generations and signalized themselves by great achievements, neither made an expedition beyond the confines of India, nor sent out any colony abroad. At last, however, after many years had gone, most of the cities adopted the democratic form of government, though some retained the kingly until the invasion of the country by Alexander. Of several remarkable customs existing among the Indians, there is one prescribed by their ancient philosophers which one may regard as truly admirable: for the law ordains that no one among them shall, under any circumstances, be a slave, but that, enjoying freedom, they shall respect the principle of equality in all persons\*; for those, *they thought*, who have learned neither to domineer over nor to cringe to others will attain the life best adapted for all vicissitudes of lot: since it is silly to make laws on the basis of equality of all persons and yet to establish inequalities in social intercourse.\*

c11.s1.14

40. The whole population of India is divided into seven castes, of which the *first* is formed by the collective body of the Philosophers, which in point of number is inferior to the other classes, but in point of dignity prominent over all. For the philosophers, being exempted from all public duties, are neither the masters nor the servants of others They are, however, engaged by private persons to offer the sacrifices due in lifetime, and to celebrate the obsequies of the dead, for they are *believed* to be most dear to the gods, and to be the most conversant with matters pertaining to Hades In requital of such services they receive valuable gifts and privileges To the people of India at large they also render great benefits, since they are invited at the beginning of the year to the Great Synod and* forewarn the assembled multitudes about droughts and wet weather, and also about propitious winds, and diseases, and other topics capable of profiting the hearers. Thus the people and the sovereign, learning beforehand what is to happen, always make adequate provision against a coming deficiency, and never fail to prepare beforehand what will help in a time of need The philosopher who errs in his predictions incurs no other penalty than obloquy, and he then observes silence for the rest of his life

c11.s1.15

The *second caste* consists of the Husbandmen, who appear to be far more numerous than the others Being, moreover, exempted from fighting and other public services, they devote the whole of their time to tillage, nor would an enemy coming upon a husbandman at work on his land do him any harm, for men of this class, being regarded as public benefactors, are protected from all injury. The land thus remaining unravaged, and producing heavy crops, supplies the inhabitants with all that is requisite to make life very enjoyable. The husbandmen themselves, with their wives and children, live in the country, and entirely avoid going into town They pay a land-tribute to the king, because all India is the property of the crown, and no private person is permitted to own land. Besides the land-tribute, they pay into the royal treasury a fourth part of the produce of the soil.

c11.s1.16

The *third caste* consists of the Neatherds and Shepherds, and in general of all herdsmen who neither settle in towns nor in villages, but live in tents By hunting and trapping they clear the country of noxious birds and wild beasts. As they apply themselves eagerly and assiduously to this pursuit, they are bringing India under cultivation although it still abounds in many wild beasts* and birds which devour the seeds sown by the husbandmen.

c11.s1.17

41. The *fourth* caste consists of the Artizans. Of these some are armourers, while others make the implements which husbandmen and others find useful in their different callings. This class is not only exempted from paying taxes, but even receives maintenance from the royal exchequer.

c11.s1.18

The *fifth* caste is the Military. It is well organized and equipped for war, holds the second place in point of numbers, and gives itself up to relaxation* and amusement in the times of peace. The entire force—men-at-arms, war-horses, war-elephants, and all—are maintained at the king’s expense

c11.s1.19

The *sixth* caste consists of the Inspectors * It is their province to inquire into and superintend all that goes on in India, and make report to the king, or, where there is not a king, to the magistrates.

c11.s1.20

The *seventh* caste consists of the Councillors and Assessors,—of those who deliberate on public affairs. It is the smallest class, looking to number, but the most respected, on account of the high character and wisdom of its members, for from their ranks the advisers of the king are taken, and the treasurers of the state, and the arbiters who settle disputes. The generals of the army also, and the chief magistrates, usually belong to this class.²

c11.s1.21

Such, then, are about the parts into which the body politic in India is divided. No one is allowed to marry out of his own caste, or to exercise any calling or art except his own for instance, a soldier cannot become a husbandman, or an artizan a philosopher.

c11.s1.22

42. India possesses a vast number of huge elephants, which far surpass *those found elsewhere* both in strength and size This animal does not cover the female in a peculiar way, as some affirm, but like horses and other quadrupeds. The period of gestation is at shortest sixteen months, and at furthest eighteen Like mares, they generally bring forth but one young at a time, and this the dam suckles for six years. Most elephants live to be as old as an extremely old man, but the most aged live two hundred years.

c11.s1.23

Among the Indians officers are appointed even for foreigners, whose duty is to see that no foreigner is wronged. Should any of them lose his health, they send physicians to attend him, and take care of him otherwise, and if he dies they bury him, and deliver over such property as he leaves to his relatives. The judges also decide cases in which foreigners are concerned, with the greatest care, and come down sharply on those who take unfair advantage of them. What we have now said regarding India and its antiquities will suffice for our present purpose.

II. Incidental Notices

c11.s2.1

III. 63. Now some, as I have already said, supposing that there were three individuals of this name,³ who lived in different ages, assign to each appropriate achievements. They say, then, that the most ancient of them was Indos, and that as the country, with its genial temperature, produced spontaneously the vine-tree in great abundance, he was the first who crushed grapes and discovered the use of the properties of wine. In like manner he ascertained what culture was requisite for figs and other fruit trees, and transmitted this knowledge to after-times; and, in a word, it was he who found out how these fruits should be gathered in, whence also he was called Lênaios This same Dionysus, however, they call also Katapôgôn, since it is a custom among the Indians to nourish their beards with great care to the very end of their life Dionysos then, at the head of an army, marched to every part of the world, and taught mankind the planting of the vine, and how to crush grapes in the winepress, whence he was called Lênaios. Having in like manner imparted to all a knowledge of his other inventions, he obtained after his departure from among men immortal honour from those who had benefited by his labours It is further said that the place is pointed out in India even to this day where the god had been, and that cities are called by his name in the vernacular dialects, and that many other important evidences still exist of his having been born in India, about which it would be tedious to write.

c11.s2.2

XVIII 6. Among the southern countries the first under Kaukasos is India, a kingdom remarkable for its vast extent and the largeness of its population, for it is inhabited by very many nations, among which the greatest of all is that of the Gandaridai against whom Alexander did not undertake an expedition, being deterred by the multitude of their elephants This region is separated from farther India by the greatest river in those parts (for it has a breadth of thirty stadia), but it adjoins the rest of India which Alexander had conquered, and which was well watered by rivers and highly renowned for its prosperous and happy condition. It contained, along with many other kingdoms, the realms subject to Porus and Taxiles, through which flows the river Indus, from which the country takes its name.

c11.s2.3

39. Antipater then divided the Satrapies anew . . and gave India, which bordered on the Paropamisadai, to Pythôn, the son of Agenor, and of the adjacent kingdoms he gave that which lay along the Indus to Porus, and that along the Hydaspes to Taxiles⁴, for it was impossible to remove these kings without royal troops under the command of some distinguished general.

c11.s2.4

XIX. 27. Eumenês on the left wing posted Eudamus, who had brought the elephants from India, and commanded a division of cavalry 150 strong.⁵

c11.s2.5.1

30. When Eumenês was interring the slain with splendid obsequies, a marvellous thing occurred, of a nature quite contrary to what is customary among the Greeks. For Kêteus, the commander of those who had come from India, was killed in the battle when fighting gloriously, and he left two wives who had accompanied him in the expedition, one lately married, while the other had been for a few years his helpmate, but both of them devotedly attached to him. Now, it was an ancient law among the Indians that when youngmen and maiden were minded to wed, they did not marry according to the judgement of their parents, but by mutual consent. But when in these old times espousals were made between persons of immature age, mistakes of judgement were of frequent occurrence, and when both sides repented their union, many of the women became depraved, and through incontinence fell in love with other men, and when at last they wished to leave the husbands they had first chosen, but could not in decency do so openly, they got rid of them by poison, a means of destroying life which they could readily procure in the country, which produces in great quantity and variety drugs of fatal potency, some of which cause death if merely introduced as a powder into food or drink.

c11.s2.5.2

But when this nefarious practice had become quite prevalent, and many lives had been sacrificed, and when it was found that the punishment of the guilty had no effect in deterring other wives from their career of iniquity, they passed a law ordaining that a wife, unless she were pregnant, or had already borne children, should be burned along with her deceased husband, and that if she did not choose to obey the law that she should remain a widow to the end of her life, and be for ever excommunicated from the sacrifices and other solemnities as being an impious person. When these laws had been enacted, it came to pass that the women changed to the very opposite their disposition to violate their duty, for, since each one willingly submitted to the death ordained, rather than endure the excess of infamy which would attend its refusal, they not only provided for the safety and welfare of their husbands in which their own were equally involved, but they contended with each other for this as the highest of all honours, and this happened in the present instance. For although by the law only one was to be burned with the husband, yet at the funeral of Kêteus each of his wives strove for the honour of dying with him, as if this were the noblest crown of virtue.

c11.s2.5.3

When the matter was brought to the generals for decision, the younger wife represented that the other was pregnant and could not therefore take advantage of the law The elder pleaded that as she was before the other in years, she should be preferred before her in honour also; for in every other case it was the rule that more honour and respect should be accorded to the elder than to the younger. The generals being informed by the midwives that the elder was with child, decided in favour of the younger; whereupon the one who lost her cause went away weeping and wailing, rent the veil from her head, and tore her hair as if some terrible news had been told her. The other, overjoyed at her victory, set forth for the funeral pile, crowned with mitres by the women of her house, and richly attired, as if she were going to some marriage festival, escorted by her kindred setting forth in songs the praises of her virtues. When she came near to the pyre she stripped off her ornaments and distributed them to her servants and friends, bequeathing them, so to speak, as tokens of remembrance to those she loved. Her ornaments consisted of a multitude of finger-rings, set with precious stone of divers colours; upon her head there was no small number of little golden stars, between which were placed sparkling stones of all sorts; about her neck she wore many rows of jewels, some small, others large, and increasing in size gradually as they were placed on the string.

c11.s2.5.4

At length she took farewell of her domestics, and was assisted by her brother to mount the pyre, and, to the great admiration of the people, who ran together to see the spectacle, she made her exit from life in heroic style. For the whole army under arms marched thrice round the pile before fire was set to it, and the victim, having meanwhile laid herself by her husband's side, scorned to demean herself by uttering shrieks, even when the flames were raging around her—a sight which affected the onlookers variously. Some were filled with pity, others were profuse in their praises, while there were not wanting Greeks who condemned the institution as barbarous and inhuman.⁶

c11.s2.6

Book. I. 11, 12. From Ethiopia he (Osiris)⁷ passed through Arabia, bordering upon the Red Sea as far as to India, and the remotest inhabited coasts; he built likewise many cities in India, one of which he called Nysa, willing to have a remembrance of that (Nysa) in Egypt where he was brought up. At this Nysa in India he planted ivy, which continues to grow here, but nowhere else in India or near it. He left likewise many other marks of his being in those parts, by which the latter inhabitants are induced to believe, and do affirm, that this god was born in India. He likewise addicted himself much to the hunting of elephants. and took care to have statues of himself in every place, as lasting monuments of his expedition.

c11.s2.7

At the end of the Second Book of his *History*, Diodorus introduces to our notice a Greek author, Iamboulos, who is known to have written a work on the strange forms of the inhabitants of India. We learn regarding him that he was made a slave by the Ethiopians, who sent him away in a boat which carried him to a happy island in the Eastern Seas His account of the island (supposed to be Ceylon) and its inhabitants, which Diodorus has transcribed at some length, is ludicrously absurd, and makes it doubtful whether Iamboulos had ever been in the east. Lucian in his *Verae Historiae* (i 3) has therefore put him in the pillory along with Ktesias as a writer of fables We may cite the passage with which Diodorus concludes his notice of this fiction-monger as it has reference to India.

c11.s2.8

After Iamboulos with his companion had continued in this island seven years, they were (as wicked and vile fellows) ejected. Having therefore their ship fitted out and furnished with provisions, they set sail, and after they had continued their voyage for above four months together, they fell at length upon the sandy shallows of India, where Iamboulos's companion was drowned, and he himself afterwards cast upon a certain village, and forthwith carried away by the inhabitants of the place to the king, then at a city called Polibothra,⁸ many days' journey from the seas, where he was kindly received by the king, who had a great love for the Grecians, and was very studious in the liberal sciences. At length (having obtained provision from the king) he first sailed into Persia, and thence safely arrived in Greece. This Iamboulos committed all these adventures to writing, and gave an account of many things relating to the affairs of India before unknown to strangers.—*Booth's Translation*.

c11.s2.9

¹ This is supported by Indian tradition. According to *Abhidharmakosavyakhya*, kings, while destroying the soldiers, respect the field-labourer who is the common help of both armies (Cf *Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol I p 369)

c11.s2.10

² C H Oldfather translates this para as follows — The seventh caste is that of the deliberators and councillors, whose concern is with the decisions which affect the common welfare. In point of number this group is the smallest, but in nobility of birth and wisdom, the most worthy of admiration, for from their body are drawn the advisers for the kings and the administrators of the affairs of state and the judges of disputes, and, speaking generally they take their leaders and magistrates from among these men

c11.s2.11

³ The reference is to Dionysus, mentioned in para 38 of Extract I.

c11.s2.12

⁴ Diodorus is obviously in error, and we should read 'Taxiles' for 'Porus' and *vice versa*

c11.s2.13

⁵ Eudamus (or Eudemus) was, in conjunction with Taxiles, appointed by Alexander to govern temporarily a part of his Indian conquests till the arrival of a successor to Philip, who had been assassinated After Alexander's death Eudemus put Porus to death, and shortly afterwards left India to assist Eumenes in his contest with Antigonus The elephants which Eudemus took with him from India proved of great service to Eumenes.

Cites (2)

Gaṅgā — Sanskrit
Pāṭaliputra

The Classical Accounts of India c11: IV. Diodorus Siculus

Contents

IV. Diodorus Siculus

I. General Description of India (Book II)

II. Incidental Notices

Cites (2)