The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.217

v1.c26.217

Aristobulus in his book gave further details about the holy men whom the Greeks had come upon at Takshaçilā. He described two, one of whom had a shaven head and the other long hair; each was followed by a number of disciples. All the time that they spent in the market-place men came to them for counsels, and they had a right to take without payment any of the wares exposed for sale. When they approached a man, he would pour sesame oil over them 'so that it ran down even from their eyes.' They made cakes for themselves from the honey and sesame brought to market. When they had been induced to come to Alexander's table, they retired afterwards to a place apart where the elder lay on his back, exposed to sun and rain, and the younger stood on his right and left leg alternately for a whole day, holding up a staff some six feet long in both his hands. The elder seems to have been identical with the ascetic who afterwards followed Alexander out of India and whom the Greeks called Kalanos³.