The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c30.s2.25

v1.c30.s2.25

Menander's fame as a great and just ruler was not confined to India. Some two centuries after his time Plutarch recounted to the Greek world the story how, after his death in camp, the cities of his realm contended for the honour of preserving his ashes and agreed on a division among themselves, in order that the memory of his reign should not be lost. The story is evidently derived from some Buddhist source; for, as Prinsep first pointed out, it is a reminiscence of the story of the distribution of Buddha's ashes¹.