Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8.104

c8.104

Buddhism was not so popular in the days of Megasthenes as it afterwards became under the vigorous advocacy of Aśoka. Megasthenes says nothing of the distinctive teachings of the Sarmanes. Their most distinguished members were the Hylobioi (Vānaprastha), who retired to the forest and lived on the bark of trees. Megasthenes apparently fails to distinguish Brahminism from Buddhism, as this is a Hindu and not a Buddhistic practice. Among the philosophers, Megasthenes reckons the physicians, who appear to have attained to a high degree of proficiency. No doubt the difficulties of ascertaining much about Hindu philosophy were very great for a foreigner. As the sage Mandanis remarks to Onesikritus, “It is impossible to explain philosophical doctrines through the medium of interpreters who know nothing of the subject. It is like asking water to flow pure through mud¹.”