Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8.107

c8.107

We have seen that the Maurya Emperors were in close touch with their Greek neighbours and kinsmen. Chandragupta has a Greek wife, Greek ambassadors in his court, and corresponds with the Syrian monarch. Aśoka sends missionaries to his Greek neighbours. And yet, when we examine the matter closely, we find little trace of Greek influence in India at the time of the Mauryas. On the other hand, they were deeply influenced by the now vanished Persian Empire. For centuries the Persians had ruled in the Panjāb, and the Indians had been impressed by the stately edifice of Persian rule. Perhaps Chandragupta had, during his boyhood in Taxila, come under Persian influence. The customs of his court were purely Persian. Like the Great King, he lived in seclusion, only appearing for religious festivals and on solemn occasions. He kept, like him, the "hair-washing festival," Tykta, described by Herodotus¹. Many other institutions of Chandragupta had their Persian parallels, for instance, the Royal Road, and probably the provincial organization. Then again, we see Persian influence in the architectural undertakings of Aśoka. The Edicts engraved on the rock may be compared to the Behistūn inscriptions of Darius, and the lion capitals of the Aśoka pillars are clearly Persian in style, though that style has undergone considerable modification.