Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8.72

c8.72

First in order, in the catalogue of Megasthenes, came the *Philosophers* (Φιλόσοφοι, Σοφισταί) employed in literary and scientific pursuits and religious rites. These were, of course, the Brahmins, ubiquitous as ever. Of the religion and philosophy of the Brahmins, Megasthenes speaks in another place, and the subject will be treated separately. Once a year a great conclave of Brahmins was held by the king, when rewards were dispensed to those who had produced literary works or made scientific discoveries of merit².