[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916) › c8 # Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8: Chapter III. The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c8 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [c8.s1 Appendix I. The Royal Road](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1) — 10 parts - [c8.s2 Appendix II. The Fabulous Races of India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2) — 14 parts - [c8.s3 Appendix III. The Accuracy of Megasthenes](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s3) — 6 parts ### Chapter III. The Maurya Empire. Megasthenes ### [c8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.2) IN 329 B.C., the long peace of India was rudely disturbed. The army of Alexander entered the Panjāb, and beating down the desperate opposition of the various tribes who tried to bar its way, penetrated to the banks of the Hyphasis. Alexander had now reached the utmost limits of the Persian Empire. Before him lay a vast and unknown country. Some said that the sandy deserts which lay around, stretched to the end of the world, inhabited, perhaps, by the strange monsters described by the pen of Ktesias. Alexander, however, had heard rumours of a vast nation, the Prasii, ruled by a king named Xandrames, who had a mighty army¹, and he was anxious to push on and try conclusions with him. ### [c8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.3) ¹ Plutarch, \*Vit. Alex.\* 62 The word Prasii, used by Greek writers of the kingdom of Magadha, is probably the Sanskrit \*Prāchya\*, Eastern. Xandrames may be Nanda Rāja. He is called Angrammes by Curtius (IX. 2). His real name was Mahāpadma. Πράξιοι, Πραίσιοι, Πραῦσιοι, Βρήσιοι, \*Pharrasii\* are other forms of Πράσιοι, found in Greek and Latin literature (Schwanbeck, p. 82, n.). Cunningham prefers to derive the word from \*Parāsa\* (\*Palāsa\*), a name sometimes given to Magadha, derived from the Palāśa tree (\*Butea frondosa\*). ### [c8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.4) But the Macedonian troops, desperate at the thought of new terrors and fresh privations, refused to go any further. They had fought battles, crossed deserts and rivers, and climbed mountain ranges at the order of their leader, but this was too much. The breaking-point had been reached at last. And so Alexander had to content himself with the conquest of the old Persian " satrapy of India." He was no mere military adventurer, and from the first his object was to develop the immense commercial resources of the Panjāb. Trading depôts were founded all along the course of the Indus as the Macedonian army moved towards the mouth of the river. Bukephala and Nikaea were built on the banks of the Hydaspes; Alexandria-on-Indus at the important spot where the Akesines joins the main stream; and Patala at the head of the Indus delta¹. Alexandria-on-Indus soon became an important town. It survived the overthrow of the Macedonian power in the Panjāb for many years, and became famous under the rule of the Baktrian kings as a great Graeco-Buddhist centre. "Alasanda of the Yonas" is mentioned in the Mahāvaṃsa, the chronicle-history of the distant island of Ceylon, as the "capital of the Yona country," and 30,000 monks are said to have come from this place to the dedication-festival of the great tope of Ruanvelli in 137 B.C.¹ We have, curiously enough, in the name of this town, the only mention in Indian literature of the name of the great Macedonian conqueror. Patala remained an important port for western trade, and was the principal harbour in north-western India until its claims were rivalled by Barygaza. Philip, the satrap of Parthia, was put in charge of the new province, with orders to push on the development of the colonies and the completion of the naval docks and other commercial undertakings with all speed². On reaching the mouth of the river, Alexander determined to build a dock at the end of the eastern arm, as he found there an excellent natural harbour, forming a lake-like basin³. Nearchus, the admiral in charge of the Greek fleet, was now sent on to explore the Persian Gulf, while Alexander, undeterred by the legendary stories of the fate of the army of Semiramis, rashly attempted to follow overland across the terrible Mekrān desert. ### [c8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.5) ¹ Hence called Patalene. Patala is the modern Bahmanābād. Bukephala is Jihlam. For Alexandria-on-Indus, see Arrian, \*Exped. Alex.\* VI. 14, 15. ### [c8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.6) ¹ See the Mahāvaṃsa, trans. Turnour, p. 110, ch. xxix. ### [c8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.7) ² Arrian, Exped. Alex. vi. 15. 2. ### [c8.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.8) ³ The course of the river changes so rapidly that we cannot expect to identify any of these places. This is the port to which Nearchus gave the name of Naustathmos or Alexander's Haven. It may be the port called by the strange name of Barbarikon in the Periplus. ### [c8.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.9) Arrian gives a diverting account of the perils which beset the fleet at its start, owing to the tidal bore of the Indus, and also to a school of whales, which, sad to say, nearly proved too much for the nerves of the sturdy Macedonian sailors! ### [c8.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.10) Apparently, the government of the Panjāb now fell into the hands of Peithon, while Sind was under Eudamus. Associated with Peithon was Porus, whom Alexander, after his defeat, magnanimously put in this position. ### [c8.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.11) The exploration of the Indus valley was the beginning of a new era in the history of Greek geography, and we cannot help wondering what might have been the result had Alexander lived to carry out his far-reaching schemes. Would the Indus valley have become the centre of Hellenistic culture, as Egypt and Syria became, where the civilization of East and West blended to form new products? The question was destined never to be solved. In June, 323 B.C., the great conqueror died at Babylon of fever. ### [c8.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.12) A wild panic shook the Empire to the centre. No one knew what would happen next, and in the distant colonies of the Panjāb things quickly began to look serious for the Macedonian garrison. A quarrel broke out between Eudamus and his native colleague, which ended in the treacherous assassination of the latter. The death of Porus further exasperated the native population, who broke into open revolt in 317 B.C., when Eudamus and Peithon, taking with them as much loot as they could lay hands on, and the flower of the Macedonian troops, evacuated the Panjāb, and went to join Eumenes in the scramble for power nearer home. No doubt they felt their position to be quite untenable long before they determined upon this move. The revolt was largely organized by Sandrakottus, or Chandragupta, to give him his proper name, the remarkable adventurer who founded the Maurya dynasty¹. ### [c8.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.13) ¹ There are various stories of the youth of Chandragupta. V. A. Smith (Early History of India, p. 110), gives another version. He says that Chandragupta was an illegitimate scion of the Nandas, and was banished to the Panjāb for insolence (Justin, xv. 4, with Nandrum for Alexandrum). ### [c8.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.14) Chandragupta had originally lived in the Panjāb, and a tradition says that as a young man he came into contact with Alexander. He then went to seek his fortune at the court of the Nanda kings of Magadha (there is some reason for supposing that he was of royal blood), and there he met with a fellow-countryman, the crafty Brahmin minister Chāṇakya² from Taxila. Becoming implicated in a plot which Chāṇakya had made against his master, he was forced to flee to his former home, and here he found the tribes ripe for revolt against their Greek rulers. Putting himself at the head of the rising, he helped his compatriots, says Justin³, “to cast off the yoke of servitude from their necks and slay their masters.” The people afterwards repented of their choice, he adds, for Chandragupta turned out to be as harsh as those whom he had displaced⁴. ### [c8.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.15) ² Also called Kauṭilya and Viṣṇugupta. ### [c8.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.16) ³ Post mortem Alexandri, velut cervicibus jugo servitutis excusso, praefectos ejus occiderat. Justin, xv. 4. ### [c8.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.17) ⁴ Populum, quem ab externa dominatione vindicaverat, ipse servitio premebat. Ibid. ### [c8.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.18) By 315 B.C., Macedonian rule in the Panjāb was at an end, though doubtless very considerable bodies of "Yavana" colonists continued to remain settled in the Panjāb, at "Alasanda of the Yonas" and other settlements. They were united by ties of marriage to the country of their adoption and had no desire to return. Having established himself in the Panjāb, Chandragupta marched against Magadha. This time he was successful. The Nanda monarch was defeated, and Chandragupta, with the aid of his old ally Chāṇakya, established himself upon the throne at Pāṭaliputra. He had thus built up for himself a far vaster Empire than India had ever before seen, stretching as it did from the Ganges to the Hindu Kush Mountains. The lessons in imperialism which he had learnt from Alexander had borne good fruit. ### [c8.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.19) How well Chandragupta had used his time was seen in 306 B.C., when Seleukus Nikator tried to repeat the exploits of his former master. He was, however, cruelly disillusioned. On entering the Panjāb, he found himself face to face with a vast and well-organized army, and he was glad to come to terms with his opponent. Chandragupta, on the other hand, was alive to the advantages of an agreement with the Syrian monarch, and an alliance was arranged. Chandragupta was to receive certain provinces in Arachosia and Gedrosia over which Syria had long ceased to exercise a de facto sovereignty, while Seleukus was given six hundred elephants to aid him in his war against Antigonus. ### [c8.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.20) He hoped for great results from this new and formidable arm. The alliance between the monarchs was cemented by a marriage between the Indian king and a Syrian princess. Such a daring innovation is in itself a convincing proof of the greatness of Chandragupta’s mind. It was probably owing to this occurrence that the Syrian and Maurya monarchs continued for several generations to maintain a close and friendly intercourse. An amusing correspondence, of which a fragment or two is recorded, was maintained between Bindusāra and Seleukus. Bindusāra asks for a sample of Greek wine, some raisins and a “Sophist.” Seleukus writes back, saying that he sends the wine with much pleasure, but regrets that “it isn’t good form among the Greeks to trade in philosophers 1!” When Aśoka was converted to Buddhism, his first thought was to despatch missionaries to his friends, the Greek monarchs of Egypt, Syria and Macedonia, that they might share in the glad tidings of his new creed. Ambassadors from the West frequently visited the Maurya court. Megasthenes came from Seleukus to Chandragupta; Dēimachus from the same monarch to Bindusāra, Chandragupta’s son and successor, and Dionysius from Ptolemy Philadelphus². The most important of these, of course, was Megasthenes, to whom we owe the only complete account we possess of the court and government of the great Indian monarch. His work, though no longer extant, is known to us from numerous citations by Strabo, Pliny, Arrian, Diodorus, Photius and others¹. ### [c8.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.21) ¹ Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. IV. 421. ### [c8.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.22) ² Pliny, N.H. VI. 17. 3. Strabo, II. I. 10. ### [c8.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.23) ¹ Collected by Schwanbeck (Bonn, 1846). For the life of Megasthenes, see the introduction to this work, and the Preface to Müller's edition. ### [c8.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.24) Megasthenes was originally stationed at the court of Syburtius, satrap of Arachosia². He was ordered to proceed to India about 302 B.C. Whether he also visited the court of another Indian prince, to whom the generic name of " Porus " is given³, and whether he paid one or many visits to the Maurya monarch⁴, is not quite certain. " He dwelt for some time," says Solinus, " with Indian kings, and wrote a History of India, that he might hand down to posterity a faithful account of what he saw there." The credibility of his narrative was generally accepted in ancient times, —Arrian calls him a " trustworthy person⁵ "— though the sceptical Strabo, disgusted by the impossibility of distinguishing truth from falsehood in the many conflicting accounts of India, roundly calls him a liar, almost as untrustworthy as Dēimachus¹. Pliny shares his opinion². As a matter of fact, Megasthenes has now been completely vindicated. His description of India agrees wonderfully with what we have learnt from independent Indian sources, and the only justification of Strabo’s censures is to be found in his account of the fabulous races of India. And here Megasthenes, like his predecessors, is not wholly to blame. He repeats legends which were current in India, and he took them in perfect good faith from his informants, as may be seen from the fact that their names are all literal translations of Sanskrit words³. Megasthenes is, of course, only reliable as far as he saw the country with his own eyes. Thus he is unaware of the existence of the great Ganges delta, as he never descended that river below Pāṭaliputra⁴. He states that, unlike the Indus, the Ganges has only a single mouth⁵! ### [c8.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.25) ² See Arrian, \*Exped. Alex.\* v. 6. 2. ### [c8.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.26) ³ Schwanbeck emends Πώρῳ ἔτι τούτου μείζονι to Πώρου ἔτι τούτῳ μείζονι, " Greater even than Porus." ### [c8.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.27) ⁴ Πολλάκις δὲ λέγει Μεγασθένης ἀφικέσθαι παρὰ Σανδράκοττον. (Arrian, \*Exped. Alex.\* v. 6. 2). This may mean that Megasthenes often went to Pāṭaliputra, or often visited Chandragupta when at Pāṭaliputra. ### [c8.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.28) ⁵ δόκιμος ἀνήρ. He classes him with Eratosthenes. Strabo, who has the highest opinion of Eratosthenes, differs ntirely from this view. ### [c8.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.29) ¹ “As a rule, previous writers about India have been a pack of liars. Dēimachus comes first and Megasthenes next,” Geog. II. I. 9. But the veracity of Megasthenes is established by comparison with the Kauṭilīya Artha Śāstra and other Indian works (\*vide\* App. III). ### [c8.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.30) ² Pliny, \*N.H.\* VI. 12. 3, “It is not worth while to study the accounts of Megasthenes and Dionysius with care. They are too conflicting and too incredible.” ### [c8.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.31) ³ The stories of the fabulous tribes of India are as old as Hekataeus. See what is said upon the subject in Chapter II. A list of the fabulous tribes is given in Appendix II to this chapter. ### [c8.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.32) ⁴ Arrian, \*Indika\*, v. ### [c8.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.33) ⁵ Megasthenes \*apud\* Strabo, Geog. XV. I. 13. ### [c8.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.34) The first thing which struck Megasthenes on entering India, was the Royal Road from the frontier to Pāṭaliputra, down which the envoy must have travelled to the capital¹. It was constructed in eight stages, and ran from the frontier town of Peukelaotis² to Taxila : from Taxila, across the Indus to the Jihlam ; then to the Beās, near the spot where Alexander erected his altars. From here it went to the Sutlej : from the Sutlej to the Jamnā : and from the Jamnā, probably \*viâ\* Hastināpura, to the Ganges. From the Ganges the road ran to a town called Rhodopha³, and from Rhodopha to Kalinipaxa (probably Kanyākubja or Kanauj)⁴. From Kanauj it went to the mighty town of Prayāga at the junction of the Ganges and the Jamnā, and from Prayāga to Pāṭaliputra. From the capital it continued its course to the mouth of the Ganges, probably at Tāmluk, though Megasthenes never traversed the last stage of the road. At every mile along the road was a stone to indicate the by-roads and distances. The road was in the charge of the officers of the Board of Works who were responsible for its upkeep. The milestones were of great assistance to geographers in the computation of the distances between places in India. There seems to be little doubt that this road was one of the many schemes emanating from the master-mind of the great Maurya Emperor, though he may have utilized to some extent existing routes, which he linked up for the purpose¹. The idea may have been suggested by the Royal Road of Persia, and may be reckoned as one of the many signs of Persian influence in the Maurya Empire. Its value, from a commercial as well as a strategic point of view, must have been enormous. By means of it, troops could be moved from Pāṭaliputra to the furthest confines of the Empire; it joined up all the great cities—Taxila, Kanauj, Hastināpura, Prayāga—with the capital; and by it trade was immensely facilitated. Goods from the Golden Chersonese and beyond, silk from the Seres, Gangetic muslins, spices from Arabia, specie from the West, all poured into the bazaars of Pāṭaliputra, and caravans could pass uninterrupted from the Ganges to the Khaibar. The prosperity of the foreign trade is attested by the elaborate regulations made by Chandragupta for the entertainment of foreign merchants². ### [c8.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.35) ¹ See Pliny, \*N.H.\* vi. 21, and Appendix at the end of this chapter. ### [c8.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.36) ² The capital of Gandhāra (Skt. Pushkalāvatī). ### [c8.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.37) ³ Said to be Dabhai near Anupshahr. ### [c8.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.38) ⁴ So Lassen. St Martin says \*Kālīnī-paksha\*, a town supposed to be on the "side" of the Kālīnadī. ### [c8.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.39) ¹ That some such road as far as the Beās existed in the days of Alexander is of course implied in the statement that he obtained the measurements from the records of Alexander's survey officers. A road from Ayodhya to Rājagṛiha, \*viâ\* Hastināpura, is mentioned in the \*Rāmāyaṇa\*. ### [c8.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.40) ² Megasthenes \*apud\* Strabo, xv. 1. 51. ### [c8.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.41) Along this great highway Megasthenes travelled into lands never before beheld by Greek eyes. At last he came in sight of the broad stream of the sacred Ganges, and his exaggerated accounts of its size—he says it was eight or ten miles wide in places¹—testify to his wonder at beholding it. The Greeks, having no rivers of any note in their own lands, were filled with admiration at the sight of such streams as the Nile, the Euphrates, the Ganges or the Indus. He was struck with the fertility of the Doāb through which the road passes, with its two crops and two monsoons every year². Like Herodotus, he remarks on the hugeness of the animals—the elephants, pythons, tigers, and hunting-hounds³—and the curious plants and trees—the “reed” (really, as we have seen before, the palmyra) out of which boats could be made; the banyan with its spreading branches; the “vegetable wool” or cotton⁴, the “honey bearing reed,” or sugar-cane, and the ubiquitous rice-plant. ### [c8.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.42) ¹ Megasthenes \*apud\* Pliny, vi. 18. 65. Arrian (\*Indika\*, iv) states that according to Megasthenes, the Ganges in places spreads out into lakes which are so wide that it is impossible to see from shore to shore! It is difficult to believe that Megasthenes made such a statement. See Schwanbeck, \*Frag.\* xx. B and xxv. ### [c8.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.43) ² Strabo, xv. i. 20 (\*Frag.\* xi, Schwan.). ### [c8.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.44) ³ Schwanbeck, \*Frag.\* xii–xvii, sums up all the passages on Indian animals. ### [c8.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.45) ⁴ If this is what Arrian means by λίνον τὸ ἀπὸ δένδρεων. Flax and cotton are continually confused. ### [c8.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.46) At length Megasthenes came in sight of the Royal City. It stood at the junction of the Ganges and the Son⁵, and presented an imposing appearance⁶. It was in the shape of a parallelogram, and was surrounded by vast walls of brick, with a wooden palisade in front, pierced with loopholes for archery. The wall had sixty-four gates and five hundred and seventy towers; it was eighty stadia long on its longer sides, and fifteen stadia long on the shorter. On the two sides not protected by the rivers, ran a huge moat, filled with the waters of the Son, into which it flowed. This moat, six hundred feet broad and thirty cubits deep, protected the town and also carried off the drainage. The city was one of the strongest in the world, but like most of the towns of India at that time, it was built chiefly of wood and unburnt brick. It was the custom, says Megasthenes, to use wood where floods were common, and brick and mud when the buildings were on elevated spots. This is the reason why so little has survived of the early architecture of India. Two generations later, the use of stone became common, and Aśoka crowned the capital with a gigantic stone palace, exquisitely carved. Centuries afterwards, a Chinese pilgrim, wandering among the ruins of the then deserted city, gazed with awe upon the huge stone blocks scattered here and there, and declared that they could be the work of "no mortal hands." Excavations are now proceeding upon the site of Pāṭaliputra, and the accuracy of the account of Megasthenes has received fresh confirmation. The wall and palisade were unearthed some years ago. ### [c8.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.47) ⁵ The river has since altered its course. ### [c8.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.48) ⁶ Pāṭaliputra is described in Fragments xxv and xxvi, Schwan. (Arrian, \*Indika\*, x, and Strabo, xv. i. 35.) ### [c8.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.49) Of the court of Chandragupta, with its ceremonies, and of his system of administration, we have a highly interesting and detailed description in Megasthenes. Chandragupta was by no means popular. His rule, as we have seen before, was considered tyrannous and oppressive. The easy-going and indolent Indians, no doubt, disliked a highly-organized system of government to which they were unused; and the foreign air of the court, with its Greek inmates, and its Persian ceremonial, did not help to ingratiate the monarch with his subjects. Megasthenes, whose account is confirmed by Indian writers¹, says that he was obliged to dwell in strict seclusion. He was surrounded by a body-guard of women, who cooked his food, served his wine, and when of an evening he had become weary, carried him to his apartments and lulled him to sleep with Indian music². Even at night he was constantly compelled to change his bedroom, to avoid the attacks of possible conspirators, who, according to native tradition, even dug tunnels under the palace walls³. In the day he sat in the Hall of Justice, hearing complaints, while his attendant⁴ massaged him with wooden rollers, rubbed scented ointments on his feet, and combed and dressed his long hair. ### [c8.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.50) ¹ Mudrā Rākshasa, Act II. This play is a most interesting historic drama, and throws many sidelights on Chandragupta's career. ### [c8.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.51) ² Strabo, xv. I. 55. Q. Curtius, VIII. 9 (Frag. XXVII, Schwanbeck). ### [c8.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.52) ³ Mudrā Rākshasa (loc. cit.). ### [c8.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.53) ⁴ Samvāhaka. ### [c8.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.54) It was at this time that the foreign ambassadors were received, and Megasthenes must have attended many a time the strange levée which he here so graphically describes. On the rare occasions when the monarch left the seclusion of the Royal Palace, whether to offer sacrifice or to go hunting, his Amazonian guard accompanied him, forming a hedge round the royal chariot. One or two women, armed to the teeth, rode in the chariot, while others were mounted on horses or elephants. The road when the royal cortège was to pass was marked off with ropes, and a ring of spearmen surrounded the whole retinue. No one was allowed to approach, and it was certain death for any, man or woman, to pass the barriers¹. Megasthenes says that these women were bought from their parents and brought up in the palace; but it is more probable that they were partly foreign, and mostly Westerners. Greek girls, we know, were frequently imported at Barygaza², and a "Guard of Yavana women" is a stock feature of the Rāja's court in the Indian dramas³. In Southern India, we hear of a body-guard of "dumb Mlecchas" being used in a similar fashion⁴. Their utility was obvious; ### [c8.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.55) ¹ τῷ δὲ παρέλθοντι ἐντὸς μεχρὶ γυναικῶν θάνατος. Frag. XXVII, Schwan. ### [c8.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.56) ² Periplus, § 49. ### [c8.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.57) ³ Dushyanta Rāja, e.g. has such a guard in the Sakuntalā of Kālidāsa. So Chandragupta himself, Mudrā Rākshasa, Act III. ### [c8.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.58) ⁴ Vincent Smith, Early Hist. of India, p. 400. Pillay, The Tamils a Hundred years ago, Ch. III. ### [c8.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.59) they were foreign mercenaries, and as such, likely to be loyal to their employer and unwilling to plot against him. They had no motive for taking sides in any disputes, and being unable to understand much of the language of the country, had no sympathies with any political party. They have been compared, not inaptly, with the "Switzers," the Swiss Guards of the French monarchs, and the Swiss mercenaries of other kings. ### [c8.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.60) Chandragupta lived in considerable state. In the processions held on festal occasions, elephants decked in gold and silver, four-horsed chariots, and yokes of oxen took part. " Then comes a great host of attendants in holiday dress, with golden vessels such as huge basins and goblets, six feet broad, tables, chairs of state, drinking vessels and lavers, all of Indian copper, and many of them set with jewels such as emeralds, beryls and Indian garnets ; others bear robes embroidered in gold thread, and lead wild beasts, such as buffaloes, leopards and tame lions, and rare birds in cages¹." " In the Indian royal palace," says another writer, " where the greatest of all the kings of the country resides, besides much else which is calculated to excite admiration, there are wonders with which neither Memnonian Susa in all its glory, nor the magnificence of Ekbatana can hope to vie; indeed, only the well-known vanity of the Persians could imagine such a comparison¹.' ### [c8.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.61) ¹ Strabo, xv. 1.69. This was no doubt a copy of the Persian ceremonial which was generally adopted at Oriental courts. See e.g. the account of the processions of Antiochus Epiphanes and Ptolemy Philadelphus in Athenaeus, IV. 4. 5. ### [c8.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.62) ¹ Aelian, περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος, Bk XIII. 18. 1. ### [c8.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.63) Of the army of Chandragupta, the famous force which defeated Seleukus Nikator, Megasthenes gives us a very full account². Its numbers are possibly exaggerated, as is the size of nearly everything in India by the Greeks. It consisted of cavalry, infantry, chariots and elephants³, and its total number was said to be 400,000. Possibly this includes the grooms, buglers, gong-beaters, ox-drivers, mechanics and foragers—the vast array of suttlers which follows an oriental army. It was managed by a very efficient War Office, with a department in charge of each arm of the service. There were stables for the horses, chariots and elephants, and magazines where all arms had to be stored when not in use. The chariots on the march were drawn by oxen, so as to keep the horses fresh: in battle, two men-at-arms stood by the driver, and each elephant carried four sharpshooters. The horses were driven with a spiked muzzle, a halter instead of a bridle, and the infantry were armed with long shields of undressed oxhide, two-handed swords, and bows of great length and power, which they discharged by resting them on the ground against the left foot. ### [c8.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.64) ² See Arrian, \*Indika\*, XVI, and \*Fragments\* XXXIII and XXXIV Schwanbeck (Strabo, XV. I. 50, and Aelian, XIII. 10). ### [c8.65](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.65) ³ The four \*kāya\*, \*aśvakāya\*, \*pattikāya\*, \*rathakāya\* and \*hastikāya\*. ### [c8.66](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.66) The arrow, three yards long, pierced shield and armour like paper. They carried two-handed swords, but did not care for closing with the enemy. The cavalry, who had no saddles, had two long lances (σαύνια) as their chief equipment. The army, which was a standing one, was liberally paid, and the soldiers spent much of their time drinking and idling. ### [c8.67](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.67) We now turn to the very interesting account given by Megasthenes of the organization of the Government, where again we see the work of the master-mind of the great Maurya¹. Megasthenes gave a minute account of this elaborate system, which has been copied by many subsequent authorities. Unfortunately, he mixes up the traditional four castes of Hindu society² with the official bodies created by Chandragupta, and he becomes confused over the sub-castes, with their perplexing distribution of functions in the state. The mistake was not an unnatural one for a foreigner to make. He is also led astray by the fact that the Egyptians, according to Herodotus, had seven castes. Egypt and India were frequently confused by the Greeks, and Megasthenes comes to the conclusion that there are seven " castes " (γένη) in India also³. He arrives at this number as follows. He divides the Brahmins into two castes—philosophers and statesmen. The Kshattriyas or Military form a caste by themselves. The Vaiśyas and Śūdras are divided into three castes by Megasthenes—farmers, herdsmen, and artisans, and he adds a seventh caste of "Inspectors and Overseers"—the confidential officers in the service of Chandragupta¹. These officials were probably recruited chiefly from the Brahmin caste. ### [c8.68](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.68) ¹ Schwanbeck, Frag. I, xxxiii, and xxxiv. (Diodorus, II. 40; Strabo, xv. I. 39; Arrian, Indika, xi.) ### [c8.69](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.69) ² Brāhmaṇa, Kshattriya, Vaiśya, Śūdra. ### [c8.70](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.70) ³ Γένος is a literal translation of jāti. ### [c8.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.71) ¹ The \*Pativedakā\* of Aśoka. ### [c8.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.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. ### [c8.73](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.73) ² Megasthenes may be thinking of the great fairs held at places like Prayāga once a year. Hiuen Tsiang describes one which he attended with king Śīlāditya. The monarch distributed gifts to many thousands of Brahmins, monks, and mendicants. ### [c8.74](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.74) Then came the \*Husbandmen\* (Γεωργοί). Megasthenes found the Indian rayat to be, as he is now, of a peaceful, gentle nature. Exempted from military service, he took no part in war and politics, and lived quietly on his farm, rarely going to the city. Often, says Megasthenes, you might see him calmly ploughing, while contending armies a little distance off were fighting for their lives. India changes little, and when the English troops were besieging Delhi in 1857, the ploughman went on with his work between the Ridge and the doomed city, just as Megasthenes describes him as doing. So complete is the division of labour brought about by the caste-system. It is interesting to note that all land belonged to the Crown. There was no private ownership¹. As in all ancient communities, the taxation was severe. The rayat paid the Crown three-fourths, or according to others, one-fourth of the produce, in addition to ground-rent (χώρας μισθοί). ### [c8.75](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.75) ¹ In many places a village held land in common and the crops were divided. This is a survival of the primitive Indo-Aryan village-community. Strabo, xv. 1. 66. ### [c8.76](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.76) The third class consisted of \*Herdsmen\*², and included shepherds, hunters, and various people of that kind. They were mostly members of the aboriginal tribes, and as such, belonged to the Śūdras, the lowest stratum of Hindu society. They rendered, however, important services to the State. They cleared the fields of the tigers, boars, deer, and birds, which molested the villagers' flocks, herds, and crops. They killed the snakes, scorpions, and dangerous insects which infested the country in the rainy season. Most important of all, they caught and tamed the elephants which played such an important part in the army of Chandragupta. In return for their services, they received an allowance of corn from the Royal Exchequer. Private people were forbidden to keep elephants, which were reserved for royal use. This served as a sumptuary law, checking the ambitions of the nobility; it also secured the maximum number of these valuable beasts for the imperial forces. ### [c8.77](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.77) ² βουκόλοι καὶ ποιμένες καὶ καθόλου πάντες οἱ νομέες. Diod. Sic. ### [c8.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.78) The fourth class consisted of the Artizans (τεχνῖται). These, according to the code of Manu, were Vaiśyas, like the Agriculturalists. This class included the great Trade-Guilds, many of which received land and other privileges in return for service rendered to the State. Thus the Armourers and Shipwrights had a monopoly of work in their own branches, receiving wages and rations in payment; and taxes were wholly or partly remitted to State employés. In time of peace, the Admiralty hired out their men of war to merchants to be employed on the flourishing traffic in goods and passengers which went on along the Ganges and Jamnā, and doubtless along the waters of the Indus as well. ### [c8.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.79) The fifth caste was the Military Caste¹, the Kshattriyas of the Hindu codes. The immense standing army of Chandragupta gave special prominence to members of this caste, who were liberally treated in the matter of pay and allowances. Accoutrements were found by the War Office, which had a special contract with the armourers' guild. Weapons were kept in the arsenals, under the supervision of the Ordnance Department. ### [c8.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.80) ¹ Πολεμισταί. ### [c8.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.81) Sixthly came the \*Overseers\*¹ or \*Inspectors\*, a branch of the Civil Service specially maintained by Chandragupta. These officers travelled round inspecting the work of the government officials, and furnishing confidential reports direct to the Throne on their conduct. They spied on the army too, and it is said that they freely used the courtezans of the city to obtain information². Besides keeping the Viceroys and rulers of the distant provinces of the great Empire up to the mark, they no doubt checked the frequent plots hatched against the Emperor's life. When they were on circuit, they gave even the meanest subject a chance to appeal against official tyranny. The post is said to have been a well-paid one, and much in request among adventurous youths. It seems probable that Aśoka used these officials to enforce the Law of the Dharma on his subjects. ### [c8.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.82) ¹ Ἔφοροι, Ἐπίσκοποι. ### [c8.83](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.83) ² Strabo, xv. I. 48. ### [c8.84](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.84) The seventh and last class was that of the \*Royal Councillors\*, the ministers who formed the Privy Council of the Emperor. Like the philosophers of the first class, they must have been all, or nearly all, Brahmins, but Megasthenes distinguishes between those Brahmins who devoted themselves to priestly and literary occupations, and those who, like the great Chāṇakya, made politics their occupation, and became, as priests in many countries have done, the power behind the throne. Nearchus observed this. “Some of the Brahmins,” he says, “enter political life and attend the king as councillors, while others devote themselves to philosophy¹.” This class had the monopoly of the great offices of State—posts as “Judge, governor, deputy-governor, ruler over a province, quaestor, superintendent of agriculture, admiral or general,” says Arrian. ### [c8.85](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.85) ¹ Strabo, xv. I. 66. ### [c8.86](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.86) Apart from the seven classes into which the State was divided, was the Civil Service proper. In rural districts, the government was in the hands of a body of officials, who combined the duties of the Collector, Forest Officer, and Engineer of modern India. These officers had the most varied duties. They superintended irrigation, the construction of irrigation works, and the survey and assessment of irrigated lands. They saw to the repair of public roads, and to the erection of milestones and signposts at every ten stadia. They built and repaired the bridges. They collected the taxes imposed upon the rayats: they supervised the hunters, and saw that they did not defraud the State of horses or elephants. They kept an eye on the wood-cutters and took care that the country was not deforested. They supervised the mines. They appear to have been invested with the judicial powers necessary for the enforcement of their decrees. ### [c8.87](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.87) The system in vogue in the rural districts was of a simple kind, reminding us in a primitive manner of the modern Civil Service, with its multifarious duties. The system of urban government was more complicated. We have Megasthenes' account of the administration of Pāṭaliputra : no doubt Taxila, Ujjain, Prayāga, and the other provincial capitals and great cities, were governed in a similar fashion. There were six pañchāyats, or boards of five officers, and each board had its own department allotted to it. Besides this, the whole municipal council of thirty members met from time to time to discuss common measures, such as the repair of roads, upkeep of markets, temples and so forth, and to fix the taxes and the current market prices. ### [c8.88](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.88) The first, fourth, fifth and sixth boards devoted their attention to commercial regulations. The first supervised industries, crafts, trade-guilds, and so on. The fourth board superintended the markets, saw that the weights and measures were duly tested and stamped, and that the proper fixed prices were charged. A curious regulation, due to the specialization resulting from the caste system, imposed a double tax on merchants selling two kinds of goods. The fifth body supervised manufactures, and prevented the frauds arising from adulteration. The sixth was employed in levying the tax of one-tenth upon all articles sold. It is a tribute at once to the Hindu reputation for probity and to the severity of Chandragupta's system, that death was the penalty for a false declaration of sales¹. ### [c8.89](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.89) ¹ Manu, who does not mention the penalty, puts the tax at 1/20. Evidently the system was later relaxed. Chandragupta’s laws were in all respects exceptionally severe for India. ### [c8.90](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.90) To the second and third boards were assigned peculiar duties. The second board was charged with the task of seeing to the comfort of all travellers, merchants, ambassadors, and other foreigners visiting India². They had to attend them when sick, bury them if they died, and send their effects to their relatives in their native country. The existence of this board points to the supposition that a large number of merchants, chiefly, no doubt, Greeks from Syria and Alexandria, visited India in this reign, attracted by Chandragupta’s far-sighted foreign policy. The last board of officials managed the census reports, and registered births and deaths. By this means taxation was facilitated, and the practice of infanticide, common among certain classes of Hindus, was checked. The penalties imposed for various offences were terribly severe. We can only suppose that owing to the high level of morality prevailing in India, they were seldom inflicted. No doubt, however, Chandragupta’s severity accounts very largely for his unpopularity. Maiming—a Persian form of punishment—was imposed for perjury. The death-penalty was, as we have seen, exacted for the comparatively trifling offence of defrauding the revenue, and also for disabling a craftsman. Even Aśoka retained the death-penalty, but he gave the criminal three days' respite for religious exercises. Apparently, in Chandragupta's time, sentence was carried into execution as soon as passed. In the days of Fa-Hian, capital punishment had been removed from the statute-book. ### [c8.91](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.91) ² Compare the duties of the Greek πρόξενος, by whom this office was doubtless suggested. ### [c8.92](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.92) One feature of Hindu society struck Megasthenes with admiration. Slavery, a universal custom in the Graeco-Roman world, was unknown. Had Megasthenes, however, seen the social conditions of the Chaṇḍāla or Pariah in the days of Hiuen Tsiang, he might have modified his opinions. Under the caste-system, the wretched Pariah, compelled to dwell outside the city-walls, and to strike a gong when he came within range of respectable men, fared far worse than the Greek or Roman slave. But in the days when Buddhism was a growing force in the land, caste regulations were doubtless less rigidly enforced. ### [c8.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.93) Of the moral tone of Hindu society as he saw it, Megasthenes speaks in the highest terms. Hindus lived frugal, happy lives. Wine was never drunk except at the sacrifices, when the Soma juice was consumed by the priests. The chief article of food was rice-pottage. Polygamy was indeed common among the upper classes, but women enjoyed great liberty. They studied philosophy, and could take monastic vows¹. The seclusion of the female sex was only introduced in Moham-medan times. \*Satī\*, the terrible custom so common in later India, was only practised among two tribes, and is mentioned as a curiosity, whence we may conclude that it was very unusual. It was confined to the Kathaei and to Taxila. The Kathaei were no doubt a Rājput tribe, who left the Amritsar district and occupied the modern Kathiāwār at a later period. \*Satī\* has always been commonest among that stern and warlike nation. Suicide, chiefly by burning, was always occasionally practised among Buddhist ascetics, though strictly forbidden by Gautama himself¹. ### [c8.94](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.94) ¹ Strabo, xv. 1. 66. Gautama, we are told, made this concession, but unwillingly. ### [c8.95](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.95) ¹ The standard example was Kalanus, the notorious philosopher who returned with Alexander to Babylon. See \*Frag.\* XLIV, XLV, LV, etc. in Schwanbeck. ### [c8.96](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.96) The Indians enjoyed a great and well-founded reputation for probity. Of their honesty, Megasthenes, like Hiuen Tsiang many centuries later, speaks in an extraordinarily enthusiastic fashion. When he visited the camp of Chandragupta, he found that, in the whole of the vast army encamped there, the thefts reported amounted to the value of less than 200 \*drachmae\* per day². They left their houses unguarded, made no written contracts, and no written laws. They seldom went to law. Legal cases were decided according to immemorial custom by the local \*panchāyat\*. Strabo notes that the Hindus were acquainted with reading and writing, and used paper woven from flax. This we should, of course, infer from the existence of Aśoka’s Edicts. Strabo also mentions the contrary opinion, which no doubt arose from the comparative rarity of written books. Laws, religious precepts, even secular poetry were committed to memory and handed down orally. Fa-Hian had to travel all over India before he could obtain texts of the Buddhist Canon. ### [c8.97](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.97) ² Γενόμενος δ' οὖν ἐν τῷ Σανδρακόττου στρατοπέδῳ φησὶν ὁ Μεγασθένης τεταράκοντα μυριάδων πλήθους ἱδρυομένου μηδεμίαν ἡμέραν ἰδεῖν ἀνηνεγμένα κλέμματα πλείονα ἢ διακοσίων δραχμῶν ἔξω. Strabo, xv. I. 53. The drachma is worth a franc. ### [c8.98](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.98) The people of Pāṭaliputra dressed well in flowered muslins embroidered with jewels, and an umbrella was carried by an attendant behind the head of a noble when he went into the road. Kleitarchus, however, found that in other, poorer parts of India, they wore fillets (turbans, no doubt), on their long hair, and robes of plain white muslin or linen¹. ### [c8.99](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.99) ¹ Strabo, xv. I. 71. ### [c8.100](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.100) Of the ancient history of India, Megasthenes apparently learnt nothing worth recording, save legends of a monarch whom he identified with Bacchus or Herakles. This is not surprising, as the science of history was always entirely neglected by the Hindus. Of the religion of the country he gives an interesting and intelligent account. The principal religious sects were the Brahmins, and the Sarmanes, who were the Buddhists and Jains. Besides these, there were, then as now, various fakirs, Yogis, and other mendicants of a low type, who had considerable liberty in the houses and markets, helping themselves in the bazaars to what they liked. Of Brahmin philosophy, we do not find so full an account in Megasthenes as in later writers¹. The charming fragment quoted from the pseudo-Origen by Schwanbeck², appears to owe little to Megasthenes, being Neo-platonic in tone. Megasthenes notes, however, the similarity between the speculations of the Brahmins and the teachings of Pythagoras and Plato; he speaks also of their physical speculations, and their belief that the world is spherical, liable to destruction, and permeated by the presence of the Deity³. They also, he says, believed in the existence of a fifth element—the Ākāśa or ether. These philosophers, he tells us, were devotees of Herakles, and there was a tribe called the Sibae, who were the descendants of the companions of Herakles. Herakles must be Śiva and the Sibae a Śaivite sect. The Greeks loved to identify the gods of other nations with their own deities. Indra is "Zeus Ombrios"; the immoral Śakti rites of certain tribes (e.g. the Oxydrakae) are the Bacchic orgies, and so forth. It has even been thought that the name of Mount Meru, suggesting the Μηρός of the Bacchus legend, went a long way towards confirming, in Greek minds, the persistent belief that Bacchus came from India. ### [c8.101](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.101) ¹ Schwanbeck, Frag. XLI-XLIII. ### [c8.102](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.102) ² Ibid. LIV. ### [c8.103](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.103) ³ A good example of the out-of-the-way information gleaned by Megasthenes is given by Strabo, xv. I. 59. "The Brahmins from the time of conception in the womb are under the care of learned men who go to the mother with incantations for the welfare of herself and her offspring." Here is a clear reference to the Pum-Savana and Garbha-Rakshaṇa of the Gṛihya Sūtras. (Barnett, Indian Antiq. Ch. IV.) ### [c8.104](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.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.” ### [c8.105](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.105) ¹ Strabo, xv. 1. 64, \*fin.\* ### [c8.106](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.106) Such then, in brief, is the interesting account of the great Maurya Empire as it appeared to the first Greek who penetrated to the heart of India. Its value to us is shown by the fact that without it our knowledge of this important period would be practically a blank. By comparing what Megasthenes has said with the Edicts of Aśoka and the Artha Śāstra of Chāṇakya, we are able to form a clear picture of the general character of Maurya institutions. We see a highly organized government, and a nation distinguished for its probity and intelligence. The work of Megasthenes refutes the popular idea that because India has no history, she has been incapable of developing political institutions. ### [c8.107](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.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. ### [c8.108](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.108) ¹ Herod. ix. 110 and Strabo, xv. 1. 69. ### Appendix I. The Royal Road ### [c8.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.2) Pliny (VI. 21) says that the stages and distances on the Royal Road are as follows: ### [c8.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.3) 1. From Peukelaotis to the Hyphasis, as measured by Baeto and Diognetus, Alexander’s survey officers. Peukelaotis to Taxila, 60 miles. ,, the Hydaspes, 120 miles. ,, the Hyphasis, 390 miles. ### [c8.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.4) 2. From the Hyphasis to the mouth of the Ganges, as measured for Seleukus Nikator (probably by Megasthenes and other Greek visitors¹). ### [c8.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.5) ¹ “Reliqua Seleuko Nikatori peragrata sunt.” This is of course a \*dativus commodi\*, not a dative of the agent. Seleukus never went beyond the Panjāb. ### [c8.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.6) From the Hyphasis to the Hēsidrus 168 miles. From the Hēsidrus to the Jamnā 168 miles (some add 5). From the Jamnā to the Ganges 112 miles. From the Ganges to Rhodopha 119 miles (others give 325²). ### [c8.s1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.7) ² By 325 miles he must mean for the whole distance from the Hēsidrus to Rhodopha, \*not\* from the Ganges. He refers to a shorter route, the longer route being 168 + 112 + 119 = 399 miles. There were several short cuts, marked by signposts, on the road. ### [c8.s1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.8) Then follow the words “\*Ad Kalinapaxam oppidum\* CLXVII.D Alii CCLXV. mill.” This is usually translated, “To the town of Kallinapaxa 167½ miles; others 265 miles,” which seems a curious discrepancy. St Martin (\*Étude sur la Géog. Grecque\*, \[Figure: Aśoka Pillar (Indo-Persian) (By permission of the Director General of Archaeology)\] ### [c8.s1.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.9) p. 271), transfers the D to the latter clause, reading DLXV for CCLXV. He then translates as follows. “From Rhodopha to Kallinapaxa 167 miles. Total from the Hēsidrus to Kallinapaxa 565 miles.” This is ingenious if bold, for the total figures from the Hēsidrus to Kallinapaxa (168 + 112 + 119 + 167) do add up to 566 miles—practically the exact figure. ### [c8.s1.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.10) He next goes on to say that to Prayāga is 625 miles (many add 13). He must mean from the Jamnā to Prayāga, of course, and not from Kallinapaxa. ### [c8.s1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s1.11) His two last statements are absolutely wide of the mark. He says it is 425 miles to Palibothra and 638 miles to the mouth of the Ganges. The distances are in reality 248 and 445 miles respectively. The latter part of the road had not been travelled by Megasthenes, who puts it at 500-600 miles. In the absence of definite information, the Greeks always exaggerated the size of India. ### Appendix II. The Fabulous Races of India ### [c8.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.2) 1. \*The Pygmies.\* Called Pygmies by Ktesias, Τρισπάθιμοι by Megasthenes. The legend arose from the small, dwarf-like Mongolians of Nepal and Bhotan, called Kirrhadii by the Periplus and Ptolemy and Kirāta in Sanskrit. The Pygmies of Homer are Ethiopian, but Ethiopia and India were supposed to be connected. Referring to the fights between Cranes and Pygmies, Lassen recalls the term Kirātāśin (devourer of Kirāta) applied to Garuḍa, the vulture of Viṣṇu. ### [c8.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.3) 2. \*’Αμύκτηρες.\* The noseless men, described by Megasthenes as eating carrion and dying young. Again we have the snub-nosed Mongolian. Παμφάγος is Skt. sarva-bhaksha. ### [c8.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.4) 3. \*’Ενωτοκοῖται.\* Men who sleep on their ears¹. A literal translation of the Skt. karṇaprāvaraṇa. The Indians had many such names for the aborigines, who hung weights to their ears and enlarged them to a great size by this and other means. ### [c8.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.5) ¹ The legend is as old as Skylax, who also told the story of the one-eyed men, and many of the other legends here enumerated. Skylax called them ’Ωτόκλινοι. For the whole ### [c8.s2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.6) 4. ’Αντίποδες or ’Οπισθοδάκτυλοι. The men whose feet turned backwards. Mentioned by Megasthenes and Ktesias. Skt. Paśchādaṅgulaja. ### [c8.s2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.7) 5. ’Ωκύποδες. A curious mistranslation of Skt. Ekapāda. The Μονόσκελοι, Μονόκωλοι and Σκιάποδες of Ktesias¹, though the latter lived in Libya. ### [c8.s2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.8) ¹ Apud Pliny, N.H. VII. 2. The story of the Σκιάποδες is as old as Hekataeus. ### [c8.s2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.9) 6. The Hyperboreans. This legend, like that of the Pygmies, is very old. It may belong to the primitive Indo-Aryan stock. They are the Uttara-kuru of the Indian epic, transliterated as Attakorae by later writers. Hekataeus wrote a pamphlet about them. Pindar places them north of the Danube². ### [c8.s2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.10) ² The Πανδορή and Μακρόβιοι of Ktesias, and the Μάνδοι (? Πάνδοι) of Megasthenes belong to the same class. ### [c8.s2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8.s2.11) 7. Μονόμματοι. The Skt. Ekāksha. Mentioned by Megasthenes. Here again we have a legend which may be Indo-Aryan, as we find the Cyclops as early as the Odyssey. _First 127 of 141 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8)_ ## Linked texts (16) - [Ἀλεξάνδρου ἀνάβασις](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.gr.roman.arrian.anabasis.6.14) — Λούκιος Φλάουιος Ἀρριανός, Ancient Greek - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya.2.3) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Historiae Alexandri Magni](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.curtius.8.9) — Q. Curtius Rufus, Latin - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Mudrārākṣasa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.plays.rajacarita.mudraraksasa) — Viśākhadatta, Sanskrit - [Ἰνδική](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.gr.roman.arrian.indica) — Λούκιος Φλάουιος Ἀρριανός, Ancient Greek - [Naturalis historia](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder) — C. Plinius Secundus, Latin - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Mahāvaṃsa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada_postcanon.vamsa.mahavamsa) — Pāli - [Viṣṇu](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darsana.advaita.stotra.visnu) — Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Abhijñānaśākuntala](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.plays.sakuntala) — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit - [Gāruḍa Upapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.upa.garudaupapurana) — Sanskrit - [Takṣaśilā](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.taxila) - [Pāṭaliputra](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.pataliputra) - [Ujjayinī](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.ujjain) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rawlinson-1916.c8) · Pramāṇa