Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c16.s1.t2.58

c16.s1.t2.58

As Heliokles was in all probability a son of Eukratides, the rival of Apollodotos, he must have been a younger contemporary of Apollodotos. Consequently, Heliokles' antagonists, Agathokleia and Strato I, whose coins he restruck, were very near in time to Apollodotos. Strato I later on ruled conjointly with his grandson Strato II. There is no room for the long and prosperous reign of Menander in the period which elapsed from Demetrios to Strato II. According to the Buddhist tradition recorded in the *Milinda-pañho*, Milinda or Menander flourished "500 years," *i.e.*, not earlier than the fifth century¹ after the *Parinirvāṇa*, *parinibbānato pañchavassa sate atikkante ete upajjissanti*.² This tradition points to a date not earlier than the period 144-44 B.C. according to Ceylonese reckoning, *or* 86 B.C.-14 A.D. according to Cantonese tradition, for Menander. Thus both according to numismatic evidence and literary tradition Menander could not have been the Indo-Greek contemporary of Pushyamitra.³ It is Demetrios who should, therefore, be identified with the Yavana invader referred to by Patañjali and Kālidāsa, one of whose armies was defeated by Prince Vasumitra.⁴