Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s16.3

c9.s16.3

In truth the period between Herodotus and Alexander is marked by a decided setback in the Greek knowledge of India. The Persians lost their Indian Satrapy after some time and Alexander did not come across Persian officials east of the Hindu Kush. Even Herodotus was perhaps not much read, and there is no evidence that Alexander knew of his account of Scylax's voyage. On the banks of the Indus he thought that he had reached he sources of the Nile, and on the banks of the Beas he told his soldiers that they were at no great distance from the Eastern Sea, i. e., the end of the earth in that direction.¹ It has been doubted if Alexander ever really heard of the Ganges or suspected the real extent of the contemporary empire of Magadha; the intention attributed to him of conquering the Prasii on the Ganges may well be a later legend; and possibly he knew of only the Sutlej and just one kingdom beyond, that of the Gandaridae, the conquest of which would bring him to the shore of the Eastern Ocean.²