Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s29.1.1

c9.s29.1.1

Megasthenes has much to say on Indian philosophers; he must have gained his knowledge from previous writers as well as from personal observation. His distinction between those who inhabited the mountains and worshipped Dionysus, and those who lived in the plains and worshipped Herakles is not easily understood, and Strabo himself remarked: 'These accounts are fabulous, and are contradicted by many writers.' His account of the Brāhmaṇas and Śramaṇas is much more valuable, though there is room for doubt about what exactly he meant by these terms. The Brāhmaṇas, he says, were held in higher esteem and had a more consistent dogmatic system. The pre-natal ceremonials (*saṃskāras*), the stages of life (*āśramas*) and the rules and practices governing them, the relative freedom from restraint enjoyed by the *grihastha* (house-holder) were all known to Megasthenes, though on some matters he seems to portray theory rather than actual fact, as when he says that the Brāhmaṇas marry as many wives as possible to secure good progeny; or when he gives the period of study as thirty-seven years. Their philosophy and cosmogony which had some things in common with Greek teaching on the subjects are also briefly expounded by him. He says that women were kept out of philosophical studies for fear of the bad women divulging the secret lore to unworthy people, and the good ones deserting their husbands for a life of asceticism;