[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924) › c25 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c25: Appendix I The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c25 - **Language:** English ### Appendix I ### [c25.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.1) \*The Invasion of Menander, and the Date of Patañjali\* ### [c25.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.2) The authorities for the invasion of Menander are Strabo, who alone gives the Greek king's name (Bk. xi, sec. xi, 1; xv, sec. ii, 3); Patañjali, the contemporary Hindu grammarian; the Sanskrit astronomical work, the \*Gārgī Saṁhitā\*, of uncertain date; and Tāranāth, the Tibetan historian of Buddhism. ### [c25.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.3) Strabo's informant, Apollodoros of Artemita, testifies that Menander crossed the Hypanis (Hyphasis, Biās) river, at which Alexander's advance had been arrested; penetrated to the Isamus (τοῦ Ἰσάμου), which has not been identified; and ultimately subjugated Patalēnē, or the Indus delta, the kingdom of Saraostos (Surāshtra, or Kāthiāwāṛ), and a territory on the western coast named Sigerdis. This statement is supported by the observation of the writer of the \*Periplus\*, who noticed, probably towards the close of the first century after Christ, that Greek coins of Apollodotos and Menander were still current at the port of Barygaza (Broach, Bharōch). This curious observation suggests the inference, that although Menander was compelled to retire quickly from the Gangetic valley, his rule must have continued for a considerable number of years in the territories on the western coast. ### [c25.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.4) The sieges of Sākētam and Madhyamikā by the Yavana, that is to say presumably Menander, are referred to by the grammarian Patañjali in terms which necessarily imply that those events occurred during the writer's lifetime. The proof that Madhyamikā is the correct reading and to be interpreted as the name of a city is due to Prof. Kielhorn (\*Ind. Ant.\* vii, 266). The identity of Madhyamikā with the ancient town of Nagarī, or Tambavatī Nagarī, one of the oldest sites in India, about 8 miles to the north of Chitōr in Rājputāna, is established by the coins found at Nagarī, and rarely elsewhere, with the legend \*Majhimikāya śibijanapadasa\*, '\[Coin\] of the Śibi people in Majhimikā (Madhyamikā) city' (D. R. Bhandarkar in \*Prog. Rep. A. S. W. I.\*, 1915–16, p. 52. See also Cunningham, \*Reports\*, vi, 201; xiv, 146, pl. xxxi). The Śibis of Madhyamikā probably emigrated from the Panjāb. Madhyamikā was a place of great importance which the Greek army could not neglect. Prof. D. R. Bhandarkar has found two inscriptions of the second century B. C. recording the performance of the \*Aśvamedha\* and \*Vājapeya\* sacrifices. The coins are rightly assigned to the middle of the second century B. C. The ruins at Nagarī include a square brick \*stūpa\* (converted into a Saiva temple) with remarkable tiles and terra cottas, and a \*toraṇa\* of Gupta date. Chitōr was largely built out of the ruins of Nagarī. ### [c25.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.5) Sākētam (Sākēta) probably was a town in Southern Oudh, but not identical with Ajodhya, as it is often asserted to be. There seem to have been several places of the name (Weber, in \*Ind. Ant.\*, ii, 208). The identifications of the Shā-che of Fa-hien with the Viśākhā of Hiuen Tsang and with Sākētam, as made by Cunningham, are equally unsound (\*J. R. A. S.\*, 1898, p. 522; 1900, p. 3). At present the position of Sākētam cannot be determined precisely. ### [c25.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.6) The words of Patañjali in which he alludes to the horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra (\*iha Pushpamitram yājayāmaḥ\*), when read with other relevant passages, permit of no doubt that the grammarian was the contemporary of that king as well as of the Greek invader presumed to be Menander. The question of Patañjali's date was the subject of prolonged controversy between Weber on one side and Goldstücker and Bhandarkar on the other. Ultimately Weber was constrained to admit the substantial validity of his opponents' arguments (\*Hist. Ind. Lit.\*, 2nd ed., Trübner, 1882, p. 224, note); and no doubt now remains that the date of Patañjali is fixed to 150–140 B. C. in round numbers. References are: Goldstücker, \*Pāṇini, His Place in Sanskrit Literature\*, pp. 228–38; \*Ind. Ant.\* i, 299–302; ii, 57, 69, 94, 206–10, 238, 362; xv, 80–4; xvi, 156, 172 (the Maurya passage). ### [c25.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.7) The statement in the \*Gārgī Saṁhitā\*, a work ascribed by Max Müller to the second or third century after Christ, is to the following effect:— ### [c25.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.8) 'After speaking of the kings of Pāṭaliputra (mentioning Śāliśūka, the fourth successor of Asoka \[c. 200 B. C.\] by name), the author adds: "That when the viciously valiant Greeks, after reducing Sāketa (Oude), the Pañchāla country \[probably the Doāb between the Jumna and Ganges\], and Mathurā, will reach Kusumadhvaja, that is, the royal residence of Pāṭaliputra, and that then all provinces will be in disorder"' (Max Müller, \*India, What can it Teach us?\*, p. 298, ed. 1883; and Cunningham, \*Num. Chron.\*, 1890, p. 224).¹ ### [c25.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.9) ¹ Rapson (\*Anc. Ind.\*, 1914, p. 131) considers the book to be important, but does not discuss its date. It has never been edited, and the MS. of it which has been described is both fragmentary and corrupt. It is an astrological treatise, and almost the only example of its class, which was superseded in the fourth century by the Alexandrian science. Fleet (\*J. R. A. G.\*, 1912, p. 792) pointed out that the passage quoted is from a chapter of the \*Gārgī-Saṁhitā\* entitled the \*Yuga-purāṇa\*, and rightly observed that it cannot be as early as 50 B. C., as Kern long ago conjectured. The learned critic ignored Max Müller's view, and censured the author for using the book, which he denounced as ‘quite late’ and ‘worthless’. But he gave no reason for discrediting Max Müller’s guess that the work might date from the third century after Christ. No doubt some of the statements in the \*Yugapurāṇa\*, as in all Purāṇas, are absurd or erroneous, and the text probably is corrupt; e. g. \*Kusumadhvaja\* seems to be a mistake for \*Kusumapura\*. But such errors do not justify total rejection. The book correctly names Śāliśūka Maurya, who, according to the early \*e\* Vāyu MS. (Pargiter), reigned for thirteen years. I do not see any reason for refusing to believe that the \*Yugapurāṇa\* may date from the third century. Whatever the date of the existing text may be, it is most unlikely that the author should have invented the statement about the \*dushṭa vikrāntāḥ\* Yavanas. The name of the Yavana leader appears to have been lost owing to corruption of the text. As to Menander’s date, I have followed Cunningham, in preference to Gardner, on whom Fleet relied. I still think that there is good reason for connecting the statement of the \*Yugapurāṇa\* with Menander, and for the chronology adopted. D. R. Bhandarkar, who at first supposed that the invader may have been Demetrios, now accepts the identification with Menander. The ruins of the town may date from Menander’s siege. ### [c25.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.10) The evidence of Tāranāth (A. D. 1608, resting on old works), as correctly translated by Schiefner, agrees with that of the \*Divyāvadāna\* (Burnouf, \*Introd.\*, 2nd ed., p. 384) in stating that Pushyamitra was the ally of unbelievers, and himself burnt monasteries and slew monks:— ### [c25.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.11) ‘Es erhob der Brahmanenkönig Puschjamitra sammt den übrigen Tirthja’s Krieg, verbrannte von Madhyadeça bis Dschalamdhara eine Menge von Vihâra’s,’ &c. (p. 81). ### [c25.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.12) The historian adds that, five years later, Pushyamitra died in the north. ### [c25.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.13) Assuming that Pushyamitra died in 149 B. C., after a reign of thirty-six years, as stated in the best Purānic texts, the invasion of Menander may be assigned to the years 156–153 B. C., a date fully in accordance with the numismatic evidence.¹ Coins of Menander are common in India, both in the Panjāb and farther east and south. Forty of his coins were found in the Hamīrpur district to the south of the Jumna in 1877, and brought to the author, then on duty in that district. They were associated with coins of Eukratides, Apollodotos Soter, and Antimachos Nikēphoros, and were in good condition (\*Ind. Ant.\*, 1904, p. 217). ### [c25.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25.14) ¹ In the chronological table attached to his note on the Khāravela inscription (\*J. B. O. Res. Soc.\*, iii, 1917, pp. 506, 507), R. D. Banerji puts the death of Pushyamitra in 158 B. C., and Menander’s invasion tentatively in 163 B. C. Pending the result of further research, I adhere to the dates given in the third edition of this work. ## Linked texts (8) - [Vāyupurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.vayu) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Divyāvadāna](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.avadana.divyavadana) — Sanskrit - [玄奘](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.cn.tang.xuanzang) — Classical Chinese - [Lohaśāstra (Patañjali)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.med.rasa.loha.lohasastra) — Patañjali, Sanskrit - [Pāṭaliputra](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.pataliputra) - [Madhyamikā](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.nagari) - [Ayodhyā (Sāketa)](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.ayodhya) - [Vṛddhagārgīyajyotiṣa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.early.vrddhagargiya) — Garga, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c25) · Pramāṇa