The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c26.s1.104

c26.s1.104

The conclusion of the matter is that the invasions of Alexander, Antiochos the Great, Demetrios, Eukratides, and Menander were in fact, whatever their authors may have intended, merely military incursions, which left no appreciable mark upon the institutions of India. The prolonged occupation of the Panjāb and neighbouring regions by Greek rulers had extremely little effect in hellenizing the country. Greek political institutions and architecture were ordinarily rejected, although to a small extent Hellenic example was accepted in the decorative arts, and the Greek language must have been more or less familiar to the officials at the king's courts. The literature of Greece probably was known slightly to some of the native officers, who were obliged to learn their masters' language for business purposes, but that language was not widely diffused, and the impression made by Greek authors upon Indian literature and science is hardly traceable until after the close of the period under discussion. The later and more important Graeco-Roman influence on the civilization of India will be noticed briefly in the next chapter.¹