The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c26.s1.93

c26.s1.93

For eighty or ninety years after the death of Alexander the strong arm of the Maurya emperors held India for the Indians against all comers, and those monarchs treated with their Hellenistic neighbours on equal terms. Asoka was much more anxious to communicate the blessings of Buddhist teaching to Antiochos and Ptolemy than to borrow Greek notions from them. Although it certainly appears to be true that Indian plastic and pictorial art drew part of its inspiration from Hellenistic Alexandrian models during the Maurya period, the Greek influence merely touched the fringe of Hindu civilization, and was powerless to modify the structure of Indian institutions in any essential respect.