The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c26.s1.96

c26.s1.96

The subsequent invasions of Demetrios, Eukratides, and Menander, which extended with intervals over a period of about half a century (*c.* 190–154 B. C.), penetrated more deeply into the interior of the country; but they too were transient raids, and cannot possibly have affected seriously the ancient and deeply rooted civilization of India. It is noticeable that the work attributed to the Hindu astronomer refers to Greeks as the ‘viciously valiant Yavanas’. The Indians were impressed by both Alexander and Menander as mighty captains, not as missionaries of culture, and no doubt regarded both those sovereigns as impure barbarians, to be feared, not imitated.