The Greeks in Bactria and India c12.35

c12.35

Why the author of Part I of the Milinda used the term Yonaka will, I hope, presently appear; but I must point out in passing that if the Pali work was derived from a Sanscrit or Northern Prakrit original it is difficult to see why the common Sanscrit or Prakrit word, Yavana or Yona, was not used; and it is equally difficult to see how, if the Hellenistic Yonaka was used, it kept its place in a translation, seeing that even in Part II of the Pali text it has been replaced by an explanatory term, as it has in the Chinese translation. In fact the word Yonaka is a considerable difficulty in the way of current beliefs.