The Greeks in Bactria and India c16.35

c16.35

Certain points about the document must now be considered. Jayaswal points out, as is clear if the Yuga-purāṇa be taken as a whole, that to the author the history of India centres on Pāṭaliputra;⁵ he has in fact no further interest in the Greeks once they have quitted the Middle Country. It seems to me equally clear that the document as we have it speaks from the Brahman standpoint and rather dislikes Buddhists, Sūdras, and foreigners, whether Greeks or Sacas. But this was by no means an inevitable feature of a historical document written from the point of view of Pāṭaliputra, where Buddhism was strong; and in fact the work contains two curious exceptions to this dislike of the Greeks. One is the name Dharma-mita. Undoubtedly Jayaswal is right that this name is yet another transcript of Demetrius,¹ but he has not noticed that it has been ‘adjusted’ in order to make the word Dharma part of the name, ‘Friend of Justice’, and thus recall the phrase Dharmarāja; that is, Demetrius is made a King of Justice. The allusion to Demetrius is dealt with elsewhere (pp. 178, 411). The other exception is the characterisation of the civil war between the Greeks which was to damage the Euthydemid power in India so badly as ‘supremely lamentable’. The original chronicle or document, therefore, on which the Yuga-purāṇa as we have it was based was probably favourable to the Euthydemids, and the tone has been somewhat altered in transmission by the later author. As to the tamā-officials, Jayaswal has pointed out that the word is unknown and has suggested a connection with ταμιεῖον;² certainly ‘tax-collectors’ gives the sense required. The objection to the tax-collectors might find a place in the original document, even if it was favourable to Demetrius; few people love taxes.