[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Sanskrit Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900) › c19.6 # A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.6 A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.6 - **Language:** English ### [c19.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.6) The destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander the Great led to a new invasion of India, which fixes the first absolutely certain date in Indian history. In 327 B.C. Alexander passed over the Hindu Kush with an army of 120,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry. After taking the town of Pushkalavatī (the Greek Peukelaotis) at the confluence of the Kabul and Indus, and subduing the Açvakas (variously called Assakanoi, Aspasioi, Hippasioi, by Greek writers) on the north and the Gandhāras on the south of the Kabul River, he crossed the Indus early in 326. At Takshaçilā (Greek Taxiles), between the Indus and the Jhelum (Hydaspes), the Greeks for the first time saw Brahman Yogīs, or "the wise men of the Indians," as they called them, and were astonished at their asceticism and strange doctrines. - [Previous: c19.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.5) - [Next: c19.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.7) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19) ## Linked texts (1) - [Takṣaśilā](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.taxila) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.6) · Pramāṇa