Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c5.68

c5.68

¹ The name Alexander passed immediately into Indian literature in various forms. Asoka in his inscriptions uses the forms *Alikasudara* (Shahbazgarhi Rock Edict XIII) and *Alikyasudala* (Kālsi text). Alexandria is transformed into *Alasanda* in *Milinda-pañho*. Sylvan Levi reads a definite, though solitary, reference in Sanskrit Literature to Alexander the Great himself in a passage in Bāṇa's *Harshacharita* stating that "*Alasa-Chaṇḍakośa* having conquered the earth did not penetrate into *Strīrājya* or the Kingdom of women." Alexander is here meant because Greek tradition mentions his conquest of a Kingdom of Amazons which he abstained from entering as special favour [*Memorial Sylvain Levi*, p. 414 (in French)]. According to Weber [*Berlin S. B.*, 1890, p. 903], "If Indian literature remembered Alexander at all, it was only in the form of a bogey called *Skanda*, used to frighten naughty children" [*Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India*, p. 168].