Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c8.4

c8.4

**Megasthenes on India as a Country.** It is interesting to note that Megasthenes has left a description of India and its natural and economic resources, which corresponds closely to that of Kauṭilya. He has observed : “India has many huge mountains which abound in fruit trees of every kind and many vast plains of great fertility, intersected by a multitude of rivers. The greater part of the soil is under irrigation and bears two crops in a year. The country teems at the same time with animals of all sorts, beasts of the field and fowls of the air, of all different degrees of strength and size. It is prolific besides in elephants. The Indians are well skilled in arts. They inhale a pure air and drink the very finest water.