The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.10

c12.10

Magasthenes, who at first represented Seleucus of Bactria at the court of Sibyrtios, satrap of Arachosia (Kandahâr) and who, later, was sent on several missions to Candragupta, wrote what seems to have been the most comprehensive account of India. But it is preserved only in extracts in later writers which sometimes contradict one another. Whether he actually wrote out the monstrosities about gold-digging ants, men with ears large enough to sleep in, men without mouths or noses or with only one eye or spider legs, etc.,³ which have been put into his mouth may be doubted but it is clear that he knew only Pâtaliputra and