A Concise History of Science in India c6.s2.t2.2

c6.s2.t2.2

Garga is also important from the viewpoint of his frequent references to the Greeks (*yavana*), and to the excellence of the astronomical science as studied among their savants. ‘The Greeks are indeed *mlecchas*, but amongst them this science (astronomy)’, writes Garga, ‘is well established; therefore even they are honoured as *Ṛṣis*.’ From his references to the fiercely fighting Greeks who penetrated into the heart of Hindusthan (*madhyadeśa*), Kern concluded that Garga lived probably during the period of conquests of the Bactrian Greeks (third to second century b.c.). Parāśara who figures prominently in some of the *Purāṇas* is probably posterior to Garga.