Megasthenes

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Patna (Bihar)_as the Greeks saw it_BBC Documentary.avi

Walking Thor, a very athletic black Tosa owned by Megasthenes kennel in Holland.

Tosa puppies for the first time in the snow! Part 1.

Tosa puppies for the first time in the snow! Part 2.

Taking Tosa pups out for a walk. Part 1.

Tosa puppies from Abenji x Nashira 19-11-2010

Taking Tosa pups out for a walk. Part 2.

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India
India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

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Indus River
The Indus River (Sanskrit: सिन्धु Sindhu; Urdu: دریائے سندھ Daryā-e Sindh; Hindi: सिन्धु नदी Sindhu; Sindhi: سنڌو Sindhu; Punjabi: سندھ Sindh; Gujarati: સિંધુ નદી Sindhu; Pashto: اباسين Abāsin "Father of Rivers"; Persian: رود سند Rūd-e Sind‎; Arabic: السند Al-Sind‎; Tibetan: སེང་གེ།་གཙང་པོ Sênggê Zangbo "Lion River"; Greek: Ινδός Indós; Turki: Nilab) is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It has courses through western Tibet (in China) and Northern India.
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar, the river runs a course through the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit, Baltistan and flows through Pakistan in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh. The total length of the river is 3,180 km (1,980 mi). It is Pakistan's longest river.
The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km² (450,000 sq mi). Its estimated annual flow stands at around 207 km³ (50 cu mi), making it the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. Zanskar is its left bank tributary in Ladakh. In the plains, its left bank tributary is Chenab which itself has four major tributaries, namely, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Satluj. Its principal right bank tributaries are Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal and Kurram. Beginning at the heights of the world in a spring and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayas, the river supports ecosystems of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside.

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Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu with a population of over 1 million (according to the 2001 census). Located on the banks of River Vaigai, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The city is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. The capital of the Pandyan kingdom was initially Korkai, around 600 BCE, and was later moved to Koodal (now Madurai) during the reign of Nedunj Cheliyan I. Madurai is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and Madurai Nayak kings in the Dravidian style of architecture. It is also one of India's most prominent Hindu pilgrimage centres.
Madurai is also called as City of Junction (Koodal nagaram), City of Jasmine (Malligai maanagar), Temple city (Koil maanagar), City that never sleeps (Thoonga nagaram) and City of four junctions (Naanmada koodal).
Madurai's recorded history goes back to the 3rd century BC and the city is mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to India and Kautilya, the minister of the Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. The city was the principal administrative and cultural centre of the Pandyan dynasty which ruled over the southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala till the first half of the 14th century AD. In about 1311, the Pandyan dynasty was overthrown by the Delhi Sultanate which established the province of Ma'bar which later became independent as the Ma'bar Sultanate. When the Ma'bar Sultanate began to decline in the latter years of the 14th century, Madurai was absorbed into the Vijayanagar Empire. The viceroys of the Vijayanagar Empire established the Madurai Nayak kingdom and ruled as independent kings from 1559 to 1736. After a brief period of occupation by Chanda Sahib and the Carnatic kingdom, Madurai was annexed by the British East India Company in 1801.

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Pataliputra
Pāṭaliputra (Devanagari: पाटलिपुत्र), modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Ajatashatru in 490 BC as a small fort (Pāṭaligrama) near the River Ganges, and later the capital of the ancient Mahājanapadas kingdom of Magadha. Its key central location in north central India led rulers of successive dynasties to base their administrative capital here, from the Nandas, Mauryans, Sungas and the Guptas down to the Palas. In the Lord Buddha's day it was a village known as Pataligrama. He visited it shortly before his death and prophesied it would be great but would face destruction either by fire, water, or civil war.^{[citation needed]} Two important councils were held here, the first at the death of the Buddha and the second in the reign of Asoka. During the reign of Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century BCE, it was one of the world's largest cities, with a population of 150,000-300,000.^{[citation needed]} Pataliputra reached the pinnacle of prosperity when it was the capital of the great Mauryan Emperors, Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka the Great. The city prospered under the Mauryas and a Greek ambassador Megasthenes resided there and left a detailed account of its splendour. The city also became a flourishing Buddhist centre boasting a number of important monasteries. It remained the capital of the Gupta dynasty (3rd–6th centuries CE) and the Pala Dynasty (8th-12th centuries CE). The city was largely in ruins when visited by Hsüan-tsang, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders in the 12th century. Afterwards Sher Shah Suri made Pataliputra his capital and changed the name to modern Patna.

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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ⁱ/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country. Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.

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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية‎ Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).

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Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' (ca. AD 86 - 160), known in English as Arrian^{[pronunciation?]} (Ἀρριανός), and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman (ethnic Greek) historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period. As with other authors of the Second Sophistic, Arrian wrote primarily in Attic (Indica is in Herodotus' Ionic dialect, his philosophical works in Koine Greek) .
Anabasis of Alexander is perhaps his best known work and is generally considered one of the best sources on the campaigns of Alexander the Great, not to be confused with Anabasis, then best-known work of the Athenian military leader and author Xenophon from the 4th century BC. Arrian is also considered as one of the founders of a primarily military-based focus on history. His other works include Discourses of Epictetus and Indica.
Arrian was born of Greek ethnicity in the coastal town of Nicomedia (present-day Izmit), the capital of the Roman province of Bithynia, in what is now north-western Turkey, about 70 km from Byzantium (later Constantinople, now Istanbul). He studied philosophy in Nicopolis in Epirus, under the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, and wrote two books about the philosopher's teachings. At the same time he entered the Imperial service, and served as a junior adviser on the consilium of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, governor of Achaea and a close friend of the future Emperor Hadrian, around 111-114. Very little is known about his subsequent career - though it is probable that he served in Gaul and on the Danube frontier, and possible that he was in Baetica and Parthia - until he held the office of Consul in 129 or 130. In 131 he was appointed governor of the Black Sea province of Cappadocia and commander of the Roman legions on the frontier with Armenia. It was unusual at this time for a Greek to hold such high military command.

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Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य महान Hindi: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य महान), (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320 BCE, – 298 BCE) was the founder of the Maurya Empire. He succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent and is considered the first unifier of India as well as its first genuine emperor. In foreign Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokyptos (Σανδρόκυπτος), Sandrokottos (Σανδρόκοττος) or Androcottus.
Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated the northwestern subcontinent, while the Nanda Dynasty dominated the middle and lower basin of the Ganges. After Chandragupta's conquests, the Maurya Empire extended from Bengal and Assam in the east, to Afghanistan and Balochistan,some part of the easten and south-east Iran in the west, to Kashmir and Nepal in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Tradition holds that Chandragupta abdicated his throne to become a monk and led such an ascetic life that he starved himself to death. Whether or not this is factually accurate, he was succeeded by his son in 298 BC.

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Megasthenes
Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 298 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death.
Arrian explains that Megasthenes lived in Arachosia, with the satrap Sibyrtius, from where he visited India:
"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians." Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri
We have more definite information regarding the parts of India Megasthenes visited. He entered the subcontinent through the district of the Pentapotamia, providing a full account of the rivers there (thought to be the five affluents of the Indus that form the Punjab region), and proceeded from there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having visited Madurai (then, a bustling city and capital of the Pandyas), but appears not to have visited any other parts of India.

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Numenius of Apamea
Numenius of Apamea (Ancient Greek: Νουμήνιος ὁ ἐξ Ἀπαμείας) was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Apamea in Syria and flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century AD. He was a Neopythagorean and forerunner of the Neoplatonists.
Statements and fragments of his apparently very numerous works have been preserved by Origen, Theodoret, and especially by Eusebius, and from them we may with learn the nature of his Platonist-Pythagorean philosophy, and its approximation to the doctrines of Plato.
Numenius was a Neopythagorean, but his object was to trace the doctrines of Plato up to Pythagoras, and at the same time to show that they were not at variance with the dogmas and mysteries of the Brahmins, Jews, Magi and Egyptians. His intention was to restore the philosophy of Plato, the genuine Pythagorean and mediator between Socrates and Pythagoras in its original purity, cleared from the Aristotelian and Stoic doctrines, and purified from the unsatisfactory and perverse explanations, which he said were found even in Speusippus and Xenocrates, and which, through the influence of Arcesilaus and Carneades had led to a bottomless skepticism. His work on the apostasy of the Academy from Plato, to judge from its rather numerous fragments, contained a minute and wearisome account of the outward circumstances of those men, and was full of fabulous tales about their lives, without entering into the nature of their skepticism.

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Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 AD – ca. 112 AD), better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him. They were both witnesses to the eruption of Vesuvius on 24 August 79 AD.
Pliny is known for his hundreds of surviving letters, which are an invaluable historical source for the time period. Many are addressed to reigning emperors or to notables such as the historian, Tacitus. Pliny himself was a notable figure, serving as an imperial magistrate under Trajan (reigned AD 98–117). Pliny was considered an honest and moderate man, consistent in his pursuit of suspected Christian members according to Roman law, and rose through a series of Imperial civil and military offices, the cursus honorum (see below). He was a friend of the historian Tacitus and employed the biographer Suetonius in his staff. Pliny also came into contact with many other well-known men of the period, including the philosophers Artemidorus and Euphrates during his time in Syria.^{[citation needed]}

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Sibyrtius
Sibyrtius (Greek:Σιβύρτιος; lived 4th century BC) was a Greek officer from Crete in the service of Alexander the Great, who was appointed by him, on his return from India (326 BC), governor of the province of Carmania. This post he shortly after exchanged for the more important satrapy of Arachosia and Gedrosia, to which he succeeded on the death of Thoas. At the death of Alexander (323 BC), Sibyrtius, in common with most of the other governors of the remote eastern provinces, retained possession of his satrapy, which was again confirmed to him in the second partition at Triparadisus, 321 BC. In the subsequent divisions which arose among the eastern satraps, Sibyrtius was one of those who supported Peucestas against Peithon and Seleucus, and afterwards accompanied that leader when he joined Eumenes in Susiana, 317 BC. His attachment was, however, to Peucestas, and not to Eumenes, and in the intrigues of the former against his commander-in-chief, Sibyrtius supported him so strongly that he incurred the especial resentment of Eumenes, who threatened to bring him to trial; a fate from which he only escaped by a hasty flight. But this open rupture with Eumenes had the advantage of securing him the favour of Antigonus, who, after the defeat of his rival, confirmed Sibyrtius in his satrapy, and placed under his command a large part of the select body of troops termed Argyraspids; a measure adopted with the ostensible object of guarding these provinces against the neighbouring barbarians, but in reality with a view to the gradual destruction of the troops in question, whose turbulent and disaffected spirit was well known..

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Strabo
Strabo,,^{[pronunciation?]}, also written Strabon (Greek: Στράβων; 64/63 BC – ca. AD 24), was a Greek geographer, philosopher and historian.
Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (modern Amasya, Turkey), a city that he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea. His mother was Georgian. Pontus had recently fallen to the Roman Republic, and although politically he was a proponent of Roman imperialism, Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose members had held important positions under the resisting regime of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and time spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus (27 BC – AD 14). He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, until at least 31 BC. In 29 BC, on his way to Corinth (where Augustus was at the time), he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae, after which point there is little record of his proceedings until 17 AD.

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Wikipedia Persondata
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Patna (Bihar)_as the Greeks saw it_BBC Documentary.avi

Patna was the home to two of the greatest emperors of India, who ruled over almost entire ...

published: 13 Nov 2010

author: Alok Kumar

Walking Thor, a very athletic black Tosa owned by Megasthenes kennel in Holland.

A nice and calm walk along the shore of the IJsselmeer...until Thor suddenly spots a hare....

published: 16 Sep 2010

author: MrJaysamuel

megasthenes

mini paardjes...

published: 15 Aug 2011

author: otjes70

India- the power of ideas part3.avi

This is the second one in the series of documentaries made by the BBC on Indian history. A...

published: 13 Nov 2010

author: Alok Kumar

Tosa puppies for the first time in the snow! Part 1.

Having fun in the snow....

published: 19 Dec 2010

author: MegasthenesTosas

Tosa puppies for the first time in the snow! Part 2.

Having fun in this years early snow....

published: 19 Dec 2010

author: MegasthenesTosas

Taking Tosa pups out for a walk. Part 1.

The two 9 week old girls don't care about traffic....

published: 02 Jan 2011

author: MegasthenesTosas

Tosa puppies from Abenji x Nashira 19-11-2010

3 weeks old and trying puppy-porridge for the first time!...

published: 19 Nov 2010

author: MegasthenesTosas

Tosa puppies Thor x Storm 4.

Minced meat for the first time. Within 2 minutes 1kg is gone....

published: 12 Nov 2011

author: TosaMegasthenes

Taking Tosa pups out for a walk. Part 2.

The two 9 week old girls don't care about traffic....

published: 02 Jan 2011

author: MegasthenesTosas

Indika Prasad

Indika Prasad...

published: 10 Jul 2010

author: 1indikaprasad

Bejewelled

BEJEWELED "If it is asserted that Paradise is in India, Be not surprised because , Paradis...

published: 30 Sep 2011

author: ShyamalBhumika

Tosa puppies Thor x Storm 1.

Tosa puppies, born on october 7th, coming out of Toshi's Tar Heel (Imp. USA) x Megasthenes...

published: 26 Oct 2011

author: TosaMegasthenes

Sanda Pana Se - Indika Prasad

Artist - Indiak Prasad Video mix - :.NK.:...

published: 26 Jul 2011

author: Namal Kodithuwakku

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photo: US Navy / HMC Josh Ives

U.S. Army Spc. Jacob Bobbe, security force team member for Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Farah, maintains security on the street during a key leader engagement in the Lash-e Juwayn district of Farah province, Afghanistan, Dec. 11 2012.

Imperial Lockstep

CounterPunch

27 Dec 2012

Imperial adventures are nothing new in the Middle East. Neither is their glorification, as Peter O’Toole’s pained Lawrence of Arabia eternally reminds us. But for a decade or so now, things have been heating up, as if to coincide with climate change and fears of declining petroleum reserves ... The Belly for Belligerence? ... The question loomed over beltway intelligentsia like an ephemeral Gordian knot ... We’re All Hawks Now ... While George W ... ....(size: 9.3Kb)

photo: AP / Altaf Qadri

Indian anti-riot personnel stand guard at a check point after security was beefed up following the death of a young woman who was recently gang-raped in a moving bus in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012.

India appeal for calm after Delhi gang-rape victim dies

BBC News

29 Dec 2012

Police in India have sealed off much of the capital, Delhi, and issued an appeal for calm after the death of a woman who was gang-raped in the city. The 23-year old woman, who has not been identified, died early on Saturday at a hospital in Singapore, where she had been taken for specialist treatment. Her body is to be flown back to India for burial ... Gatherings of more than five people have been banned in the city centre ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)

photo: WN / Janice Sabnal

Six dead as winter snowstorms pound US

Zeenews

27 Dec 2012

Washington. Six people, including two young children, were left dead in weather-related accidents, as winter snowstorms complicated travel for many Americans in the Midwest and Northeast on Wednesday. Snow totals in parts of Indiana ranged from 6 to 12 inches, CNN reported. About 350 snowploughs were clearing roads throughout the city. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told residents they should avoid nonessential travel ... IANS ... ....(size: 2.2Kb)

photo: AP / Ben Curtis

In this Sunday, April 29, 2012 file photo, troops from the Central African Republic stand guard at a building used for joint meetings between them and U.S. Army special forces, in Obo, Central African Republic, where U.S. special forces have paired up with local troops and Ugandan soldiers to seek out Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

CAR seeks foreign help against rebels

Al Jazeera

28 Dec 2012

The president of Central African Republic (CAR) has urgently called on France and other foreign powers to help his government fend off rebels who are quickly seizing territory and approaching the capital. Speaking to crowds in Bangui, a city of some 600,000, Francois Bozize on Thursday pleaded with foreign powers to do what they could. He pointed in particular to France, Central African Republic's former colonial ruler ... 516 Share ... News ... ....(size: 19.5Kb)

photo: AP / Itsuo Inouye

Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) employees at the emergency operation center in the building used as crisis management headquarters at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012.

Japan: The More Things Change, The More They Remain the Same

WorldNews.com

29 Dec 2012

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. A millennium before the English statesmen Edmund Burke, regarded as the father of Western Conservatism and who wrote, "good order is the foundation of all things," Japan's Seventeen-Article Constitution began with this conservative principle. "Harmony is to be cherished, and opposition for opposition's sake must be avoided as a matter of principle." ... militarism, those protesting U.S....(size: 9.7Kb)

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Visiting Ashoka's city

The Hindu

15 Jun 2012

Patna to me is always Pataliputra, the centre of the powerful Mauryan empire, ruled at the height of its glory by Chandragupta Maurya and later his grandson Ashoka the Great. Megasthenes, Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, went into raptures describing Pataliputra, calling it “the greatest city on earth”. Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism after the Battle of Kalinga around 261 B.C ... ***. Mythical Mithila ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)

A relic of Mauryan era

The Times of India

11 Jun 2012

... ambassador of Seleucus Nicator, Megasthenes, who wrote in his 'Indica' that Pataliputra was long but narrow; it was 80 stadiums (nearly 9 miles) long and 15 stadiums (nearly 2 miles) broad and in the form of a parallelogram ... Records also state that Megasthenes met King Sandrocottus (Chandragupta Maurya in Greek records) when he was in Pataliputra....(size: 7.5Kb)

“I am overwhelmed by this great city”

The Hindu

29 Mar 2012

Those who have any second thoughts about Madurai would prove to be wrong if they go through the chief guest's convocation address which was delivered at the Madurai Kamaraj University's 45 annual convocation held here on Wednesday ... “I am overwhelmed by the historical, cultural and scholastic ambience of this great city ... Megasthenes visited the temple city and Kautilya's Arthashastra makes a mention about Madurai ... Keywords ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

Palani excavation triggers fresh debate

The Hindu

29 Aug 2011

One of the two underground chambers of the grave was remarkable for the richness of its goods ... It was obviously a grave that belonged to a chieftain ( The Hindu , June 28, 2009 and Frontline , October 8, 2010). When K ... Megasthenes, the Greek Ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, Emperor Asoka's grandfather, had stated that the people of Chandragupta Maurya's kingdom did not know how to write and that they depended on memory ... ....(size: 8.4Kb)

Polluted flows the Ganga

The Hindu

25 Jul 2011

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, wrote, “The Ganges, above all, is the river of India which has held India's heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history ... On November 4, 2008, the Ganga was officially declared India's ‘national river'. But there is a flip side to the story ... The Ganga is also mentioned in Megasthenes's work about his travels in India, Indica ... Keywords ... ....(size: 5.9Kb)

Antiquities unearthed at Kotilingala

The Hindu

26 Mar 2011

Special Correspondent. HYDERABAD ... Located on the right bank of Godavari river, Kotilingala was the capital of Assakajanapada, considered one of the 16 great janapadas of early India ... The early fort at Kotilingala was identified as one of the 30 walled cities and finds mention in Greek ethnographer, Megasthenes' work, Indica ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)

Why is our past an area of darkness?

The Times of India

16 Oct 2010

In Ancient India, R C Majumdar, the doyen of Indian historians, wrote, "One of the gravest defects of Indian culture, which defies rational explanation, is the aversion of Indians to writing history ... For some reason, it has always had the culture of the here and now ... So, when we want to know about ancient India, we have to turn to the Greeks—Herodotus' Histories, Megasthenes's Indica, Ptolemy's Geographia ... ....(size: 3.8Kb)

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Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 298 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death.

Arrian explains that Megasthenes lived in Arachosia, with the satrap Sibyrtius, from where he visited India:

"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians." Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri ^[1]

We have more definite information regarding the parts of India Megasthenes visited. He entered the subcontinent through the district of the Pentapotamia, providing a full account of the rivers there (thought to be the five affluents of the Indus that form the Punjab region), and proceeded from there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having visited Madurai (then, a bustling city and capital of the Pandyas), but appears not to have visited any other parts of India.

At the beginning of his Indica, he refers to the older Indians who know about the prehistoric arrival of Dionysus and Hercules in India. A story very popular amongst the Greeks during the Alexandrian period. Particularly important are his comments on the religions of the Indians. He mentions the devotees of Heracles (Lord Krishana) and Dionysus (Lord Shiva or King Lord Indra), but he does not write a word for Buddhists, something that gives ground to the theory that the latter religion was not widely known before the reign of Asoka.^[2]

His Indica served as an important source to many later writers such as Strabo and Arrian. He describes such features as the Himalayas and the island of Sri Lanka. He also described a caste system different from what exist today, showing that the caste system may be fluid and evolves to some extent. However, it may be that, being a foreigner, he was not adequately informed about the caste system. His description follows:

The first is formed by the collective body of the Philosophers, which in point of number is inferior to the other classes, but in point of dignity preeminent over all. The philosopher who errs in his predictions incurs censure, and then observes silence for the rest of his life.

The second caste consists of the Husbandmen, who appear to be far more numerous than the others. They devote the whole of their time to tillage; nor would an enemy coming upon a husbandman at work on his land do him any harm, for men of this class, being regarded as public benefactors, are protected from all injury.

The third caste consists of the Shepherds and in general of all herdsmen who neither settle in towns nor in villages, but live in tents.

The fourth caste consists of the Artizans. Of these some are armourers, while others make the implements that husbandmen and others find useful in their different callings. This class is not only exempted from paying taxes, but even receives maintenance from the royal exchequer.

The fifth caste is the Military. It is well organized and equipped for war, holds the second place in point of numbers, and gives itself up to idleness and amusement in the times of peace. The entire force--men-at-arms, war-horses, war-elephants, and all--are maintained at the king's expense.

The sixth caste consists of the Overseers. It is their province to inquire into and superintend all that goes on in India, and make report to the king, or, where there is not a king, to the magistrates.

The seventh caste consists of the Councillors and Assessors,--of those who deliberate on public affairs. It is the smallest class, looking to number, but the most respected, on account of the high character and wisdom of its members; for from their ranks the advisers of the king are taken, and the treasurers, of the state, and the arbiters who settle disputes. The generals of the army also, and the chief magistrates, usually belong to this class.

Later writers such as Arrian, Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny refer to Indica in their works. Of these writers, Arrian speaks most highly of Megasthenes, while Strabo and Pliny treat him with less respect. Indica contained many legends and fabulous stories, similar to those we find in the Indica of Ctesias.

Megasthenes' Indica is the first Western well known account of India. He is regarded by the Western school as one of the founders of the study of Indian history. He is also the first foreigner Ambassador to be mentioned in the Indian history.

Megasthenes also comments on the presence of pre-Socratic views among the Brahmans and Jews. Five centuries later Clement of Alexandria, in his Stromateis, may have misunderstood Megasthenes to be responding to claims of Greek primacy by admitting Greek views of physics were preceded by those of Jews and Indians. Megasthenes, like Numenius of Apamea, was simply comparing the ideas of the different ancient cultures.^[3]

References [link]

^ v,6
^ Vassiliades, Demetrios, "Greeks and Buddhism Historical Contacts in the Development of a Universal religion"The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. XXXVI, No. 1 & 2, Otani University, Kyoto 2005.
^ Bezalel Bar-Kochva The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period 2009 "He does not respond to the implied claim of Greek primacy, presumably because he did not have, and could not have had, hard information about the beginnings of “ parallel” opinions among the Brahmans. "

McCrindle, J.W. (1877). Ancient India As Described By Megasthenes and Arrian.. Trubner & Co., London. http://www.archive.org/stream/ancientindiaasd02mccrgoog#page/n6/mode/2up.
Dahlaquist, Allan (1996). Megasthenes and Indian Religion- Volume 11 of History and Culture Series. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. p. 386. ISBN 81-208-1323-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=xp35-8gTRDkC&pg=PA130&dq=Yamuna.
Vassiliades, Demetrios (2000). The Greeks in India: A survey in Philosophical Understanding. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publ.. ISBN ISBN 81-215-0921-1.
Megasthenes (1846), E. A. Schwanbeck, ed., Indica, Sumptibus Pleimesii, bibliopolae (Original Oxford University), http://books.google.com/books?id=J1MOAAAAQAAJ

External links [link]

Fragments from Megasthenes: Indika ("From: Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian. Translated and edited by J. W. McCrindle. Calcutta and Bombay: Thacker, Spink, 1877, 30-174.")
Ancient India as described by Arrian based on accounts by Megasthenes

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