Early
Contacts between India and Europe
In
a popular story when Zeus had swollen Phanes then what happened.
Yes,
in some versions of ancient Greek mythology, particularly in the Orphic
tradition, Zeus does indeed swallow Phanes.
Phanes,
a primordial deity associated with creation and light, was born from the cosmic
egg and is often depicted as the first ruler of the cosmos, representing life,
light, and procreation. According to this Orphic myth, Zeus swallowed Phanes to
absorb his power and wisdom, allowing Zeus to become the supreme god and
creator of the current order of the universe.
After
swallowing Phanes, Zeus took on the role of creator, reordering the cosmos and
fathering the gods of the Greek pantheon. This act of consuming Phanes
symbolizes the transfer of cosmic authority and wisdom to Zeus, solidifying his
position as the most powerful deity in Greek mythology. This story reflects
themes of renewal and the cyclical nature of creation, where each generation of
gods inherits and reshapes the world.
So, formed
in the body of Zeus, after he had swallowed Phanes, the offspring of the great
'World Egg', in whom all the seeds of things are present.
[Phanes is
a mysterious and dual deity who hatched from the cosmic egg and brought the
light and life to the world. Phanes is a hermaphroditic god with golden wings, who emerges from the
cosmic egg of Chaos and Eros in Orphic mythology. He symbolizes the transition
from chaos to order, the cycle of life and death, and the revelation of all
things. Phanes is the first god in Orphism, a mystical belief system that sees
him as the source of all life and the universe. He came out of the cosmic egg,
which represents the potential for everything, and brought order and light to
the chaos.]
Phanes, the Greek mystical
first-born deity of creation and new life
[Learn about Phanes in Greek
mythology - The Greek Gods
Thus,
the world is the body of God: the heavens are his head, the sun and moon his
eyes, and the ether his mind. In the same way, we are told in the tenth book of
the Institutes of Manu how the Supreme Soul produced by a thought a Golden Egg
(Brahmanda) from which he was born as Brahma. The resemblance between the two
legends is too close to be accidental. The doctrine of Xenophanes (570 B.C.),
that God is the eternal Unity, permeating the universal and governing it by His
thought, occurs time after time in post-Vedic Hindu literature.
[Xenophanes of Colophon was a Greek
philosopher, theologian, poet, and critic of Homer from Ionia who travelled
throughout the Greek-speaking world in early Classical Antiquity. Xenophanes
was a pre-Socratic philosopher who lived in ancient Greece around the 6th
and 5th BCE.]
Xenophanes |
Pre-Socratic, Eleatic, Monotheism | Britannica
Xenophanes’s
Philosophy: Key Concepts - PHILO-notes
Empedocles,
besides believing in transmigration, holds several tenets which are curiously
like those of Kapila, the author of the Sänkhya system. Kapila traces the
evolution of the material world to primeval matter, which is acted upon by the
three 'qualities' or gunas, i.e. sattva, rajas, and tamas, lightness, activity,
and heaviness. Empedocles looks on matter as consisting of the four elements,
earth, water, air, and fire, acted upon by the motive forces of love and hate.
[Empedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic
philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily.
Empedocles' philosophy is known best for originating the cosmogonic theory o...
Empedocles challenged
the practice of animal sacrifice and killing animals for food. He developed a
distinctive doctrine of reincarnation. He is generally
considered the last Greek philosopher to have recorded his ideas in verse. Some
of his work survives, more than is the case for any other pre-Socratic
philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers and has been
the subject of a number of literary treatments. ]
[Empedocles – Wikipedia]
Attention has been called to the
resemblance between the Hindu varnas or classes, brahmans, kshatriyas or
warriors, vaiśyas or merchants, and śūdras, and the division of the ideal
polity in Plato's Republic into Guardians, Auxiliaries, and Craftsmen. The
story that Socrates proposes to talk about their divine origin, in order that
the system may be perpetuated, otherwise the state will certainly perish', is
curiously like the Vedic myth about the origin of the four classes from the
mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of Purusha, the Primeval Man. Are these mere
coincidences?
Eusebius shares a story from the
writer Aristoxenus, who tells of a time when some learned Indian scholars
visited Athens and spoke with Socrates. They asked Socrates about the purpose
of his philosophy, to which he replied, "an inquiry into human affairs."
One of the Indian visitors found this amusing and laughed, asking Socrates,
"How can a person understand human matters without first understanding the
Divine?" If this story from Eusebius is true, it challenges our
assumptions about early contact and exchange of ideas between India and Greece.
[Eusebius Pamphili (aka Eusebius of
Caesarea, 260-340 CE) was a Christian historian, exegete, and polemicist.He
became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima in 314 CE and served as court bishop
during the reign of Constantine I (r. 306-337 CE). Eusebius is known as
"the father of Christian history" for his works: Preparation for the
Gospel, On Discrepancies Between the Gospels, Ecclesiastical History ...
[Eusebius
on Christianity - World History Encyclopedia]
Eusebius carefully transmitted the
succession of church leaders and recorded the history of influential Christian
teachers. He also tells us the history behind various heresies. Eusebius openly
ignores some of the darker aspects of Christianity’s history, and intentionally
glosses over some of the internal struggles within the church.
[Who Was Eusebius? - OverviewBible]
Greece
and India, however, were destined to be brought into yet closer and more direct
contact. The older Greek states were exclusive in their outlook. To them, all
non-Greeks were barbarians, and it needed some great shock to break down the
barriers dividing them from the outer world. This was provided by Alexander the
Great, himself only half-Greek, but wholly inspired by the Greek spirit of
inquiry. When he set out on his famous expedition to the East it was as an
explorer as well as a conqueror: on his staff were several trained historians
and scientists. In the spring of 326 B.C., the Macedonian hoplites, (hoplites, were the heavily armed
foot-soldiers of ancient Greece, from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE. They had major
battles and events involving hoplites in the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian
War and more.)
having
marched half-way across Asia, entered the passes and gaps of the Hindu Kush and
found themselves in the fertile plains of the Panjab. Alexander's first halt
was in the great city of Taxila, where for the first time the civilizations of
East and West found themselves directly confronted. Taxila was of special
interest for the scientists in Alexander's train, as being one of the leading
seats of Hindu learning, where crowds of pupils, sons of princes and wealthy
brahmans, resorted to study 'the three Vedas and Hydaspes (Jhelum), Alexander
travelled down the Indus to its mouth, fishing fortified posts or 'colonies' at
strategic points, and turned his Westwards in October 325 B.C. In June 323 he
died of fever at Babyloni.
[B.
J. Urwick, The Message of Plato, London, 1920. Republic, Book iii; Rig Veda, x.
90. Eusebius, Praep. Evang. xi. 3. Early Contacts between India and Europe]
The
story of Alexander’s campaign in India became a celebrated tale, deeply woven
into the "Romance of Alexander," a work originating with the
*Pseudo-Callisthenes*. This imaginative biography of Alexander, with
adaptations appearing in over thirty languages, kept the legend alive long
after Alexander's death. The Indian episode became a focal point for creative
embellishment. In medieval Europe and Asia Minor, the encounter was
romanticized and even mythologized—one example being Jean Racine's play, where
Alexander is portrayed as falling in love with an Indian princess, Cléophile.
Although
Alexander’s empire fragmented soon after his death, with nearly all traces of
Greek control in India gone by 317 B.C.E., his legacy continued. His conquests
broke down barriers between East and West, forging a bridge for cultural
exchange that, while at times faded or forgotten, had lasting significance.
This initial connection between Greek and Indian civilizations would echo
through history, influencing trade, philosophy, and cultural traditions for
centuries to come.
About
the time of Alexander's death, a new ruler, Chandragupta Maurya had established
himself in the Ganges valley, and he quickly extended his empire to the Panjab.
He was so successful that when, in 305 B.C., Seleucus Nicator tried to repeat
his predecessor's exploits, he was defeated and glad to come to terms. An
alliance was formed and cemented by a marriage between the Indian king (or a
member of his family) and a Greek princess. This was the beginning of a long,
intimate, and fruitful intercourse between the Greek and Indian courts, which
was continued by Chandragupta's son and grand- son, Bindusara and Aśoka.
Ambassadors from the Greek monarchs of the West resided at Pataliputra, the Mauryan
capital. The most important of these was Magasthenes, who wrote a detailed
account of Chandragupta's empire, much of which has been preserved. Magasthenes
was greatly impressed by the resemblance between Greek and Indian philosophy.
In
many points [he says] their teaching agrees with that of the Greeks-for instance,
that the world has a beginning and an end in time, that its shape is spherical:
that the Deity, who is its Governor and Maker, interpenetrates the whole....
About generation and the soul their teaching shews parallels to the Greek
doctrines, and on many other matters. Like Plato, too, they interweave fables
about the immortality of the soul and the judgements inflicted in the other
world, and so on.
The
account written by Magasthenes, improving as it did the earlier works of
Alexander's companions, gave the Greek world a vivid impression of the great
and magnificent civilization of contemporary India. The intercourse between the
Indian and Syrian courts was not confined to the interchange of occasional
courtesies. Magasthenes repeatedly visited Pataliputra. Bindusara maintained an
amusing correspondence with Antiochustalipu asked him to buy and send him
samples of Greek wine, raisins, and a Sophist to teach him how to argue. [Early
Contacts between India and Europe p-431]
Antiochus
wrote in reply saying that he had pleasure in sending the wine and raisins as desired
but regretted that 'it is not good form among the Greeks to trade in Sophists!
[Antiochus I Soter (324-262 BC) was
the son of Seleucus I and the founder of Antioch. He fought against nomads,
Gauls, Egyptians, and Pergamum, and rebuilt cities and temples in his empire.]
[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antiochus-I-Soter]
Magasthenes
was apparently succeeded at Pataliputra by Daïmachus of Plataea, who went on a
series of missions from Antiochus I to Bindusara. Nor was Syria the only Greek
state to depute ambassadors to the Mauryan Court: Pliny tells us of a certain
Dionysius who was sent from Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.).
When Aśoka became a convert to Buddhism his first thought was for the dispatch
of a mission for the conversion of his neighbours, 'the King of the Greeks
named Antiochus', and the four other Greek kings, Ptolemy Philadelphus of
Egypt, Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia, Magas of Cyrene, Ptolemy's half-brother,
and Alexander of Epirus (or of Corinth). Whether the yellow-robed messengers of
the Law of Piety ever actually reached Macedonia or Epirus may be regarded as
doubtful, but there is no reason to suppose that they did not go as far as
Alexandria and Antioch. Aśoka's object was not merely to promulgate Buddhism,
but to establish a 'world peace', and prevent the repetition of tragedies like
the Kalinga massacre, which had led to his conversion.
At
the same time a flourishing trade was being carried on between Syria and India.
Strabo tells us that Indian goods were borne down the Oxus to Europe by way of
the Caspian and the Black Sea. No doubt they travelled along the Royal Road
from Pataliputra to Taxila, and by the old route from Taxila to Balkh. This was
made easier by the fact that Aśoka's empire stretched far west of Kabul, and
the passage of merchandise through this wild country was comparatively safe.
The evidence of the coins shows that during the period when history is silent a
busy life was throbbing on both sides of the frontier, and Greek and Indian
merchants were constantly coming and going, buying and selling.
With
the death of Aśoka in 232 B.C. the close connection with Pataliputra appears to
have been broken off, but in the meantime the Greek descendants of Alexander's
colonists in Bactria, who had declared themselves independent in 250 B.C., had
crossed the Hindu Kush, and established themselves in the Panjab. The greatest
of the Indo-Bactrian rulers was Menander (c. 150 B.C.). Menander's capital was
at Sagala (? Sialkot), and he conquered for a time a considerable portion of
the Mauryan Empire. The Bactrian Greeks have been called 'the Goanese of
antiquity'. By this time, they had become thoroughly Indianized, and Menander
was converted to the fashionable creed of Buddhism. His conversion is recorded
in that famous work, the Milinda-panha, or Questions of Milinda, a kind of
Platonic dialogue in Pali, in which the sage Nagasena plays the part of
Socrates, this history of the Bactrian Greek rulers of the Panjab has been
reconstructed from their coins. The earlier issues are of great beauty, but
they tend to degenerate, and the appearance of bilingual superscriptions tells
its own tale. Curiously enough, the Greeks have left no other memorial in India
except a column erected at Besnagar in Madhya Pradesh by Heliodorus of Taxila,
an ambassador from the Maharaja.
column
records the fact that He Antialcidas to King Bhagabhadra, Heliodorus was a
devotee of Vishnu and shows how rapidly the Greeks adopting Were martyrdom.
Among
recent books on Aśoka cf. P. H. L. Eggermont, The Chronology of the Reign of
Asoka Moriya, Leiden, 1956; R. Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas,
Oxford, 1961.
Cambridge
History of India, Vol. 1, pp. 432 ff.
Early
Contacts between India and Europe
Xxx
1440
The
Bactrian Greeks yielded by several Saka and Parthian princes, and it was at the
court one of these that the Apostle Thomas is said to have suffered Acts of
Judas Thomas, which exists in Syriac, Greek, and Latin version apparently based
on a kernel of historical fact, and some apparent persons and of places, have
been identified. Gondophernes has recognized as Gaspar, the first of the Magi. About
A.D. 48 these tribes were replaced by the Yüeh-chih or Ku horde from Central
Asia. The Kushana Empire reached its zenith of the proper Kanishka, who succeeded
to the throne about A.D. 120. His capital was at Peshawar, but far-flung empire
extended as far west as Kabul and as far north as Kasher. Kanishka was a
convert to Buddhism, but his coins, with their curious deities, Zoroastrian,
Hindu, Greek, and Buddhist, indicate the cosmopolitan nature of his territories.
Among the deities depicted are Helio Selene, and Buddha, the latter in Greek
dress. Kanishka employed Greek workmen and silversmiths. The relic-casket
discovered at Peshawar bears a Kharoshthi inscription. Excavations at Taxila
have revealed a wealth of beautiful objects of the Saka and Kushana periods,
showing how strong was Greek influence there. Some of the murals are decorated
with Corinthian pillars. Under the Kushanas thus curious hybrid product, the
so-called Gandhara School of sculpture, flourished.
The
most striking achievement was the application Hellenistic methods to the
portrayal of scenes in the life of the Buddha, and more especially, to the allocation
of the Master himself. Hitherto, Buddhists had been content to represent him by
conventional symbols: it was probably Greek artists of Gandhara conventional it
was accepted as canonical all over the Buddhist world today. A cosmopolitan
culture, borrowed from Iranian, Hellenistic, India.
In
Antioch, Palmyra, and Alexandria, Indian and Greek merchants and men of letters
met freely to exchange ideas. Antioch, the old Seleucid capital, was the great meeting
place of caravans from the Gulf of Suez on the one hand and from the headwaters
of the Euphrates on the other, and its bazaars and marketplaces were thronged
with a cosmopolitan crowd, second only to that of Alexandria. Travellers from
Barygaza (Broach), at the mouth of the Narmada, would probably follow the
overland route up the Euphrates and then cross the desert to Antioch, while
those from south India and Ceylon would preferably go via Aden and the Red Sea.
The
Kushanas were particularly anxious to be on good terms with Rome, whose eastern
boundary was the Euphrates, less than 600 miles from their western border. The
closeness of their intercourse is illustrated in a striking manner by the
Kushana coinage, which imitates that of contemporary Roman emperors. The
Kushāna gold coins are of the same weight and fineness as the Roman aurei. It
appears probable from an inscription that the Kushāna King Kanishka II used the
title of Caesar. The friendly and intimate nature of the relations between Rome
and India is shown by the number of embassies dispatched by various Indian
rājās from time to time. One of these, from an Indian king whom Strabo calls
Pandion (probably one of the Pandya kings of the south), left Barygaza in 25
B.C. and encountered Augustus at Samos four years later. The time occupied by
the journey seems less strange. Elizabethan travelers’ itineraries had to wait
for prolonged periods at stopping-places until caravans were formed and escorts
arranged for. The ambassadors brought Augustus a variety of queer presents,
including tigers, a python, and an arm- less boy who discharged arrows from a
bow with his toes. The leader of the embassy was a monk named Zarmanochegas
(Śramanāchārya), who brought a letter, written on vellum in Greek, offering the
emperor an alliance and a free passage for Roman subjects through his
dominions.
Like
Kalanos, the monk who accompanied Alexander the Great to Babylon, Zarmanochegas
committed suicide by burning himself to death on a funeral pyre. From this it
is perhaps permissible to conclude that he was a Jain, as Jainism looks upon 9
voluntary immolations as a laudable act. According to Strabo, his epitaph was
Here lies Zarmanochegas, an Indian from Bargosa, who rendered himself immortal
according to the customs of the country. An Indian embassy, probably from the
Kushana king Kadphises II, went to Rome in A.D. 99 to congratulate Trajan on
his accession. Trajan treated his Indian visitors with distinction, giving them
senators' seats at the theatre.
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