Alexander’s invasion of India

 Alexander’s campaigns in India were not as significant as he would want to believe. In fact, R. K. Mukherjee believes that his campaigns in India were not an example of brilliant military achievement, as he did not come face-to-face with any powerful Indian monarchs. The effects of his campaigns were, at best, indirect. According to A.K. Narain the people of north-west realized that small states and principalities were no match to the disciplined and organized campaigns of Alexander. Chandragupta was quick to realize the importance of erecting a huge empire. He went about to unite the whole of Punjab and, later, the northern India after overthrowing the Nandas. He not only added the southern states but also integrated the four satrapies of Aria, Arachosia, Gedrosia and Paropamisadae which were ceded by Seleucus to Chandragupta after the demise of Alexander.

 

Friendly contacts were maintained between Greeks and Indians. According to a Greek writer Athenaeus, an Indian ruler Amitrochates wrote to Antiochus I of Syria to send him sweet wine, figs and a sophist, to which the Syrian king replied that he would happily send sweet wine and figs but a sophist cannot be sold in Greece. Stabo refers to the sending of Deimachus to the court of Allitrochades, son of Sandrokottos; Pliny mentions another envoy Dionysius from Ptolemy II of Egypt. Besides this, Ashoka also maintained close relations with the Yavanas of west Asia and Egypt. His 13th Rock Edict, the version of which has been found in Greek at Kandahar, refers to his Dhammavijaya in the kingdoms of Antiochus II of Syria, Ptolemy Philadelphus II of Egypt, Antigonus Gomatas of Macedonia, Magas of Cyrene and Alexander of Corinth. Ashoka is also supposed to have arranged for the medical treatment of cattle and men in the kingdom of Antiochus II and his neighbours. Not only does his description of himself as Devanampriya Piyadassi reflect the practice of deification current among Greek kings in the Hellenic west, but also the style of his edicts were influenced by the edicts of Darius. Kautilya and Megasthenes, both, refer to a state department looking after the welfare of foreigners who were mostly Yavanas and Persians. Taxila, Sarnath, Basarh and Patna have yielded terracotta motifs with distinct Hellenistic influence.

 

Alexander’s invasion also allowed for the establishment of Greek paramouncy in Bactria and in the regions that are called today as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some 41 rulers of Yavana descent are known from the coins. Strabo refers to these kings as those who subdued large number of tribes, more than that by Alexander. Menander and Demetrius who was the son of Euthydemus and the king of Bactrians, were the most notable. The Indo-Greek kings were equally influenced by Indian religion and culture. Many of their coins carried Indian legends. An inhabitant of Taxila, and the son of Dion – Heliodorus – was an envoy from the court of Antialcidas, an Indo-Greek king, to the court of the Indian king Bhagabhadra. The details are known from the Heliodorius Besnagar Inscription (Besnagar near Bhilsa in Madhya Pradesh) which mentions that he was a follower of the Bhagavat sect of Hinduism. Some of the coins of Menander carry the image of wheel, which, scholars believe, is the Buddhist emblem of Dharmachakra, the wheel of righteousness.

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