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Admin moved page What were the consequences of Alexander the Great's invasion of India? to What were the consequences of Alexander the Great's invasion of India
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[[File: PtolemyCoinWithAlexanderWearingElephantScalp.jpg|200px250px|thumb|left| A coin commemorating Alexander’s conquests in India]]
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest conquerors in history and the equal of any general who has ever lived. He campaigned successfully in Europe, Asia, and Africa and he was victorious in every battle. Perhaps his most audacious campaign was in modern Pakistan and north-west India. His conquests in this region proved to be fleeting. However, Alexander’s Indian campaign was one that was to have significant repercussions for both the Hellenistic and the Indian World. The invasion of India by the great Macedonian was to lead to the establishment of a Greek population in India, increased contacts between the two great cultures and significant cultural exchanges, which influenced both the development of Hellenistic philosophy and Buddhism.
====Alexander’s Invasion of India====
[[File: Gandhara, testa di buddha, I-III sec.jpg|200px250px|thumb|left| An example of Greco-Buddhist sculpture]]
The invasion of India was a logical step following the Macedonian’s king’s campaigns in Bactria. There had been a major rebellion launched against Alexander by a local warlord.<ref>Arrian. Campaigns of Alexander, 12, 56</ref> After the conqueror suppressed this revolt; he turned his attention to war-like tribes in Afghanistan, who had aided the rebellious Bactrians. Alexander attacked tribal confederations in the Hindu Kush valleys of Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref>McCrindle, J. W. The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great as Described by Arrian, Q Curtius, Diodorus, Plutarch, and Justin. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co, 1893), p 67</ref>
The king attempted to persuade them to continue but he failed, and after a stand-off, he relented.<ref>Plutarch, 7, 6</ref> He retreated into modern Pakistan and began to campaign against the powerful Malian tribe, who lived near modern Multan in Pakistan. After a siege, he subdued the Malians but received a near-fatal wound during the fighting. This wound is believed by many to have led to his death. Despite his severe wound Alexander conquered a large number of tribes and reached the Indian Ocean coast of modern Pakistan. He then returned to Persia via the Great Gedoresian Desert, during which he lost much of his army to thirst and hunger. He divided his conquests into four satrapies, and he left behind a considerable army under Peithon. <ref>McCrindle, p 115</ref>
After Alexander the Great’s death, his generals fought a series of civil wars, as they tried to carve out independent states out of his Empire.</ref> Bosworth, Albert Brian. Conquest and Empire: the reign of Alexander the Great (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993), p 398</ref> The Greek armies in India returned to the west to take part in these wars sometime in 316 BC. Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha founded the Maurya Empire after he overthrew the Nanda Empire in 321 BC.
The course of events after this is not certain, because of the fragmented nature of the sources. It appears that Chandragupta invaded the Macedonian territories in the Punjab and Sind. At this time Seleucus was the most powerful general in the eastern regions of the Alexandrine Empire, sought to reconquer the satrapies lost to the founder of the Mauryan dynasty. There followed the Seleucid–Mauryan War fought between 305 and 303 BC. Details of the war are not known, but it appears that Chandragupta emerged as the victor. Seleucus ceded most if not all of the Alexandrine conquests in India to the Mauryan Empire, and in return, he received 500 war elephants<ref> A. B. Bosworth, The Legacy of Alexander (Oxford University Press, 2008), p 156</ref>. Seleucus used these elephants in his great victory at Ipsus (301 BC). Later there were extensive diplomatic and trading contacts established between the Hellenistic and Indian world.
====The Greeks in India====
[[File: Menander portrait.jpg|200px250px|thumb|left| A portrait of Meander I Soter c 160 AD]]
Several Indian sources indicate that Alexander left a large number of Greek colonists in his newly acquired territories, who are referred to as Yavanas. It appears that there were a large number of Greek settlements in India. They continued to speak Greek and remained a distinct ethnic group in Northern India. The great Buddhist Emperor Asoka issued edicts in Greek. It is also believed that many Greeks were active in the government of this great Emperor. The descendants of the colonists transplanted by Alexander into India continued to flourish for many years. In 180 BC an army of Greeks returned to India, these were the descendants of the colonies established in Bactria. The Mauryan Empire fell after the death of Asoka and his left a power vacuum in north-west India. A powerful Greek Bactrian king Demeter 1 conquered a large area of Afghanistan.<ref>Singh, Upinder A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India, 2008), p 118</ref>
====Graeco-Buddhism ====
The Mauryan Emperor Asoka was keen to spread the Buddhist faith, and he sent missionaries to the Greeks who lived in his realms and Bactria. It seems that many descendants of Alexander’s colonists and soldiers became followers of the Buddha and that there are even documented examples of Greek Buddhist monks. Following the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, a unique Greco-Buddhism developed, a combination of Hellenistic and Indian elements .<ref>Singh, p 118</ref>.
This syncretic religion influenced the development of the Mahayana tradition in Buddhism and its pantheon of deities. The Indo-Greek kingdoms became important centers of Buddhism, and they were instrumental in the spread of the religion into Central Asia and ultimately into China. The long-term consequences of Alexander’s invasion were a chain of events that decisively influenced the development of Buddhism and helped the spread of that faith.
====Greek impact on India art====
====India and Greek Philosophy====
India is home to several major religions, which have strong traditions of metaphysical speculation. For example, it was the birthplace of Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. There is a strong tradition of asceticism in Indian thought, and it has produced sophisticated theories of ethics and epistemology. Ancient histories inform us that the Greeks who invaded India were impressed by local ascetics and holy men, whom they called gymnosophists <ref>Plutarch, 5. 8 </ref> Alexander, who had been tutored by Aristotle, had an interest in philosophy and he was accompanied by his invasion by a number of philosophers. One of these was Pyrrho, and Buddhist notions of epistemology influenced him. This led him to adopt a philosophical skepticism, and his theories have been very influential. It is often held that Indian doctrines influenced the Cynic school of thought. There are undoubtedly many similarities between Cynics and Indian philosophies such as Jainism, especially in their rejection of society and materialism. However, the Cynics had developed in Athens before Alexander’s invasion. The Cynic philosopher Onescrithes recorded his conversation with a Brahmin and possibly Jain monks and, it is possible that this influenced the development of later Cynics thought, which remained influential, in Antiquity, until the Christianization of the Empire.<ref> Mc Evilly, Thomas. The shape of ancient thought. Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian philosophies” (Allworth Press, New York 2002), pp 290-298</ref>
====Conclusion====
Seldeslachts, E., 2005. The end of the road for the Indo-Greeks?. Iranica Antiqua, 39(0), pp.249-296.
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