Gymnosophists

[3] In Greek literature, they are mentioned in association with the Persian magi, the Chaldaeans of the Assyrians or the Babylonians, the druids of the Celts, and the priests of Egypt.

[5][citation needed] They are mentioned by authors such as Philo, Lucian, Clement of Alexandria, Philostratus, and Heliodorus of Emesa.

These philosophers were reputed to be clever and concise in answering questions, and Alexander therefore put difficult questions to them, declaring that he would put to death he who first made an incorrect answer, and then the rest, in an order determined in like manner; and he commanded one of them, the oldest, to be the judge in the contest.

The fourth, when asked why he had induced Sabbas to revolt, replied: "Because I wished him either to die nobly or live."

Passing on, then, to the sixth, Alexander asked how a man could be most loved; "If," said the philosopher, "he is most powerful, and yet does not inspire fear."

Of the Sarmanes, the most honourable, he says, are the Hylobii, who live in the forests, and subsist on leaves and wild fruits: they are clothed with garments made of the bark of trees, and abstain from commerce with women and from wine.Of the Sarmanes ... second in honour to the Hylobii, are the physicians, for they apply philosophy to the study of the nature of man.

They are of frugal habits, but do not live in the fields, and subsist upon rice and meal, which every one gives when asked, and receive them hospitably.

Both this and the other class of persons practise fortitude, as well in supporting active toil as in enduring suffering, so that they will continue a whole day in the same posture, without motion.Philo Judaeus (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE), also called mentions the gymnosophists twice in the course of listing foreign ascetics and philosophers who are, in his estimation, "prudent, and just, and virtuous" and therefore truly free: And among the Indians there is the class of the gymnosophists, who, in addition to natural philosophy, take great pains in the study of moral science likewise, and thus make their whole existence a sort of lesson in virtue.But it is necessary for us ... to bring forward as corroborative testimonies the lives of some particular good men who are the most undeniable evidences of freedom.

Calanus was an Indian by birth, one of the gymnosophists; he, being looked upon as the man who was possessed of the greatest fortitude of all his contemporaries, and that too, not only by his own countrymen, but also by foreigners, which is the rarest of all things, was greatly admired by some kings of hostile countries, because he had combined virtuous actions with praiseworthy language.In the 2nd century CE, the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria distinguishes the gymnosophists, the philosophers of the Indians, from the Sramanas, "the philosophers of the Bactrians": Philosophy, then, with all its blessed advantages to man, flourished long ages ago among the barbarians, diffusing its light among the gentiles, and eventually penetrated into Greece.

Some sects of Brahmins belonging to Hinduism remained naked, lived in forests, practiced austerities, shaved their heads, ate only fruit and milk and meditated.

[13][14] The Naga sadhus ("naked saints") have been identified with the gymnosophists by some modern writers: they are historically known to carry arms, and learn martial arts which are promoted in their akharas.

[15][19] The ancient Shramanas, who included both the Digambara sect of Jain monks and Buddhist priests, have been identified as gymnosophists by researchers.