Indica (Megasthenes)
Felix Jacoby's Fragmente der griechischen Historiker contains 36 pages of content traced to Megasthenes.
[3] E. A. Schwanbeck traced several fragments to Megasthenes, and based on his collection, John Watson McCrindle published a reconstructed version of Indica in 1887.
Schwanbeck and McCrindle attributed several fragments in the writings of the 1st century BCE writer Diodorus to Megasthenes.
B. Bosworth (1996), Diodorus obtained this information from Hieronymus of Cardia: Diodorus described the Ganges as 30 stadia (6 km, 4 miles) wide; it is well-attested by other sources that Megasthenes described the median or minimum width of the Ganges as 100 stadia (20 km, 12 miles).
[5] According to the text reconstructed by J. W. McCrindle (1877) and Richard Stoneman (2022), Megasthenes' Indica describes India as follows: India is a quadrilateral-shaped country, bounded by the Great Sea in the east and the south, Indus River in the west, and Emodus mountain in the north[6] ("Emodus" (or "Hemodus") refers to the Hindu Kush, Pamir, and the Himalayas taken as a single mountain range; the word is derived from the Indian term Haimavata, meaning "covered with snow".
Because of its large size, India is "thought to encompass a larger stretch of the sun's course in summer than any other part of the world".
The country of Gandaridae has the highest number and the largest elephants in India, because of which other nations are afraid of its strength, and no foreign king has been able to conquer it.
[14] Some believe that in primitive times, the Indians lived on fruits and wore clothes made of animal skin, just like the Greeks.
[a] Dionysus taught Indians several things including how to grow plants, make wine and worship.
After several years, the royal rule was replaced by democratic city states, although there existed a few kings when Alexander invaded India.
[19] No famines have ever occurred in India because of the following reasons:[8][20] Indian beverage is a liquor composed from rice instead of barley.
Their robes are worked in gold, and ornamented with precious stones, and they wear also flowered garments made of the finest muslin.
Some have attendants walking behind hold up umbrellas over them: for they have a high regard for beauty, and avail themselves of every device to improve their looks.
[25] The population of India is divided into 7 endogamous and hereditary castes:[26] Megasthenes makes a different division of the philosophers, saying that they are of two kinds - one of which he calls the Brachmanes, and the other the Sarmanes.
The first century Greek writer Strabo called both Megasthenes and his succeeding ambassador Deimachus liars, and stated that "no faith whatever" could be placed in their writings.
[30] The Indika contained numerous fantastical stories, such as those about tribes of people with no mouths, unicorns and other mythical animals, and gold-digging ants.
[31] Strabo directly contradicted these descriptions, assuring his readers that Megasthenes' stories, along with his recounting of India’s founding by Hercules and Dionysus, were mythical with little to no basis in reality.
[32] Despite such shortcomings, some authors believe that Indika is creditworthy, and is an important source of information about the contemporary Indian society, administration and other topics.
This representation of India as an isolated, invincible country is an attempt to vindicate Seleucus' peace treaty with the Indian emperor [35] through which he abandoned territories he could never securely hold, stabilized the East, and obtained elephants with which he could turn his attention against his great western rival, Antigonus Monophthalmus.
[38] According to historian Romila Thapar, the lack of sharp distinction between slaves and others in the Indian society (unlike the Greek society) may have confused Megasthenes: Indians did not use large-scale slavery as a means of production, and slaves in India could buy back their freedom or be released by their master.
Thapar also speculates that he wrote his account some years after his visit to India, and at this time, he "arrived at the number seven, forgetting the facts as given to him".
Alternatively, it is possible that the later authors misquoted him, trying to find similarities with the Egyptian society, which according to Herodotus was divided into seven social classes.
[40] Megasthenes claims that before Alexander, no foreign power had invaded or conquered Indians, with the exception of the mythical heroes Hercules and Dionysus.
It is possible that the Achaemenid control did not extend much beyond the Indus River, which Megasthenes considered to be the border of India.
