Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian/Frag. XLIII.

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Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian
by Megasthenes, translated by John Watson McCrindle

Frag. XLIII.

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4772233Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian — Frag. XLIII.John Watson McCrindleMegasthenes

Fragm. XLIII.

Clem. Alex. Strom. I. p. 305, A, B (ed. Colon. 1688).

Of the Philosophers of India.

[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. Its hierophants were the prophets among the Egyptians, the Chaldæans among the Assyrians, the Druids among the Gauls, the Sarmanæans who were the philosophers of the Baktrians and the Kelts, the Magi among the Persians, who, as you know, announced beforehand the birth of the Saviour, being led by a star till they arrived in the land of Judæa, and among the Indians the Gymnosophists, and other philosophers of barbarous nations.]

There are two sects of these Indian philosophers—one called the Sarmânai and the other the Brachmânai. Connected with the Sarmânai are the philosophers called the Hylobioi,^[1] who neither live in cities nor even in houses. They clothe themselves with the bark of trees, and subsist upon acorns, and drink water by lifting it to their mouth with their hands. They neither marry nor beget children [like those ascetics of our own day called the Enkratêtai. Among the Indians are those philosophers also who follow the precepts of Boutta,^[2] whom they honour as a god on account of his extraordinary sanctity.]

↑ The reading of the MSS is Allobioi.
↑ V. 1.Βούτα.—The passage admits of a different rendering: "They (the Hylobioi) are those among the Indians who follow the precepts of Boutta." Colebrooke in his Observations on the Sect of the Jains, has quoted this passage from Clemens to controvert the opinion that the religion and institutions of the orthodox Hindus are more modern than the doctrines of Jina and of Buddha. Here," he says, "to my apprehension, the followers of Buddha are clearly distinguished from the Brachmanes and Sarmanes. The latter, called Germanes by Strabo, and Samanæans by Porphyrius, are the ascetics of a different religion, and may have belonged to the sect of Jina, or to another. The Brachmanes are apparently those who are described by Philostratus and Hierocles as worshipping the sun; and by Strabo and by Arrian as performing sacrifices for the common benefit of the nation, as well as for individuals . . . They are expressly discriminated from the sect of Buddha by one ancient author, and from the Sarmanes ^[3] or Samanæans (ascetics of various tribes) by others. They are described by more than one authority as worshipping the sun, as performing sacrifices, and as denying the eternity of the world, and maintaining other tenets incompatible with the supposition that the sects of Buddha or Jina could be meant. Their manners and doctrine, as described by these authors, are quite conformable with the notions and practice of the orthodox Hindus. It may therefore be confidently inferred that the followers of the Vedas flourished in India when it was visited by the Greeks under Alexander, and continued to flourish from the time of Megasthenes, who described them in the fourth century before Christ, to that of Porphyrius, who speaks of them, on later authority, in the third century after Christ."
↑ Samana is the Pâli form of the older Ṡramana.

[1] The reading of the MSS is Allobioi.

[dummy-2] V. 1.Βούτα.—The passage admits of a different rendering: "They (the Hylobioi) are those among the Indians who follow the precepts of Boutta." Colebrooke in his Observations on the Sect of the Jains, has quoted this passage from Clemens to controvert the opinion that the religion and institutions of the orthodox Hindus are more modern than the doctrines of Jina and of Buddha. Here," he says, "to my apprehension, the followers of Buddha are clearly distinguished from the Brachmanes and Sarmanes. The latter, called Germanes by Strabo, and Samanæans by Porphyrius, are the ascetics of a different religion, and may have belonged to the sect of Jina, or to another. The Brachmanes are apparently those who are described by Philostratus and Hierocles as worshipping the sun; and by Strabo and by Arrian as performing sacrifices for the common benefit of the nation, as well as for individuals . . . They are expressly discriminated from the sect of Buddha by one ancient author, and from the Sarmanes ^[3] or Samanæans (ascetics of various tribes) by others. They are described by more than one authority as worshipping the sun, as performing sacrifices, and as denying the eternity of the world, and maintaining other tenets incompatible with the supposition that the sects of Buddha or Jina could be meant. Their manners and doctrine, as described by these authors, are quite conformable with the notions and practice of the orthodox Hindus. It may therefore be confidently inferred that the followers of the Vedas flourished in India when it was visited by the Greeks under Alexander, and continued to flourish from the time of Megasthenes, who described them in the fourth century before Christ, to that of Porphyrius, who speaks of them, on later authority, in the third century after Christ."

[3] Samana is the Pâli form of the older Ṡramana.

[1]

[2]

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