Discovery Of India By Greeks

SR No.: 269274
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong
Total Pages: 28
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 23

THE DISCOVERY OF INDIA BY THE GREEKS
137
even reached Greece itself. Filliozat has proved that Indian medicaments were known to the Greeks. The Corpus Hippocraticum, a collection of treatises on medicine named after the famous Greek physician Hippokrates, mentions лÉTEρ which is the Greek form of the Indian word pippali 'pepper' 68. Pepper was first exported from India in the period of the Indo-Greek kingdoms 69. Pepper seems to have been known in Greece first as a medical drug and only later as a luxury for gourmets. In later Greek medical treatises more Indian medicaments are known 70. A few other Indian products reached Greece but this proves only the existence of trade relations and not of cultural contacts.
to
I believe that it is no exaggeration to say that up to modern times no culture has exercised so much influence on India as the Greek culture. There are two main reasons to explain this important phenomenon. In the first place the Greeks had in many respects developed a richer culture than the Indians when they came into contact with them. Secondly, at that time Indian culture was still in its formative stage and open foreign influences. In later times when Hinduism was firmly established, India closed itself to foreign influences which could only affect the fringe of Indian society and culture. The Indians received much more from the Greeks than the Greeks from the Indians. This is in striking contrast with the relations between the Indians and the Chinese. Together with Buddhism, the Chinese received many elements of Indian culture and exercised themselves but very little influence on the Indians.
Indian influence also reached Greece in much later times via the Sassanid empire and their Arab successors. The two most famous examples are the spread of Indian fables to Europe and the adoption by the church of the Buddha as a Catholic saint.
One of the most famous collections of stories in India is the
68. J. Filliozat, La doctrine classique de la médecine indienne, Paris, 1949, pp. 211-212. 69. Tarn, op. cit., pp. 370-371. 70. J. Jolly, op. cit., p. 18.