Alexander and Sasigupta

[Dr. Pal]

Dear Nick and Susan,Thanks for replying. Yes I think Alexander belongs to the world and as such the Mudrarakshasa desreves to be treated with much greater respect. Not only that it may be a contemporary document, in many respects it is unique in world literarature. It is said to have been composed by one Vishakhadeva whose name is also given as Vishakhadatta. If you join the name-endings you get Devadatta or Diodotus which was a name of Ashoka as well as of Orontobates/Chandragupta. My guess is that this man Orontobates may even be the composer Parthes of the play Agen. This was when he was still in the good books of Alexander. And then they again fell apart. But if the lion story can be taken seriously Alexander let Chandragupta escape. This again shows his greatness. If you read the Mudrarakshasa carefully you can sense that quiet respect that Alexander gets even though he is vanquished. This is a first rate document. I suspect that Medios was not the Thessalian that Diodorus tells us but Sasigupta the ruler of Media. And that meeting with Bagoas the Elder just before his death need not be discarded as untrue.Regards Dr. Pal