Alexander and The Indian God Skanda

[Dr. Pal]

Dear Susan,Due to other preoccupations it took me some time to go through your material and I found it very interesting. I have always maintained that AlexanderGÇÖs legacy was far from being insubstantial. Having said that I have to admit that for the last two years I have been pondering over the influence of Ganesha, SkandaGÇÖs brother, on the Alexander Myth and vice versa. I have pointed out that he is referred to as Kanika in the Indian literature. The root of this word is Kana(Gana) which I think denotes the elephant. Alexander is depicted with and elephant head-dress in some coins. He was also called Ale-Khan-dar. Incidentally the first images of Ganesha are found not in the Maharastra area where he is the most popular today but in far away Kapisa and the earliest images date to the fourth century B.C.. The Gedrosian soldiers wore an elephant scalp.With best regards,Dr. Pal

[susan]

Dear Dr PalYour articles are very interesting. I know that you already have a site, are you planning to put this new information on it ?
Best regardsSusan