ATG and Indian Seers

[Thalestris-Alexandros]

In which resource(s) can I find ATG in dialoge with Buddhists and/or Indian Seers (I cannot presently recall their names), whereby one group told him he was a menace to himself and to others, and that he should "pack-up his things" and leave India, and go home. I would have loved to have witnessed that dialogue. Alexander confronted by wisemen of India, telling him to go home. How that must have affected the young conqueror and explorer. Was he affronted or in agreement.

[yiannis]

I'm under the impression that this alleged meeting of Alex with the Indian "wisemen" is more of a tale that reality. Not that such a meeting didn't took place, this is highly probable, but what was the actual discussion topic.

[agesilaos]

Plutarch Alex 64-5 and I think Arrian mentions some logoi; notably the parable of the leather shield.There is good chance that these stories are later fabrications as it may be considered odd that Indian Seers adopt Socratic forms nor do any of their concepts strike one as anythong other than Greek. Kalanos notwithstanding, he does appear authentic, as do other descriptions of the gymnosophists,etrc but none of the theories attributed thereto. The Greeks clearly had a hard time understanding their thought patterns.

[jan]

Isn't there a movie script from India somewhere in this forum?

[D.HATGISTAVROU]

HI COMPANIONS, WASN'T IT IN INDIA WHERE ATG WAS TOLD THAT HE WOULD TAKE UP THE SAME AMOUNT OF EARTH AS ANYONE ELSE WHEN HE DIES? CAN'T REMEMBER WHERE I READ IT OR WHO SAID IT.HELLO AMAZON QUEEN! REGARDS, DIMITRIOS

[susan]

There's a fairly detailed account in the Alexander Romance. I think that Lysimachus is meant to have written up the accounts of Alexander's meetings with the 'gymnosophoi' or naked philosophers, as he was interested in philosophy,( he was probably one of the pupils of Aristotle at Mieza), but I think that the existing accounts are largely fictional.The Indians' teachings would have been far too complex to have been translated correctly from Indian to Greek, so the account we have today is probably very far from the truth, if not completely made up in Alexandria.In the Alexander Romance, the chief Indian philosopher is named Dandamis - I'm not sure if he is the same as Calanus.Susan

[agesilaos]

As I remember it Kalanos and Dandamis were antagonists and Dandamis criticised Kalanos for following Alexander whilst eschewing all gifts himself just like a good Cynic!

[marcus]

As far as I recall, the meeting with the gymnosophists was recorded by Onesicretus, who had studied with Diogenes. He had to use three different interpreters in his conversation, and after he didn't really understand anything that they were talking about, he came to the conclusion that they were followers of Greek philosophy. Hence the Socratic thinking etc.All the bestMarcus