burned himself alive on a funeral pile at Sousa. His real name, Plutarch
says, was _Sphinês_; but the Greeks called him Kalânos, because, in
saluting those he met, he used the word _kale!_ equivalent to _hail!_
The Sanskrit adjective _kalyâna_ means salutary, lucky, well, etc. If
we except Sandrokottos, Taxilês, and Pôros, there is no other Indian
with whose history, opinions, and personal characteristics the classical
writers have made us so well acquainted as with those of Kalânos. For
this reason, as well as because it falls properly within the scope of
my undertaking to do so, I shall here present translations of all the
passages I can find which relate to him, and to another gymnosophist who
was a man of a very different stamp called _Mandanes_, and sometimes,
but improperly, _Dandamis_. Arrian (VII. i. 5—iii.) thus writes:—i. 5.
I commend the Indian sages of whom it is related that certain of them
who had been caught by Alexander walking about according to their wont
in the open meadow, did nothing else in sight of himself and his army
but stamp upon the ground on which they were stepping. When he asked
them through interpreters what they meant by so doing, they replied
thus: O King Alexander, each man possesses as much of the earth as what
we have stepped on; but you, being a man like the rest of us, except
that you wickedly disturb the peace of the world, have come so far from
home to plague yourself and every one else, and yet ere long when you
die you will possess just so much of the earth as will suffice to make
a grave to cover your bones. ii. Alexander praised what they had said,
but nevertheless continued to act in opposition to their advice.... When
he arrived at Taxila and saw the Indian gymnosophists, he conceived a
great desire that one of their number should live with him, because he
admired their patience in enduring hardships. But the oldest of the
philosophers, Dandamis by name, with whom the others lived as disciples,
not only refused to go himself, but forbade the others to go. He is
said to have replied that he was also a son of Zeus, if Alexander was
such,[414] and that he wanted nothing that was Alexander’s; for he was
content with what he had, while he saw that the men with Alexander
wandered over sea and land for no advantage, and were never coming to
an end of their wanderings. He desired, therefore, nothing it was in
Alexander’s power to give: nor did he fear being excluded from anything
he possessed; for while he lived, India would suffice for him, yielding
him her fruits in due season, and when he died he would be delivered from
the body an unsuitable companion. Alexander accordingly did not attempt
to compel him to go with him, considering him free to please himself.
But Megasthenes has stated that Kalânos, one of the philosophers of this
place, was persuaded to go since he had no power of self-control, as
the philosophers themselves allowed, who upbraided him because he had
deserted the happiness among them, and went to serve another master than
the deity. iii. I have thus written, because in a _History of Alexander_
it was necessary to speak of Kalânos; for when he was in the country of
Persis he fell into delicate health, though he had never before had an
illness. Accordingly, as he had no wish to lead the life of an invalid,
he informed Alexander that, broken as he was in health, he thought it
best to put an end to himself before he had experience of any malady
that would oblige him to change his former mode of life. Alexander long
and earnestly opposed his request; but when he saw that he was quite
inflexible, and that if one mode of death was denied him he would find
another, he ordered a funeral pyre to be piled up in accordance with the
man’s own directions, and ordered Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, one of the
bodyguards, to superintend all the arrangements. Some say that a solemn
procession of horses and men advanced before him, some of the men being
armed, while others carried all kinds of incense for the pyre. Others
again say that they carried gold and silver bowls and royal apparel;
also, that a horse was provided for him because he was unable to walk
from illness. He was, however, unable to mount the horse, and he was
therefore carried on a litter crowned with a garland, after the manner
of the Indians, and singing in the Indian tongue. The Indians say that
what he sang were hymns to the gods and the praises of his countrymen,
and that the horse which he was to have mounted—a Nêsaian steed of the
royal stud—he presented to Lysimachos who attended him for instruction
in philosophy. On others who attended him he bestowed the bowls and rugs
which Alexander, to honour him, had ordered to be cast into the pyre.
Then mounting the pile, he lay down upon it in a becoming manner in
full view of the whole army. Alexander deemed the spectacle one which
he could not with propriety witness, because the man to suffer was his
friend; but to those who were present Kalânos caused astonishment in that
he did not move any part of his body in the fire. As soon as the men
charged with the duty set fire to the pile, the trumpets, Nearchos says,
sounded by Alexander’s order, and the whole army raised the war-shout as
if advancing to battle. The elephants also swelled the noise with their
shrill and warlike cry to do honour to Kalânos.
In a subsequent chapter (xviii.) Arrian records the following story
of Kalânos: When he was going to the funeral pyre to die, he embraced
all his other companions, but did not wish to draw near to Alexander
to give him a parting embrace, saying he would meet him at Babylon and
would there embrace him. This remark attracted no notice at the time;
but afterwards, when Alexander died in Babylon, it came back to the
memory of those who heard it, who then naturally took it to have been a
prophecy of his death. Plutarch, in his _Life of Alexander_, has another
notice of Kalânos besides that which the reader will find translated in
chapter 65. In chapter 69 he thus writes: “It was here (in Persepolis)
that Kalânos, on being for a short time afflicted with colic, desired
to have his funeral pile erected. He was conveyed to it on horseback,
and after he had prayed and sprinkled himself with a libation, and
cut off part of his hair to cast into the fire, he ascended the pile,
after taking leave of the Macedonians, and recommending them to devote
that day to pleasure and hard drinking with the king, whom, said he,
I shall shortly see in Babylon. Upon this he lay down on the pyre and
covered himself up with his robes. When the flames approached he did
not move, but remained in the same posture as when he lay down until
the sacrifice was auspiciously consummated, according to the custom of
the sages of his country. Many years afterwards another Indian in the
presence of Caesar (Augustus) at Athens did the same thing. His tomb is
shown till this day, and is called the _Indian’s tomb_.—Alexander, on
returning from the pyre, invited many of his friends and his generals to
supper, where he proposed a drinking-bout, with a crown for the prize.
Promachos, who drank most, reached four measures (14 quarts), and won
the crown, which was worth a talent, but survived only for three days.
The rest of the guests, Charês says, drank to such excess that forty-one
of them died, the weather having turned excessively cold immediately
after the debauch.” The Indian who burned himself at Athens was called
_Zarmanochegas_, as we learn from Strabo (XV. i. 73), who states, on the
authority of Nikolaös of Damascus, that he came to Syria in the train
of the ambassadors who were sent to Augustus Caesar by a great Indian
king called Pôros. “These ambassadors,” he says, “were accompanied by
the person who burnt himself to death at Athens. This is the practice
with persons in distress, who seek escape from existing calamities,
and with others in prosperous circumstances, as was the case with this
man. For as everything hitherto had succeeded with him, he thought it
necessary to depart, lest some unexpected calamity should happen to him
by continuing to live; with a smile, therefore, naked, anointed, and with
the girdle round his waist, he leaped upon the pyre. On his tomb was this
inscription: Zarmanochegas, an Indian, a native of Bargosa (_Barygaza_,
_Baroch_), having immortalised himself according to the custom of his
country, here lies.” Lassen takes the name Zarmanochegas to represent the
Sanskrit Śramanachârya, _teacher of the Śramanas_, from which it would
appear he was a Buddhist priest. Strabo writes at greater length than
our historians about the gymnosophists. In Book XV. i. 61 we have the
following notices: “Aristoboulos says that he saw at Taxila two sophists,
both Brachmans, of whom the elder had his head shaved, while the younger
wore his hair; disciples attended both. They spent their time generally
in the market-place. They are honoured as public counsellors, and are
free to take away without charge any article exposed for sale which they
may choose. He who accosts them pours over them oil of jessamine in such
quantities that it runs down from their eyes. They make cakes of honey
and sesamum, of which large quantities are always for sale, and their
food thus costs them nothing. At Alexander’s table they ate standing,
and, to give a sample of their endurance, withdrew to a spot not far
off, where the elder, lying down with his back to the ground, endured
the sun and the rains which had set in as spring had just begun. The
other stood on one leg, holding up with both his hands a bar of wood
3 cubits long; one leg being tired he rested his weight on the other,
and did this throughout the day. The younger seemed to have far more
self-command; for though he followed the king a short distance, he soon
returned to his home. The king sent after him, but the king, he said,
should come to him if he wanted anything from him. The other accompanied
the king to the end of his life. During his stay he changed his dress
and altered his mode of life, saying, when reproached for so doing, that
he had completed the forty years of discipline which he had vowed to
observe. Alexander gave presents to his children. (63) Onesikritos says
that he himself was sent to converse with these sages.... He found at the
distance of twenty stadia from the city fifteen men standing in different
attitudes, sitting or lying down naked, and continuing in these positions
till the evening, when they went back to the city. What was hardest to
bear was the heat of the sun, which was so powerful that no one else
could bear without pain to walk barefooted on the ground at mid-day.
(64) He conversed with Kalânos, one of these sages, who accompanied the
king to Persia, and burned himself after the custom of his country on a
pile of wood. Onesikritos found him lying upon stones, and drawing near
to address him, informed him that he had been sent by the king, who had
heard the fame of his wisdom. As the king would require an account of
the interview, he was prepared to listen to his discourse if he did not
object to converse with him. When Kalânos saw the cloak, head-dress, and
shoes of his visitor, he laughed and said: “Formerly there was abundance
of corn and barley in the world, as there is now of dust; fountains then
flowed with water, milk, honey, wine, and oil, but repletion and luxury
made men turn proud and insolent. Zeus, indignant at this, destroyed
all, and assigned to man a life of toil. When temperance and other
virtues in consequence again appeared, then good things again abounded.
But at present the condition of mankind tends to satiety and wantonness,
and there is cause to fear lest the existing state of things should
disappear.” When he had finished he proposed to Onesikritos, if he wished
to hear his discourse, to strip off his clothes, to lie down naked beside
him on the same stones, and in that manner to hear what he had to say.
While he was uncertain what to do, Mandanes, the oldest and wisest of the
sages, reproached Kalânos for his insolence—the very vice which he had
been condemning. Mandanes then called Onesikritos to him, and said, I
commend the king, because, although he governs so vast an empire, he is
yet desirous of acquiring wisdom, for he is the only philosopher in arms
that I ever saw.... (65) “The tendency of his discourse,” he said, “was
this, that the best philosophy was that which liberated the mind from
pleasure and grief; that grief differed from labour, in that the former
was pernicious, the latter friendly, to men; for that men exercised
their bodies with labour to strengthen the mental powers, whereby they
would be able to end dissensions, and give every one good advice, both
to the public and to private persons; that he should at present advise
Taxilês to receive Alexander as a friend; for by entertaining a person
better than himself he might be improved, while by entertaining a worse
he might influence that person to be good.” After this Mandanes inquired
whether such doctrines were taught among the Greeks. Onesikritos answered
that Pythagoras taught a like doctrine, and instructed his disciples
to abstain from whatever had life; that Sôkrates and Diogenês, whose
discourses he had heard, held the same views. Mandanes replied, that in
other respects he thought them to be wise; but that they were mistaken in
preferring custom to nature, else they would not be ashamed to go naked
as he did, and to live on frugal fare, for, said he, that is the best
house that requires least repairs. He states further that they employ
themselves much on natural subjects, as forecasting the future, rain,
drought, and diseases. On going into the city they disperse themselves
in the market-places.... Every wealthy house, even to the women’s
apartments, is open to them. When they enter they converse with the
inmates and share their meal. Disease of the body they regard as very
disgraceful, and he who fears that it will attack him, prepares a pyre
and lets the flames consume him. He anoints himself beforehand, and when
he has placed himself upon the pile orders it to be lighted, and remains
motionless while he is burning. (66) Nearchos gives the following
account of the sages: The Brachmans engage in public affairs, and attend
the kings as counsellors; the rest are occupied in the study of nature.
Kalânos belonged to the latter class. Women study philosophy with them,
and all lead an ascetic life.
Athênaios in his _Gymnosophists_ (x. p. 437) quotes, like Plutarch, from
Charês, the account of the drinking bout which followed the burning of
Kalânos. He says that Alexander proposed the match on account of the
bibulous propensities (_philoinia_) of the Indians. Other references to
Kalânos are to be found in Ailianos, _V. H._ ii. 41 and v. 6; Lucian, _De
M. Pereg._ 25; Cicero, _Disp. Tusc._ ii. 22, and _De Divin._ i. 23, 30.
In the romance _History of Alexander_, by the Pseudo-Kallisthenes, six
long chapters of Book iii. (11-17) are full of Kalânos, Mandanes, and the
Brachmans.
St. Ambrose wrote a work, _De Bragmanibus_, in which the two
gymnosophists are frequently mentioned.
KALLISTHENES was a native of Olynthos. He was brought up and educated
by Aristotle, to whom he was related, and at whose recommendation he
was permitted to accompany Alexander on his Asiatic expedition. He was
deficient in tact and prudence, and exasperated the king by the freedom
with which he censured him for adopting oriental customs, and especially
for requiring Macedonians to perform the ceremony of adoration. When the
plot of the pages to assassinate Alexander was discovered, Kallisthenes
was charged with being an accessary. According to Charês he was
imprisoned for seven months, and died in India; while Ptolemy states that
he was tortured and crucified. Besides other works, he wrote an account
of Alexander’s expedition, to which Strabo and Plutarch make a few
references, but it was a work of little if any value.
KANISHKA, a great Turanian conqueror, whose empire extended from Kabul to
Agra and Gujrut. He was an ardent Buddhist. The date of his coronation,
78 A.D., marks the beginning of the Śâkâbda aera.
KLEANDER, one of Alexander’s officers. He was employed to kill Parmenion,
to whom he was next in command at Ekbatana. He was himself put to death
when he joined Alexander in Karmania, on account of his profligacy and
oppression while in Media.
KLEITOS was a Macedonian, and brother to Alexander’s nurse. He saved
Alexander’s life at the Granîkos. When the companion cavalry was divided
into two bodies, the command of one was given to Kleitos and of the other
to Hêphaistiôn. In 328 B.C. he was appointed to succeed Artabazos in
the satrapy of Baktria, but on the eve of his departure to take up this
office he was killed by Alexander in a drunken brawl.
KOINOS was the son of Polemokrates, and the son-in-law of Parmenion.
He was one of Alexander’s ablest generals, and greatly distinguished
himself on various occasions, and especially in the battle with Pôros.
When Alexander had reached the Hyphasis and wished to proceed farther and
reach the Ganges, Koinos had the courage to remonstrate, and the king was
obliged to act on his advice. He died soon after of an illness, and was
honoured with a splendid burial.
KÔPHAIOS.—A chief whose dominions lay to the west of the Indus and along
the river Kôphên.
KORAGOS.—A Macedonian bravo called also Horratas.
KOSMAS INDIKOPLEUSTES.—An Egyptian monk who flourished towards the middle
of the sixth century of our aera. In early life he was a merchant, and
visited for traffic various countries, Aethiopia, Syria, Arabia, Persia,
India, and many other places of the East. After he had taken to monastic
life he wrote a work called _Christian Topography_, which is valuable
for the geographical and historical information it contains. It has some
notices concerning India, especially concerning its Christian communities.
KRATEROS, a Macedonian of Orestis, was one of Alexander’s most
distinguished generals, and next to Hêphaistiôn his greatest favourite.
He was in command of infantry on the left wing at Issos, and of cavalry
on the same wing at Gaugamela. He rose afterwards to be commander of one
of the divisions of the phalanx. On the day of the battle with Pôros
he was left with a part of the army in the camp, and did not cross the
river till victory had declared for Alexander. He commanded the troops
which were sent back from India by way of the Bolan Pass to Karmania.
At Sousa he married Amastris, the niece of Darius, after which he led,
along with Polysperchon, the discharged veterans back to Europe. In the
division of the empire after Alexander’s death Greece and Macedonia and
other European provinces fell to the share of Antipater and Krateros, who
divorced Amastris and married Phila, Antipater’s daughter. In 321 B.C.
Krateros fell in battle against Eumenes, who honoured his old comrade in
the Indian wars with a magnificent funeral.
KYRSILOS, a native of Pharsalos, who accompanied Alexander to Asia and
wrote an account of his exploits. He is mentioned by Strabo (XI. xiv.
12).
LEONNATOS, a native of Pella, was one of Alexander’s most capable and
distinguished officers. At the time of Philip’s death he occupied one
of the highest positions at court, being one of the select bodyguard
called _sômatophylakes_, but under Alexander he was at first only an
officer of the companion cavalry. After the battle of Issos he was sent
to inform the wife of Darius of her husband’s safety, and when Arrhybas,
one of the bodyguards, died in Egypt, he was promoted to the vacant post.
After this his name continually occurs among the names of those who were
constantly about the king’s person and stood highest in his confidence.
On several occasions he showed the greatest courage, and at the siege of
the Mallian stronghold he saved, along with Peukestas, the king’s life.
When the army marched back from India he was left to overawe the Oreitai,
and to wait in their country till Nearchos should reach it with the
fleet. He inflicted a crushing defeat on that people, who had assembled
a large army after Alexander had left their borders. For this and other
services he was rewarded at Sousa with a golden crown. In the division of
the empire he received only the satrapy of the Lesser Phrygia, a share
which by no means satisfied his ambition. Kleopatra, Alexander’s sister,
then offered him her hand on condition that he should assist her against
Antipater, the regent of Macedonia. He consented, but when he passed
over into that country he was slain in battle against the Greeks, who
had revolted from Antipater, whose dominions he wished to appropriate in
their integrity.
LYSIMACHOS was one of Alexander’s great generals and one of his select
bodyguards. He was born at Pella—the son of a Thessalian serf who by
his flatteries had won the good graces of King Philip. Great personal
strength and undaunted courage seem to have been the qualities by which
Lysimachos gained his splendid position, for he was seldom entrusted
by Alexander with any separate command of importance. He was present
in the battle with Pôros, and was wounded at the siege of Sangala. In
the division of the empire he obtained Thrace for his share, but his
dominions after the battle of Issos, in which along with Seleukos,
Ptolemy, and Kassander, he defeated Antigonos and his son Dêmêtrios,
embraced for a time all Alexander’s European possessions, in addition to
Asia Minor. His third wife was Arsinoë, the daughter of Ptolemy, King of
Egypt. In 281 B.C. he was defeated and slain by his old comrade in arms,
Seleukos. He was then eighty years of age.
MEGASTHENÊS, the ambassador sent by Seleukos Nikator to the court of
Sandrokottos, and author of a work on India of the highest value. Though
this work is lost, numerous fragments have been preserved by Strabo,
Arrian, Pliny, and many other writers.
MELA, POMPONIUS, the first Roman author known to have composed a formal
work on geography. It is supposed that he flourished under the Emperor
Claudius.
MELEAGER was by birth a Macedonian, and served with distinction in
Alexander’s Asiatic campaigns, where he commanded one of the divisions of
the phalanx. He was present in the great battles of the Granîkos, Issos,
Gaugamela, and the Hydaspês. He was never entrusted, however, with any
special or important command. He was a man of an insolent and factious
disposition, and showed himself to be such in the discussions which arose
between the generals after Alexander’s death concerning the arrangements
which should be made for the government of the empire. He led for a time
the opposition against Perdikkas, but was afterwards for a short time
associated with him in the regency. Two such colleagues could not long
act in harmony. Perdikkas, who was an adept in the arts of dissimulation,
lulled Meleager into fancied security, devised a cunning scheme for his
overthrow, and having succeeded in this ordered him to be put to death.
MEMNÔN, the Rhodian, was the brother of Mentor, who stood high in the
favour of Darius, and brother-in-law of Artabazos, the satrap of Lower
Phrygia. On the death of his brother, Memnôn, who possessed great
military skill and experience, succeeded to his authority, which extended
over the coast of Asia Minor. He was the most formidable opponent
Alexander encountered in Western Asia. Fortunately for him, Memnôn died
in 333 B.C., when preparing to sail for Greece, where the Spartans were
ready to join him and rise against the Macedonians.
MÔPHIS.—_See_ TAXILÊS.
MOUSIKANOS was the ruler of a rich and fertile kingdom which lay along
the banks of the Indus, in Upper Sindh. He submitted to Alexander without
resistance, and was allowed to retain his sovereignty. The Brahmans,
however, prevailed on him to revolt during Alexander’s absence. He was
captured by Peithôn and crucified by Alexander’s orders.
MULLINUS is called by Curtius the king’s secretary. Eumenes is probably
meant. The name is not met with except in one passage in Curtius.