Enduring historical connections
In 2018, the then-president of India, Ramnath Kovind, said, “The most famous Greek to come to India was Alexander the Great. He arrived at the head of an invading army in 326 BC but left as a friend.
Every Indian schoolchild knows of how Alexander and Porus fought a pitched battle and then became allies.” Indeed, the aura of the name Alexander has outlived his actual presence in India; it has become a synonym for power and success in India, much like in other parts of the world.
Many Indian Hindus and Muslims alike name their children Alekshendra and Sikandar, respectively, remembering the achievements of a son of Greece who marched to India but went back, giving away all the land he conquered in India and establishing the foundation of Indo-Greek friendship for years to come.
Ask anyone named Alexander in the streets of India, may he be Alekshendra Singh or Sikander Malik, about who Alexander was. The answer that you will likely get would substantially be the same: a warrior who didn’t give up when he faced adversities and a warrior whose name became a synonym of success, as manifested through the title of an old Bollywood Movie Jo Jita Wahi Sikander meaning, “He who won is Alexander.”
Alexander became the living bridge between the East and the West during his lifetime; he set a precedent that several Indo-Greeks followed after him. Long after Alexander Greek rulers in India, like Buddhist monarch Menander I Soter or Maharaja Milinda, strengthened the bond of friendship between Greeks and Indians. People in India still name their children after Menander as Milinda (Indian version of Menander); ever heard of Indian actors Milind Soman and Milind Gunaji? If not, you must know that several people named after Menander are still in India.
Greek Buddhists and Hindus
Many Greeks accepted Hinduism and Buddhism, helped spread both these faiths, and helped build religious monuments in India. It was, after all, on coins of Indo-Greek King Agathocles Dikaios that the first depiction of Hindu deities Balarama-Sankarshana with attributes consisting of the Gada mace and the plough and Vasudeva-Krishna with the Vishnu attributes of the Shankha and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel are found and the Graeco-Bactrian seated Buddha from Gandhara is the oldest statue of the Buddha.
Thanks to the efforts of Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia, the erstwhile ruler of Gwalior State in India, the monuments and antiquities found in
Besnagar in the modern Indian state of Madhya Pradesh were preserved.
Superintendent Archaeologist of Scindias’s Gwalior State M. B. Grade mentioned a pillar in Besnagar: “Garuda pillar related to a temple of Vasudeva at Besnagar which bears an interesting Vaishnava inscription, set up by Heliodoros, a Greek, who calls himself a Bhagavata and thus appears to have been a convert to Hinduism.”
It is proof of the historical connections between India and Greece, this inscription, as per the translation by Richard Solomon, is as follows: “This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, the God of Gods, was constructed here by Heliodora (Heliodoros), the Bhagavata, son of Dion, a man of Takhkhasila (Taxila), the Greek ambassador who came from the Great King Amtalikita (Antialkidas) to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior, prospering in (his) fourteenth regnal year.”
Greeks and Indians are connected by centuries-old Indo-Greek culture and Indo-Greeks’ preservation and propagation of Indic faiths.
Alexander and Porus
In India, Alexander allied with Ambhi Kumar, the King of Taxila. They combined their forces against Ambhi’s neighbour, the King of Hydaspes, King Porus, who did not surrender without fighting like Ambhi Kumar. Alexander fought the battle of Hydaspes against Porus in 326 BC. After winning the fight, he asked King Porus, “How would you like to be treated?” Porus said, “Treat me as a King would treat another King!” Alexander not only restored his territory to Porus but also added the neighbouring region beyond the Chenab River that belonged to the ‘Glausians’ and as far as the Ravi River, where the younger Porus had risen in revolt as his uncle had been honoured by Megas Alexandros (almost 85 thousand sq. miles).
It is believed that Alexander was married to one of the daughters of Porus, and the son of Porus took in marriage to a cousin of Alexander. As per another legend, Alexander’s wife had heard of the Rakhi festival (On this festival celebrated by Hindus, sisters tie a thread called Rakhi on the wrist of their brothers and ask for their protection), so she approached King Porus, who accepted her as his sister. Accordingly, he refrained from killing Alexander when the opportunity came during the war.
So Raksha Bandhan helped retain Porus as a Greek Macedonian satrap and might have saved Alexander’s life.
A new strategic partnership
India and Greece are now strategic partners because of the convergence and similarities of our national interests in an increasingly volatile and turbulent global political landscape.
The strategic convergence and growing bonhomie between Turkey and Pakistan is a contributing factor for India and Greece working to deepen their military cooperation; both the nations consistently support each other on issues of core national interest, such as Kashmir and Cyprus and have decided that there should also be an India-Greece dialogue framework at the level of National Security Advisors (NSAs).
All India Radio News reported last year that, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India and Greece have agreed to double the bilateral trade by 2030.
In a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, Prime Minister Modi said that they agree that bilateral trade is increasing rapidly and there is immense potential for further growth in the time ahead, too.
Modi added that India and Greece have decided to take their partnership to a strategic level and strengthen their strategic alliance by enhancing cooperation in various areas, including defence and security, infrastructure, agriculture, education, and skill development.
He added that in defence and security, India and Greece have agreed on strengthening defence industrial cooperation apart from military ties.”
India and Greece have an essential reason to work even harder to strengthen their strategic partnership in 2024; this year is the 2350th anniversary of the Battle of Hydaspes, after which invader Alexander became a friend of the Indian people.
This year, Indians and Greeks around the world should come together to learn more about the Indo-Greeks, the rulers in India who contributed significantly to the preservation and propagation of Indic culture and religions; many know that Egypt had a Greek Queen Cleopatra, but did the readers know that India had a Greek Queen Agathocleia? Well, yes, it did. Under Prime Minister Modi, India has shown deep interest in strengthening Indo-Greek cultural connections.
Prof. Nicholas Kazanas, a distinguished Greek Indologist, was declared one of the awardees of the prestigious Padma Shri Government of India award on the 72nd Republic Day of India 2021. Greeks around the world should try to visit Indo-Greek sites and monuments located in different parts of India; if they want to learn more about them, they may read articles written by this author and read translations of Indian texts by Demetrios Galanos, the forerunner of Modern Greek Indology.
Greeks, like Indians, have a vast diaspora living in many countries and whichever country we live in, we should know that the
history of Indo-Greeks connects us as friends.
In the 2350th Anniversary year of the Battle of Hydaspes, this author invites Greeks from across the world to come and visit India and learn more about the Indo-Greeks.
*Arunansh B. Goswami is an advocate in the Supreme Court of India and historian who publishes in various publications including Neos Kosmos.
