ALEXANDER OF GREECE.

When Alexander had completed the conquest of I´rán and Turán and laid the foundations of Marv, Herát and Samarḳand, he entered India by Ghaznín and in the neighbourhood of the Panjáb gave battle to the Hindu prince, Porus, who had advanced from Kanauj to engage him, and by stratagem put him to rout. From thence he turned to the country of the Bráhmans. The chiefs of that region represented to him that if the conqueror sought riches and worldly goods they were destitute of these.

Wisdom and knowledge dwell with us, nor cease
To fill our bosoms with untroubled peace:
The earth a couch, the skies their covering lend,
So turn our thoughts to our appointed end.*

“If thy design be the gathering of knowledge and the search for truth, let those who seek it come not in this guise.” Alexander, therefore, leaving his army, set out at the head of a few followers. A court was held to secure a just hearing and their peculiar views were discussed in audience. The king approved their speech and conduct and announced to them that whatever they desired should be granted. They replied that they had no other wish than that the king should live for ever. He answered that this wish was inconsistent with mortality. They rejoined: “If the instability of worldly things is so evident to your Majesty, why these fatigues in the tyrannous oppression of mankind?” Alexander for a space bowed his head in humiliation and imputed his actions to the decrees of fate.

According to some Christian* writers, when the standards of Alexander were raised on the shores of the Indian Ocean, accounts of the island of the Bráhmans reached him and he determined to take possession of it. They sent an envoy to him and made the following representation:—“Sovereign ruler of the world! The fame of thy conquests and thy successes has been constantly in our ears, but what can content a man to whom the pos­session of the world is insufficient? We enjoy no outward splendour, nor bodily vigour that thou shouldst deem us worthy to measure thy prowess in war. The worldly goods that we own are shared in common amongst us, and we are passing rich on what may satisfy our hunger. Our costliest robes are garments worn with age. Our women are not in bondage to adorn­ment for the seduction of hearts, and account no beauty or charm of price, save that inherited from their mothers. Of our lowly habitations we ask but two things, a shelter in life and in death a grave. We have a king for considerations of dignity, not for the administration of justice or law. What use would punishment serve in a land where none is wicked and there is no thought of crime?” The sagacious monarch was struck by this affecting address and leaving them their freedom, abandoned his project.

The following letter was addressed by Alexander to Dídím, the head of the Bráhmans; for he had often heard that they did not live as other men. The novelty excited his wonder and made his life seem insupportable to him:* —“O Dídím, after learning thy message, I desire again to be informed of thy precepts and doctrines. If what thou hast represented bears the light of truth and is the result of experience, answer speedily, so that, putting this system to the proof, I also for justice sake and in search of truth, may follow they footsteps.” Dídím thus replied: “What I have stated results from profound knowledge. You have not chosen to believe in its truth and you reject what you do not incline to. Many blameable actions were favourably represented by you in our interview. Now, therefore, with full knowledge believe my words. Hirábud, the Bráhman, does not yield to the promptings of desire. Con­tent with the measure of his needs, he opens not the door of greed.* Our food is not such as the four elements cannot easily supply. The earth gives us of its produce. In our meals intemperance has no place, for this reason we have no need of medicine or physician, and thus we enjoy per­petual well-being. We are not indebted to each other for assistance. We Bráhmans have equality in all things; what room then is there for indi­gence? In a land where the seeds of arrogance and vain glory grow not, universal poverty is consummate fortune. We have no governor, for our actions are not subjects for penal inquiry. We disapprove of a variety of creeds for they are produced through exceeding unrighteousness and manifold iniquities. Our only religion is the worship of conscience. From what it restrains us we withhold our hearts. We do not submit to the tyranny of the pursuit of wealth for it fosters greed and brings disappoint­ment in its train. We disdain idleness and hold it in reproach. We are not rendered averse from the delights of wedlock by incapacity, for all things are in our power as we can also forego them. From the sun we receive warmth, from the dews moisture. Our thirst is quenched from the stream and we have no couch but the earth. Desire does not rob us of sleep, nor leave us a prey to care. We lord it not over our equals through pride; we seek service from none save of our own bodies, for we consider the body subservient to the spirit. We bake not stone in the fire for the raising of palaces, for we dwell in the hollows of the earth according to the measure of our needs, nor do we go in fear of the violence of the wind nor of storms of dust, for there we are safer than in houses of reed. We wear no costly robes; we cover our nakedness with leaves, or to speak truly, with modesty; our women are at no pains for their adornment, for who can add beauty to the creations of God? and after they are arrayed it profiteth them nothing. Our sexual commerce cometh not sinfully from carnal desire, but continuance of the race is kept in view. We are not prone to violence and we lay the dust of discord by the agency of right con­duct, and though dependent on the guidance of destiny we do not resign ourselves to inactivity. Over our dead we erect no edifices in the guise of temples of worship. Give your commands to those who have flung wide for themselves the door of avarice and make their treasure of the things of this world. The ravages of pestilence do not reach us for we defile not the skirts of heaven with evil deeds. We are prepared to meet the vicissitudes of the seasons, and thus summer's heat and winter's cold distress us not, and therefore we live careless of the exigencies of those times. We do not deaden our minds with games and shows of elephants and horses and with danc­ing, and when a desire for worldly pageants seizes us, the sight of the record of your actions withholds us therefrom, and recalling your deeds which indeed more deserve a smile, we are moved to many tears. Worldly splendours make us rejoice in another spectacle, for amidst the varied beau­ties of the universe, the heavens glowing with the radiance of their myriad stars, the sea, coloured by its skies, that clasps in a fond embrace its sister earth, the revel of its fish that leap in play from its foam-tossing waves, fill our eyes with delight. Wandering through the woods with the fra­grance of flowers and by running springs in the shade of abundant trees gladdens us in a hundred ways, while the sweet songs of birds render us unenvious of all the festal banquets of the rich. Such is the theatre we possess, to share in the enjoyment of which is difficult, to erase it from our minds, a crime. We plough not the seas in barks and vessels. Our hearts are not aflame with passion for the beauty of others, and we affect not the language of flattery or eloquence. The redundance of professed eulogists obtains no credit in this land, for the practice of this base crew which gives to the creature the praise due to God and overlays the purity of faith with error, darkens celestial light with reprehensible deeds. Of a truth you are the most unfortunate of mankind for your worship is sinful and your life its chastisement.”

The monarch thus replied: “If your language reflects the light of truth, I should infer that the Bráhmans alone are robed in the true characteristics of humanity and that this sect are to be regarded as incor­poreal spirits. To hold as altogether unlawful the acts of the natural man is either to be God or to be envious of the Supreme Being. In short these principles in my opinion, proceed from madness not from the fulness of wisdom. O, Dídím, I have not fixed my abode in this hired dwell­ing, nor made of a passing rest-house a settled habitation, but prudently looking on myself as a sojourner, hasten, unencumbered with guilt, to my true country. This language is not the making of self a god, but like dark-minded bigots that are enemies to their own happiness, I do not affect to make the attributes of the Creator the instruments of my salvation. And whosoever under the guidance of a wakeful fortune, abandoning sinful actions, walks in the way of virtue is not a god, but by means of the grace of that Supreme Lord, rises above his fellow men.” The writer continued: “My royal master observes that you call yourselves fortunate in that you have chosen a retired spot of earth where the comings and goings of those without and the busy movement of the world are not heard, and that you consider this praiseworthy as proceeding from your attach­ment to your hearths and love of your native land. The lowliness and poverty that you cannot avoid is not worthy of commendation: on the contrary, the Almighty has inflicted this as a punishment for your evil deeds. True merit consists in living abstemiously amid abundant fortune, for ignorance and want cannot exhibit the lustre of virtue. The first cannot see what to avoid, the second has not the means by which it may possess. I, who with all the resources of pleasure and enjoyment at my command, have refrained from them altogether and have sternly chosen a life of toil, am more deserving of a glorious reward.”

Some say that after his victory over Porus, Alexander heard that at the extremity of India, reigned a king called Kayd,* possessed of many vir­tues, and who for three hundred years had passed a blameless life. To him he despatched a letter that appealed to his hopes and fears. The king read the letter and thus replied: “I have heard of the successes of your Majesty and would deem the honour of a personal visit the source of fortune, but stricken in years, strength fails me. If my excuse is accepted, I will send as an offering four matchless treasures which are the pride of my life; an accomplished and virtuous maiden of uncomparable beauty; a sage unequalled in penetrating the secrets of the heart; a physician, in healing as the Messiah; a cup which though drunk from is inexhaustible. Alexander accepted the gifts and despatched Balínás with some experienced associates to bring them. The envoy returned to the court with these treasures of price together with forty elephants of which three were white, and numer­ous other presents. Alexander first essayed to test the Hindu sage. He sent him a bowl full of clarified butter. The sage thrust a few needles therein and sent it back. Alexander fused the needles and forming the metal into a ball returned it to him. The sage fashioning of this a mirror, again sent it back. Alexander placed it in a basin full of water and despatched it once more. The sage made of the mirror a drinking cup and set it upon the water of the basin. The monarch filled it with earth and returned it. At the sight of this, the sage fell into a profound melancholy and bitterly reproached himself and directed it to be carried back. Alexander was perplexed at this action. The next day he held an assembly of the learned to discuss these mysteries. The seer* was introduced and honourably received. He was of prepossessing exterior, with a noble brow, tall and powerfully made. Alexander on seeing him, thus reflected: “If to such a presence, he also unites a lofty wisdom, quickness of penetration and strength of will, he is unparalleled in his genera­tion.” The sage read his hidden thoughts and making a circuit of his face with his forefinger rested it on the point of his nose. When asked for an explanation, he replied: “I understood your Majesty's reflections and by this gesture I meant to express that as the nose in the face is one, I also am unique in my time.” He was then required to expound the enigmas of the preceding day. He answered: “Your Majesty wished to signify the profundity of your wisdom, for as the bowl was full so the royal mind was filled with various knowledge and could contain no more. I, on the other hand, showed that as needles could find a place therein, so could other lore find room in your mind. By fashioning the ball your Majesty's intention was to discover that the clearness of your intellect was not like the bowl of butter in which other things could be contained, but resembled a ball of steel. The construction into a mirror signified that though steel be hard, it is capable of such polish as to reflect the face. By your sinking the mirror in water, I understood the short­ness of life and the vast extent of knowledge. By fashioning it into a cup, I answered that what sank in water might with skill be made to float; thus also immense erudition may be acquired by severe application and the shortness of life be prolonged. The filling it with earth implied that the end of all things is death, and the return to earth. This was capable of no answer, and I was silent.” Alexander praised his sagacity and penetration and said: “The profit that I have reaped from India has been my meeting with thee.” He took him into his companionship and intimacy and parted from him only when he left India. The other three treasures also were subjected to a similar ordeal and their worth approved.

Some writers narrate the history of Porus after the particulars regarding Kayd, and state that he fled without fighting to distant parts and that his dominions were conferred upon another.