INDICA (= ΙΝΔΙΚΑ)Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 298 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death.
Arrian explains that Megasthenes lived in Arachosia, with the satrap Sibyrtius, from where he visited India:
"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians." Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri [1]
We have more definite information regarding the parts of India Megasthenes visited. He entered the subcontinent through the district of the
Pentapotamia, providing a full account of the rivers there (thought to be the five affluents of the Indus that form the Punjab region), and proceeded from there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having visited Madurai (then, a bustling city and capital of the Pandyas), but appears not to have visited any other parts of India.
At the beginning of his Indica,
he refers to the older Indians who know about the prehistoric arrival of Dionysus and Hercules in India. A story very popular amongst the Greeks during the Alexandrian period. Particularly important are his comments on the religions of the Indians.
He mentions the devotees of Heracles (Lord Krishana) and Dionysus (Lord Shiva or King Lord Indra), but he does not write a word for Buddhists, something that gives ground to the theory that the latter religion was not widely known before the reign of Asoka.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megasthenes
