138 erik seldeslachts
Yonakaloka (one ordination on 17 or 73 conversions) is seven to ten
times lower than the overall gure for the rest of the world (one on 2,
5 or 7). Lamotte explained this by the absence in general of regular
priests and clergymen in the Hellenistic world (a fact also remarked on
by Aoka himself in his thirteenth rock edict).^23 The resulting shortage
of spiritual leaders may have been an impediment to the further suc-
cess of the missions.
Still according to the aforementioned Pli tradition, a certain Yonaka
“Greek” named Dhammarakkhita was sent to Aparntaka, which is a
region located in the west of present-day Maharashtra, but in the larger
sense indicates all coastal areas between that area and the mouths of
the Indus.^24 Without independent con rmation, it is, however, not a
proven fact that in so early a period a Greek from the western bor-
derlands of India was active as a missionary in India proper. It may
be that events from different periods are presented as one historical
sequence, and that in reality Dhammarakkhita was a later Graeco-
Bactrian or Indo-Greek.
Alexander the Great had striven to not only politically unify East
and West, but also culturally. If there was any long-lasting fall-out of
this project, that was shattered by Alexander’s early death, is dif cult
to assess. What can be observed is the Hellenisation of the East in the
wake of the Macedonian conquests, followed by the Orientalisation of
the West. How deep Hellenisation affected the people in the East is a
matter of debate. In the rst place it entailed the spread of standard
Greek (the Koinè). Although Aramaic was not totally superseded, Greek
became the of cial language of trade, administration, and the army in
all conquered areas, up to the border-regions of India. The other side
of the picture is that Orientals began to use Greek as a medium for
spreading their own ideas.^25 Among the early examples of this tendency
are two Greek translations of Aokan edicts found in Kandahar,^26 at
that time the capital of the Arachosian and Gedrosian areas ceded to
the Indians by the treaty between Seleucus and Candragupta mentioned
above. These translations from Middle Indic are somewhat free, but
render the content of the originals correctly in a stylish Greek. They are
(^23) Lamotte 1958, pp. 337–338.
(^24) Lamotte 1958, pp. 320, 328.
(^25) Halbfass 1988, p. 8.
(^26) Schlumberger et al. 1958; Gallavoti 1959; Filliozat 1963; Schlumberger &
Benveniste 1969.