140 erik seldeslachts
at the ceremony in Anurdhapura a certain Mahdeva is said to have
been present with a retinue of no less than 460,000 monks (!) from the
Pallava (Parthian) country.^34
Only a very few clear cases of of cial sponsorship of Buddhism by
Indo-Greeks are recorded in inscriptions. There is one on a relic vase
from the Swat valley, dating to about 50 BC or somewhat earlier, in
which the local of cer (meridarkh) Theüdora (Theodorus) records his
pious act as follows:
By Theüdora, the meridarkh, were established these relics of the Lord
akamuni for the purpose of security of many people.^35A copper plate inscription from Shahpur near Taxila remembers the
establishment of a stpa by another meridarkh, whose name is illegible.^36
A contested instance of patronage of Buddhism is that by the
Indo-Greek king Menander (ca. 155–130 BC), who through the Pli
text Milindapañha received a prominent place in Theravda tradition
as king Milinda. Although the view has been repeatedly challenged,^37
there are a number of indications that tend to con rm the hypoth-
esis that Menander was a Buddhist. Ptolemy mentions Euthum día
as another name of the supposed capital of Menander, Sagála, or
Sgala in Middle Indic.^38 A. Foucher argued that Euthum día translates
the Buddhist concept of sayaksakalpa “the right conviction or inten-
tion”, and he took this to mean that Menander converted to Buddhism
in Sgala.^39 In the Avadnakalpalat of the Medieval Buddhist poet
Kemendra (990–1065) the “prophecy” is enunciated that Milinda
will build a stpa at Paliputra.^40 Much earlier, Plutarch relates that
after Menander’s death different cities quarrelled for his bodily remains
in a way totally reminiscent of what the Buddhist tradition states to
have happened after the death of the Buddha.^41 Certain kings guring
in Buddhist stories are portrayed as protectors of Buddhism against
Puyamitra u ga, a staunch supporter of Brahmanism, who came
(^34) Mahvasa 29.38 (Geiger & Bode 1912, p. 194).
(^35) Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum II, pp. 1–4.
(^36) Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum II, pp. 4–5.
(^37) E.g., by Tarn 1951, pp. 267–269.
(^38) Ptolemaeus, Geographia 7.1.46. Some emend to *Euthyd mía on the assumption that
the city was consecrated to the Graeco-Bactrian ruler Euthydemus.
(^39) Foucher 1943, pp. 34–35.
(^40) In the chapter titled Stpvadna.
(^41) Plutarchus, Moralia 52.28 (821 D).