greece, the final frontier? 141
to power after overthrowing the Mauryas in about 186 BC. Some of
these kings may be recognised as historical Indo-Greeks, especially the
one called Da ranivsin in the Aokvadna^42 and Buddhapaka in the
Mañjur mlakalpa, who was attacked by Puyamitra during a campaign
for the destruction of all the stpas built by Aoka, and who is identi ed
by P. C. Bagchi with Menander.^43 The name Buddhapaka “follower
of the Buddha” speaks for itself, while Da ranivsin, according to
Bagchi, indicates that he had his residence (nivsa) at a place where a
tooth-relic (dara) of the Buddha was kept. It is not clear to me whether
a tooth-relic is indeed attested at mount Dantaloka on the road from
Pukalvat to the Swat valley, as alleged by Bagchi^44 and indicated by
the name of the place itself (danta “tooth” and loka “tract, district”), but
it is, interestingly, recorded by Xuanzang at Balkh.^45 Although there is
no proof whatsoever that Puyamitra actually persecuted the Buddhists,
he may have incurred their wrath because he did no longer actively
support them as the Mauryas had done.^46 The Greek struggle with
Puyamitra gave the Buddhists the prospect of renewed in uence. Part
of the Indo-Greek aristocracy, though, in particular king Agathocles,
who ruled between about 180 and 170 BC, had shown sympathy for
the followers of the Viu-Baladeva-Kria cult.^47 King Antialcidas,
around 100 BC, seems also to have played the Vaiava card through
his envoy Heliodorus, as can be read in the latter’s Besnagar inscrip-
tion. It should be stressed that several Indo-Greek coins show Hindu
elements but none show Buddhist ones. Still, there is no doubt that
whenever needed, the tiny Greek minority accepted any local support
they could muster, certainly also that of Buddhism, which by this time
must have become rmly implanted in Northwest India. What may
be sensed is that strategic reasons made some Greeks the promoters
of Buddhism and some Buddhists supporters of the Greeks. To what
extent the adoption of Buddhism—or any other system—by Greeks was
only a tactical or political ploy^48 or implied genuine conversion, remains
elusive. These two motivations were not necessarily incompatible and
(^42) Divyvadna 19.
(^43) Bagchi 1946, pp. 83–91.
(^44) Bagchi 1946, pp. 85–86.
(^45) Xuanzang in Beal 1881, vol. 1, p. 110.
(^46) Lévi 1891, p. 194 is perhaps too cynical in his evaluation of the motives of the
Greeks. 47
Guillaume 1991, pp. 81–87, 100–101.
(^48) Lévi 1891, p. 194; Tarn 1951, p. 392, chapter 4.