We are very
sorry that European Orientalists have taken the pains to construct
theories upon this basis without ascertaining the meaning assigned to
the word Yavana, and the time when the Hindus first became acquainted
with the Greeks. It is unreasonable to assume without proof that this
acquaintance commenced at the time of Alexander's invasion. On the
other hand, there are very good reasons for believing that the Greeks
were known to the Hindus long before this event. Pythagoras visited
India, according to the traditions current amongst Indian initiates, and
he is alluded to in Indian astrological works under the name of
Yavanacharya. Moreover, it is not quite certain that the word Yavana
was strictly confined to the Greeks by the ancient Hindu writers.
Probably it was originally applied to the Egyptians and the Ethiopians;
it was probably extended first to the Alexandrian Greeks, and
subsequently to the Greeks, Persians, and Arabians. Besides the Yavana
invasion of Ayodhya described in Harivamsa, there was another subsequent
expedition to India by Kala Yavana (Black Yavana) during Krishna's
lifetime described in the same work.
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