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                  MEGASTHENES , THE GREEK WHO LIVED AT THE COURT OF THE INDIAN KING SANDROCOTTUS FOR SOME YEARS FROM 302 B.C. AS THE AMBASSDOR OF SELEUCUS NICATOR , WROTE A VERY POPULAR BOOK ENTITLED “INDICA”.THE BOOK ITSELF IS LOST , BUT IT HAS SERVED AS THE SOURCE FOR SEVERAL CLASSICAL AUTHORS’S ACCOUNTS OF THE COUNTRY WHERE THE AMBASSDOR HAD SOJOURNED.

THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS BASED ON MEGASTHENES OCCURS IN DIDOROUS { 1ST CENTURY B.C.}. REFERRING TO THE GANGES HE WRITES : “NOW THIS RIVER WHICH AT IT’S SOURCE IS 30 STADIA BROAD , FLOWS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH , AND EMPTIES ITS WATERS INTO THE OCEAN FORMING THE EASTERN BOUNDRY OF GANGARIDAI, A NATION WHICH POSSESSES THE GREATEST NUMBER OF ELEPHANTS AND THE LARGEST IN SIZE . OWING TO THIS , THEIR COUNTRY HAS NEVER BEEN CONQUERED BY ANY FOREIGN KING ; FOR ALL THE OTHER NATIONS DREAD THE OVERWHELMING NUMBER AND STRENGTH OF THESE ANIMALS . THUS ALEXANDER THE MACEDONIAN AFTER CONQUERING ALL ASIA , DID NOT MAKE WAR UPON THE GANGARIDAI , AS HE DID ON ALL OTHERS ; FOR WHEN HE HAD ARRIVEDE WITH ALL THE OTHER TROOPS AT THE RIVER GANGES , AND HAD SUBDUED ALL THE OTHER INDIANS HE ABANDONED AS HOPLESS AN INVASION OF THE GANGARIDAI WHEN HE LEARNED THAT THEY POSSESSED 4000 ELEPHANTS WELL TRAINED AND EQUIPPED FOR WAR .”

GANGARIDAI {SOMETIMES MIS-SPELLED GANDARIDAI , ONCE GANDARITAI} –GANGARIDES –GANGARIDAE [OR GAGARIDAE ] . THESE ARE THE NAMES UNDER WHICH GREAT PEOPLE IN ANCIENT INDIA WERE KNOWN TO GREEK AND LATIN WRITERS OF ANTIQUITY .

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