06-21-2008, 12:26 AM
Arrians Indica:
http://www.und.ac.za/und/classics/india/arrian.htm
Some points posted on wiki about Indians at that time:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Indica as a window onto Greek and Roman knowledge
The Indica gives the historian a good idea of how the Greeks and Romans saw India. Though, as stated above, everything in Indica is not completely factual in its details, it is useful to know what the Greeks and Romans thought of India and how they may have viewed it. Some descriptions about Indian people from the Indica:
"the southern Indians resemble the Ethiopians a good deal, and, are black of countenance, and their hair black also, only they are not as snub-nosed or so woolly-haired as the Ethiopians; but the northern Indians are most like the Egyptians in appearance."
"No Indian ever went outside his own country on a warlike expedition, so righteous were they."
"Indians do not put up memorials to the dead; but they regard their virtues as sufficient memorials for the departed, and the songs which they sing at their funerals."
"This also is remarkable in India, that all Indians are free, and no Indian at all is a slave. In this the Indians agree with the Lacedaemonians. Yet the Lacedaemonians have Helots for slaves, who perform the duties of slaves; but the Indians have no slaves at all, much less is any Indian a slave."
"The Indians generally are divided into seven castes, the wise men, farmers, herdsmen, artisans, soldiers and shopkeepers, overlookers, and government officials and ministers."
"The Indians in shape are thin and tall and much lighter in movement than the rest of mankind."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indica_%28Arrian%29<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Also there is some description of marriage customs:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->XVII. The Indians in shape are thin and tall and much lighter in movement than the rest of mankind. They usually ride on camels, horses, and asses; the richer men on elephants. For the elephant in India is a royal mount; then next in dignity is a four-horse chariot, and camels come third; to ride on a single horse is low. Their women, such as are of great modesty, can be seduced by no other gift, but yield themselves to anyone who gives an elephant; and the Indians think it no disgrace to yield thus on the gift of an elephant, but rather it seems honourable for a woman that her beauty should be valued at an elephant. They marry neither giving anything nor receiving anything; such girls as are marriageable their fathers bring out and allow anyone who proves victorious in wrestling or boxing or running or shows pre-eminence in any other manly pursuit to choose among them. The Indians eat meal and till the ground, except the mountaineers; but these eat the flesh of game. This must be enough for a description of the Indians, being the most notable things which Nearchus and Megasthenes, men of credit, have recorded about them. But as the main subject of this my history was not to write an account of the Indian customs but the way in which Alexander's navy reached Persia from India, this must all be accounted a digression.
http://www.und.ac.za/und/classics/india/arrian.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.und.ac.za/und/classics/india/arrian.htm
Some points posted on wiki about Indians at that time:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Indica as a window onto Greek and Roman knowledge
The Indica gives the historian a good idea of how the Greeks and Romans saw India. Though, as stated above, everything in Indica is not completely factual in its details, it is useful to know what the Greeks and Romans thought of India and how they may have viewed it. Some descriptions about Indian people from the Indica:
"the southern Indians resemble the Ethiopians a good deal, and, are black of countenance, and their hair black also, only they are not as snub-nosed or so woolly-haired as the Ethiopians; but the northern Indians are most like the Egyptians in appearance."
"No Indian ever went outside his own country on a warlike expedition, so righteous were they."
"Indians do not put up memorials to the dead; but they regard their virtues as sufficient memorials for the departed, and the songs which they sing at their funerals."
"This also is remarkable in India, that all Indians are free, and no Indian at all is a slave. In this the Indians agree with the Lacedaemonians. Yet the Lacedaemonians have Helots for slaves, who perform the duties of slaves; but the Indians have no slaves at all, much less is any Indian a slave."
"The Indians generally are divided into seven castes, the wise men, farmers, herdsmen, artisans, soldiers and shopkeepers, overlookers, and government officials and ministers."
"The Indians in shape are thin and tall and much lighter in movement than the rest of mankind."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indica_%28Arrian%29<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Also there is some description of marriage customs:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->XVII. The Indians in shape are thin and tall and much lighter in movement than the rest of mankind. They usually ride on camels, horses, and asses; the richer men on elephants. For the elephant in India is a royal mount; then next in dignity is a four-horse chariot, and camels come third; to ride on a single horse is low. Their women, such as are of great modesty, can be seduced by no other gift, but yield themselves to anyone who gives an elephant; and the Indians think it no disgrace to yield thus on the gift of an elephant, but rather it seems honourable for a woman that her beauty should be valued at an elephant. They marry neither giving anything nor receiving anything; such girls as are marriageable their fathers bring out and allow anyone who proves victorious in wrestling or boxing or running or shows pre-eminence in any other manly pursuit to choose among them. The Indians eat meal and till the ground, except the mountaineers; but these eat the flesh of game. This must be enough for a description of the Indians, being the most notable things which Nearchus and Megasthenes, men of credit, have recorded about them. But as the main subject of this my history was not to write an account of the Indian customs but the way in which Alexander's navy reached Persia from India, this must all be accounted a digression.
http://www.und.ac.za/und/classics/india/arrian.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->