GREEK DEITIES IN INDIA ~ THE WORSHIP OF HERACLES

Sometime around 305 BCΕ, the Greek geographer and explorer Megasthenes arrived at the court of the Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra (modern Patna).

 He was sent as an ambassador by Seleucus Nicator of the Seleucid dynasty, with whom Chandragupta Maurya had entered into a treaty and matrimonial alliance. During his stay in India, Megasthenes compiled the book Indica – a commentary on the geography, social traditions, and religious customs of India. Later Greek historians, such as Arrian and Diodorus Siculus have referred to Indica in their works; from their work, we can collect some significant observations made by Megasthenes as far as the presence of Heracles in India is concerned.

Heracles ~ Coin of Demetrius

The Greek Accounts of Hercules in India

Arrian (c.86 CE–160 CE) also wrote a book called Indica, in which he drew from Megasthenes’s earlier work of the same name. Arrian gives the following account about Heracles:
“The Hercules who penetrated so far, the Indians tell us, was a native of their country. He is particularly worshiped by the Suraseni (Shurasena), who have two great cities, Methora (Mathura) and Cleisoborus (Surapura), and the navigable river Jobares (Yamuna), passes through their territories. This Hercules, as Megasthenes asserts, and the Indians themselves assure us, uses the same habit with the Theban Hercules. Many male children, but only one daughter was born to him in India, for he married many women. The daughter’s name was Pandaea, and the land where she was born, and over which Heracles placed her as ruler, was named Pandaea after her.”

There are many parallels between Heracles and Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (c.50 BCE) also referred to Megasthenes’s work in his Bibliotheca Historica. His description of the Indian Hercules reminds us strongly of Balarama:

“Hercules was born amongst the Indians, and like the Greeks, they furnish him with a club and lion’s hide. In strength he excelled all men, and cleared the sea and land of monsters and wild beasts. He had many sons, but only one daughter. He built Palibothra (Pataliputra i.e. Patna) and divided his kingdom amongst his sons

These are apt descriptions of Balarama, who had a towering physique and possessed extraordinary bodily strength. In the Indian tradition he is credited with inventing various techniques of wrestling and unarmed warfare. Like Hercules, Balarama is always depicted holding a club (or a mace). He was an undisputed master of fighting with the mace, and was an instructor to the royal princes.

Balarama was depicted similarly on bronze coins issued by the Indo-Greek ruler Agathocles (c.180-165 BCE), which were discovered at the site of Ai-Khanum in Afghanistan. These coins, bearing legends in the Greek and Brahmi scripts, show Vasudeva-Krishna on one side, carrying a chakra and a conch. The other side depicts a two- handed Balarama, carrying a club in his right hand and a plough in his left. Both brothers are dressed as warriors, wearing ornate headdress and earrings, and have sheathed swords hanging from their belts.

EDITED FROM: Ancient Inquiries