6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

2ND GLORIOUS EPOCH 69
common populace had all defeated and repulsed, with excep­
tional valour, the aggressive Greeks under Alexander and
Seleucos and drove them back, should now be overrun so
very easily by the much too weaker and degenerated Bactrian
Greeks ! Owing to the constant dread of the brave fighting
warriors of India, Alexander and Seleucos could not sleep
soundly in their military camps while fighting in these provin­
ces. But these second-rate Bactrian Greek military leaders
could sleep soundly in the royal palace of Ayodhya (Saketa)
in the confident safety of their triumph.
165. This Greek invasion of Demetreos took place within
thirty to forty years of Asoka's adoption of Buddhism. How
•did the Indian resisting capacity and bravery in the valiant
provinces of Gandhar, Panchnad and others deteriorate so
suddenly during those intervening years? What particular
•event in those thirty to forty years necessitated this
•degeneracy in the high standard of Indian heroism?
166. Was this Bactrian Greek invading army, under the
leadership of Demetreos, in any way superior to those of
Alexander and Seleucos? Not at all! They themselves ad­
mitted that their forefathers under the leadership of Alexan­
der and Seleucos were far superior to them, were endowed
with almost divine powers*'. It clearly means that the rea­
son, why these inferior and weaker Greeks should conquer
the Indians so very easily, was not that the Greek prowess
had increased since the time of Alexander but that the
Indian heroism and the Indian capacity to resist aggression
must have deteriorated to a horrible extent.
167. Now, during the hundred and twenty-seven years
or so that elapsed between the Alexandrian aggression in 327
B. C. and the one by Demetreos about 200 B. C, there occur­
red only one significant event which was likely to bring about
this grievous falling off in the high standard of Indian mate­
rial prowess and their ability to repulse the enemy. It must
have been the extremist propaganda of the non-resistant
non-violent principles of Buddhism which condemned the
military might throughout these provinces. For no other