PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

94Pacific Worldstruggles among his successors (Greek, diadokoi). The area between theIranian plateau and west Turkistan eventually fell into the hands of theSeleuchos Empire of Syria (312–63 BCE). When the power of Seleuchosdeclined in the mid-third century BCE, independent countries emerged byseceding from the Syrian Empire.Among these, three countries later encountered Buddhism. They werethe Greek kingdom of Bactria (255–139 BCE) based around the upper AmuRiver and extending into northwestern India; the Iranian kingdom ofParthia (Arsakes, 248 BCE–226 CE) based around the southeastern part of theCaspian Sea; and the Indo-Scythaean kingdom of Saka.In the Indian subcontinent, the Indus River basin area, which had beena subject of Archaemenes Persia after the area was conquered by Dareios(Darius I, r. 522–486 BCE) in 520 (?) BCE, came under the control of the Greekpowers after Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great. Meanwhile, inanother part of India, King Candragupta (r. 317–293 BCE) established theMauryan Empire with its capital city located in Påtaliputra (modernPatna). The expanding military force led by King Candragupta eventuallyswept the Greek powers out of the Indus River basin. At this time the Greekenvoy Megasthenes, dispatched to settle a peace treaty with the MauryanEmpire, visited Påtaliputra and remained in India for the next ten years.After returning to Greece, he wrote a book entitled Indika, which is avaluable resource for historical materials on India at the time.The fragmented Indian subcontinent was finally unified by KingAΩoka (r. 268?–232? BCE), the third king of the Mauryan Empire. KingAΩoka, whose empire included many different ethnic groups, sought forthe ideals of nation-building and policy-making in the teachings of theBuddha and promoted these Buddhist ideals in the form of edicts issuedthroughout the empire. His edicts, known as the AΩokan Inscriptions, werecarved on polished cliffs or stone pillars. The edicts discovered in northwestIndia (northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) are written notonly in the Bråhm∆ script for transcribing Indian languages, but also inGreek, Kharo≈†h∆, as well as Aramaic, because, as I mentioned above,Greeks and Iranians lived there. The AΩokan Inscriptions are one of theoldest existing written records in India and provide us with extremelysignificant linguistic and historical information.King AΩoka promoted Buddhism by sending Buddhist missionariesto neighboring countries. These missionaries were perhaps also sent asthe king’s foreign ambassadors, and this represents the first time Buddhismtraveled beyond the Indian world to become a world religion. Itis known that the AΩokan missionaries first transmitted Buddhism toSri Lanka. It is recorded that Buddhist missionaries were sent even asfar as “Yonaloka” (a region inhabited by Greeks [Ionia]) to the northwestof India, probably in Bactria.