Guest guest Posted October 5, 2001 Report Share Posted October 5, 2001 I wrote: > >I thought it was an ancient Alexandria or Alexandropolis (cf. >>Iskander); or has this identification been disproven ? >>I have also seen it derived from Gondophares. >>Lance Cousins N. Ganesan writes: > The identification that Kandahar as corruption from > Alexandropolis, has no evidence to support that claim. The evidence that supports this claim is that there was a city called Alexandropolis at or near Kandahar in the Greek period. There is no particular reason why a corrupted form of the name could not have survived. This has nothing to do with memories of Alexander. > James C. Harle, The art and architecture of the Indian > subcontinent, Penguin, 1986, p. 22 > "In 326 B.C., Alexander of Macedon marched into India > and penetrated to the Beas river in the Panjab, the furthest > reach of the greatest feat of arms in recorded history [13] > ... Ashoka's edicts, engraved on pillars, rock surfaces, and > tablets, have been found in almost every region of India > except the far south, and as far west as Kandahar (often erroneously > claimed to be a corruption of Alexandria in Arachosia) > in present-day Afghanistan. [14]. > > [13] No trace of Alexander can be found in non-Muslim > Indian history, literature, or art, . . . If reference to an Alexandria is a 'trace of Alexander', then this is simply wrong. At least one and probably two Alexandrias are known to Pali literature, for example, as Alasanda. > Also, kandahar is not in gAndhAra region > either. Quite. Is there any evidence that the actual region of Gandhaara was known as Kandahar or similar in Muslim times ? Lance Cousins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2001 Report Share Posted October 11, 2001 Dear Colleagues, I am very busy just now and have no time to go on details, but as Ganesan mentioned my name, I must say something. As it is quite clear that there existed an Alexandria-Alexandropolis (also called Arachotos) in the area of Kandahar, I have, like Cousins, always taken this to be the origin of Kandahar. This was also the place, where Asokan edicts were written in Greek and there is at least one further Greek inscription found there. But I have never really studied the name Kandahar and I think the Iranian theory quoted by Ganesan may well be right. Skanda, I must say, I find rather unlikely, and Gandhara is not really that close. I have the full list of references for Alexandria in Indian sources at home, but in my India and the Hellenistic World 1997 I referfor Pali Alasanda (Chinese A-li-san according to Fussman) to the Milindapanha 1, Mahavamsa 19, 39 (yonanagara alasanda), Thupavamsa p. 224 Jayawickrama, further in the Mahaniddesa and the Apadana. In the Arthasastra 2, 11, 42 the red coral (a western import) is called "pravAlakam Alasandakam". It is further possible that the Yavanapura of Pancasiddhantika etc. refers to Alexandria in Egypt. There are also some possible Puranic references. See further Memorial Sylvain Levi 1937, 413ff. and Mayrhofer, EWA s.v. AlasAndra. Like Cousens I must emphasize that possible reference to a place called Alexandrias has nothing to do with memories of Alexander. Note also what Thrasher said. Alexander (as Ammon) is horned especially in the Arabic tradition of the Alexander legend, but I think great care is needed, if we start identifying horned figures as Alexander. Regards Klaus -- Klaus Karttunen, Ph.D. Docent of Indology and Classical Ethnography Institute of Asian and African Studies PL 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B), 00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND phone 358-0-19122188, fax 358-0-19122094 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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