How is Alexanders expedition to india linked with Gandhara art
Answers
Explanation:
India may be safe from Greek contagion so far but it was not always so. In India, we like to tell the story of Alexander the Great's failed campaign to India in 328 BC. Yes, he was Macedonian. That didn't stop him from ruling Greece, Egypt and a sizeable part of Asia. He left behind Greek forces in India, establishing the first Hellenistic populations near the Ganges and opening up the east to Greek immigration.
Then around 180 BC, a Greco-Bactrian king, Demetrius, is believed to have invaded India. It was the start of what would come to be known as the Indo-Greek kingdom, a cluster of dynasties that would cover the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent for roughly the next hundred years, before they started losing their territories to the Sakas. The last Indo-Greek king died in 10 BC. But long after the Greek kings left, the memory remained.
Their system of coinage was adopted by contemporary Buddhist kingdoms.