1892.] 
Y. A. Smith —On the Civilization of Ancient India. 
65 
The fact is of interest that the Greek names of the colour ‘ black ’ 
fiiXav, and of the reed-pen, KaXapos, both found admission into Sanskrit 
under the forms respectively of meld and kalama. Mela occurs in the 
romance of the Vasavadatta which seems to be related to a Milesian tale 
(see 'post). The observation as to Icalama applies only to the word when 
used in the sense of c pen,’ and not to the form of the word, itself, (see 
Mala (1881) Vorw., p. XV H, Monatsbericht , 1871, p. 623). 
It appears almost certain further that the Sanskrit word pustaka , 
‘ book,’ should be regarded as an inversion of a possible Greek form 
7 TV^LKOV’ 
[It is certain that pustaka was introduced into Sanskrit at a com¬ 
paratively late date. It occurs in the Pancliatantra. The form ttv^lkov 
is not known to occur, but ttv&ov is used in Aristophanes, Frag. 671, in 
the sense of a tablet for writing on. Liddell and Scott quote the same 
passage as a reference for the form ttv^lSlov, which seems to be a various 
reading. V. A. $.] 
We thus arrive at the most important matter in which Greek in¬ 
fluence on India is demonstrable, namely Poetry, Science, etc. We have 
already seen that in the epics the Greek princes are brought into direct 
relations with the actors in the narrative. Great analogies and coinci¬ 
dences certainly exist between the Mahabharata, and, still more, between 
the Ramayana and the Iliad and Odyssey. The rhetorician Dio Chrysos¬ 
tom (who lived in the time of Trajan A. D. 98—117) refers to these 
peculiarities of the Mahabharata when he ascribes to the Indians a 
knowledge of the poems of Homer as transferred to their own language 
and dialect. This passage was formerly interpreted as indicating merely 
the existence of the Mahabharata in the time of Dio Chrysostom, but, 
in the light of facts recently brought to light, the hypothesis that the 
author of the so-called £ battle-section ’ of the Mahabharata actually 
made use of the Homeric legend, cannot well be absolutely rejected. 
The Rama legend in its Buddhist dress differs greatly from that 
presented by Valmiki, and there seems to be no doubt that the Buddhist 
version is of higher antiquity. It is thus quite possible that Valmiki 
may have used the Homeric legend for his arrangement of the story 
{see Weber. Abhandlung “ uber das Ramayana ” 1870.) 
The patriotism of the Hindus is grievously wounded by this theory, 
but no one wishes to argue that the Ramayana is copied from Homer. 
There is, however, no reason to reject as a priori impossib'e the theory 
that it has been influenced by Homer. It daily becomes more]clear that 
elements of Homeric myth, e. g. Leukothea and the Trojan horse, have 
entered into Buddhist historical legends. But, when the mutual ex¬ 
change of legendary epic materials is considered, it is^ rarely possible 
I 
