Kalanos

Kalanos, also spelled Calanus (Ancient Greek: Καλανός)[1] (c. 398 – 323 BCE), was an ancient Indian gymnosophist[2][3][4][5] and philosopher from Taxila[6] who accompanied Alexander the Great to Persis and later self-immolated, after falling ill, entered himself into a pyre, in front of Alexander and his army. Diodorus Siculus called him Caranus (Ancient Greek: Κάρανος).[7]

According to the Greek sources, he did not flinch as his body burned. He bade goodbye to some of the Greek soldiers who were his students, but not to Alexander. He communicated to Alexander that he would meet him in Babylon and curiously Alexander died exactly a year later in Babylon. [8] It was from Kalanos that Alexander learned of Dandamis, the leader of their group, whom Alexander later went to meet in the forest.[9]

Jacques-Antoine Beaufort: La mort de Calamus, 1779, Museo del Prado.
  1. ^ Plutarch, Life of Alexander, §8
  2. ^ Wheeler, James Talboys (1973). The History of India: India from the earliest ages: Hindu, Buddhist, and Brahmanical revival. Cosmo Publications. pp. 171–72. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference hunter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hunter, William Wilson (1887). The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Trübner & Company. p. 173. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  5. ^ Classica Et Mediaevalia. Librairie Gyldendal. 1975. pp. 271–76. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  6. ^ Halkias, Georgios (2015). "The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters Among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic World". Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. 8: 163–186. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  7. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library, 17.107.1
  8. ^ Bar-Kochva, Bezalel (2010). The image of the Jews in Greek literature : the Hellenistic Period. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 60–63. ISBN 9780520253360.
  9. ^ Stoneman, Richard (2012). The Legends of Alexander the Great. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 43–47. ISBN 9781848857858.