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Students from India and Greece will collaborate in an in depth examination of the historical past of Alexander of Macedon in India, particularly in Malana village of Himachal Pradesh, whose residents declare to be direct descendants of troopers within the ruler’s military.
This was among the many host of points mentioned on the first worldwide convention on ‘Greek World and India’, held in Jawaharlal Nehru College (JNU) final week.
After defeating the Achaemenids of Persia, Alexander entered the northwestern frontiers of the Indian subcontinent in 327 BC. By the next yr, he had superior into the Punjab, the place he defeated Porus within the Battle of the Hydaspes.
Nevertheless, confronted with a mutiny from his homesick and war-weary generals who have been additionally seemingly terrified of the formidable Nanda military lined up on their manner forward, Alexander was compelled to show again. However a number of teams of troopers and generals stayed again — and legend has it that a few of them settled within the remoted Himalayan village.
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“These individuals imagine of their continuity as descendants of troopers in Alexander’s military, however genetic ties haven’t been studied or established to date,” Dr Anil Kumar Singh, assistant professor of Greek Research in JNU and a kind of steering the convention, stated.
“In addition to Malana in Himachal Pradesh, there are locations close to the Beas river in Punjab and in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, the place Alexander is meant to have camped. However we have to set up the details about these locations,” Dr Singh stated.
Round 40 main students from the 2 nations participated within the occasion, co-organised by the Greek Chair at JNU, the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Put up Byzantine Research, Venice, and the Aristotle College of Thessaloniki, underneath the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in India.
The convention, which was proposed by Greek International Minister Nikos Dendias throughout his go to to India earlier this yr, aimed to highlight the most recent analysis on the interplay, communication, and change of influences between the Greek world and India from the Hellenistic period to fashionable instances. A proposal to check the two,000-year-old historic, cultural, and commerce ties between the civilisations could be drawn up, Dr Singh stated.
The JNU occasion underlined the regular strengthening of relations between Greece and India, which additionally lengthen to the tutorial and cultural discipline, officers stated. A number of scholarships have been introduced on the finish of the convention — the Aristotle College of Thessaloniki will supply three scholarships for JNU college students, whereas the Hellenic Institute for Byzantine and Put up-Byzantine Research will supply scholarships in Greek Paleography and Codicology subsequent yr. Extra scholarships will probably be introduced because the schooling cooperation between the 2 nations expands, the officers stated.
Minister of State for Exterior Affairs and Tradition, Meenakshi Lekhi proposed that India and Greece ought to work carefully throughout the UNESCO framework to inscribe their widespread tangible and intangible heritage, together with the Indo-Greek Mathura Artwork, Unani drugs, and music.
“Greece and India had some implausible exchanges in outdated instances, they have been competing however understanding one another as effectively,” Lekhi stated on the inauguration of the convention.
A spotlight of the occasion was the digital exposition of a singular Byzantine manuscript, with miniatures depicting Alexander’s life, a part of the gathering of the Hellenic Institute. Its “digital journey to India bears testimony to the efforts undertaken by our nations to honour and additional discover their cultural bonds,” Dendias, who addressed the convention just about, stated.
He additionally quoted Rabindranath Tagore throughout his go to to Athens in 1926: “We, the youthful generations of each Greeks and Indians, should at all times attempt to reside as much as the extent of our wonderful previous.”
Indian students will take part in a follow-up convention in September 2023 on the Hellenic Institute.
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