Dandamis
Indian philosopher of the 4th century BC
title: "Dandamis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["philosophers-and-tutors-of-alexander-the-great", "4th-century-bc-indian-philosophers", "rishis", "indo-greek-religions-and-philosophy", "indian-hindu-spiritual-teachers", "taxila-tehsil"] description: "Indian philosopher of the 4th century BC" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandamis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Indian philosopher of the 4th century BC ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox theologian"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| tradition_movement | Kalanos |
| era | 4th century B.C. |
| :: |
| tradition_movement = Kalanos |era = 4th century B.C.
Dandamis (presumably Greek rendering of "Dandayan-Svami") was a philosopher, swami and gymnosophist whom Alexander encountered in the woods near Taxila, when he invaded India in 4th century B.C. He is also referred to as Mandanes. He was guru of Kalanos, the noted gymnosophist, who accompanied Alexander to Persis.
Biography
When Alexander met some gymnosophists, who were of trouble to him, he learned that their leader was the Brahmin Dandamis, who lived in the jungle, lying naked on leaves, near a water spring.
He then sent Onescratus to bring Dandamis to him. When Onescratus encountered Dandamis in forest, he gave him the message, that "Alexander, the Great son of Zeus, has ordered him to come to him. He will give you gold and other rewards but if you refuse, he may behead you." When Dandamis heard that, he did not even raise his head and replied lying in his bed of leaves. "God the Great King, is not a source of violence but provider of water, food, light and life. Your king cannot be a God, who loves violence and who is mortal. Even if you take away my head, you cannot take away my soul, which will depart to my God and leave this body like we throw away old garment. We, brahman do not love gold nor fear death. So your king has nothing to offer, which I may need. Go and tell your King: Dandamis, therefore, will not come to you. If he needs Dandamis, he must come to me."
When Alexander learned of Dandamis' reply, he went to the forest to meet him. Alexander sat before him in the forest for more than an hour. Dandamis asked why Alexander came to him, saying "I have nothing to offer you. Because we have no thought of pleasure or gold, we love God and despise death, whereas you love pleasure, gold and kill people, you fear death and despise God."
References
References
- (1999). "Ancient Indian History and Civilization". New Age International.
- (2001). "The Sháhnáma of Firdausí". Psychology Press.
- Charity Seraphina Fields. (January 2024). "Battle Against Infinity". Lieutenant of Charity.
- Tristram Stuart. (18 October 2012). "The Bloodless Revolution: Radical Vegetarians and the Discovery of India". HarperCollins Publishers.
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=BZIPAQAAIAAJ&q=dandamis+alexander Prabudhha Bharata by Vivekannda Swami, page 30 & 386]
- (2001). "Philo on Jewish identity and culture". Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).
- (2012). "The Legends of Alexander the Great". Bloomsbury Academic.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::