16th century European contacts with Hinduism

[Stephen Hodge]

> You have the story right, but it doesn't show up in the Platonic
> corpus (for 'Plato's works,' read 'works of the 4th-century BCE
> Platonic school') -- too early.

Of course, though much later, there was the Neo-Platonist interest in
things Eastern.   Plotinus accompanied the ill-fated expedition of the
emperor Gordian into Persia with the specific intention of making
contact with Indian philosophers.  Though he never made it to India,
some see clear signs of Indian thought in his later works though the
similarities are more probably coincidental.   I can't find the
reference but I recollect there was an account of some "gymnosophist"
visiting the emperor who expounded his philosophy and then immolated
himself in fire to prove his detachment.  I am not sure however
whether this was during Gordian's trip or earlier -- perhaps somebody
else might know.
Going the other way, there are said to be striking parallels between
the scepticism of the Pyrrhonists (Sextus Empiricus & co) and the
Madhyamikas in India -- the flow of ideas thought to have been from
west to east in this case.  Given the huge volume of Roman period
trade across to south India from the Mediterrranean cultural sphere,
this may not be too far fetched -- quite conjectural but interesting
all the same.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge