भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

days and celebrated a great festival. The Greeks performed a sacrifice and
offered oblations to propitiate their Greek deities.
14. The Greek Gods resembled the Vedic ones very closely. Their names
had undergone changes in pronunciation by corruption in course of time.
The Greeks too performed sacrifices as the Indo-Aryans did, and offered
oblations through the fire to their various deities. They were also called
Ionians.
‘Lonian’ and ‘Yavan’
15. It is likely that these Greeks were the descendants of Anu, the son of
Yayati! One wonders if Anwayan was later on corrupted to Ionian. This bit
of a guess must, however, be left to the research scholars. The fact remains
that the Indians called these Greeks ‘Yavanas’ from the very beginning, as
is seen from the Sanskrit literature. It is from the Greek word ‘Ionians’, that
they came to be called ‘Yavans’ or ‘Yons’ in India.
Buddha not heard of from Gandhar—Panchanad to Sindh
16. One more fact deserves mention here. The contemporary Greek
writers have given in their books detailed descriptions of the varied life of
the people from those parts of India where Alexander moved—from
Gandhar to Panchanad (the Punjab) and, thence along both the banks of the
Indus, to the very place where it flows into the sea. But throughout all these
descriptions, not a single reference to either Lord Buddha or the Buddhistic
cult or sect can be found, whereas there are numerous references to the
Vedic Hindus. From this and, of course, from other contemporary
references, it is quite clear that, at least, till that time the Buddhist sect was
quite unknown beyond the Shatadru (Sutlej) river. It means that for about
two hundred and fifty to three hundred years after the death of the Buddha,
the Buddhist cult spread here and there round about Magadha and not
farther off, a fact that deserves special notice for the proper interpretation of
subsequent history.
A Greek Means a Yavan!
17. Our contemporary Indian ancestors called these aggressive Greek
foreigners, who professed a slightly alien religion, ‘Yavans’. But that is not
the reason why we should call all foreign aggresssors ‘Yavans’. It is
obviously a mistake. Especially, when our people began to call the Muslims
‘Yavans’, they really committed a blunder. Although the Greeks were
aggressors and foreigners, they were, comparatively speaking, considered to
be particularly devoted to learning and highly cultured and civilized,