Note 286:1 — Chapter XXVIII

"Alexander the Great made his expedition to the banks of the Indus about 327 B. C., and to this invasion is due the first trustworthy information obtained by Europeans concerning the north-westerly portion of India and the region of the five rivers, down which the Grecian troops were conducted in ships by Nearchus. Megasthenes, who was the ambassador of Seleukos Nikator (Alexander's successor, and ruler over the whole region between the Euphrates and India, B. C. 312), at the court of Candra-gupa (Sandrokottus), in Pataliputra (Patna), during a long sojourn in that city collected further information, of which Strabo, Pliny, Arrian, and others availed themselves." (Williams' Hinduism, p. 4.)