Cultural synthesis
In India, the Pali word "Yona" and an equivalent word “Yavana" were used to designate Greek speaking people. This is thought to be a transliteration of the Greek word for "Ionians", the first Greeks probably known to be in the East. For example, "Alexandria” is referred to as “the city of the Yonas" in the Mahavamsa, Chapter 29 (4th century CE). The debatable concept of Hellenization denotes the spread of Greek language, culture, and population into the former Persian Empire after the conquest by Alexander. When the rich Greek (Hellenic) culture met with the rich Indian culture, the occurrence of a cultural synthesis would have been obvious.
The presence of Indo-Greek kings has been known through analysis of coins and study of ancient inscriptions. The Indo-Greek Kingdoms in the northern frontiers of India were partly Greek, ruled consecutively by more than thirty kings and would have covered various parts of the Indian Subcontinent. Indo-Greeks would have been involved with many local faiths such as Hinduism and Zoroastrianism and particularly with Buddhism. The Hellenic cultural influence on early Buddhist culture is well known, apparently influencing the first images of the Buddha. The early representation of the Buddha wearing robes in the Hellenistic style is said to have originated in India. So, it is reasonable to assume that under Greco Buddhism, the Greek toga would have influenced the monks’ dress code.
The Greek conquest of parts of India led Maurya King Chandraguptha to fight back and liberate the parts of India Greeks had captured. Yet, he married the daughter of a Greek King. King Ashoka was the third successor of the Maurya dynasty. In fact, King Ashoka had referred to five Greek kingdoms where Buddhist missionary activities had been undertaken. As illustrated by the Greek King Menander, known also as Milinda, who converted to Buddhism and became a great benefactor of the religion.
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