Editing Menander I (section)

==Legacy==

===Buddhism===
{{main article|Greco-Buddhism}}
[[File:IGMudras.jpg|thumb|150px|''[[Mudra|Vitarka Mudra]]'' [[gesture]]s on Indo-Greek coinage. Top: Divinities [[Tyche]] and [[Zeus]]. Bottom: Depiction of Indo-Greek kings [[Nicias (Indo-Greek king)|Nicias]] and [[Menander II]].]]
After the reign of Menander I,  [[Strato I]] and several subsequent Indo-Greek rulers, such as [[Amyntas Nikator|Amyntas]], Nicias, [[Peucolaus]], [[King Hermaeus|Hermaeus]], and [[Hippostratus]], depicted themselves or their Greek deities forming with the right hand a symbolic [[gesture]] identical to the Buddhist vitarka [[mudra]] (thumb and index joined together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism signifies the transmission of the Buddha's teaching. At the same time, right after the death of Menander, several Indo-Greek rulers also started to adopt on their coins the [[Pāli|Pali]] title of "Dharmikasa", meaning "follower of the [[Dharma]]" (the title of the great Indian Buddhist king [[Ashoka]] was ''Dharmaraja'' "King of the Dharma"). This usage was adopted by Strato I, Zoilos I, [[Heliocles II]], [[Theophilos (king)|Theophilus]], Peucolaus and [[Archebius]].
[[File:Menander with elephant.jpg|thumb|left|Menander coin with elephant.]]
Altogether, the conversion of Menander to Buddhism suggested by the [[Milinda Panha]] seems to have triggered the use of Buddhist symbolism in one form or another on the coinage of close to half of the kings who succeeded him. Especially, all the kings after Menander who are recorded to have ruled in [[Gandhara]] (apart from the little-known [[Demetrius III Aniketos|Demetrius III]]) display Buddhist symbolism in one form or another.

Menander may have contributed to the expansion of Buddhism in Central Asia. Although the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and Northern Asia is usually associated with the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]]s, a century or two later, there is a possibility that it may have been introduced in those areas from [[Gandhara]] "even earlier, during the time of [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius]] and [[Menander]]" (Puri, "Buddhism in Central Asia").

[[File:Foreigners at Sanchi Stupa I North Gateway.jpg|thumb|Foreigners on the Northern Gateway of Stupa I, [[Sanchi]]. [[Satavahana]] period, 2nd or 1st century BC.]]
A frieze in [[Sanchi]] executed during or soon after the reign of Menander depicts Buddhist devotees in Greek attire. The men are depicted with short curly hair, often held together with a [[headband]] of the type commonly seen on Greek coins. The clothing too is Greek, complete with [[tunic]]s, capes and sandals. The musical instruments are also quite characteristic, such as the double flute called [[aulos]]. Also visible are [[Carnyx]]-like  [[Cornu (horn)|horn]]s. They are all celebrating at the entrance of the stupa. These men would probably be nearby [[Indo-Greeks]] from northwest India visiting the Stupa.<ref>"A guide to Sanchi" John Marshall. These "Greek-looking foreigners" are also described in Susan Huntington, "The art of ancient India", p. 100</ref>

===Representation of the Buddha===
{{main article|Greco-Buddhist art}}
[[File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|left|120px|One of the first known representations of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Gandhara]].]]
[[File:Ptolemy Asia detail.jpg|thumb|150px|Detail of Asia in the [[Ptolemy world map]]. The "Menander Mons" are in the center of the map, at the east of the [[Indian subcontinent]], right above the [[Malaysian Peninsula]].]]
The anthropomorphic representation of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] is absent from Indo-Greek coinage, suggesting that the Indo-Greek kings may have respected the Indian an-iconic rule for depictions of the Buddha, limiting themselves to symbolic representation only. Consistently with this perspective, the actual depiction of the Buddha would be a later phenomenon, usually dated to the 1st century, emerging from the sponsorship of the syncretic [[Kushan Empire]] and executed by Greek, and, later, Indian and possibly Roman artists. Datation of [[Greco-Buddhist]] statues is generally uncertain, but they are at least firmly established from the 1st century.

Another possibility is that just as the Indo-Greeks routinely represented philosophers in statues (but certainly not on coins) in Antiquity, the Indo-Greek may have initiated anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha in statuary only, possibly as soon as the 2nd-1st century BC, as advocated by [[Alfred A. Foucher|Foucher]] and suggested by Chinese murals depicting [[Emperor Wu of Han]] worshipping Buddha statues brought from Central Asia in 120 BC (''[[:Image:HanWudiBuddhas.jpg|See picture]]''). An Indo-Chinese tradition also explains that [[Nagasena]], also known as Menander's Buddhist teacher, created in 43 BC in the city of [[Pataliputra]] a statue of the Buddha, the [[Emerald Buddha]], which was later brought to [[Thailand]].

Stylistically, Indo-Greek coins generally display a very high level of [[Hellenistic]] artistic realism, which declined drastically around 50 BC with the invasions of the [[Indo-Scythian]]s, [[Yuezhi]] and [[Indo-Parthian]]s. The first known statues of the Buddha are also very realistic and Hellenistic in style and are more consistent with the pre-50 BC artistic level seen on coins.

This would tend to suggest that the first statues were created between 130 BC (death of Menander) and 50 BC, precisely at the time when Buddhist symbolism appeared on Indo-Greek coinage. From that time, Menander and his successors may have been the key propagators of Buddhist ideas and representations: "the spread of Gandhari Buddhism may have been stimulated by Menander's royal patronage, as may have the development and spread of Gandharan sculpture, which seems to have accompanied it" (Mcevilley, "The Shape of Ancient Thought", p.&nbsp;378).

===Education===
The [[Milind College]] in the city of [[Aurangabad, Maharashtra|Aurangabad]], [[India]], is named after King Menander I using the [[Pali]] translation of his name, ''Milind''. The college was founded in part by [[B. R. Ambedkar|Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar]], an Indian leader of the [[Dalit Buddhist movement]] and writer to the constitution of the [[Republic of India]].

===Geography===
In Classical Antiquity, from at least the 1st century, the "Menander Mons", or "Mountains of Menander", came to designate the mountain chain at the extreme east of the Indian subcontinent, today's [[Naga Hills]] and [[Rakhine State|Arakan]], as indicated in the [[Ptolemy world map]] of the 1st century geographer [[Ptolemy]].<ref>Boot, Hooves and Wheels: And the Social Dynamics behind South Asian Warfare, Saikat K Bose, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 2015 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ywfsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT222 p.222]</ref>
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