ImportMaster at 19:08, 14 March 2022

2022-03-14T19:08:26Z

New page

{{Short description|Gymnosophist who accompanied Alexander the Great}}
{{distinguish|Coenus (general)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| other_names = '''Calanus'''
| birth_name = Sphínēs
| birth_date = {{circa|398 BCE}}
| birth_place = [[Taxila]]
| death_date = 323 BCE
| death_place = [[Susa]]
| death_cause = Self-immolation
| residence =
| nationality = [[Gandhara]]n
| era =
| region =
| school_tradition =
| main_interests =
| books =
| notable_ideas =
| institutions =
| influences = [[Dandamis]]
| influenced = [[Alexander the Great]], [[Pyrrho]], [[Anaxarchus]]
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| signature_size =
}}

'''Kalanos''', also spelled '''Calanus''' ({{lang-grc|Καλανὸς}})<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg047.perseus-grc1:8 Plutarch, Life of Alexander, §8]</ref> ({{circa|398}} – 323 BCE), was a [[Gymnosophists|gymnosophist]],<ref name=w>{{cite book |last1=Wheeler |first1=James Talboys |title=The History of India: India from the earliest ages: Hindu, Buddhist, and Brahmanical revival |date=1973 |publisher=Cosmo Publications |pages=171–72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXpDAAAAYAAJ&q=kalanos+brahmin |access-date=23 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=hunter/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hunter |first1=William Wilson |title=The Imperial Gazetteer of India |date=1887 |publisher=Trübner & Company |pages=173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qhw3AQAAMAAJ&q=kalanos+brahmin&pg=PA173 |access-date=23 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Classica Et Mediaevalia |date=1975 |publisher=Librairie Gyldendal |pages=271–76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiMUAQAAMAAJ&q=kalanos+brahmin |access-date=23 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and philosopher from [[Taxila]]<ref name=Halkias>{{cite journal|last1=Halkias|first1=Georgios|title=The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters Among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic World|journal=Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies|date=2015|volume=8|pages=163–186|url=http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/111/128|access-date=30 May 2015}}</ref> who accompanied [[Alexander the Great]] to [[Fars Province#Persis|Persis]] and later self-immolated himself by entering into a Holy Pyre, in front of Alexander and his army. [[Diodorus Siculus]] called him Caranus ({{lang-grc|Κάρανος}}).<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc3:17.107 Diodorus Siculus, Library, 17.107.1]</ref>
He did not flinch while his body was burning. He bode goodbye to the soldiers but not to Alexander. He communicated to Alexander that he would meet him in Babylon. Alexander died exactly a year later in Babylon. <ref name=UCP>{{cite book |last=Bar-Kochva |first=Bezalel |title=The image of the Jews in Greek literature : the Hellenistic Period |year=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520253360|pages=60–63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVbzRfhBwCEC}}</ref> It was from Kalanos that Alexander came to know of [[Dandamis]], the leader of their group, whom Alexander later went to meet in the forest.<ref name=a>{{cite book |last1=Stoneman |first1=Richard |title=The Legends of Alexander the Great |year=2012 |pages=43–47 |isbn=9781848857858 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8gMKhTO5ZAC}}</ref>
[[File:La mort de Calamus - Beaufort.jpg|thumb|[[Jacques-Antoine Beaufort]]: ''La mort de Calamus'', 1779, [[Museo del Prado]].]]
==Early life==
[[Plutarch]] indicates his real name was Sphínēs and that he was from [[Taxila]], but since he greeted people with the word "Kalē!" - perhaps ''kallāṇa (mitta)'' "Greetings (friend)" - the Greeks called him Kalanos.<ref name=Halkias /><ref name=invasion>{{cite book |last=M'Crindle |first=J.W. |title=The invasion of India by Alexander the Great |year=2004 |publisher=Kessinger Pub. |location=[[Whitefish, Montana]] |isbn=9780766189201 |pages=46, 315, 388–9, 346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncDFRgtSysIC}}</ref><ref name=sastri/><ref>{{cite book |title=Enemies of the Roman order: treason, unrest, and alienation in the empire By Ramsay MacMullen |year=1992 |page=317 |isbn=9780415086219 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a4YOAAAAQAAJ|last1=MacMullen |first1=Ramsay }}</ref><ref name=b>{{cite book |title=Yādnāmah-ʾi Panjumīn Kungrih-ʾi Bayn al-Milalī-i Bāstānshināsī va Hunar-i Īrān |year=1972 |publisher=Ministry of Culture and Arts, Iran. Vizārat-i Farhang va Hunar |page=224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s8ufAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref name=suhas>{{cite book |last=Chatterjee |first=Suhas |title=Indian civilization and culture |year=1998 |publisher=M.D. Publications |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788175330832 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KItocaxbibUC}}</ref> Kalanos lived at [[Taxila]] and led an austere life.<ref name=sastri>{{cite book |last=Sastri |first=Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta |title=Age of the Nandas and Mauryas |year=1988 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |isbn=9788120804654 |pages=105–106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoAwor58utYC}}</ref>

Kalanos was as suggested by most scholars was a [[Brahmin]].<ref name=w/><ref name=Halkias/><ref name=hunter/> Some early Western scholarship suggested Kalanos was a [[Jain]], but modern scholarship rejects this notion as Jain ascetics are forbidden from using fire and deliberate self-harm due to their convictions about [[Ahimsa in Jainism|ahimsa]]. Further, Taxila and Gandhara were centers of Hinduism and [[Buddhism]] and had no Jain presence at all.<ref name=Halkias />

== Meeting Alexander ==
Plutarch records that when first invited to meet Alexander, Kalanos "roughly commanded him to strip himself and hear what he said naked, otherwise he would not speak a word to him, though he came from [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] himself."<ref>{{cite book |last=Plutarch |title=The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdH27ZmvD5cC |year=1998 |publisher=The Modern Library (Random House Inc) |location=New York |isbn=9781853267949 |page=847}}</ref> Kalanos refused the rich gifts offered by Alexander, saying that man's desire cannot be satisfied by such gifts.<ref name=suhas/> The gymnosophists believed that even if Alexander killed them "they would be delivered from the body of flesh now afflicted with age and would be translated to a better and purer life."<ref name=suhas/>

Alexander's representative [[Onesicritus]]<ref name=jackson>{{cite book |last=Williams Jackson |first=A.V. |title=History of India Vol. IX |year=2009 |publisher=Cosimo Inc. |location=New York |isbn=9781605205328 |pages=65–70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lllGG9RtILQC}}</ref> had a discussion with several gymnosophists and Alexander was attracted by their thoughts on Greek Philosophy, of which they generally approved, but criticized the Greeks for preferring custom to nature and for refusing to give up clothing.<ref name=sastri/>

Alexander persuaded Kalanos to accompany him to Persis<ref name=invasion/> and stay with him as one of his teachers. Alexander even hinted use of force to take him to his country, to which Kalanos replied philosophically, that "what shall I be worth to you, Alexander, for exhibiting to the Greeks if I am compelled to do what I do not wish to do?"<ref name=Maren/> Kalanos lived as a teacher to Alexander and represented "eastern honesty and freedom".<ref name=Maren>{{cite book |last=Niehoff |first=Maren R. |title=Philo on Jewish identity and culture |year=2001 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |location=Tübingen |isbn=9783161476112 |pages=153–154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOjCkfLCt3sC}}</ref>

==Death and prophecy==

[[File:Alexander the Great Receiving News of the Death by Immolation of the Indian Gymnosophist Calanus - Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne - 1672.jpeg|thumb|Alexander the Great Receiving News of the Death by Immolation of the Indian Gymnosophist Calanus - Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne - 1672]]

He was seventy-three years of age at time of his death.<ref name=zz/> When the Persian weather and travel had weakened him, he informed Alexander that he would prefer to die rather than live as an invalid. He decided to take his life by [[self-immolation]].<ref name=judaism/> Although Alexander tried to dissuade him from this course of action, upon Kalanos' insistence the job of building a [[pyre]] was entrusted to [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy]].<ref name=zz>{{cite book |title=Alexander the Great |year=1973 |publisher=Robin Lax Fox |page=416 |isbn=9780713905007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGApAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> Kalanos is mentioned also by Alexander's admirals, [[Nearchus]] and [[Chares of Mytilene]].<ref name=z>{{cite book |title=The Sháhnáma of Firdausí By Arthur George Warner, Edmond Warner |year=2001 |page=61 |isbn=9780415245432 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CixkKv_ywoMC|last1=Warner |first1=Arthur George |last2=Warner |first2=Edmond }}</ref> The city where this immolation took place was [[Susa]] in the year 323 BC.<ref name=b/> Kalanos distributed all the costly gifts he got from the king to the people and wore just a garland of flowers and chanted [[veda|vedic]] hymns.<ref>{{cite book|title=The calcutta review|date=1867|pages=400|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qp4IAAAAQAAJ&q=calanus+vedic+hymn&pg=PA400|access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia ..., Volume 1 By Edward Balfour|date=1885|page=434|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFcIAAAAQAAJ&q=kalanos+vedic+hymn&pg=PA434|access-date=5 March 2017|last1=Balfour|first1=Edward}}</ref><ref name=hunter>{{cite book |last=Hunter |first=W.W. |title=The Indian empire : its people, history, and products (1886) |year=2005 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788120615816 |page=169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yUhvfR1S_UEC}}</ref> He presented his horse to one of his Greek pupils named [[Lysimachus]].<ref name=sagar>{{cite book |last=Sagar |first=Krishna Chandra |title=Foreign influence on ancient India |year=1992 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788172110284 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC}}</ref> He did not flinch as he burnt to the astonishment of those who watched.<ref name=suhas/><ref>{{cite book |title=Defending the West: a critique of Edward Said's Orientalism Front Cover by Ibn Warraq |year=2007 |publisher=Prometheus Books |page=108 |isbn=9781591024842 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JoJtAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy edited by Keimpe Algra |year=1999 |page=243 |isbn=9780521250283 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lRD6feR3hEC|last1=Algra |first1=Keimpe |last2=Barnes |first2=Jonathan |last3=Mansfeld |first3=Jaap |last4=Schofield |first4=Malcolm }}</ref> Although Alexander was not personally present at time of his immolation, his last words to Alexander were "We shall meet in Babylon".<ref name=judaism>{{cite book |last=Elledge |first=C. D. |title=Life after death in early Judaism the evidence of Josephus |year=2006 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |location=Tübingen |isbn=9783161488757 |pages=121–124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWGfdR9T3poC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Borruso |first=Silvano |title=History of Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wiA0NIf14ZAC |year=2007 |publisher=Paulines Publications Africa |isbn=9789966082008 |page=50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=National Geographic, Volume 133 |year=1968 |pages=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8YvAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> He is said to have thus prophesied the death of Alexander in Babylon, even though at the time of death of Kalanos, Alexander did not have any plans to go to [[Babylon]].<ref>{{cite book |title=National Geographic , Volume 133 |year=1968 |pages=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8YvAAAAYAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The philosophical books of Cicero |year=1989 |publisher=Duckworth |page=186 |isbn=9780715622148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1MEAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>

A drinking contest was held in response to his death. According to [[Plutarch]], citing [[Chares of Mytilene]], [[Promachus of Macedon]] drank the equivalent of 13 litres of unmixed [[wine]] and won the first prize of a golden crown worth a [[Attic talent|talent]]. He died three days later and forty-one other contestants allegedly died of [[alcohol poisoning]] as well.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Plutach |title=The Parallel Lives: The Life of Alexander |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/alexander*/10.html |access-date=4 March 2022 |location=7, 70}}</ref>

==Legacy==
A letter written by Kalanos to Alexander is preserved by [[Philo]].<ref name=Sullivan>{{cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Denis F. |title=Siegecraft : two tenth-century instructional manuals by "Heron of Byzantium"|year=2000 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9780884022701|pages=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8KnzvzqAJ04C}}</ref>

A painting {{circa|1672}} by [[Jean Baptiste de Champaigne]] depicts "Alexander the Great receiving the news of the death by immolation of the gymnosophist Calanus" is displayed at Chateau de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles.<ref name=culture>{{cite book |title=Exploring cultural history : essays in honour of Peter Burke |year=2010 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Farnham, Surrey, England |isbn=9780754667506 |page=259 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WRsHPuWR5oC |author1=Melissa Calaresu |author2=Filippo de Vivo |author3=Joan-Pau Rubiés }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Peregrinus Proteus]]
*[[Zarmanochegas]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:390s BC births]]
[[Category:323 BC deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century BC philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:Rishis]]
[[Category:Indian spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:Indo-Greek religions and philosophy]]
[[Category:Philosophers and tutors of Alexander the Great]]
[[Category:Prophets]]
[[Category:Suicides by self-immolation]]
[[Category:4th-century BC monks]]
[[Category:Ancient people who committed suicide]]

Kalanos - Revision history

ImportMaster at 19:08, 14 March 2022