Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/80

64 ACCOUNT OF INDIA BY STRABO Mm, he marries her on such conditions as may be deter- mined upon. The dead are thrown out to be devoured by vultures. To have many wives is a custom common to these and to other nations. Aristoboulos says he heard from some persons that wives burned themselves voluntarily with their deceased husbands, and that those women who refused to submit to this custom were disgraced. The same things have been told by other writers. 1 Onesikritos says that he himself was sent to con- verse with these wise men, because Alexander heard that they went about naked, practised mortification of the body, and were held in the highest honour; that, when invited, they did not go to other persons, but commanded others to come to them if they wished to participate in their exercises or their conversation. Such being their character, Alexander did not consider it to be consistent with propriety to go to them, or to compel them to do anything contrary to their inclina- tion or against the custom of their country; he there- fore despatched Onesikritos to them. Onesikritos found, at the distance of twenty stadia from the city, fifteen men standing in different postures, sitting or lying down naked, who continued in these positions until the evening, and then returned to the city. The most difficult thing to endure was the heat of the sun, which was so powerful that no one else could endure without pain to walk on the ground at mid-day with bare feet. 1 See the descriptions in the next chapter.