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{{Short description|1st century BC Indian philosopher and monk}}
{{Over-quotation|date=January 2023}}
'''Zarmanochegas''' ({{lang-el|Ζαρμανοχηγάς}}; according to [[Strabo]]<ref name="penelope">{{cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Strabo's Geography — Book XV Chapter 1 (§§ 39‑73) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/15A3*.html#ref116 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>) or '''Zarmarus''' (according to [[Dio Cassius]]<ref name="penelope"/>) was a [[Gymnosophists|gymnosophist]] (naked philosopher), a monk of the [[Sramana]] tradition (possibly, but not necessarily a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]]) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo and Dio Cassius, met [[Nicholas of Damascus]] in [[Antioch]] while [[Augustus]] was ruling the [[Roman Empire]], and shortly thereafter proceeded to [[Athens]] where he burnt himself to death.<ref>Strabo, xv, 1, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&layout=&loc=15.1.73 on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens (Paragraph 73)].</ref><ref>[[Dio Cassius]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/54*.html#9 liv, 9].</ref> He is estimated to have died in 19 BC.

== Pandion mission ==
[[File:Periplous of the Erythraean Sea.svg|thumb|250px|right| The inscription on the tomb of Zarmanochegas in Athens states he came from [[Barygaza]]. This port, named on the map as '''Barigaza''' on the [[Gulf of Khambhat]] facilitated trade with ancient [[Axum]], [[Egypt]], [[Arabia]] and the sea-land trade routes via the [[Iraq|Tigris-Euphrates]] valley and [[Ancient Rome]].]]

[[Nicolaus of Damascus]] describes an embassy sent by the [[India]]n king Porus (or Pandion, [[Pandya]] or [[Pandita (Buddhism)]]){{cn|date=April 2021}} to [[Caesar Augustus]]. The embassy traveled with a diplomatic letter on [[parchment]] in [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]. One of its members was a [[sramana]] who burned himself alive in [[Athens]] to demonstrate his faith. Nicholas of Damascus met the embassy at [[Antioch]] (near present-day [[Antakya]] in [[Turkey]]) and this is related by [[Strabo]] (XV,1,73 {{ref|Strabo}}) and [[Dio Cassius]] (liv, 9). The monk's [[self-immolation]] made a sensation and was quoted by [[Strabo]]<ref>Strabo, xv, 1, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&layout=&loc=15.1.73 on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens (Paragraph 73)].</ref> and [[Dio Cassius]] (''Hist'' 54.9).<ref>[[Dio Cassius]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/54*.html#9 liv, 9].</ref> His tomb indicated he came from [[Barygaza]] which is now [[Bharuch]] city of [[Gujarat]], near the north bank of the [[Narmada River]]; the name being derived from one of the ancient [[Rishis]] ([[Bhrigu]]) who lived there.<ref>JW McCrindle. Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature. Elibron Classics. Adamant Media Corp. 2005 {{ISBN|1-4021-6154-9}} p 78 fn2 https://books.google.com/books?id=Hjfo-0ytFh0C&dq=zarmanochegas&pg=PA78 (accessed 18 Dec 2012)</ref> Dio Cassius (Roman History, 54.9.10) mentions that Sramana threw himself into fire "either because, being of the caste of sages, he was on this account moved by ambition, or, in accordance with the traditional custom of the Indians, because of old age, or because he wished to make a display for the benefit of Augustus and the Athenians (for Augustus had reached Athens)." According to Dio Cassius (54.9.8) Augustus met an Indian delegation while staying for winter at Samos (20/19 BC). Priaulx notes that the poet [[Horace]] also alludes to an Indian mission (''Carmen Seculare'' 55, 56, written 17 BC; ''Ode'' 14, L.iv, 13 BC; and ''Ode'' 12, L. i, 22 BC)). Priaulx notes that later writers such as [[Suetonius]] (AD 110) (''Hist. Rome'' IV C 12) and [[Florus]] (AD 120) (''Augustus'' C21) refer to this Indian mission as well.<ref>Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx. The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana and the Indian Embassies, London 1873, pp67 et seq.</ref> Augustus himself (''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'', 31) notes that "еmbassies were often sent to me from the kings of India, a thing never seen before in the camp of any general of the Romans."<ref>Evelyn Schuckburgh. Augustus. London 1903 Appendix 31.</ref>

== Self-immolation and tomb in Athens ==
[[File:0959 - Keramikos cemetery, Athens - Street of tombs - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 12 2009.jpg|thumb|250px|right| Keramikos cemetery, Athens- the tomb of Zarmanochegas was well known in Athens according to Plutarch.]]
A tomb was made to the ''sramana'', still visible in the time of [[Plutarch]] (died AD 120),<ref>Plutarch. 'Life of Alexander' in The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. (trans John Dryden and revised Arthur Hugh Clough) The Modern Library (Random House Inc). New York.p850</ref> which bore the mention "ΖΑΡΜΑΝΟΧΗΓΑΣ ΙΝΔΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΒΑΡΓΟΣΗΣ" (Zarmanochēgas indos apo Bargosēs – Zarmanochegas, Indian from [[Bharuch|Bargosa]]").<ref>Elledge CD. Life After Death in Early Judaism. Mohr Siebeck Tilbringen 2006 {{ISBN|3-16-148875-X}} pp122-125</ref> Plutarch, in his ''Life of Alexander'', after discussing the self-immolation of [[Calanus of India]] ([[Kalanos]]) writes:
<blockquote>The same thing was done long after by another Indian who came with Caesar to Athens, where they still show you "the Indian's Monument."<ref>Plutarch. 'Life of Alexander' in The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. (trans John Dryden and revised Arthur Hugh Clough) The Modern Library (Random House Inc). New York. p850</ref></blockquote>

Strabo's (died AD 24) account at ''Geographia'' xv,i,4 is as follows:

<blockquote>From one place in India, and from one king, namely, Pandian, or, according to others, Porus, presents and embassies were sent to Augustus Caesar. With the ambassadors came the Indian [[Gymnosophist]], who committed himself to the flames at Athens, like [[Kalanos|Calanus]], who exhibited the same spectacle in the presence of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]].</blockquote>

Strabo adds (at xv, i, 73)

<blockquote>To these accounts may be added that of Nicolaus Damascenus. This writer states that at [[Antioch]], near [[Daphne, Antioch|Daphne]], he met with ambassadors from the Indians, who were sent to [[Caesar Augustus|Augustus Caesar]]. It appeared from the letter that several persons were mentioned in it, but three only survived, whom he says he saw. The rest had died chiefly in consequence of the length of the journey. The letter was written in Greek upon a skin; the import of it was, that Porus was the writer, that although he was sovereign of six hundred kings, yet that he highly esteemed the friendship of Cæsar; that he was willing to allow him a passage through his country, in whatever part he pleased, and to assist him in any undertaking that was just. Eight naked servants, with girdles round their waists, and fragrant with perfumes, presented the gifts which were brought. The presents were a Hermes (i. e. a man) born without arms, whom I have seen, large snakes, a serpent ten cubits in length, a river tortoise of three cubits in length, and a partridge larger than a vulture. They were accompanied by the person, it is said, who burnt himself to death at Athens. This is the practice with persons in distress, who seek escape from existing calamities, and with others in prosperous circumstances, as was the case with this man. For as everything hitherto had succeeded with him, he thought it necessary to depart, lest some unexpected calamity should happen to him by continuing to live; with a smile, therefore, naked, anointed, and with the girdle round his waist, he leaped upon the pyre. On his tomb was this inscription:

::ZARMANOCHEGAS, AN INDIAN, A NATIVE OF BARGOSA, HAVING IMMORTALIZED HIMSELF ACCORDING TO THE CUSTOM OF HIS COUNTRY, HERE LIES.<ref>Strabo, xv, 1.73.</ref><ref name="penelope"/></blockquote>

Dio Cassio's (died 235 AD) later account reads:

<blockquote>For a great many embassies came to him, and the people of India, who had already made overtures, now made a treaty of friendship, sending among other gifts tigers, which were then for the first time seen by the Romans, as also, I think by the Greeks ... One of the Indians, Zarmarus, for some reason wished to die, — either because, being of the caste of sages, he was on this account moved by ambition, or, in accordance with the traditional custom of the Indians, because of old age, or because he wished to make a display for the benefit of Augustus and the Athenians (for Augustus had reached Athens);— he was therefore initiated into the mysteries of the two goddesses, which were held out of season on account, they say, of Augustus, who also was an initiate, and he then threw himself alive into the fire.<ref>[[Dio Cassius]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/54*.html#9 liv, 9].</ref></blockquote>

Based on the different ways Strabo and Dio Cassio render the name (Zarmanochegas, Zarmarus), modern scholars attempted at interpreting Strabo's version as a combination of two words carrying additional information (see below under "Interpretation of the inscription in regard to religious affiliation"), thus raising the question of the state of the tomb inscription at different times in the past.

The [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] (Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια) were initiation ceremonies of pre-historic antiquity focused on immortality and held in honour of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]] based at [[Eleusis]] in ancient Greece. Augustus became an initiate in 31 BC and again in 19 BC (Cassius Dio 51.4.1 and 54.9.10).<ref>KW Arafat. Pausanius' Greece: Ancient Artists and Roman Rulers. Cambridge University Press. 1996 {{ISBN|0521553407}} p 122.</ref>

== Interpretation of the inscription in regard to religious affiliation ==
[[Charles Eliot (diplomat)|Charles Eliot]] in his ''Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch'' (1921) considers that the name ''Zarmanochegas'' "perhaps contains the two words ''[[sramana]]'' and ''[[acarya]]''."<ref>Charles Eliot. Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch vol 1. Curzon Press, Richmond 1990. p 431 fn 4.</ref> McCrindle (2004) infers from this that Zarmanochegas was a Buddhist priest or ascetic.<ref>McCrindle JW. The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great. Kessinger Publishing. Montana 2004. p 389. https://books.google.com/books?id=ncDFRgtSysIC&dq=zarmanochegas&pg=PA389 (accessed 12 December 2012)</ref><ref>JW McCrindle. Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature. Elibron Classics. Adamant Media Corp. 2005 {{ISBN|1-4021-6154-9}} p 78 fn1 https://books.google.com/books?id=Hjfo-0ytFh0C&dq=zarmanochegas&pg=PA78 (accessed 18 Dec 2012)</ref>

HL Jones (2006) interprets the inscription as mentioned by Strabo and sees two words at the beginning, instead of one name:
<blockquote>The Sramana master, an Indian, a native of Bargosa, having immortalized himself according to the custom of his country, lies here.<ref>Elledge CD. Life After Death in Early Judaism. Mohr Siebeck Tilbringen 2006 {{ISBN|3-16-148875-X}} p125</ref></blockquote>

Groskurd (1833) refers to Zarmanochegas as ''Zarmanos Chanes'' and as an ''Indian wiseman'' (''indischer Weiser'').<ref>Christoph Gottlieb Groskurd. Strabons Erdbeschreibung. Berlin und Stettin. 1833 p470</ref>

Priaulx (1873) translates the name in Sanskrit as ''çramanakarja'' ("teacher of Shamans") and adds "which points him out as of the Buddhist faith and a priest, and, as his death proves, a priest earnest in his faith.<ref>Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx. The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana and the Indian Embassies London 1873 p78.</ref>

Halkias (2015) situates Zarmanochegas within a lineage of Buddhist sramanas who had adopted the custom of setting themselves on fire.<ref>"The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic world." Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, Vol. VIII, 2015: 163-186. [https://www.academia.edu/12679460/The_Self-immolation_of_Kalanos_and_other_Luminous_Encounters_Among_Greeks_and_Indian_Buddhists_in_the_Hellenistic_World]</ref>

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

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Buddhism topics}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:19 BC deaths]]
[[Category:1st-century BC philosophers]]
[[Category:1st-century BC historians]]
[[Category:Buddhism in the ancient Mediterranean]]
[[Category:Commentators on Aristotle]]
[[Category:People from Damascus]]
[[Category:Greek-language historians from the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman philosophers]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Suicides by self-immolation]]
[[Category:Ancient suicides]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Buddhist monks]]

Zarmanochegas - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article