Alexander VS Yogi

 

Plutarch was a great historian and he recorded an interesting event which occurred in India:

While  in  India, Alexander  the  Great  took  ten of  the  learned  Indian  naked philosophers as prisoners  near  the  banks  of  Indus.  These  men  had  a  great  reputation for intelligence, so Alexander decided to give them a test. He announced that the one who gave the worst answer would be the first to die, and he made the oldest Yogi (Gymnosophist or naked philospher) the judge of the competition.

Which are more numerous, Alexander asked the first one, the living or the dead? “The living,” said the Yogi, “because the dead no longer count.”

Which produces more creatures, the sea or the land? Alexander asked the second. “The land,” was his answer, “because the sea is only a part of it.”

The third was asked which animal was the smartest of all, and the Yogi replied: “The one we have not found yet.”

Alexander asked the fourth what argument he had used to stir up the Indians to fight, and he answered: “Only that one should either live nobly or die nobly.”

Which is older: day or night? was Alexander’s question to the fifth, and the answer he got was: “Day is older, by one day at least.” When  he saw  that  Alexander  was  not satisfied  with  this answer, the Yogi added: “Strange questions get strange answers.”

What should a man do to make himself loved? asked Alexander, and the sixth Yogi replied: “Be powerful without being frightening.”

What does a man have to do to become a god? he asked the seventh, who responded: “Do what is impossible for a man.”

The question to the eighth was whether death or life was stronger, and his answer: “Life is stronger than death, because it bears so many miseries.”

The ninth yogi was asked how long it was proper for a man to live, and he said: “Until it seems better to die.”

Then Alexander turned to the judge, who decided that each one had answered worse than another. “You will die first, then, for giving such a decision,” said Alexander. “Not so, mighty king,” said the Yogi,

“if  you  want to remain  a  man  of  your word. You said that you would kill first the one who made the worst answer.” Alexander gave all of the Yogis presents and set them free, even though they had persuaded the Indians to fight him.

-ALEXANDROS by Plutarch