Did Pythagorus study under Hindu Rishis in Bharat?
The third-century CE philosopher, Philostratus, claimed that Pythagoras studied under the tutelage of Hindu Rishis in Bharat.
“Many centuries ago, there lived a great teacher who was part of an ancient Guru Paramparaâ tradition. For nearly forty years he travelled extensively and studied at the feet of many masters. Eventually he founded a community centered on an ashram where he recommended a contemplative, vegetarian lifestyle, taught the doctrine of reincarnation and trained his followers in sacred knowledge aimed at uniting the human soul with the Divine. …Readers might well assume that these events took place in India and describe the life of a Vedic Rishi or Hindu sage. But, in fact, the man in question came from Greece and was one of the founders of the Western tradition. His name was Pythagoras of Samos.”
Peter Westbrook, 2001
This is significant for British Hindus as this is one of the earliest known European references to the existence of Hindu spiritual practices.
Furthermore, much of Western thought rests on the foundation of Greek civilisation. Pythagoras is a household name for his contributions to mathematics, philosophy, ethics, politics and music. His possible connection to Hindus and Bharat raises the assertion that there may have been a stronger civilisational link between the Western and Hindu civilisations that we previously thought.
- Riedweg, Christoph (2005) [2002], Pythagoras: His Life, Teachings, and Influence, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press
- Ferguson, Kitty (2008), The Music of Pythagoras: How an Ancient Brotherhood Cracked the Code of the Universe and Lit the Path from Antiquity to Outer Space