Visitors to ancient India

1. Dionysus : A god often compared to Shiva by Megasthenis (greek officer of alexander)

One of the puzzles of the Alexander's Indian campaign is the visit to Nysa. Here, the god Dionysus was venerated, one of Alexander's mythological ancestors. It is not known which god was identified with Dionysus. Next to the town was a sacred mountain called Meros ('thigh') by the Greeks; it reminded them of the story that Dionysus was born from Zeus' thigh. In fact, the Indian name was Meru, the holy mountain or 'axis' of the world.

http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander13.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/religions.html

From Thrace Dionysus went to India, in which he conquered armies that he mustered on his way by the aid of his own spells. With these troops he returned to Greece accompanied by a triumphal procession in a chariot decorated in vine-leaves and drawn by panthers; his escorts were the Sileni, Bacchantes, satyrs and other fertility demons, such as the god Priapus.

http://www.themystica.org/mythical-folk/articles/dionysus.html
http://www.thanasis.com/dionys.htm

** I will try to search more on Hercules (often compared to Lord Krishna by Megasthenis)

2. Pythagoras

At that time India was still feeling the effects of the great spiritual revival brought about by Gautama the Buddha. Although Pythagoras arrived in India too late to come into personal contact with the Buddha, he was greatly influenced by his teachings. Indeed, there is such a close and intimate relationship between the Buddhistic and the Pythagorean systems that the one cannot be fully understood without an acquaintance with the other. Although Pythagoras went to India as a student, he left it as a Teacher. Even to this day he is known in that country as Yavanâchârya, the "Ionian Teacher."

http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/ancientlandmarks/Pythagoras.html
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2001/3-4/12_pythagoras.shtml

3. Jesus????

Almost 17 years of his life are missing. Bible doesn't say much about Jesus from age 13 to 30. According to some scholors he travelled with some traders to east, stayed in India and studied and then returned. There are also claims made that Jesus' tomb is found in Kashmir as he didn't die during crucification.

	In 1894, Russian scholar Nicolas Notovitch published a book called `The Unknown Life of Jesus’.

True or false these claims are quite interesting.

http://www.tsl.org/Masters/jesus/front.htm

http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm

http://www.tjresearch.info/Trebst.htm

4.Apollonius of Tyana

A philosopher-sage, often compared to Jesus for performing miracles and a man known for his journey across ancient world. He undertook a journey to India.

As a child he was remarkable for his powerful memory and great beauty. At 14 he was sent south to Tarsus to complete his studies, but grew unhappy in what he considered frivolous surroundings and moved to Aegae in Greece.

Here he found the teachings of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, whose code of conduct prescribed obedience to higher laws, silence, moderation in diet, and simplicity in dress and possessions. Pythagoras taught the doctrines of immortality and reincarnation, and advised the pursuit of self-knowledge. The proper use of philosophy, he said, was to study the inner nature of man - one who knew himself could then know the universe. At 16 Apollonius submitted himself to the Pythagorean principles. He was to follow them for the rest of his life.

Renouncing the use of animal flesh, he ate only those foods grown from the earth, clad himself in linen garments, and walked barefoot or in shoes made of tree bark. He abstained from wine and wore his hair long. For five years he took a vow of silence and spoke not a word, though often faced with ridicule and derision.

In those days India was considered an exotic and mysterious land. Tales were told of its inhabitants protecting their cities by bolts of lightning rather than combat. Its snow-clad mountains contained species of plants and animals elsewhere unknown. Bands of thieves roamed its vast plains, but its rulers were often holy men and sages. Damis, Apollonius, and their well-chosen guides departed to find the men the Tyanean would later describe in these words:

"I saw Indian Brahmans living upon the Earth and yet not on it, and fortified without fortifications, and possessing nothing, yet having the riches of all men." . . . [Damis] said he saw them levitating themselves two cubits high from the ground, not for the sake of miraculous display, for they disdain any such ambition; but they regard any rites they perform, in thus quitting earth and walking with the Sun, as acts of homage acceptable to the God. Moreover, they neither burn upon an altar nor keep in stoves the fire which they extract from the sun's rays, although it is a material fire; but like the rays of sunlight when they are refracted in water, so this fire is seen raised aloft in the air and dancing in the ether. -- Philostratus, bk 3, pp. 257, 259

An old Indian text, the Agamasâstra, a commentary on the Mandukya Upanisad by the great Hindu teacher Gaudapâda (c.500 CE). It mentions Apalûnya, Damîça, Ayârcya and Prâvrti (i.e., Apollonius, Damis, Iarchas and Phraotes - the main characters of Philostratus' Indian account).

http://www.theosophical.ca/ApolloniusTyana2.htm#biographer

5.St. Thomas

One of the apostles of Jesus had landed in India as first ever missionary in AD 52.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_(apostle)#Thomas_and_India

6. Marco Polo

Marco Polo (1254-1324), is probably the most famous Westerner traveled on the Silk Road. He excelled all the other travelers in his determination, his writing, and his influence. His journey through Asia lasted 24 years.

http://www.silk-road.com/artl/marcopolo.shtml

http://www.seikilos.com.ar/India_diary.html