"Well," I said, "I have known a multitude of men. Many claimed purity of motives; but when I considered their actions, I saw that all of them acted from self-interest, at least most of the time."
"Precisely, my dear pupil, precisely," said Sisonaga, beaming. "That is why so few yogins can perform these acts, although there are many liars who falsely claim all sorts of wonders. Beware of them. In my own century and a half of seeking—in this body, that is—I have been privileged to achieve such feats on but a few occasions: two revivals of dead persons, for example."
"How shall I acquire these powers?"
"First, there are the six postures: the lotus, the inverted, the pan-physical, the fish, the plow, and the serpent. Then there are the breathing exercises, with their cycles of inhalation, exhalation, and holding, and the control of the nose, mouth, and throat passages. The final stage comprises the exercises in concentration, whereby one learns to control one's own thoughts, to observe them with complete detachment, and to induce a mental vacuum. Eventually, one achieves the cosmic trance. Let us try the first and simplest posture, the lotus. Sitting erect, place the left foot, with the sole up, on the right thigh.... Come on, my good pupil, pull!"
"I fear I am a little old and creaky for such gymnastics," I muttered, straining to get my leg into the position indicated. At last I got my foot up on the opposite thigh.
"Now," continued Sisonaga, "push your left knee down so that it lies flat on the ground, as mine does. Push harder! Harder!"
Feeling like a suspect being questioned on the rack by the Ptolemies' police, I tried to carry out the yogin's commands. But, though I strained until my joints creaked, sweat ran down my brow, and the two Indians lent their help, I could not get my left knee down to the grass. Until I did, there was no hope of hoisting my right foot up so as to lay it upon my left leg in the lotus posture.
After a struggle that may have lasted a quarter hour, although ft seemed much longer, the yogin gave up. When I tried to straighten out my bent left leg, I found that I could not The leg was stuck, with the foot pressing into the right thigh. I had to ask the Indians to pull the foot loose. Although I am no stranger to wounds, the pain of this operation fetched a groan from me. When I tried to stand up, I collapsed like a toddler just learning to walk. Rama had to steady me until my limbs recovered from the wrenching they had received.
"With one so stiff in the joints as yourself," said Sisonaga, "we must draw nigh to these things bit by bit. I will prescribe exercises for the thigh joints. Performed once a day, these will enable you to begin your regular course of postures within a month."
"In a month," I said, "I shall, Lady Luck willing, be on my way back to Egypt. Whilst I do not doubt the value of your treatments, I have no wish to go into a cosmic trance or to pick up an elephant. What I really want is to make love to my dear wife once more."
Sisonaga clucked. "Nay, I fear I cannot help you to seek sensual gratification. I do, however, have a colleague: the vanaprastha, Jaivali of Mahismati. Although I deem his doctrines riddled with error and his practice hardly more than witchcraft, it is said that he can help earthbound persons like yourself to attain their mundane goals."
"Where shall I find this Jaivali?"
"Go up the Nammados about twenty-five yojanas to the city of Mahismati and ask for Jaivali the hermit. Anybody can direct you to his forest dwelling. In fact, it is deemed a pilgrimage of great merit to walk the entire length of the Nammados afoot, up one side to the source and down again on the other to the mouth. If you would fain cleanse your karma thus ..."
"No, thank you. Time does not permit, and anyway I fear that your spiritual exercises have crippled me for life." I took my leave of Sisonaga and, leaning on Rama's shoulder, hobbled back to Barygaza.
I sought out Hippalos' hut and found my versatile first officer sitting in front of it in the very lotus posture, which I had tried in vain to assume and from whose effects I was still limping. Moreover, he was amusing a circle of Indians by conjuring tricks, making square Indian coins and other small objects appear and vanish and plucking them out of the ears and nostrils of his audience. Rama said he had to go, so we bade him a final farewell.
"Walk to the ship with me," I told Hippalos. The spies from Andhra and Magadha fell in behind us. Being sure they did not know Greek, we ignored them.
"I'm going up the river for a couple of fen-days," I said. I told Hippalos about Jaivali, adding: "I shall have to leave you in command of the ship. Now, this would be the time to do a little trading on our own. It seems obvious what sort of goods to buy, to avoid old Fatty's monopoly."
"Pearls and precious stones, of course," he replied with his satyriike grin. "We can hide them next to our skins on our return. I'm with you, Captain. I should say for me to try to buy pearls locally, since they will be cheapest along the coast, while you see what you can do in the way of rubies and sapphires inland."
"Agreed."
"When should I expect you back?"
I thought. "Sisonaga said Mahismati was twenty-five yojanas upriver, which according to Rama is about sixty leagues. But one can never be sure of distances in a foreign land. Besides, I might fall ill or have to come back by another route. You'd better give me at least two months. If I'm not back by then and haven't sent word, take the Ourania back to Egypt"
Then I sought out Otaspes the Persian and said: "You hope to leave during the coming dry season, and you'll want to make a last killing before you go. Why not go to Mahismati with me and try to pick up some bargains? You can help with the local dialects, while I can help with the fighting if it come to that."
"What sort of trip had you in mind? A simple round trip, up and down the river?"
"I don't know. I might make a side trip if something interested me. I must, however, be back when the northeast wind begins to blow."
"If you are going to travel about the interior of India, you had better choose nations under Buddhist rule to visit."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because Buddhists are generally friendly to Hellenes, whereas Brachmanists are hostile. This goes back to the days when King Menandros and King Pushyamitra of Magadha were fighting up and down the Ganges. Being a devout Brachmanist, Pushyamitra persecuted the Buddhists, so the latter sided with Menandros and looked upon his Bactrio-Greeks as saviors. Besides, Brachmanists hate Hellenes because the latter do not take their system of colors seriously. In their eyes, to permit 'confusion of colors'—that is, intermarriage among people of different color—is one of the wickedest sins a ruler can commit."
"I'll bear that in mind. But are you coming?"
Otaspes thought a moment and said: "I'm with you, Eudoxos. Your servant is getting too fat, sitting around the pothouses picking up gossip, day after day."
Two days later, Otaspes, Gnouros, and I were on our way up the Nammados in a river boat. Under my tunic and mail shirt I carried my money, in golden Ptolemaic staters, folded into a cloth, which was tied like a belt around my middle. Otaspes brought a man-load of Persian rugs and other trade goods besides his money.
During the wet season, the traffic on the Nammados, like that of the Nile, benefits from the fact that the water goes one way while the wind goes the other. One merely hoists sail to go upstream and lowers it to come down again.
The jungle-clad banks on either side of the river rose by stages, like steps, to low ranges of bills or plateaus. Now and then we passed a village in a clearing, or a temple, or one of those huge domes of brick, covered with white stucco, which the Buddhists build to house the relics of their holy men. There was constant traffic along the roads on each side of the river: single wayfarers, family groups, caravans of traders, pilgrims and holy men, and religious processions. There were men afoot, on asses, on horses, in carriages, in ox wains, in buffalo carts, and on elephants. We had thought of using horses, too, but the river promised greater comfort and safety.