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Rh from hot and highly seasoned food. They marry as many wives as they please, with a view to having numerous children, for by having many wives greater advantages are enjoyed, and since they have no slaves, they have more need to have children around them to attend to their wants."



Of the Sramans, or ascetics, Megasthenes tells us that "they live in the wood, where they subsist on leaves of trees and wild fruits, and wear garments made from the bark of trees. They communicate with the kings, who consult them by messengers, regarding the causes of things, and who through them worship and supplicate the deity." Some of them practised medicine, and Megasthenes writes: "They effect cures rather by regulating diet than by the use of medicines. The remedies most esteemed are ointments and plasters." We learn from this account, as we learn from other sources, that sects of ascetics, subsisting on roots