Theodorus () was a "meridarch" (Civil Governor of a province) in the Swat province of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, in Modern northern Pakistan, probably sometime between 100 BCE and the end of Greek rule in Gandhara in 55 BCE.
He is only known from a dedication written in kharoshthi on a relic vase inserted in a stupa in the Swat area of Gandhara, dated to the 1st century BCE, the relic vase is now kept at the Lahore Museum. (line-for-line translation):
Description
"Theudorena meridarkhena
pratithavida
ime sarira
Sakamunisa bhagavato
bahu-jana-stitiye"
"The meridarch Theodorus
has enshrined
these relics
of Lord Shakyamuni,
for the welfare of the mass of the people"
(SwÃÂt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/etext.php?cki=CKI0032)
This inscription represents one of the first known mention of the Buddha as a deity, using the Indian bhakti word Bhagavat ("Lord", "All-embracing personal deity"), suggesting the emergence of Mahayana doctrines in Buddhism.
It is also one of the examples Greco-Buddhism.
Theodorus is considered as contemporary or slightly posterior to another Indo-Greek named Heliodorus, whose c.100 BCE inscriptions have been preserved in the Heliodorus pillar.
References
Sources
- Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné, Osmund Bopearachchi, 1991, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, .
- The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002)
- Buddhism in Central Asia by B.N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000)
- The Greeks in Bactria and India, W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
- Stefan Baums. 2012. âÂÂCatalog and Revised Texts and Translations of Gandharan Reliquary Inscriptions.â In: David Jongeward, Elizabeth Errington, Richard Salomon and Stefan Baums, Gandharan Buddhist Reliquaries, p. 204, Seattle: Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project (Gandharan Studies, Volume 1).
- Stefan Baums and Andrew Glass. 2002â . Catalog of GÃÂndhÃÂrë Texts, no. CKI 32