Some of the most unusual effects of Hellenization can be seen in Afghanistan and India, in the region of the relatively late-arising Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250 BC-125 BC) in modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan and the Greco-Indian Kingdom (180 BC - 10 CE) in modern Afghanistan and India. There on the newly formed Silk Road Greek culture apparently hybridized with Indian, and especially Buddhist culture. The resulting syncretism known as Greco-Buddhism heavily influenced the development of Buddhism and created a culture of Greco-Buddhist art. These Greco-Buddhist kingdoms sent some of the first Buddhist missionaries to China, Sri Lanka, and the Mediterranean (Greco-Buddhist monasticism). The first figural portrayals of the Buddha, previously avoided by Buddhists, appeared at this time; they were modeled on Greek statues of Apollo. Several Buddhist traditions may have been influenced by the ancient Greek religion: the concept of Boddhisatvas is reminiscent of Greek divine heroes, and some Mahayana ceremonial practices (burning incense, gifts of flowers, and food placed on altars) are similar to those practiced by the ancient Greeks. One Greek king, Menander I, probably became Buddhist, and was immortalized in Buddhist literature as 'Milinda'. The process of Hellenization extended to the sciences, where ideas from Greek astronomy filtered eastward and had profoundly influenced Indian astronomy by the early centuries AD. For example, Greek astronomical instruments dating to the 3rd century BC were found in the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai Khanoum in modern-day Afghanistan while the Greek concept of a spherical earth surrounded by the spheres of planets was adopted in India and eventually supplanted the long-standing Indian cosmological belief of a flat and circular earth. The Yavanajataka and Paulisa Siddhanta texts in particular show Greek influence.

What cultural phenomenon led to the existence of a Greco-Bactrian synthesis?

These incoherent words threw the first glimpse of light on the meaning of her distress and penitence. I doubt if the best woman in Christendom would so reproach and abase herself, if convicted of even a worse sin than the secret use of those stimulants for which the "charny" is a Martial equivalent. No Martialist would dream of poisoning his blood and besotting his brain with alcohol in any form. But their opiates affect a race addicted to physical repose, to sensuous enjoyment rather than to sensual excitement, and to lucid intellectual contemplation, with a sense of serene delight as supremely delicious to their temperament as the dreamy illusions of haschisch to the Turk, the fierce frenzy of bhang to the Malay, or the wild excitement of brandy or Geneva to the races of Northern Europe. But as with the luxury of intoxication in Europe, so in Mars indulgence in these drugs, freely permitted to the one sex, is strictly forbidden by opinion and domestic rule to the other. A lady discovered in the use of "charny" is as deeply disgraced as an European matron detected in the secret enjoyment of spirits and cigars; and her lord and master takes care to render her sufficiently conscious of her fault.

What was the luxury intoxication of Europe?

The movie is a powerful story that deals with feminism and patriarchy in the middle class of India . It is shot in the present and past tense showing lives of the characters Mahender and Sudha as they lived together as well as separately . The movie starts with Mahender getting down at the railway station and making his way to the waiting room just as it starts to rain heavily . A woman , Sudha , is already sitting in the waiting room . On seeing him , she tries to hide her face from him but later they confront each other . Mahender has an accomplished business dealing with photography . He respects his grandfather immensely . Incidentally , he had been engaged to Sudha for 5 years but always made some excuse to delay their wedding . However , this time his grandfather has fixed the wedding on the first week of the following month . He reveals to Sudha that he is having an affair with one of the most radical representations of feminism in a girl called Maya . He returns to tell Maya , but Maya has disappeared , leaving him some poetry . Mahender then marries Sudha and is quite happy , but the sudden return of Maya causes tensions in their married life . Mahender frequently tells Sudha about all the beautifully poignant , loving and authentic things Maya did over the years that they lived together . Later , Maya tries to commit suicide , and this leads to Mahender spending time with her over a few weeks . Sudha , not knowing about Maya 's suicide attempt and therefore believing that Mahender is being unfaithful to her , feels that her marriage was a mistake , and questions Mahender about his intentions .
Why does Maya attempt suicide?