Pandaie

In Greek mythology, Pandaie (Πανδαίη) was a daughter of Heracles whom he fathered in India. She was said to have been assigned a kingdom in India by her father, who established specific laws for it, and to become its eponym. According to the historian Megasthenes, she was also given by Heracles 500 elephants, 4000 horses and infantry of 130 000.^[1]

According to Pliny the Elder, Pandaie was the only female child of Heracles (which, however, contradicts the accounts that mention Macaria, Eucleia and Manto as his daughters), and was therefore especially favored by him. For that reason he made her queen of the Pandae, who since then became the only nation throughout India to be ruled by women. Pandaie's descendants, Pliny relates, reigned over three hundred cities and commanded an army of 5,100 plus five hundred elephants.^[2]

Polyaenus informs that Heracles allotted to Pandaie the southern part of India, subdividing it into 365 cantons and imposing on each a yearly tax that was to be paid on a certain fixed day of the year. Should a canton refuse to pay, other ones would be obliged to compensate the loss.^[3]

References

1. Cited in Arrian, Indica 8. 6 - 7; Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. 2, p. 418
2. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 6. 23 (20)
3. Polyaenus, Stratagems of War, 1. 3. 4