gymnosophists

Indian philosophers, called by the Greeks gymnosophists, who went about as naked as apes; to those he proposed ridiculous questions, promising them very seriously that he who gave the worst answers should be hanged the first, and the rest in due order.

A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

Plato and Pythagoras left their country, to see those wise Egyptian priests: Apollonius travelled into Ethiopia, Persia, to consult with the Magi, Brachmanni, gymnosophists.

Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

They seem to be the gymnosophists, or naked philosophers, described by Clitarchos as living in India at the time of the expedition of Alexander, and their history crops out in various accounts -- that of Clement of Alexandria, then of the Chinese Fu-Hian in the fourth and fifth centuries, and of the celebrated Chinese

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 097, January, 1876 Various

For we are neither Brahmins nor Indian gymnosophists, inhabiting the woods, and exiles from existence.

The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries 1851-1930 1908

We are no Brahmins or Indian gymnosophists, dwelling in woods and exiled from life ....

The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries 1851-1930 1908

Formerly the Digambara ascetics went naked, and were the gymnosophists of the Greek writers, but now they take off their clothes, if at all, only at meals.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV) Robert Vane Russell 1894

Lycoeus, where men lost their shadows, their lives as well; that he had undergone eighty initiations of Mithra; that he had perplexed the magi; confuted the gymnosophists; that he foretold the future, healed the sick, raised the dead; that beyond the

Imperial Purple Edgar Saltus 1889

_Ethiop_ as convertible terms: but we must leave the gymnosophists of

History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1 Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens George W. Williams 1870

It is only five years since he appeared on the arena of great reforms, but till then, he lived, entirely secluded, in a jungle, like the ancient gymnosophists mentioned by the Greek and Latin authors.

From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan 1861

Ape of an ape -- for Diogenes was but a mimic therein of the Brahmins and Indian gymnosophists.

The Cloister and the Hearth Charles Reade 1849