Gymnosophistæ

, a certain sect of philosophers in India, who, according to some, placed their summum bonum in pleasure, and their summum malum in pain. They lived naked, as their name implies, and for 37 years they exposed themselves in the open air, to the heat of the sun, the inclemency of the seasons, and the coldne of the night. They were often seen in the fields fixing their eyes full upon the disc of the sun from the time of its rising till the hour of its setting. Sometimes they stood whole days upon one foot in burning sand without moving, or showing any concern for what surrounded them. Alexander was astonished at the sight of a sect of men who seemed to despise bodily pain, and who inured themselves to suffer the greatest tortures without uttering a groan, or expre ing any marks of fear. The conqueror condescended to visit them, and his astonishment was increased when he saw one of them ascend a burning pile with firmne and unconcern, to avoid the infirmities of old age, and stand upright on one leg and unmoved, whilst the flames surrounded him on every side. See: Calanus . The Brachmans were a branch of the sect of the Gymnosophistæ. See: Brach manes . Strabo , bk. 15 , . — Pliny , bk. 7 , ch. 2 .— Cicero , Tusculanæ Dis put at i ones , bk. 5 .— Lucan , bk. 3 , li. 240 .— Curtius , bk. 8 , ch. 9 .— Dionysius.