A city in the land of the Yonas. There was a large Buddhist community there and it is said, in the Mahávamsa (xxix.40), that on the occasion of the foundation of the Mahá Thúpa by Dutthagámani, the thera Yonaka Mahá Dhammarakkhita came to Anurádhapura from Alasanda with 30,000 monks.
In the Milindapañha (p.327) Alasandá is mentioned in a list of places, among which are China, Benares and Gandhára.
Elsewhere in the same book (82,83), King Milinda is mentioned as saying that he was born in a village named Kalasi in Alasandá, but he speaks of Alasandá as an island. It was about two hundred leagues from Ságala.
It is generally accepted (E.g., in Questions of King Milinda, i., p.xxiii, see also CHI., p.550) that Alasandá was the name of an island in the Indus in the territory of Baktria. Geiger (Mhv.trs.194, n.3) thinks that it is probably to be identified with the town founded by the Macedonian king in the country of Paropanisadae near Kabul.
In the Apadána (i.359) the Alasandaká are mentioned in a list of tribes.