INDIA FROM 6TH TO 4TH CENTURY BC (SERIES-2)
ALEXANDER’S INVASION ON INDIA
After conquering the ARCHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE , ALEXANDER turned towards an expedition into the INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT . Following MACEDON’S invasion into GANDHARA including the city of TAXILA , ALEXANDER with his troops advanced into PUNJAB . He was confronted there with PORUS , the then king of the PUNJAB region in 326 BC . He defeated PORUS and PAURAVAS in the Battle of the HYDASPES .Then he moved eastward leading his army into a confrontation with the NANDA DYNASTY of MAGADHA . To GREEK sources , the NANDA’S army was five times the size of the MACEDONIAN army . On the other hand , ALEXANDER’S troops were increasingly exhausted , homesick , and quite anxious of facing a large army of the NANDA DYNASTY . So, they mutinied at the bank of the HYPHASIS (BEAS) river and refused to advance his push to thd east . ALEXANDER met his loyal and brave General COENUS to know the overall mood of his soldiers .To know the unwillingness of his soldiers to move ahead further , he relented under the conviction that it was better to return . He then turned towards southward and went back along the road by which he came near the JHELAM river .Then he sailed down the river with a part of his army in 1000 boats , while troops marched along its either bank to protect him .
FIGHT WITH MALAVAS AND OTHER TRIBES
On the confluence of JHELAM and CHENAB , ALEXANDER had to fight with a confederacy of republican tribes led by the MALLOI (MALAVAS) and the OXYDRAKAI (KSHUDRAKAS) . All the towns of MALAVAS now turned into citadels of resistance . It is said that in one of the citadel , about 5000 BRAHMANAS left the pen for the sword and died fighting . Another tribe known as the AGALASSOI (ARJUNAYANAS) also fought with great valour . When one of their towns was captured by ALEXANDER , all the citizens , numbering 20,000 , after heroic resistance , threw themselves into the fire with their wives and children .Thus , it was the first recorded JAUHAR ceremony in the INDIAN history . And when two Kings , MUSICANUS and OXYCANUS , in the lower SINDHU valley , submitted to ALEXANDER , they were denounced as traitors by the BRAHMANAS who had urged the people to oppose foreign invaders as a part of their DHARMA . Later the kings revoked their submission and fought . In September 325 BC , ALEXANDER reached PATALA , where SINDHU (INDUS) river was divided into two branches before reaching the seashore . His homeward journey now started . ALEXANDER reached SUSA in PERSIA in 324 BC and died there in 323 BC only . Though he had made arrangements for the administration of the conquered territories , yet after his death the whole system collapsed within a short period of time .
IMPORTANCE OF ALEXANDER’S INVASION ON INDIA
ALEXANDER’S invasion over INDIA , from the viewpoint of INDIANS , was that that it opened up a free intercourse between INDIA and the Western countries having long term future consequences .Though it was not a great military success in INDIA except his battle with PORUS of PUNJAB , yet GREEK historians have exhibited his invasion on INDIA as a great success hiding many facts about it .They carved a story that there was a mutiny in the ALEXANDER’S army , that’s why he preferred to return back to MACEDONIA .The fact was that the retreat of ALEXANDER was virtually caused by the terror of the mighty power of the NANDAS . But it can’t be denied that the blood-thirsty GREEK troops slaughtered the inhabitants of captured cities , sparing neither man , woman nor child . The GREEK historians have recorded that during the campaign of the lower INDUS VALLEY alone , 80,000 of the natives were killed , and multitudes sold as slaves . However , the modern EUROPEAN historians have tried to justify these crimes . But an INDIAN historian can hardly be blamed for regarding ALEXANDER only as a precursor of NADIR SHAH and TAMERLANE .
NOTE : THE SOURCES OF THE BLOG ARE TEXT BOOKS AND OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ON THE SUBJECT .
TO BE CONTINUED ……………….
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