Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

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)

Alexander's Indian campaign
Part of the
Indus Valley (modern-day Pakistan
)
Result Macedonian victory
Territorial
changes
Macedon annexes the northwestern Indian subcontinent
Belligerents Commanders and leaders

The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great began in 327 BC and lasted until 325 BC. After conquering the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the Macedonian army undertook an expedition into the northwestern Indian subcontinent. Within two years, Alexander expanded the Macedonian Empire to include present-day Punjab and Sindh in what is modern-day Pakistan, surpassing the earlier frontiers that had been established by the Persian conquest of the Indus Valley.

Following Macedon's absorption of Gandhara (a former Persian satrapy), including the city of Taxila, Alexander and his troops advanced into Punjab, where they were confronted by Porus, the regional Indian king. In 326 BC, Alexander defeated Porus and the Pauravas during the Battle of the Hydaspes,[1][2] but that engagement was possibly the Macedonians' most costly battle.[3]

Alexander's continued eastward march was leading his army into a confrontation with the Nanda Empire, based in Magadha. According to Greek sources, the Nanda army was five times the size of the Macedonian army;[4] Alexander's troops—increasingly exhausted, homesick, and anxious by the prospects of having to further face large Indian armies throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain—mutinied at the Hyphasis River, refusing to advance his push to the east. After a meeting with his army general Coenus, during which he was informed of his soldiers' laments, Alexander relented under the conviction that it was better to return. He subsequently turned southward, advancing through southern Punjab as well as Sindh, where he conquered more tribes along the lower areas of the Indus River, before finally turning westward to reach Macedon.[5]

Background

Sources

There are no ancient sources at all giving an Indian account of the campaign, or even mentioning it at all.

Porus in the extremely sparse Indian accounts of the period. There are however Indian literary accounts and Indian folktales
, possibly written many years later.

Of those who accompanied Alexander to India,

Anabasis (c. 150 AD). Arrian provides a detailed account of Alexander's campaigns, based on the writings of Alexander's companions and courtiers.[8]

Arrian's account is supplemented by the writings of other authors, whose works are also based on the accounts of Alexander's companions: these authors include Diodorus (c. 21 BC), Strabo (c. 23 AD), and Plutarch (c. 119 AD).[9]

Socio-political conditions in India

Alexander's incursion into India was limited to the

Malloi as well as kings whose names seem to be tribal designations. The Achaemenid Empire of Persia had held suzerainty over the Indus valley in the previous decades, but there was no trace of Achaemenid rule beyond the Indus river when Alexander's army arrived in the region.[10] Strabo, sourcing his information from the earlier writer Eratosthenes, states that the Achaemenid king controlled the area to the west of the Indus.[11] This area (including the Kapisa-Gandhara region) was probably the territory of the Indians, who according to the Greek accounts, fought alongside their overlord Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela.[12]

Greek writings as well as archaeological excavations indicate the existence of an urban economy dependent on agriculture and trade in the Indus basin. The Greeks mention the existence of cities and fortified towns such as

Rock salt was extracted from the Salt Range, and supplied to other parts of India.[13] Some primitive communities existed in the forest, desert, and coastal regions of the subcontinent. For example, Nearchus mentions that people around the Tomeros river (Hingol) subsisted on fishing, and used stone tools instead of iron ones.[13]

The Greek writers mention the priestly class of

Ajivika monk. There is no reference to Buddhism in the Greek accounts.[15]

Other than their mention of the Brahmanas, the Greek narratives about Alexander's invasion do not directly mention the

Magian practice of Tower of Silence, was also prevalent in Taxila.[14]

Nearchus mentions that Indians wrote letters on closely woven cloth; it is possible that this is a reference to a precursor of the

Gandhari Prakrit, as the Greek names (e.g. "Taxila" and "Sandrokottus") for Indian people and places seem to be derived from this language (e.g. "Takhasila" and "Chandagutta") rather than Sanskrit (e.g. "Takshashila" and "Chandragupta").[15]

Nearchus attests the existence of

medical science in India: he mentions that when the Greek physicians failed to provide remedies for snake-bites to Alexander, the king gathered Indian healers who were also able to cure other diseases and painful conditions. The Greek accounts do not mention any other sciences of contemporary India.[15]

Alexander's preparation

Gandharan, Hindush) c. 480 BC. Naqsh-e Rostam reliefs of Xerxes I
.

After the death of

Indus valley had long been under Achaemenid control, since the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley c. 515 BC.[17] Alexander was only taking possession of territories which he had obtained from the Achaemenids, and now considered rightfully his own.[17]

Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of

Cophen campaign

Alexander personally took command of the shield-bearing guards, foot-companions, archers, Agrianians, and horse-javelin-men and led them against the

Buner valleys.[citation needed
]

Alexander faced resistance from Hastin (or Astes), chief of the Ilastinayana (called the Astakenoi or Astanenoi) tribe, whose capital was Pushkalavati or Peukelaotis.

Bazira, and Ora or Dyrta.[20][21][22]

A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi, in the course of which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry, and 30

Bazira, and Massaga. The fort of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself was wounded seriously in the ankle. When the Chieftain of Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme command of the army went to his old mother, Cleophis, who also stood determined to defend her motherland to the last extremity. The example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of the military also brought the entire population of women of the locality into the fighting.[24][25] Alexander was only able to reduce Massaga by resorting to political stratagem and actions of betrayal. According to Curtius: "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles".[26]
A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi.

Siege of Aornos

The Aornos is located to the north of Taxila, Pakistan.

In the aftermath of general

Indus. Neighboring tribesmen who surrendered to Alexander offered to lead him to the best point of access.[citation needed
]

At the vulnerable north side leading to the fort, Alexander and his catapults were stopped by a deep ravine. To bring the siege engines within reach, an earthwork mound was constructed to bridge the ravine. A low hill connected to the nearest tip of Pir-Sar was soon within reach and taken. Alexander's troops were at first repelled by boulders rolled down from above. Three days of drumbeats marked the defenders' celebration of the initial repulse, followed by a surprise retreat. Hauling himself up the last rockface on a rope, Alexander cleared the summit, slaying some fugitives – inflated by Arrian to a massacre

Saśigupta, who had helped Alexander in this campaign, was made the governor of Aornos.[citation needed
]

Punjab

After reducing Aornos, Alexander crossed the Indus to begin campaigning in the

Battle of the Hydaspes River

A painting by Charles Le Brun depicting Alexander and Porus (Puru) during the Battle of the Hydaspes.

The

Hydaspes
.

Porus awaits the attack of Alexander, July, 326 BCE

Porus was a regional King in India. Arrian writes about Porus, in his own words:

One of the Indian Kings called Porus, a man remarkable alike for his personal strength and noble courage, on hearing the report about Alexander, began to prepare for the inevitable. Accordingly, when hostilities broke out, he ordered his army to attack Macedonians from whom he demanded their king, as if he was his private enemy. Alexander lost no time in joining battle, but his horse being wounded in the first charge, he fell headlong to the ground, and was saved by his attendants who hastened up to his assistance.

Porus drew up on the south bank of the Jhelum River, and was set to repel any crossings. The Jhelum River was deep and fast enough that any opposed crossing would probably doom the entire attacking force. Alexander knew that a direct crossing would fail, so he found a suitable crossing, about 27 km (17 mi) upstream of his camp. The name of the place is "Kadee". Alexander left his general Craterus behind with most of the army while he crossed the river upstream with a strong contingent. Porus sent a small cavalry and chariot force under his son to the crossing.

According to sources[citation needed], Alexander had already encountered Porus's son, so the two men were not strangers. Porus's son killed Alexander's horse with one blow, and Alexander fell to the ground. Also writing about this encounter, Arrian adds,

Other writers state that there was a fight at the actual landing between Alexander's cavalry and a force of Indians commanded by Porus's son, who was there ready to oppose them with superior numbers, and that in the course of fighting he (Porus's son) wounded Alexander with his own hand and struck the blow which killed his (Alexander's) beloved horse Buccaphalus.

Porus on his elephant. Silver. British Museum
.

The force was easily routed, and according to Arrian, Porus' son was killed. Porus now saw that the crossing force was larger than he had expected, and decided to face it with the bulk of his army. Porus's army were poised with cavalry on both flanks, the

war elephants
in front, and infantry behind the elephants. These war elephants presented an especially difficult situation for Alexander, as they scared the Macedonian horses.

Alexander started the battle by sending horse archers to shower the Porus's left cavalry wing, and then used his cavalry to destroy Porus's cavalry. Meanwhile, the Macedonian phalanxes had crossed the river to engage the charge of the war elephants. The Macedonians eventually surrounded Porus's force.

Diodorus wrote about the battle tactics of war elephants:

Upon this the elephants, applying to good use their prodigious size and strength, killed some of the enemy by trampling under their feet, and crushing their armour and their bones, while upon other they inflicted a terrible death, for they first lifted them aloft with their trunks, which they twisted round their bodies and then dashed them down with great violence to the ground. Many others they deprived in a moment of life by goring them through and through with their tusks.

The fighting style of Porus' soldiers was described in detail by Arrian:

The foot soldiers carry a bow made of equal length with the man who bears it. This they rest upon the ground, and pressing against it with their left foot thus discharges the arrow, having drawn the string far backwards for the shaft they use is little short for three yards long, and there is nothing can resist an Indian archer's shot, neither shield nor breast plate, nor any stronger defence if such there be.[29]

According to Curtius Quintus, Alexander towards the end of the day sent a few ambassadors to Porus:

Alexander, anxious to save the life of this great and gallant soldier, sent Texile the Indian to him (to Porus). Texile rode up as near as he dared and requested him to stop his elephant and hear what message Alexander sent him, escape was no longer possible. But Texiles was an old enemy of the Indian King, and Porus turned his elephant and drove at him, to kill him with his lance; and he might indeed have killed him, if he had not spurred his horse out of the way in the nick of the time. Alexander, however, far from resenting this treatment of his messenger, sent a number of others, last of whom was Indian named Meroes, a man he had been told had long been Porus' friend.[29]

According to Plutarch this was one of Alexander's hardest battles:

The combat then was of a more mixed kind; but maintained with such obstinacy, that it was not decided till the eighth hour of the day.

Plutarch also wrote that the bitter fighting of the Hydaspes made Alexander's men hesitant to continue on with the conquest of India, considering that they would potentially face far larger armies than those of Porus if they were to cross the Ganges River.[32]

Porus was one of many local kings who impressed Alexander. Wounded in his shoulder, standing over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, but still on his feet, he was asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated. "Treat me, Alexander, the way a King treats another King", Porus responded. Other historians question the accuracy of this entire event, noting that Porus would never have said those words.

Philostratus the Elder in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana writes that in the army of Porus there was an elephant who had fought bravely against Alexander's army and Alexander dedicated it to Helios (Sun) and named it Ajax, because he thought that a so great animal deserved a great name. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on them written in Greek: "Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to Helios" (ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ο ΔΙΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΙΑΝΤΑ ΤΩΙ ΗΛΙΩΙ).[34]

Alexander did not continue, thus leaving all the headwaters of the Indus River unconquered. He later founded Alexandria Nikaia (Victory), located at the battle site, to commemorate his triumph. He also founded

Catheans

After crossing the

Porus with elephants and 5,000 local troops, laid siege to Sagala, where the Cathaeans (related to Kāṭhī)[35]
had entrenched themselves. The city was razed to the ground, and many of its inhabitants killed:

"The Cathaeans... had a strong city near which they proposed to make their stand, named Sagala. (...) The next day Alexander rested his troops, and on the third advanced on Sangala, where the Cathaeans and their neighbours who had joined them were drawn up in front of the city. (...) At this point too,
Anabasis of Alexander
, V.22–24

Musicanus

Musicanus (

Indus, who raised a rebellion against Alexander the Great c. 323 BC. Peithon
, one of Alexander's generals, managed to put down the revolt:

"Meantime he was informed that Musicanus had revolted. He dispatched the viceroy, Peithon, son of Agenor, with a sufficient army against him, while he himself marched against the cities which had been put under the rule of Musicanus. Some of these he razed to the ground, reducing the inhabitants to slavery; and into others he introduced garrisons and fortified the citadels. After accomplishing this, he returned to the camp and fleet. By this time Musicanus had been captured by Peithon, who was bringing him to Alexander." – Arrian Anabasis[37]

Porticanus

The King of Patala, Porticanus came to Alexander and surrendered. Alexander let him keep possession of his own dominions, with instructions to provide whatever was needed for the reception of the army.[36]

Sambus

Sambus was yet another ruler in lower Indus valley. According to Diodorus Siculus, Alexander invaded his kingdom, killing eighty thousand people and destroying cities. Most of population was taken into slavery, and Sambus himself ‘fled with thirty elephants into the country beyond the Indus’.

Revolt of Alexander's army

Ancient India in relation to Alexander
's Empire and neighbors.

East of Porus's kingdom, near the

Nanda Empire of Magadha and the Gangaridai Empire of Bengal. Fearing the prospects of facing other powerful Indian armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River (the modern Beas River), refusing to march further east.[38]

Alexander's troops beg to return home from India in plate 3 of 11 by Antonio Tempesta of Florence, 1608.

As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants.

— 
Plutarch's Lives[39]
West Bengal, India is believed to be the capital of Gangaridai. The Gangaridai army, with its 4,000 elephant force, may have led to Alexander's retreat from India.[40]

Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants. Owing to this, their country has never been conquered by any foreign king: for all other nations dread the overwhelming number and strength of these animals. Thus Alexander the Macedonian, after conquering all Asia, did not make war upon the Gangaridai, as he did on all others; for when he had arrived with all his troops at the river Ganges, he abandoned as hopeless an invasion of the Gangaridai when he learned that they possessed four thousand elephants well trained and equipped for war.

Alexander, using the incorrect maps of the Greeks, thought that the world ended a mere 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away, at the edge of India. He therefore spoke to his army and tried to persuade them to march further into India, but Coenus pleaded with him to change his mind and return, saying the men "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men, agreed and turned back.

Mallian campaign

Along the way, his army conquered the Malli clans (in modern-day Multan). During a siege, Alexander jumped into the fortified city with only two of his bodyguards and was wounded seriously by a Mallian arrow.[32] His forces, believing their king dead, took the citadel and unleashed their fury on the Malli who had taken refuge within it, perpetrating a massacre, sparing no man, woman or child.[42] However, due to the efforts of his surgeon, Kritodemos of Kos, Alexander survived the injury.[43] Following this, the surviving Malli surrendered to Alexander's forces, thereby his beleaguered army moved on and conquered more Indian tribes along the way.

Aftermath

Ptolemy coin with Alexander wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests in southern Asia.
The army crosses the Gedrosian Desert, by Andre Castaigne (1898–1899).

Alexander sent much of his army to

Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, and commissioned a fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran) and Makran (now part of Pakistan). In crossing the desert, Alexander's army took enormous casualties from hunger and thirst, but fought no human enemy. They encountered the "Fish Eaters", or Ichthyophagi, primitive people who lived on the Makran coast of the Arabian Sea, who had matted hair, no fire, no metal, no clothes, lived in huts made of whale bones, and ate raw seafood obtained by beachcombing.[44] During the crossing, Alexander refused as much water as possible, to share the sufferings of his men and to boost the morale of the army.[45]

In the territory of the

Porus and Taxiles. Eudemus became ruler of a part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their armies. In c. 322 BC BC, Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha founded the Maurya Empire in India and conquered the Macedonian satrapies during the Seleucid–Mauryan war (305–303 BC).[46]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Fuller, p. 198

    While the battle raged, Craterus forced his way over the Haranpur ford. When he saw that Alexander was winning a brilliant victory he pressed on and, as his men were fresh, took over the pursuit.

  2. ^ The Anabasis of Alexander/Book V/Chapter XVIII
  3. ^ Peter Connolly. Greece and Rome at War. Macdonald Phoebus Ltd, 1981, p. 66.
  4. ^ Bongard-Levin, G. (1979). A History of India. Moscow: Progress Publishers. p. 264.
  5. ^ The Anabasis of Alexander/Book V/Chapter XXVIII
  6. ^ Keay, John, India, a History, pp. 70–71, 2000, HarperCollins, ISBN 0002557177
  7. ^ a b R. K. Mookerji 1966, p. 3.
  8. ^ a b c Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, p. 1.
  9. ^ a b Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, pp. 1–2.
  10. ^ Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, pp. 2–3.
  11. ^ H. C. Raychaudhuri 1988, p. 32-33.
  12. ^ H. C. Raychaudhuri 1988, p. 33.
  13. ^ a b c Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, p. 2.
  14. ^ a b c Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, p. 3.
  15. ^ a b c Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, p. 4.
  16. ^ Irfan Habib & Vivekanand Jha 2004, pp. 3–4.
  17. ^ a b The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations in Akra in Northwest Pakistan Peter Magee, Cameron Petrie, Robert Knox, Farid Khan, Ken Thomas p.714
  18. ^ H. C. Raychaudhuri 1988, p. 46.
  19. ^ R. K. Mookerji 1966, p. 24.
  20. ^ R. K. Mookerji 1966, p. 25.
  21. ^ Ian Worthington 2003, p. 162.
  22. ^ Narain, A. K. (1965). Alexander the Great: Greece and Rome – 12. pp. 155–165.
  23. ^ "Quintus Curtius Rufus: Life of Alexander the Great". University of Chicago. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  24. ^ Majumdar, R. C. (1971). Ancient India. p. 99.
  25. ^ Mukerjee, R. K. History and Culture of Indian People, The Age of Imperial Unity, Foreign Invasion. p. 46.
  26. ^ Curtius in McCrindle, p. 192, J. W. McCrindle; History of Punjab, Vol I, 1997, p 229, Punjabi University, Patiala (editors): Fauja Singh, L. M. Joshi; Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, p. 134, Kirpal Singh.
  27. ^ Robin Lane Fox 1973, p. 343.
  28. ^ H. C. Raychaudhuri 1988, p. 54.
  29. ^ .
  30. ^ "Alexander the Great in India: Furthest and Final Conquests 327–325 BCE". 4 December 2021.
  31. ^ P.H.L. Eggermont, Alexander's campaign in Southern Punjab (1993).
  32. ^ a b Plutarch, Alexander. "Plutarch, Plutarch, Alexander (English).: Alexander (ed. Bernadotte Perrin)". Tufts University. Retrieved 30 May 2008. See also: "Alexander is wounded". Main Lesson. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  33. ^ Rogers, p.200
  34. ^ Philostratus the Elder, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, § 2.12
  35. .
  36. ^ a b Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, 6.17
  37. ^ Arrian Anabasis Book 6b
  38. ^ Paul J. Kosmin 2014, p. 34.
  39. ^ Plutarch, Alexander, 62
  40. ^ A. B. Bosworth 1996, p. 189.
  41. ^ Megasthenes. Quoted from the Epitome of Megasthenes, Indika. (Diodorus II, 35–42), Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian. Translated and edited by J. W. McCrindle.
  42. .
  43. ^ "Ancient Surgery:Alexander the Great". Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  44. ^ Arrian, Indica, 29
  45. ^ Arrian, The Anabasis of Alexander, 6.26:
  46. ^ "Expansion of the Maurya Empire | Early World Civilizations".

Sources

Further reading