1 54 _ HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
2 of boats, made of the bamboo canes so abundant on the marshy banks of that
3 river. The superior naval arrangements of the Phoenicians, combined with
4 mite defent of the their skill in navigating the ficet, enabled them to inflict a terrible defeat on
5 peas the Indians. More than-a thousand boats belonging to them were sunk,
6 and immense numbers of them were taken prisoners. The Indian king
7 nevertheless succeeded in rallying his forces and retired to some distance from
8 the river.
9 Elated with this success, Semirantis ordered a great bridge to be con-
10 structed over the Indus, by means of which she crossed that rapid stream.
11 A guard of sixty thousand men was appointed to defend the bridge.
12 Anather hard con. The counterfeit elephants were arranged in the van of the battle, and
13 ai the sight of them took the Indians by surprise. But their astonishment
14 was soon changed into contempt, when they were told by deserters from the
15 Assyrian army that the objects of their wonder were only fabrications of
16 the inventive genius of the Assyrian queen. The Indian king moved
17 forward with resolution, and a sanguinary fight ensued, in which the Assy-
18 rians were completely routed, their sham elephants were trampled upon by
19 the enraged living elephants of the Indian army, and a great number of
20 their fighting men were slain on the battle-field. Semiramis is described as
21 having fought with the heroism which characterized all the actions of her
22 pligroism displayed life, Dressed in military attire, she animated her troops by her example, as
23 aioe well as by her voice. She was conspicuous in every stage of the battle; and
24 is said to have ultimately engaged in a hand-to-hand encounter with her
25 royal male foe, who twice wounded her, once with an arrow that pierced her
26 delicate arm, and the second time with a javelin that struck her in the
27 shoulder, Wounded in body and afflicted in mind, the Queen effected her
28 retreat to her native land, though not without considerable loss to the
29 remnants of her army, thousands of whom found a watery grave in recross-
30 ing the river, while thousands were cut down by the pursuing Indians.
31 Some say that Semiramis herself perished in the fight, but certain it is that
32 Tin rout of the ee after suffering this disaster, thought no more of the conquest
33 of India. ;
34 INVASION OF THE PANJAB BY SESOSTRIS, KING OF EGYPT.
35 According to Eusebius,* the Czsarean, acknowledged to be the father
36 of ecclesiastical history, Sesostris flourished on the throne of Egypt in the
37 eighteenth century before the Christian era. He was a powerful king both
38 by land and sea, who greatly extended the bounds of his empire aud
39 enriched Egypt with many noble edifices and wise institutions. Having
40 cia ne whole province of Asia and the spacious provinces of higher
41 fakate 3 ue ary the eternal snows of the Caucasus and penetrated .
42 conqueror bere Scythia and Thrace, this great legislator, warrior and
43 eeu He attention towards the conquest of India. He is describ-
44 Panjab, an ‘7 ae army, by the usual route, into Northern India, or the
45 as far as the Ga inuing thence his progress eastward, he extended his sway
46 Dionysius, he ed There, according to Diodorus and the geographer,
47 inseribed cath eae pillars, descriptive of his conquest and glory, and |
48 people in defendin Pena of the attitude displayed by the conquered
49 is said to have er 2 d er Country. In every other country the conqueror
50 Hen. an ecte similar pillars, some of which survived to the time of
51 *, Who saw them in Palestine, while others were seen by Strabo in
52 * He was hor
53 . ni a H
54 friend Pamphiliy n Palestine about 2
55 s, Bishop of Cesare, 64 A.D. He took the surname of Pamphili from his
56 to whom he was much attached,
57 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com