1 The naval expedition
2 of Scylix under
3 Darius I.
4 The regions conquer-
5 ed by Duius,
6 Nausher can,
7 _Tirth of Alexander,
8 Se oe
9 58 HISTORY OF THE PANJADB.
10 object of the expedition being to determine the exact point at which the
11 Indus meets the ocean, and to explore the western provinces of India.
12 Scylax, who was the most distinguished naval commander of that early age,
13 accomplished this tedious and hazardous voyage 1n @ period of two years and
14 a-half, and, returning to the Court of Susa, furnished the required informa-
15 tion to Darius. No detailed accounts have been preserved of this celebrated
16 paval expedition, or of the subsequent conquest of the western regions of
17 India effected by the Persian monarch. But it is recorded that he drew
18 from India a larger revenue than had ever been remitted to any Persian
19 king before his time. India is said to have been but one of the twenty
20 countries subject to Persia during the reign of Darius, but the tribute of
21 the newly conquered province amounted to nearly a third part of the_reve-
22 nue of his other possessions, According to Herodotus, this tribute was paid
23 in gold, the reason assigned by Mr. Rennel, in his memoirs, being that the
24 “ eastern tributaries of the Indus, as well as some other streams that descend
25 from the northern mountains anciently yielded gold-dust.” The description
26 of the country given by Herodotus leads to the conjecture that the regions
27 conquered by Darius comprised the modern provinces of Multén and Léhore,
28 and possibly Gujrdt. It establishes, beyond doubt, that those provinces were,
29 even in those early times, most populous and highly cultivated.
30 Naushervdn, who ruled the Persian empire when Muhammad, the Prophet
31 of Arabia, was born, styled himself “ King of Persia and India.” There are
32 no records left to show that he ever crossed the Indus; but it is possible
33 that his supremacy was acknowledged by the monarchs of Hindostén, for
34 Sir Edward Sullivan mentions it as a fact that, when Bahramgor, Jing of
35 Persia, came to India in disguise, in 330 A.D., to study the wise laws and
36 regulations of the country, “he was discovered by the extraordinary feat of
37 shooting an elephant dead with an arrow in the head, and he was received
38 with great homage by Basdeo, king of Kanauyj.”
39 CHAPTER IX.
40 INVASION OF THE PANJAB BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT,
41 KING OF MACEDON.
42 Ec fell to the lot of Alexander to attain such world-wide renown as no other
43 ae pes has enjoyed, from the remotest antiquity to the present day.
44 re pe a conqueror has spread alike over the continents of Europe and
45 ie and his name is familiar to every tyro in history and every schoolboy.
46 e was the son of Philip of Macedon and Olymphias, the daughter of Neopto-
47 Peete ser was born at Pella in 356 B.c. An account of his
48 entiul life was written by tw i i
49 accounts were lost. They w Pe ee
50 . eee ere, however, well known in Macedon and the
51 snare eaonine and had been read by learned people. Among those
52 aa se, han led there original | works were Arrian and Quintus Curtius,
53 of ie oO onl that the world is indebted for complete histories of the life
54 graphic deen onaertueeer n in the fifth century after his death. To the
55 condition of india twenty elegant scholars we also owe our knowledge of the
56 that : one centuries ago. It is rather startling to find
57 upwards of 300 years before the Christian era, when Western Europe
58 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com