1 Porus refuses to
2 yicld
3 Alexander wages
4 wiren hitn,
5 The milttary tactics
6 of Alev under.
7 TL sonef Porus
8 Sarin the bittle-
9 rek
10 Suiruniry battle,
11 64 HISTORY OF TIE PANJAB.
12 Lébore and Pindi Bhattian, was the capital of the Panj4b in 633 A.D. At
13 Taxila, Alexander was met by the ambassadors of neighbouring kingdoms,
14 among whom were the delegates from Abisares, the sovereign of the northern
15 hills, inhabited by a powerful and warlike mountain tribe, called by the mo-
16 dern Indians the Ghakkars, and Doxarens, who ruled one of the districts in
17 the plains. The Macedonian king received their submission favourably, and,
18 in return for the presents made by them, loaded them with princely gifts.
19 Porus, however, who had vast military resources at his command, and who,
20 on this account, was feared on every side, refused to yield tamely to the
21 foreign invader, and resolved at any cost to himself to maintain the indepen-
22 dence of his country and the nation, In answer to the herald sent to
23 demand tribute and a meeting, on the border of his dominions, as a proof of
24 his submission to the Macedonian conqueror, the king, so says Curtius, re-
25 plied that he would certainly meet Alexander on his frontier, though not as
26 a vassal, but in arms, which alone could decide the fate of empires.
27 Having placed a Macedonian garrison at Taxila, and appointed Philip to
28 be the governor of the province, Alexander moved towards the eastern bank
29 of the Jhelum, where he was informed that Porus was encamped with his
30 army, to dispute the passage of the stream. The army which Porus had
31 brought into the field at this time numbered, according to Strabo,
32 thirty thousand efficient foot, seven thousand horse, three hundred
33 armed chariots and two hundred war elephants. These huge animals,
34 like lofty towers, were ranged along the opposite bank in an impos-
35 ing array. Plutarch, the historian of Alexander, has given a lucid account
36 of th's memorable battle, from Alexander’s own letters. The Grecian
37 army advanced along the main road leading from Attock to Jalalptr.
38 The rainy season was then at its height, and the floods were augmented by
39 the melting of the snows by the summer heat on the hills. Alexander,
40 finding the river much swollen by the floods and rain, caused the vessels on
41 the Indus to be taken to pieces, and transported them to Jhelum overland.
42 In the meanwhile he amused Porus by constantly manceuvering his army
43 so as to make it appear that he had neither the intention nor the means of
44 readily crossing the river, the fords of which were moreover carefully guarded
45 by the enemy, a report being also sedulously circulated that the enterprise
46 had been abandoned till the rainy season was over. Deceived by these
47 stratagems, Porus relaxed his precautions and Alexander, taking advantage
48 of a dark, tempestuous night, crossed the river at a point, fourteen miles
49 west of the modern battle-field of Chilidénwala, and about thirty miles south-
50 west of the town of Jhelum.* As soon as Porus- was informed of this move-
51 ment, he despatched his son, at the head of a force, to check the invader’s pas-
52 sage, but, before the young prince could arrive at the selected spot, Alexan-
53 der had safely landed all his troops on the eastern shore. He now at once
54 anreec the Indians vigorously with his cavalry and defeated them, their
55 leader, the son of the king, being, slain and four hundred of their troops fall-
56 ing with him in the action. The death of his brave son had a painful effect
57 ou Porus, who was marching in person to encounter the invading army of the
58 Greeks. The engagement is described as having been a most severe one,
59 and the defeat of the Indians as most complete. According to Arrian,
60 twenty. thousand of their infantry and three thousand of their cavalry
61 were killed. All their chariots were lost and the elephants either killed
62 bt by wounds, while Porus was himself wounded in the
63 attle. He is described as most majestic in person, being 7ft. 6 in.
64 * Hunter’s Indian Empire, Ed., 1885, p. 164.
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