In the Swat valley, Alexander is said to have seized 230,000 oxen (possibly Zebu), intending to send them to Macedonia for ploughing land. Arrian mentions that after defeating Porus, Alexander marched eastwards towards the Chenab River, and captured 37 towns: the smallest of these towns had 5,000 or more inhabitants. The Greeks mention the existence of cities and fortified towns such as Taxila. Greek writings as well archaeological excavations indicate the existence of an urban economy dependent on agriculture and trade in the Indus basin. 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. Strabo, sourcing his information from the earlier writer Eratosthenes, states that the Achaemenid king controlled the area to the west of the Indus. 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. These states appear to have been based on dominance of particular tribes, as the Greek writers mention tribes such as the Malloi as well as kings whose name seem to be tribal designations. Socio-political conditions in India Īlexander's incursion into India was limited to the Indus River basin area, which was divided among several small states. Īrrian'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. Arrian provides a detailed account of Alexander's campaigns, based on the writings of Alexander's companions and courtiers. This report is preserved in Arrian's Anabasis (c. The only surviving contemporary account of Alexander's Indian campaign is a report of the voyage of the naval commander Nearchus, who was tasked with exploring the coast between the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. Of those who accompanied Alexander to India, Aristobulus, Onesicritus, and Nearchus wrote about the Indian campaign.
Though there are many Indian literary sources from earlier and around the same period (a few using Greek). There are no ancient sources at all giving an Indian account of the campaign, or even mentioning it at all.
Although victorious, the Battle of the Hydaspes was possibly also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians.
Listening this and reminding the fact that Porus let him free after catching him twice, he honourably returned Oorja his territory & left. When he asked Porus what he should do with him Porus bravely replied, "The act that one king should do with another".(He meant to kill him).
He fought Porus 3 times the first two times Alexander was defeated but the third time Alexander handedly defeated Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, when Alexander did win the battle, he captured Porus. After conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the Macedonian king Alexander launched a campaign into the Indian subcontinent in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, part of which formed the easternmost territories of the Achaemenid Empire following the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley (late 6th century BC).Īfter gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara, including the city of Taxila, Alexander advanced into Punjab, where he engaged in battle against the regional king Porus. The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great began in 327 BC.