THE BATTLE OF JHELUM ---- ALEXANDER VERSUS PORUS

THE BATTLE OF JHELUM ---- ALEXANDER VERSUS PORUS

            The Battle of Jhelum fought between Alexander the Great and Maharaja Porus is one of the most famous battles of the world because it led to a turning point in the connectivity of India with the West and that of the West with India.  Moreover, it showed that Alexander alone was not an extremely valorous fighter, there was  one Indian Maharaja, too, and was known as  Porus,  one of the immortals in the world history of warfares.

            Alexander could not set his firm foot on India without getting rid of Darius III  who had a large part of India under his control and  also had some Indian supporters on his side.

            It is necessary to mention here that Darius III was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, from 336 BC to 330 BC. and  Alexander had an expansionist’s dream to establish his hold on Egypt which led to armed confrontation between him and  Darius.  It was during this confrontation that Darius found himself far inferior to Alexander in the tactics of war  and military power.

            Recorded history tells us  that in this difficult situation Darius III approached Maharaja Porus whom he knew to be:

            Extraordinarily brave, well-built, tall, awfully handsome, patriotic, well-wisher of the people, helpful and generous to those who sought his help and above all a unique Indian Maharaja who believed in throwing back the foreign aggressor rather than  bending his neck before them.             

            To match his military power  with that of Alexander, Darius wrote a touching letter to Maharaja Porus for help at that critical juncture . 

The English version of this letter reads as follows:

            “Formerly I dwelt in my kingdom to glory and power, but now I entreat thee to receive me, and to be pleased graciously to help me, because of this mighty man of war (allusion to Alexander), who hath come upon me; he knoweth not fear, his courage is mighty, and his body is thick, and I never saw his like either among kings, or among other men.

            “Behold, too, he hath gained possession of my women, who are the source of my depravity, and behold, I came upon the Greeks in several places, but I was not able to beat them. And he hath overcome me and put me to shame, because there was none (among us) able to do battle against him.

            “He hath taken my kingdom, and hath carried into captivity my mother and my wife and daughter, and there is nothing left to me but death, and it is better for me to die than to become his servant.

            “And now help me, and do thou take heed to the love, which hath always existed between us, and then make ready for me an army of the soldiers of the country, for (Alexander and his hosts) are mighty men of war and are strong.

            “Hasten though to help me with this army, for I place hope and confidence in thee and I will abide on the borders of my country until thy message shall reach me, and I will deal graciously with those, who shall come unto me from thyself, and I will reward them abundantly with possessions.

            “If I conquer Alexander, I will send to thee half of whatever I find with them.”

            It need not be repeated here that despite the help given by Maharaja Porus,  Darius  III got defeated, lost his life, and Alexander’s quick invasion against him resulted in his defeat..

            But let us recall the precious words of Darius to Maharaja Porus:  “I place my hope and confidence in thee (Maharaja Porus).”

            It is also pertinent to recall that it was only when Alexander destroyed the Persian empire during the reign of Darius III that the Persian empire in  India, too, came to its final end.

            Alexander’s conquest of Egypt emboldened him to take up his next expansionist adventure, so in early May 327 B.C. he recruited 5,000 Indian soldiers and marched  towards India.

            It was his good fortune that his enemies en route were weak, cowardly and disunited.  He faced hardly any resistance in Swat, the kings and chieftains of the Punjab got involved in their own local animosities and thus became a source of undesirable support which encouraged Alexander to keep his onward march uninterrupted.

            Of all other rulers of the Punjab and other areas, it was Raja Ambhi of Taxila who not only passed on vital military information about the neighbouring Maharaja Porus but also became a supporter of Alexander just for petty gifts like Persian dresses to wear and thirty caparisoned horses to ride on.

Marching forward inch by inch, Alexander crossed the central Hindukush, following the main route from Balkha to Kabul and arrived in the beautiful valley of Koh-i-Daman. Here he consolidated his position by fresh recruitments from the neighborhood. Nicanor  was appointed incharge of the city and Tyriespes was appointed Satrap of the area.

From Hindukush Alexander moved towards Nikaia, in the vicinity of modern Jalalabad, stayed there till the middle of November, prepared himself for the next move, and waited for the opportune time to take the next step. He divided his army into two commands, one under Hephaistion and the other under Perdikkas and ordered one to move towards Gandhara through the Kabul valley and the other to the hilly country north of the Kabul river. All the unruly tribes on way were subdued. On the way, Alexander is also believed to have offered a sacrifice to Goddess Athena (the goddess of wisdom and war).

Now subjugating the highlanders one by one, Alexander reached the Indus, crossed over to Taxila, from where an envoy was sent to Maharaja Porus, asking him to bring his tribute and meet the king at the river-frontier.

According to historian Curtius “thinking that by the mere prestige of his name, Porus  would be induced to surrender, Alexander  sent Cleochares to tell Maharaja Porus  in peremptory terms that he must pay tribute and come to meet his sovereign at the very frontiers of his own dominions.” The reply of the extremely patriotic and peerlessly  brave Porus was  that he would comply with the second of these demands, and when Alexander entered his realm, he would meet him, but he should come with  arms  for the battle.

This is how the stage for a military showdown between Alexander the Great  and Maharaja  Porus the indomitable  was set along the bank of the Jhelum.

While marching towards Jhelum, Alexander received support from various Indian chieftains which reinforced his military machine, but our main concern is the loyalty offered  to him by King Ambhi. It is mentioned in several historical accounts that the Macedonian General was extended hospitality for three days; he was presented two hundred talents of coined silver, three thousand oxen, ten thousand sheep and thirty elephants.  In  return, Alexander gave Ambhi a thousand  talents  out of the spoils of the war,  along with the vessels of gold and silver and a good deal of Persian drapery. Fortified with the loyalty of Ambhi and the submission of several other Indian chieftains, the position of Alexander’s strength became much better.

Let us now take a Comparative View of the military power of Alexander and Porus.

Alexander had inherited from his father an army with national character. He had therefore at his command trained archers, infantrians, grenadiers and cavaliers. There was also a special posse of elephant troops.  This force when  put together was versatile enough to be used in different terrains against a variety of opponents.

Alexander’s army at the time of the Battle of Jhelum comprised:

1.     Companions consisting of choicest cavalrymen of noble families; a section of foot soldiers numbering 1,500 which went up to 5,000 during the course of war.  Every horse with its rider was encased in armour.

2.     Hoplites: The oblong shield which covered the whole body was called hoplon. Soldiers equipped with such a shield formed the core of the Spartan army, which constituted the heavy infantry :  well-trained and densely massed for the war.

3.     Hypaspists. These soldiers were not heavily armed and as such could move rapidly; had shorter spears, longer swords lighter armours.  Their number was about 3,000 but could rise up to twice as many if the need did arise.

4.     Phalans. The soldiers of this variety wore a helmet, a breast plate and two long curved plates protecting the thighs, but not covering the hip.As they marched, there emerged  a scenario of a gigantic porcupine or a moving forest of glittering steel points. There were probably seven battalions of such soldiers.

5.     Infantry. According to one historical record,  Alexander had 15,000 infantry with him.

6.     Cavalry. Their number is estimated to be 5, 3000, divided into two regiments.

7.     Elephants. As elephants also played a major role in showing the strength of the army, Alexander had eightysix elephants of war, entrusted to Ambhi, the king of Taxila. However, historians have not shown any role of these elephants in the battle of Jhelum.

8.     Machines. The war machines used at that time were primitive and were operated  only in ground battles. Alexander is said to be having  machines called balists and catapults, worked by the hand to throw stones and darts upto a distance of 300 yards.

      In the Battle of Jhelum, Alexander is also believed to have received  the support of 5.000 soldiers provided  to him by Raja Ambhi of Taxila.              

              

            The Army of Maharaja Porus, a Sabharwal Kshatriya, at the time of the Battle of Jhelum was a good match against the military forces of Alexander.

            It is worth mentioning here that  the people of the  Punjab were tall and sturdy and had to continuously prepare themselves for war against foreign invaders who continued to come because it was then an easier gateway to India.

            It may also be mentioned that though to fight was the duty of Kshatriyas, people of other clans, too, became soldiers. Kautilya stipulated that army must consist of camels and asses to operate in dry weather on non-marshy ground. As regards soldiers, they had to be recruited from various tribes like maula, the kinsmen and followers of the king, bhrto, i.e. mercenary soldiers, sreni, who belonged to various warrior clans and lived by the profession of arms, mitrabala, these  were supplied by the allies, amitrabala, this variety  of  soldiers was recruited from the enemy country and  lastly there was one more variety called atavibala belonging to forest and aboriginal tribes.

            In spite of the fact that the supply of soldiers came from various clans and tribes, those belonging to the Kshatriya clan were considered the best and the toughest .

            The Hindu kings of the ancient period of history were the followers of the scriptures and also the messages of the epics.  The Vedic Text talked of only two types of military force, infantry (patti) and chariotry (rathins).  The epics wanted this force to consist of infantry, chariotry, cavalry and elephantry. Not only this there was also a prescription for adding chariots, ships, spies, commissariat and scouts, a parallel of local scouts. This type of combination was called eight-limbed.   

            The army of Maharaja Porus consisted of infantry, chariots, cavalry and elephants.

            Further details are as follows

            According to Diodoros, Maharaja Porus had an army of 50, 000 foot soldiers, about 3,000 horses, above 1,000 chariots and 130 elephants.  His army acted under a unified command ,fought under one banner marked by the figure of God whom the Greeks called  Hercules, and who was  identified in India with Vishnu and Ganesha.

            The above strength of the army of the Maharaja was sufficient. Resources, men, ammunition, guidance of able commanders, were enough and there was proper cohesion and correlation among the various parts of the army.

            Further, the working of the army involved creation of a definite hierarchy of officers. Fifty horses and 10 elephants formed a squadron under the command of a padika.

            A company under a senapati consisted of 2,000 foot soldiers, 100 chariots, 500 horses and 100 elephants.   A regiment comprised 20,000 foot soldiers, 1,000 chariots, 5,000 horses and 1000 elephants.  They functioned under a general called nayaka.

            The entire infantry had a special officer called Pattyadhyaksa.  To keep such a force operative, a war-office, consisting of an elaborate bureaucratic set-up was also put in place and it was given adequate financial support to carry out its activities.  

            The infantry commanded by Maharaja Porus was the best, highly motivated and far superior to those of the infantry of other kings.  It was capable of campaigning on all kinds of terrain and in all kinds of weather. The personnel of this infantry carried big-sized bows as long as themselves.  Their arrows were nearly three yards in length and were tipped with bone or iron.  Their shorts were so irresistible that they succeeded in breaking even the shields, breastplates and other strong defences of the enemy.

The Chariots as Kautilya said in his writings were used for the protection of the army, repelling the enemy’s attacks, seizing and changing positions during operations, restoring broken arrays and columns, and breaking the compact lines of the enemy as also frightening and inspiring awe among the solders by their magnificence and sound. The standard dimension of each chariot was 7.5 feet in height and 9 feet in width.  

The cavalry of Maharaja Porus was mainly employed to supervise the discipline of the army, their alignment of columns and lines protection, etc. It gave preference to the horses of Sindhu, Kamboja and Balhika country. Archers frequently used these horses along with camels and elephants.

            The elephants of war of Maharaja Porus used to march in the front, moving without roads, shelters and landing places, penetrating through bushes and shrubs, breaking through the lines and columns of the enemy, setting fire to the enemy ‘s camp and quenching it in one’s own trunk ,  trampling and terrorizing the enemy as  also destroying  gates, towers, and ramparts.

            Historians tell us that from the time of the battle of Jhelum between Maharaja Porus and Alexander the Great in 326 B.C. to that of confrontation between Akbar’s general Munim Khan and the Pathan Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani, the charge of the elephants remained irresistible and the deciding factor in all these cases was the presence of elephants.  

                                    The Battle of Jhelum

            The Battle of Jhelum is the most important  event in the life history of our beloved Maharaja Porus who took pride in his ancient lineage, going back to the Vedic age.  It is unfortunate that his contemporary King Ambhi was not so loyal to his motherland as he was.  Ambhi, the King of Taxila, became a generous  host of the invader Alexander the Great and helped him in many ways which upset and embarrassed Maharaja Porus.

            It is rightly said by modern historians that if Ambhi and Maharaja Porus had put a united front against Alexander , the course of Indian history would have been different.  Indeed , It would have created  a lasting  milestone in the annals of Indian nationalism  as early as  those ancient times.

            Historians also highlight the fact that  Maharaja Porus was extraordinarily brave, had a majestic personality, was a true patriot who  could never think of letting the foreigner Alexander to claim sovereignty  over  his kingdom  because of his  (Alexander’s ) win-win past in other parts of the world.

                        As we have already noted Maharaja Porus had rejected the proposal sent by Alexander through his envoy Cleochares that he should  surrender and pay tribute to him as some other rulers of the Punjab had done.

                     The only result could therefore  be a fierce fight  between the two legendary heroes Alexander the Great and Maharaja Porus, a Sabharwal  Kshtriya who could not abandon his duty of fighting back  an aggressor and thus perform  his kingly dharma.

                        Though the  details given by the writers of ancient history about the outcome of the Battle of Jhelum differ, one fact is indisputable and that is the battle started in the month of May 326 B.C. and was not over before a period  of two weeks.

                        According to one account when Alexander learnt that the king of Abhisara was moving his forces to assist Maharaja Porus, he planned to stop him  and  deployed his troops on the right bank of the river  Jhelum where roaring waters of the river did not allow him to fulfil his plan. The same account further says that on the other side of the Jhelum Maharaja Porus  had strategically positioned his troops. He had resolved either to prevent Alexander from making the passage or to attack him when crossing.  As soon as Alexander came to know about this development, he sent back his men to knock down the boats to facilitate their transportation to the banks of the Jhelum where they were to be re-assembled to cross the river.

                        Initially, luck was not on the side of Alexander. Porus, in spite of standing alone amongst the cowardly compatriots, displayed rare determination to confront Alexander, the foreign invader, and did not bother about the consequences  of his combative resolve.

                       

 

 

According to Arrian,”  the army of Maharaja Porus consisted of 30,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 300 chariots and 200 elephants. The infantry was stationed in the centre and the elephants had been placed in front to form a sort of massive well overshadowing the flood of waters of the river. The cavalry protected the flanks, and in front of the horsemen were positioned the chariots. It presented too frightening a sight to the foreign incumbents to challenge the Indian army in a head-on collision.”        

                        V.A.Smith observes “ It was obvious that the horses of the cavalry, the army upon which the Macedonian commander placed his  reliance, could not be induced to clamber up the bank of a flooded river in the face of a host of elephants, and that some device for evading this difficulty had to be  sought.” The only  way out of this problem was a war of wits between the antagonists to out bid the other.

                        What followed was a blank period of no engagements between the armies of Alexander and Maharaja Porus. According to Arrian Alexander decided to steel a passage by making deceptive demonstrations of his army units in the main camp on the opposite side of the battle formations of Porus to keep them on their toes. Arrian further adds that Alexander also  camouflaged his intentions and movements by leaving a strong force under Krateros in the main camp and another with general Meleager midway between it and the place where the river was  to be crossed. Besides this, a large number of boats, duly tagged and roped  spread them on water to form an instant bridge, had also been moved to the site secretly. This strategy enabled Alexander to cross the river with about 11,000 selected horsemen by the bridge of boats unnoticed by Maharaja Porus.  

                        Maharaja Porus was amazed at this development. His son with a force of 2,000 horses and 120 chariots could not achieve any success and contrarily got overpowered. There was hardly any time available to Maharaja Porus to regroup his army for the final assault. Nature, too, was not on his side. . Rain harmed him by making the war field slippery, hindering the movements of men, horses, elephants and  of advance guards.

                        Several historians believe that  Maharaja Porus made the mistake of allowing Alexander’s soldiers to take the offensive with their superior cavalry. The Indian charioteers and horseman could not stand the onslaught of the mounted archers in the ranks of the Greeks. The Indian infantry could no t make an effective use of their formidable weapons  because the ground under their feet was slippery. No doubt that the elephants did for some time cause havoc in the enemy’s ranks, but a good many of them also  got maddened by wounds and trampled friends and foes alike.

                        The grandest scenario of this situation  was that Maharaja Porus did not pull himself out of the battle ground and kept on fighting on a mighty elephant until he got inflicted with a serious wound.

                        He was then produced before Alexander whom we will not call a victor  as he has been done in the past by many a writer, Indian as well Greek and  European. However we would like to reproduce here that famous dialogue in which Alexander asked Maharaja Porus how he would like to be treated and the Maharaja replied: As a King treats another King.

Alexander agreed and by treating the gallant Maharaja Porus generously gave him back his kingdom.

                        Ancient history tells us that after the battle of  Jhelum, Alexander conquered some petty principalities and tribal territories in the adjacent areas of the Pauravs.  He also went beyond the rivers Chenab and Ravi,and moved on to present Gurdaspur district, and the Beas river. One of the accounts says that he “erected twelve towering altars to mark the utmost limit of his march,. And then with a heavy heart retraced his steps to the Jhelum.”

                        While Alexander was returning to his native land there were skirmishes between his soldiers and the local tribes in which thousands of men lost their lives and a large number of women threw themselves into  flames in the style of the Rajputs who preferred death to dishonor and performed the ceremony,  which later on came to be known as Jauhar.

                        As nemesis would have it, Alexander himself got wounded during his assault on a powerful tribe of the Malwa region.  

                        A large part of Alexander’s tired soldiers started moving out of India through Afghanistan. Some treaded through the deserts of Baluchistan, and facing many hurdles reached Babylon. Some returned by the sea routé of the Tigris.

                        The end of Alexander’s life  was not far off. After returning to Babylon, he did not survive for a long time and breathed his last in 323 B.C. at the age of 32.

                        As a footnote, we would like to add that new researchers are finding some amazing facts which do not agree with the conventional ones but they are yet to be documented in text books.