WHO WAS MAHARAJA PORUS?

 

WHO WAS MAHARAJA PORUS?

 

            It is unfortunate that no authentic account is available about who was Maharaja Porus.  He belonged to ancient times which are  presenting  lots of difficulties to present day historians to find out the irrefutable facts.

            Even otherwise it is difficult for a historian to be exact, sincere, and impartial; free from passion, unbiased by interest, fear, resentment, or affection; and faithful to the truth, which is the mother of history, the preserver of great actions, the enemy of oblivion, the witness of the past and the director of the future.

            It is now evident from the latest controversy whether Alexander defeated Porus or Porus defeated Alexander.  There are potent arguments on both sides. In fact, national pride , too, becomes an obstacle in taking side of the truth.

            Alphonse de (1790-1869) Lamartine rightly says the impartiality of history is not that of the mirror, which merely reflects objects but of the judge who sees, listens, and decides.

            The approximate period about the kingdoms around the time of Maharaja Porus has already been  mentioned by us in a separate chapter.

            When was Porus  born is still shrouded in mystery.  Nevertheless, one thing is sure that he was born in the Punjab region and reigned before 326 – C 315 B.C. and died C 321 – 315 B.C. in the Punjab region itself.  

            The existence of his clan has been linked by different  historians to different periods widely disagreeing with one another. Puru, Pururarva or Parvarta are Indian originals of the Greek name Porus.  There are also so many other derivatives from the name of the original clan of Maharaja Porus.  It is however certain that Maharaja Porus was the ruler of a kingdom in the Punjab located between the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers which the Greeks called as the Hydaspes and the Acesines rivers respectively.

            According to some historians, there is a mention of Puru in the nineteenth chapter of the Bhagavata Purana. Here Puru is described as having four brothers --- Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu.  He changed his youth for old age of his father Yayati when Yayati got  accursed by Shukracharya (one of the mentors of Bhishma.)  In return Yayati made him his descendant though he was the youngest of all.  His son and successor was named as his son  Prachinvat; whose  son was Pravir and his son was Manasyu. Shukracharya was the husband of Jayanti.

According to Hindu legends Yayati was a Puranic and first king of Pauravas.  He was the son of King Nahusha and his wife Ashokasundati, daughter of Shiva and Parvati, and he was one of the ancestors of Pandavas.  

 

Another version refers to the Mahabharata’s Adi Parva.  Here Puru is said to have inherited his kingdom in the Gangatic plain.  He is further claimed to have three mighty heroes as his sons by his wife Paushti.  The names of these sons were  Pravira, Iswara and Raudraswa.    Pravira who became the successor of Puru was succeeded by his son Manasyu. 

The Mahabharata reference also claims that Puru ruled from the centre as a supreme world emperor or King of Kings.  His dynasty became the Puru Vamsha which was afterwards renamed as Kuru Vamsha to which belonged Pandavas and Kauravas .

 

Admittedly, our confusion does not end with these references to historical sources because another claim is that a king named Puru is also mentioned in the Rigveda.  He was the father of Adityas, married to Aditi.  This Puru lived and ruled over the area of the Saraswati river.

As regards the name of Porus or Puru, it is claimed that it is a distortion of “Paurush’ or “Pururaj”.

Another version is that the complete name of Porus (Purush or Puru) was Purushottam, being the descendant of ancient Lunar Dynasty (Chandra Vansh) of the Puru Dynast y.  His actual name is also claimed to be PURUSH. 

Whereas our standpoint from which do not  want to swerve  at all is that the ancestors of Maharaja Porus were Suryavanshi Kshatriya Khukhrain Sabharwal who settled in Jhelum, now part of West Pakistan.

The  author of an article entitled  History of Peshawer (Pakistan) dealing with Khukrains  claims that Porus was a Chandravanshi King, not a Khukrain King of Sabharwal clan.  He says that the war of Jhelum between Alexander and Porus was fought under the command of Shubharwar (Shubhawal).  After the death of both Porus and Alexander, Shubharwar was the coronated King of Jhelum.  It was due to this reason that later, habitated placed were named after his name by pre/post fixing with the “var” or “wal”.

This author also gives an interesting account of the name of Present Peshawar. He says that after the death of Shubharwar the name of this city was kept on the name of both Purushottam and Shubharwar, that is, Purushwar, which was later spelled as PESHAWAR.

There is no doubt that currently there are many villages and towns in District Jhelum which are known as Karwal or Karsal, Chakwal, Sahuwal, Varwal, Uddarwal, Uddawal, Roopwal and so on. 

According  to the aforesaid author they must have been named after some great king or ruler who was dear to the common  people and whose name they wanted to perpetuate for future generations.

Interestingly enough, we hear from some people that their surname Puri  is also derived from the name of Maharaja Porus.