Alexander in India
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Before Alexander crossed into India in 327 BC, he felt the necessity to trim down the
army that he had led through Persia to accommodate the different climate and terrain that
they would face. He burned all of the baggage wagons of Persian booty that hindered his
mobility, and he dismissed a large number of his soldiers, reshaping his army with several
thousand Persian cavalrymen.
The greatest of Alexander's battles in India was against Porus, one of the most powerful
Indian leaders, at the river Hydaspes in July 326 BC. Alexander's army crossed the
heavily defended river in dramatic fashion during a violent thunderstorm to meet Porus'
forces. The Indians were defeated in a fierce battle, even though they fought with
elephants, which the Macedonians had never before seen. Alexander captured Porus and, like
the other local rulers he had defeated, allowed him to continue to govern his territory.
Alexander even subdued an independent province and granted it to Porus as a gift.
One tragic note about this battle is that Alexander's horse,
Bucephalus, was wounded and died. Alexander had ridden Bucephalus into every one of his
battles in Greece and Asia, so when it died, he was grief-stricken and founded a city in
his horse's name.
Alexander's next goal was to reach the Ganges River, which was actually 250 miles away,
because he thought that it flowed into the outer Ocean. His troops, however, had heard
tales of the powerful Indian tribes that lived on the Ganges and remembered the difficulty
of the battle with Porus, so they refused to go any farther east. Alexander was extremely
disappointed, but he accepted their decision and persuaded them to travel south down the
rivers Hydaspes and Indus so that they might reach the Ocean on the southern edge of the
world. The army rode down the rivers on the rivers on rafts and stopped to attack and
subdue villages along the way. During this trip, Alexander sought out the Indian
philosophers, the Brahmins, who were famous for their wisdom, and debated them on
philosophical issues. He became legendary for centuries in India for being both a wise
philosopher and a fearless conqueror.
One of the villages in which the army stopped belonged to the Malli, who were said to be
one of the most warlike of the Indian tribes. Alexander was wounded several times in this
attack, most seriously when an arrow pierced his breastplate and his ribcage. The
Macedonian officers rescued him in a narrow escape from the village.
Alexander and his army reached the mouth of the Indus in July 325 BC. and turned
westward for home.