Ranbir Jamwal
Some ancients texts in India (Raghuvamsha) mention that in 3780 BC Maharaja Raghu-the great grand father of Lord Rama (of Ramayana)had invaded Greece and conquered it. Indian great poet and philosopher Kalidasa gives a detailed campaign of Maharaja Raghu in Raghuvansh. This may be the possible reason of Alexander campaign to conquer India to avenge the ancient defeat and humiliation as was the reason to conquer Persia in retaliation to Xerxes demolition of Greece earlier.
The land between Sindhu and Beas (bipasha) then(ancient times) was called Kath/Madar-desh which was ruled by the brave warlike tribe -the Dogras. Alexander spent 19-20 months here (his last days) and that too mostly fighting Dogras.
Uptil Indus, it was a cakewalk for Alexander as Ambhi (Ruler of Taxila and staunch enemy of Porus) gave him safe passage to India but he met tough resistance from King Porus, king of Abhisar and other Dogra kings of Jammu and almost half of Alexander men perished in these battles. So Greeks lost their spirit and took the decision to retreat. The land between Jhelum and Satluj was called madardesh(Dogra land). There were 36 kote kotlas which were destroyed by the Alexander and all their inhabitants killed. Infact Alexander and his army crossed Asikini and reached Arnas (called Aoronas by historians of Alexander). Asikini is the only river mentioned by Ptolemy, son of Lagos in size that Alexander crossed it on biats and inflated animal hides. Asikini is called Chandrabhagha in Vedas and Sandrophougus by the Macedonians.
The death of Alexander is the greatest suspense in the contemporary world’s history. This historic epoch has not been settled till the modern times. All historians of Alexander namely Ptolemy, Curitus, Justin, Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus etc say that he died at Babylon in 324 BC but this theory has been exploded by modern historians namely Dr A .S. Stein who visited Babylon in 1904-1905 AD, to verify and confirm the death of Alexander. He writes in his diary” (Read V Smith E.H.I.2nd Edition Appendix D The Cambridge history of India (Vol 1 pg 356) that place of death is not far from modern Amb. (Near Jammu-J&K India). Dr Stein explored the hitherto inaccessible mountain tract of MAHABAN Range. His survey proved beyond all questions that the natural features of that mountain are totally dissimilar to that of Mount Aornos as described by Alexander historians (Annual R.A.S.I. for 1904-1905 p 42)
Actually this ambitious warrior was killed by the ancestors of valiant Dogras of Suryavanshi Clan (Mall Janapada) in the Rock, citadel at Arnas (Salal). This place is written as Aoronas by Alexander historians. It’s situated on eastern bank of river chandrabhaga, also called Asikini in Vedas. The name chandrabhaga (Sikander-bhaga) literally means devourer of Alexander in English. This means that the river that killed Alexander is the river Asikini called Chandrabhagha in Jammu and Kashmir.
It was at this place Arnas that during seige of hill fortress that Alexander was hit by a long arrow called Satak and he died later on.The news of his death was concealed and not revealed to anyone as was the custom. We see many times like the Great Mongol Khan-Ghengis Khan death was concealed in 1227 AD by Mongols when he died in China until the caravan reached the safe area of Gobi desert. Same was the case of the death of Mughal emperor Jahangir which was concealed in 1627 by his wife as he died in Kashmir and was revealed only when the caravan reached Lahore. Same was the case when Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa was killed in a battle but his news wasn’t revealed till reinforcement arrived from Maharaja Ranjit Singh .So Army of Alexander too concealed the news of his death till dead body reached Babylon so that there is no panic and his generals were in complete control of their satraps .
No doubt Philip II -Alexander’s father had modernised the Macedonian Army using both Epaminondas’ deeper phalanx and Iphicrates’ combination of a longer spear and smaller and lighter shield. However, the Macedonian king also innovated the use of a much longer spear, the two-handed pike. The Macedonian pike, the sarissa, gave its wielder many advantages both offensively and defensively. This warfare gave advantage only in open warfare not in the dense forest areas where Alexander Army was made to fight. Porus had a secret weapon hitherto not seen by the Greeks earlier-The Indian War Elephants. Its just like a large Tank being rammed into you with Howdah seats having swords, spears and arrows. It was such an effective weapon that even Hannibal used it against Romans even a century later. His elephants crossed the Alps and defeating Romans on numerous occasions are no new thing but this shows that westerners were not familiar with this kind of warfare which was all of new for them. This made Porus to give effective resistance to Alexander in battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC. Even in the Alexander movie he was shown to be hit by an arrow while fighting Indian tribe in forest. There was no other reason for Greeks turning back except his death. He was killed during battle with the Dogras at Aoronas.
The Anglicistics historians who write Indian history in the late 19th century used the defeat of Porus as the justification of their rule in India – the same which was used later on by Mughals under Babar who traced ancestry from Timur. They produced the theory that Alexander died at Babylon mysteriously due to illness or possibly poisoning which is totally false as is their justification for return of Greek army war-weary and disease-ridden and were homesick after fighting in India’s sweltering heat. Though Alexander was both intelligent and handsome yet he also had a darker side. He was a bonafied narcissist. His mother kept on telling him that he was destined to be great. He was a drunkard and possessed a ferocious temper and from time to time would arbitrarily murder close advisors and even friends. He killed 6000 fellow Greeks of Thebia and made 2000 Greek slaves who fought against him. Further he killed all the relatives and his rivals to his throne. He killed his General Cleitus during one drinking bout when the latter questioned his persianized ways, his divinity and gave credit of his victories to his father Philip II while the same general saved his life in battle of Issus. He burned Persepolis -the greatest city of the world at that time. Also, toward the end of his many campaigns, he senselessly slaughtered thousands while winning 36 Indian city states called ‘Kotlas’ whose only crime was being in his way. He was brutal with his enemies and even had the cousin of Darius III killed for his treason. So this justification of his returning the kingdom to Porus after seeing his brave fight is the greatest lie ever told to the world.
(The author is a JKAS Officer)
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