Alexander’s Conquest of India – A 2ndlook « 2ndlook
Alexander's Conquest of India – A 2ndlook
Alexander – Son of God
Alexander has long been a vital cog in Western history. Alexander's halo gave bragging rights – first to the Greco-Romans and then to the Euro-colonialists. The American Department of Defense, in its Legacy Program, has a section on Cultural Heritage Training. The use of Alexander's mythos there is self evident. Between the Greco-Roman historians and the Euro-Colonialists, has sprung an entire industry, to create a mythos surrounding Alexander.
The conquest of India, a super power then, by Alexander was seen as major victory. Much was made of this 'victory', as for most of history, India and China accounted for nearly half the world's economic output. Modern econometric modelling shows that for much of the last 1000 years (at least), India has been a significant economic power. Till the 1900, China and India, this analysis estimates, accounted for 50% of the world economy. Statistical analyses showed India with a world trade share of 25% for much of the 500 years during 1400-1900.
In modern times, within a short 70 years after British evacuation from India, the decline of the Britain has been slightly faster than the turn around in the Indian economy. Thus, Alexander's 'conquest of India' was the seminal point in Western history. Western time lines of Indian history are ante-post Alexander 'invasion' of India. Some Western historians seem to imply that Indian nationhood itself sprang from Alexander's conquest.
The Porus Red Herring
Modern Western historians use the 'Porus Red Herring' to claim conquest over all of 'India' – with a single victory against Porus! Indian political class is blamed for "dividing India into small kingdoms, which were hamstrung by infighting." But when one of these small kings (like Porus) is defeated, India is defeated. Colonial Western historians have maintained a uni-directional focus on the battle with Porus at Hydaspes – to draw attention away from the more glaring aspects of the hagiographic details of the Alexander's Indian conquest.
"Arrian and other writers clearly recount the special significance to Alexander of the victory in India. Later authors in the West continued to dwell upon the commemoration of this battle. Some of the accounts are quite unbelievable, but their very existence proves that the battle against Porus remained a popular subject in Greece and Rome for many centuries."
Western Colonial historians implied that after the Battle at Hydaspes, India became a Greek colony, due to the the loss in that one battle! Anyone in the world can have their lucky day – including Alexander! The one important question which is ignored was "Were the Greeks able to retain their Indian conquests?"
Within the next few years, Western history admits that the Indians kings won back all their losses – quite unlike the rest of Alexander's conquests. For instance the Sassanians, a true-blue Persian dynasty was able to retake Persia, in 223 AD, 500 years after Alexander, from the phil-hellenistic Parthians, who in turn were able to depose the Seleucids after 250 years – by 63 BC. Egypt, Greece never, of course, never recovered.
Accounting for the Porus Red Herring, further analysis of Alexander's actions, in fact, seem to show that Alexander aimed at patching up alliances with Indian rulers to secure his borders.
Reaction
Of course, Indians believe that all are वासà¥à¤¦à¥‡à¤µà¤¾à¤¯ कà¥à¤Ÿà¥à¤®à¥à¤¬à¤•à¤® 'vasudevaih kutumbakam' and ईसा वासà¥à¤¯à¥‹ मिदं सरà¥à¤µà¤‚ 'isa vaasyo midam sarvam' (meaning we are all God's family and God is in everyone and everywhere respectively). So, Alexander's claim that he was son of Zeus would not enthuse Indians – or strike as odd or strange.
Enigmatically, Indian archaeology, writers and history do not know of any Porus or much of Alexander's Indian campaign. Under the onslaught of a 'defeatist' version of Indian history by colonial historians, Indian nationalistic historians admit that at best, Alexander may have conquered some border districts of India. They ask "Why did Alexander's undefeated troops, after the Indian campaign, suddenly feel homesick?"
Nationalism apart, there are many reasons to examine the plausibility of Alexander's conquest of India? There are two interesting positions (for me) to examine. For one, it represented "the importance of Alexander as a positive paradigm for European expansionism in India" (from British Romantic Writers and the East By Nigel Leask). Alexander represented the 'triumphant West' over the 'muddling East.'
The other interesting aspect of the Western History is the Colonial device of the 'divided Indians.' This device overused the assumption that 'Indians always lost because Indians were divided – look at Ambhi versus Porus, Jaichand versus Prithviraj Chauhan, Mir Jafar versus Nawab ud Dowlah, Tipu Sultan versus the Marathas, et al.'
Alexander – Hagiography and /or Cultural Dacoity?
Th first step in the propaganda campaign was how a Balkan general, (Macedonian father and Albanian mother) from an obscure part of Eastern Europe, Macedonia, was Hellenized. Alexander, became a Greek conqueror of the world. It would be similar to the Chinese claim to Genghis Khan's Mongolian Empire.
Since recent history of the Balkans has not been very glorious, Alexander was transported from the Balkans to the Mediterranean region – for propaganda purposes. Truth is, the contribution of the Greek soldiers and the Greek City States, was always a drag on Alexander – rather than a help. Alexander's release of Greek soldiers after Ecbatana, was also in response to the difficulties that Antipater was having in Macedonia with the Spartan revolt.
The mythos surrounding Alexander calls for serious questioning of the sources themselves. What and who are these sources?
Sources Of Alexander mythos
Our knowledge of Alexander therefore rests on histories produced long after the fact: a late first-century b.c.e. section of a world history written in Greek by Diodorus of Sicily; a Latin History of Alexander published by the Roman author Quintus Curtius Rufus in the first century c.e.; a biography in Greek by Plutarch of Chaeronea, also produced in the first century c.e.; a history written in Greek by Arrian of Nicomedia sometime in the second century c.e.; and Justin's third-century c.e. Latin abridgment (Epitome) of a lost Greek secondary account by the first-century author Pompeius Trogus. Each of these five narrative treatments of Alexander's reign claims to be a serious work of history or biography, but all five contradict one another on fundamental matters and cannot be considered absolutely reliable unless somehow corroborated by other evidence. Beyond these texts, we have little except a compilation of legendary material known as the Greek Alexander Romance, a wildly imaginative work filled with talking trees and other wonders that later thrilled the medieval world. (from Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions By Frank Lee Holt).
400 years after Alexander's death, Arrian's hagiography is today seen by the Western world as the last word on Alexander. One man's word as history? Arrian, of Nicomedia (in modern Turkey, near Istanbul) patterned his own version of 'history' on Xenophon's Anabasis - a propaganda account of 10,000 Greek mercenaries. Arrian's version of history alleges that Alexander conquered India by defeating King Porus. This is the foundation on which Westerners have based their version of Indian history.
The (deliberate?) trickle of translated material from the Babylonian clay tablets, Astronomical diaries released in the last few years is, of course, filtered and edited, to raise suspicions about the charade of Western history.
Homesick troops – after 7 years of war
Greek 'historians' tell us that the main reason for Alexander's turning back was homesick soldiers. During the (nearly) half-year long siege of Tyre, Alexander received fresh troop reinforcements from Macedonia. Before his India 'campaign', at Ecbatana, Alexander cashiered thousands of his Greek troops who wished to return home. After the death of Darius, at Ecbatana (330 BC), to all the Greek officers, wishing to return home, Alexander awarded one talent of gold (approx. 25kg-60 kg).
Also at Ecbatana, Alexander dismissed the allied Greek troops he had requisitioned thus far under the powers granted him by the Greek league. The official goal of the invasion, the destruction of the Persian empire in revenge for its attack on Greece, had now been achieved, so the official duties of these troops were fulfilled. (from Alexander the Great By Arrian, James S. Romm, Pamela Mensch)
At this stage, Alexander also inducted into his army, fresh Persian soldiers, trained in Macedonian style of warfare. Again, after his marriage to Roxanne, a further 10,000 Persian soldiers joined his army. Hence, the troops left with Alexander, were either fresh or those who decided to stay with Alexander.
Homesick "¦ or frightened?
The pleadings of Coenus, that Alexander's men, "long to see their parents, wives, and children, and their homeland again." were patently the cries of frightened soldiers. Once back in the folds of the secure Macedonian Empire, the same soldiers joined the mutiny at Opis. These Macedonian soldiers revolted when they were released by Alexander to return to Macedonia, demonstrates that reason for the revolt in India, was not home-sickness.
As per Arrian, the only 'victory' celebration by Alexander's troops was after the battle with Porus. Surprising – that Alexander's troops did not celebrate any victory, till the very end of the campaign. Was it, instead, a celebration that they had escaped with their lives?
After all, Alexander's horse, Bucephalus died during the Indian campaign. Before that, in the Battles with the Aspasioi /Asspassi, Alexander (along with Ptolemy and Leonnatos) was wounded. Again in the battles with the Gandaridae /Candaras /Gangaridae Gandridae and then the Massagaetae.
And – a soon after the revolt, he received a large contingent of cavalry and infantry - with military supplies and medicines, through Memnon, from Thrace. As Alexander retreated from India, a Mallian force attacked the Macedonian army. In this Mallian attack, Alexander was himself injured – and his very life was in balance for the next many weeks.
So, what frightened Alexander's army ?
326 BC was the year of the battle with Porus. After that battle, what possibly frightened Alexander's army was the 'information' that further from Punjab, lay places
"where the inhabitants were skilled in agriculture, where there were elephants in yet greater abundance and men were superior in stature and courage"
And Plutarch tells us how Alexander's armies were
told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. (from The Life of Alexander, Plutarch, The Parallel Lives).
A hundred years later, terrorized Roman armies lost major battles against Hannibal and Pyrrhus. What about Pyrrhus and Hannibal frightened the Roman armies?
Elephants. That is what. War elephants.
Pyrrhus' army had elephants. That is what. Hannibal's elephants are better known. If 20 elephants of Pyrrhus, or Hannibal's 37, frightened the Romans so much, what happened to Alexander's army, when faced with 100s, if not 1000s of elephants, which were common in Indian armies.
To put that in perspective, Chandragupta Maurya had thousands – figures range between 5,000 to 9,000. And how many elephants did Porus' army have? 200 of them is the estimate by Greek hagiography.
War elephants in history
In the battle against the Massaga, resulting in the defeat and death of Cyrus, against Queen Tomyris, Indian elephants played a crucial role. Thereafter, Persians (then Zoroastrians) did not use elephants (considered evil by Zoroastrians). Possibly, the outcome against Alexander would have been different, had they used elephants.
The story of Semiramis, the Assyrian Queen and the Indian King Stabrobates by a Greek 'historian,' Ctesias (in Diodorus Siculus) is of interest. Apparently, foreign armies used 'faux' elephants to frighten enemies.
One of Alexander's generals, Seleucus Nicator traded in some part of his empire, for 500 elephants. In the ensuing Diadochi wars, at the decisive battle of Ipsus, it were these Indian elephants that gave Seleucus victory.
At this decisive battle of Ipsus, the Seleucid army fielded "the largest number of elephants ever to appear on a Hellenistic battlefield" which turned out to be, as a historian describes as the "greatest achievement of war elephants in Hellenistic military history." And Pyrrhus learnt his lessons, on using elephants in battle, at Ipsus.
What did the Persians tell Alexander "¦
Alexander's newly inducted Persian advisors would have filled him in, on how a few centuries ago, Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, and Cyrus the Great, two significant historical figures of the Levant, had failed against the Indians.
Both Cyrus the Great and Semiramis are the subject of many volumes and books written by the Greeks, Persians, Babylonians tablets, etc.
Alexander in fact is said to be eager to capture India precisely because two earlier conquerors-Semiramis and Cyrus-had failed to do so. Here it is worth noting, Alexander apparently views the legendary Assyrian queen as an historical figure, the equal of Cyrus the Great, and strives to outdo them both. (from Warrior Women By Deborah Levine Gera).
The Assyrians, whose trans-Asia Minor Empire and their legendary Queen Semiramis too, had failed in the Indian campaign with faux elephants. Cyrus The Great, too had met his nemesis, trying to conquer India (or an army with significant Indian component). A modernized version of Strabo's The Geography of Strabo reads,
Alexander "¦ heard that no one had hitherto passed that way with an army and emerged in safety, except Semiramis, when she fled from India. The natives said that even she emerged with only twenty men of her army; and that Cyrus son of Cambyses, escaped with only seven of his men "¦ When Alexander received this information he is said to have been seized with a desire of excelling Cyrus and Semiramis "¦ What credence can we place in these accounts of India "¦ Megasthenes virtually agrees. (from Alexander the Great By Ian Worthington – ellipsis mine).
The Indian elephant contingent had played a significant role in the win of Massaga Queen, Tomyris over Cyrus The Great and the Persians. Were the Massagas from Magadha? The other name for this tribe (referred to by the Greeks) against the Persians was the Derbices or Dahae. Was this name derived from the darbha grass, which Chanakya had used to swear the downfall of the Nanda kings?