Battle of Hydaspes (Jhelum) 326 B.C - Unknown Truths

Alexander the Great and King Porus(Raja Purushothama) Fought The battle of Hydaspes (Jhelum) on the bank of River Hydaspes (modern day Jhelum River). The Battle took place in 326 B.C. In the battle, the army of King Porus was defeated by the Macedonian army of Alexander.

Background

With the desire to occupy India, Alexander started to march towards India after the Persian war. He was warned by Persians that many great rulers got mixed in the mud reaching the gates of India. However, this didn't fear Alexander. He just liked to break the record by crushing India.

Later, when Alexander tried to invade India, he found the real strength in the words of the Persians. Later, he wrote to his mother that 

 I am involved in the land of a ‘Leonine’ (lion-like) and brave people, where every foot of the ground is like a wall of steel, confronting my soldier. You have brought only one Alexander into the world, but every mother in this land has brought an Alexander in the world.

King Porus(Purushottama) was the brave king of Paurava Kingdom. The kingdom is located between Chenab and Jhelum River at Punjab(Modern day Pakistan). It is believed that King Porus reigned from 340 B.C to 317 B.C.

Alexander sent an envoi to King Purushothama asking his submission. But Porus gave a defiant reply that he was prepared to meet him in the battle field.

King Porus was shocked to see the humiliating surrender of his fellow Indian kings, to the Alexander, without resistance. But with resolutely courageous spirit, he decided to try his steel against the invader to embrace death with honour and justice than to surrender without resistance to an outlandish conqueror. 

Battle

The Battle Of Hydaspes itself has become famous, but it was in fact a minor short-term fight. King Purushothama was isolated and Alexander employed only one sixth of his forces. The main problem before Alexander was, the crossing of the River. The rain offered sufficient opportunity. And surprisingly the Macedonian officer Coenus had brought the ships, which had been used to cross all the way Indus to the Hydaspes. Alexander and his army slipped away from the Hydaspes through a hidden valley during a stormy night, out of sight of King Purushothama. At the first light of day, Alexander crossed the river, 18 miles upriver from his initial camp.

Unaware of what had happened, King Purushothama could not believe the news that the Macedonians had reached the east bank. Because a part of Alexander's army still on the opposite shore(this part of army was commanded by Craterus). King Purushothama sent his son to find out what had happened. Price Purushothama went to the Alexander, he killed the horse of Alexander(Boukephalas) and also wounded Alexander. But eventually the attack by Purushothama's son failed as his chariot was struck in mud.. Alexander killed price Purushothama(son of King Purushothama) in action. Alexander proceeded along the downriver, towards King Purushothama's army.

King Purushothama had a type of army unit that the Macedonians had never fought or encountered before. The army of King Porus was a vast one. It comprised of thousands of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants. (Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian mentions that the army of King Purushothama contained 50,000 Fleet, 3000 Horses, 130 Elephants, 1000 Chariots.)The main strength of King Purushothama was the chariots which were drawn by four horses. Each chariot could carry upto 6 soldiers. When fighting at close range, they took up sword, lance or axe to kill the enemy, hurling the blows from the chariots. The Macedonians had nothing to fear, except for King Purushothama' elephants. Porus arranged his army by placing the elephant at the centre flanked by his cavalry. The infantry stood behind the elephants. 

The Macedonians reached the place where the king Porus (King Purushothama)was waiting for them, they deployed their army (in close array) and moved slowly towards their enemy. Alexander commanded the Companion cavalry and the mounted archers, which were on his right wing. Seeing that his left wing chariots were outnumbered by the Macedonian cavalry, King Purushothama moved his right wing chariots to the left. At that moment, Coenus moved to undefended King Purushothama right wing and encircled the enemy lines, attacking them in the back.Due to monsoon, the chariots of King Purushothama became out of use due to rain and mud. The bowmen failed to take correct aims as the end of their bows slipped on muddy ground. The elephants too got frightened and ran in great disorder killing King Purushothama troops.

The coin likely depicts a scene from the Battle of the Hydaspes River where a Macedonian rider, in attack mode against an elephant 

The army of King Porus surrounded by Macedonians all sides, and the battlefield changed into a killing ground. Then, Craterus crossed the river and joined the other Macedonians. Then Raja Purushothama personally took 40 elephants with him and led the attack. As Purushothama was more than 7 feet tall and his chest is double that of a normal soldier, the picture of him, seated on an enormously big elephant made, Alexander and his army awestruck. He looked like a giant beast to them. During the war, Purushothama got hurt in his right shoulder. He was taken back by his elephant, so that he can get treated and recover. The war was going on.

Alexander found it very difficult to continue the war. He was badly injured and he wanted to stop the war because of heavy loss of men in the war. The loss was also very high on Purushothama's side but he has no intention of stopping the war. Arrian, a Greek historian, wrote that Alexander sent Ambi to ask Purushothama to stop the war and befriend Alexander. Purushothama declined his offer and also attacked Ambi. However Ambi escaped from Purushothama. Alexander also sent others to ask Purushothama to befriend Alexander but he strongly declined their offers and wanted to continue the war at any cost. Later Alexander sent Meroes who was a close friend of Purushothama and finally he agrees to stop the war and meet Alexander. Alexander asks Purushothama how he should treat him, he replies "AS A KING" and Alexander asks what else he wants and he replies that he want everything inclusive of it i.e, he wants his kingdom and he should be the king of his kingdom. Alexander had no other way than to retreat back.

But the Greek historians falsely stated that Purushothama surrendered to Alexander.This can be understood from a simple question.Why did Alexander, a king who desired to rule the whole world, who wanted to be the only king of the world, who, in that process wanted to conquer entire India retreats back after the battle of hydaspes? If he defeated Purushothama, why didn't he move towards rest of India and conquer it? Because he was beaten by Purushothama and his army was destroyed badly, he had no other option than to retreat. The greek historians wanted to elevate their kings and their battles irrespective of facts. They want their kings to be heroes in history, that is the reason they wrote history in favour of them.The only source of history to Indians is Greek history, which is their own view and we are blindly following that.

We are not against Greek historians but we request them to answer our questions which we asked in the above paragraph. There are many hidden stories in ancient Indian history which were buried by foreign historians. Our team (INDIANCONTENTS) will try to dig out as many truths as possible. Just support us and we will show you our history.