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Chapter 4 – Alexander’s Indian Campaign – The Retreat

The retreating army retraced its steps, and arrived again without further adventure on the bank of the Akesines (Chinab), where Hephaistion had completed the building of a fortified town. Voluntary settlers from the neighbouring country and such of the mercenary troops as seemed unfit for active service were left to occupy and garrison this post, and Alexander began to prepare for his voyage down the rivers to the Great Sea.

Envoys bearing tribute from the kings of the lower hills, now known as the chieftainships of Rajauri and Bhimbhar and the British District of Hazara, were received at this time. Alexander, who regarded his Indian conquests as permanent additions to the empire, and evidently cherished hopes of a return to the country, having accepted the tenders of submission, solemnly appointed the King of Abhisara (Bhimbhar and Rajauri) to the office of satrap, and invested him with

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authority over the King of Urasa (Hazara), who is called Arsakes by Arrian.

About the same time a welcome reinforcement of five thousand cavalry from Thrace, and seven thousand infantry, sent by the king’s cousin, Harpalos, Satrap of Babylon, arrived, bringing no less than twenty-five thousand suits of armour inlaid with gold and silver. The new accoutrements were at once distributed to the ragged troops, and the old suits were burned.

Alexander then advanced to the Hydaspes (Jihlam), and encamped on the bank, probably on the site of the camp formerly occupied by Poros. Several weeks were now devoted to the final preparations for the voyage down the rivers. All available country boats plying on the river were impressed for the service, and deficiencies were supplied by the construction of new vessels, for which the forests at the base of the hills afforded ample facilities. ‘Crews were provided from the contingents of seafaring nations, Phoenicians, Cyprians, Karians, and Egyptians, who accompanied the army, and by the end of October, 326 B.C., all was ready. The fleet, which included eighty galleys of thirty oars each, and a multitude of horse transports and small craft of all kinds, probably numbered nearly two thousand vessels.

Before the voyage began, Alexander convoked an assembly of his officers and the ambassadors of the Indian powers, and in their presence appointed Poros to be king of all the conquered territories lying between

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the Hydaspes and the Hyphasis. These territories are said to have been occupied by seven nations, the Glausai, Kathaioi, and others, and to have comprised no less than two thousand towns. The opportunity was seized to effect a reconciliation between Poros and his old enemy, the King of Taxila, and the friendship between the two monarchs was cemented by a matrimonial affiance. The King of Taxila, who had vied with his rival in zealous service to the invader, was formally confirmed in his sovereignty of the country between the Indus and the Hydaspes.

Alexander, who never neglected to make provision for the protection of his flank and rear, and for the uninterrupted maintenance of communications with his distant base in Europe, instructed Generals Hephaistion and Krateros to march with all possible speed to secure the capital of King Saubhuti (Sophytes, or Sopeithes), lord of the fastnesses of the Salt Range stretching from Jihlam to the Indus, who submitted without resistance.

The fleet was to be protected by an army of 120,000 men marching along the banks, under the generals above named. Krateros had the command on the right, or western, bank of the river, while the larger portion of the army, accompanied by two hundred elephants, was led by Hephaistion along the left, or eastern, bank. Philippos, satrap of the countries west of the Indus, had orders to follow three days later with the rear-guard.

Thus escorted the vast fleet began its memorable voyage. At daybreak one morning toward the end of

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October, Alexander, having offered libations from a golden. bowl to the river gods, his ancestor Herakles, Ammon, and any other god whom he was accustomed to reverence, gave the signal for starting by sound of trumpet. In stately procession, without confusion or disorder, the ships quitted their anchorage and moved down-stream to the astonishment of the crowds of natives lining the banks, who had never before seen horses on board ship.

Ancient Hindu ship

From an Ajanta cave painting (After Griffiths)

The plash of thousands of oars, the words of command, and the chants of the rowers wakened the echoes, which reverberated from bank to bank, and enhanced the amazement of the gaping throngs of spectators. On the third day the fleet reached the place, perhaps Bhira, where Hephaistion and Krateros had been ordered to pitch their camps facing each other on opposite sides of the river. Here a

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halt was made for two days to allow the rear-guard under the command of Philippos to come up, and that general, on his arrival, was directed to convert his force into an advance-guard and proceed along the bank of the river.

On the fifth day after leaving the halting-place, the fleet arrived at the first river confluence, where the Hydaspes met the greater stream of the Akesines. The channel where the waters of the two rivers then met was so very narrow that dangerous whirlpools were formed, and much disorder was occasioned in the fleet. Two of the war-ships were sunk with the greater part of their crews, and the vessel which carried Alexander was in imminent danger of sharing the same fate. By dint of great exertion on the part of the king and all concerned, the bulk of the fleet was ultimately brought to a safe anchorage under the shelter of a headland, and the necessary steps were taken to repair the damage suffered.

It is impossible to determine the spot where these exciting incidents occurred. The confluence of the two rivers at Timmu (N. lat. 31° 10′) now takes place quietly, and presents none of the peculiarities to which Arrian and Curtius devote so much vivid description. All that can be said is that in Alexander’s time the confluence must have been situated much farther to the north.

Our exact knowledge of the courses of the rivers in the Panjab and Sind begins only from the date of the Arab invasion in 712 A.D., more than a thousand

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years subsequent to the expedition of Alexander. Concerning the changes which happened during that millennium absolutely nothing is known. But during the twelve hundred years that have elapsed since the Arab conquests changes on a stupendous scale are known to have occurred, and it is certain that similar effects must have been produced by the ever operating causes during the thousand years which intervened between Alexander and Muhammad bin Kasim. During the known period, earthquakes, floods, changes of level, denudation, accretion, and alterations of climate have all contributed to transform the face of the country. The delta of the Indus has advanced more than fifty miles, and has thus lengthened the courses of the rivers, while diminishing their gradients and velocity. One huge river, the Hakra or Wahindah, which formerly gave life and wealth to the desert wastes of Bikanir, Bahawalpur, and Sind, has ceased to exist; the Bias (Hyphasis) has forsaken its ancient independent bed and become a tributary of the Sutlaj; and the other rivers, the Indus, Jihlam (Hydaspes), Chinab (Akesines), and Ravi (Hydraotes), have all repeatedly changed their courses and points of junction.

These facts, although indisputably true, have been ignored generally in practice by the historians of Alexander, who have pretended to trace the line of his river voyage on modern maps, and to “identify” town after town on the banks of the several rivers. All such identifications are vain. No man can tell in which of the ancient beds the Chinab or any of the other rivers

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named flowed in the time of Alexander, and, when the positions of the rivers are not ascertainable, it is clear that we cannot reasonably expect to identify places on their banks. The most that is possible is to give general indications of the course of the voyage and of the location of the principal nations encountered by Alexander. The sites of the towns and the precise positions of the confluences and crossing-places mentioned by the ancient historians cannot be precisely determined. Inasmuch as the courses of all the rivers were then much shorter than they now are, all the confluences must have been situated considerably farther north than at present, and this a priori inference appears to be fully supported by observation of the most ancient beds of the streams. The confluence of the Akesines and Hydaspes, the first of the four confluences described by Arrian, was probably situated not very far from the modern town of Jhang, and approximately in N. lat. 31°.

Alexander here landed his troops in order to subjugate the adjoining tribes, called Siboi and Agalassoi by Curtius, and to prevent them from joining the powerful nation of the Malloi (Sanskrit Malaya or Malaya), who dwelt lower down the river, and were known to be preparing for strenuous resistance. The Siboi, who are described as rude folk clad in the skins of wild beasts and armed with clubs, submitted, and were allowed to retain their freedom. Their neighbours, the Agalassoi, who were able to muster a force estimated at forty thousand foot and three thousand horse, ventured to resist, and met with a terrible fate. Multitudes

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were put to the sword, and multitudes sold into slavery. Alexander advanced some thirty miles into their country, and captured their principal town. At a second town he met with an obstinate defence, which cost the lives of many Macedonians. The inhabitants, said to number twenty thousand, despairing of ultimate success, set fire to the town and cast themselves with their wives and children into the flames. The citadel escaped the fire, and was garrisoned by a detachment left behind for the purpose. The lives of three thousand of its gallant defenders were spared.

Information was received that a confederacy of the Malloi, Oxydrakai, and other independent tribes occupying the river valleys was being formed with the intention of offering strenuous resistance to the invasion. Alexander hastened the movements of his fleet and army with the object of attacking the confederates severally in detail, before they could mature their plans and combine their forces. The fleet and the bulk of the army received orders to assemble at the next confluence, that of the Hydraotes (Ravi) with the Akesines (Chinab, including the Hydaspes, or Jihlam).

Alexander in person landed with a picked force, largely composed, as usual, of mounted troops, to operate against the Malloi, the most formidable of the allied tribes, who occupied the fertile valley of the Hydraotes, on both banks of the river. Their neighbours, the Oxydrakai, who dwelt on the banks of the upper course of the Hyphasis, although ordinarily at war with the Malloi, had resolved to forget old enmities and to make

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common cause against the invader. The rival nations cemented the affiance by wholesale intermarriage, each giving and taking ten thousand young women for wives. But personal jealousies, such as in all ages have reduced to futility political combinations in India, prevented the affiance from taking effect. While the allies were discussing the claims of rival generals to command, Alexander acted, and with masterly strategy sweeping down upon the Malloi, extinguished their military power before the Oxydrakai could come to their aid. The forces at the command of the confederacy should have sufficed, if properly handled, to annihilate the small flying column at Alexander’s disposal, for they are said to have comprised eighty or ninety thousand fully equipped infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and from seven to nine hundred chariots.

The exact strength of the Macedonian field force is not stated, but it must have been very small, not exceeding a few thousands. But what it lacked in numbers was compensated for by its perfect mobility and the genius of its general. The Macedonians were alarmed at the magnitude of the opposing forces, and a repetition of the mutiny of the Hyphasis was with difficulty prevented by a stirring address delivered by the king. By two forced marches across the waterless uplands, now known as the Bar, which separate the valleys of the Akesines and Hydraotes, Alexander completely surprised the Malloi, most of whom were working unarmed in the fields. Many of the helpless wretches were ruthlessly cut down, “without their even

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turning to offer resistance,” and those who escaped the sword were shut up in the fortified towns.

One of these towns, with a citadel situated on a commanding height, was stormed under Alexander’s personal direction, and two thousand of the garrison were slain. Another town, against which Perdikkas had been sent, was found to be deserted. The inhabitants fled to the marshes in the river valley, but, even among the reeds and rushes, they could not escape the weapons of the Macedonian cavalry. Alexander then pushed on to the Hydraotes, and overtook the retreating Malloi at the ford, inflicting severe loss upon them. He pursued them to the east of the river into the country now known as the Montgomery District, and took by mining and escalade a town inhabited by Brahmans. The king, with his customary disregard of danger, was the first man to scale the wall. The place was gallantly defended, but in vain. “About five thousand in all were killed, and as they were men of spirit, very few were taken prisoners.”

The Malloi, being hard pressed, recrossed the Hydraotes, the passage of which they attempted to defend with fifty thousand men; but they were no match for the Europeans, and fled “with headlong speed” to the strongest fortified town in the neighbourhood. This small town, which cannot be identified precisely, and was situated somewhere near the boundary of the Jhang and Montgomery Districts, eighty or ninety miles to the northeast. of Multan, was the scene of one of the most memorable incidents in Alexander’s adventurous career,

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admirably described by Arrian from materials supplied by Ptolemy, who did not, however, himself take part in Alexander’s defence, as has been erroneously asserted by some authors.

Indian archer

From the Ajanta Cave Paintings. (After Griffiths)

The Macedonians, already masters of the town, were endeavouring to scale the walls of the citadel, when Alexander, thinking that the men bearing the ladders loitered too long, snatched one from the man carrying it, and mounted the wall, followed by only three companions, Peukestas, Leonnatos, and Abreas. Standing on the wall in his gleaming armour, the king was a mark for every missile, and, feeling that he could effect . nothing where he was without support, boldly leaped down into the citadel, followed by his three comrades. Abreas soon fell dead. Alexander, standing with his back to a tree that grew near the wall, slew the Indian governor and defended himself against all corners until his breast was pierced by an arrow, and he fell. Peukestas bestrode him as he lay, covering him with the

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sacred shield brought from Ilion, while Leonnatos, although severely wounded like his surviving comrade, protected him from side attacks. The ladders having broken, the maddened Macedonians were for a time powerless to help their king, but at last a few managed to scramble up the earthen wall, while others broke in a gate, and so saved Alexander, who had fainted.

The barbed arrow was withdrawn by a bold operation which involved much bleeding and threatened immediate death, but gradually Alexander’s strong constitution triumphed, and the dangerous wound was healed. The infuriated troops fell upon the unfortunate inhabitants, and slew them all – sparing neither man, woman, nor child. When convalescent, Alexander was carried to the Hydraotes, and conveyed by boat to the junction with the Akesines, where he met his fleet and army, under the command respectively of Nearchos and Hephaistion.

The survivors of the Malloi, whose nation had felt the full weight of Alexander’s hand, now tendered their humble submission, and the Oxydrakai, whom fortunate procrastination had saved, feeling that resistance would be hopeless, purchased the conqueror’s clemency by offers of tribute and the delivery of valuable gifts. Alexander, stern and even cruel to those who opposed him, but always courteous and generous to the submissive, readily accepted the proposals, presents, and excuses of the tribal envoys. The presents are said to have included 1030 four-horse chariots, one thousand bucklers of native manufacture, one hundred

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talents of steel, a great store of cotton goods, a quantity of tortoise-shells, the skins of large lizards, with tame lions and tigers, in addition to a contingent of three hundred horsemen.

Philippos was then appointed satrap of the conquered nations, and the fleet, passing the third confluence, where the Hyphasis contributed its waters to the stream, continued its voyage to the fourth confluence, that of the Akesines (Chinab), including the Hydaspes (Jihlara), Hydraotes (Ravi), and Hyphasis (Bias), with the river which the ancient writers call the Indus. But it is probable that the “lost river of Sind,” the Hakra, or Wahindah, then existed, and that all the Panjab rivers, including the Indus, joined it, and formed one great stream, afterward known as the Mihran of Sind.

It is absolutely impossible to determine the position of any of the confluences in Alexander’s time; but, long afterward, in the days of the early Arab writers, all the rivers met at a place called Dosh-i-ab, or “the Meeting of the Waters,” in territory now belonging to the Bahawalpur State. Our complete uncertainty as to the courses of the rivers, which have ranged, as the old channels indicate, over a space a hundred and ten miles wide in the region of the final confluence, deprives the remainder of Alexander’s river voyage of much of its interest. His course in Upper Sind cannot be indicated even approximately, and it is impossible to fix accurately the position of either the towns or the nations mentioned by the historians.

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The confluence of the combined Panjab rivers with the “Indus,” wherever it may have been situated, was appointed to be the southern boundary of the satrapy of Philippos, to whom all the Thracians were made over together with an adequate force of infantry to form the garrison of his province. At about the same time the Bactrian nobleman, Oxyartes, father of Alexander’s wife, Roxana, was deputed to the Paropanisadai, or the Kabul province, as satrap in succession to Tyriaspes, whose administration had been unsatisfactory. A city was founded at the confluence of the rivers with the “Indus,” which Alexander hoped would become prosperous and famous. Dockyards also were constructed. Certain independent tribes, whom Arrian calls Abastanoi, Xathroi or Oxathroi, and Ossadioi, submitted or were subjugated, and it is noted that galleys of thirty oars and transport vessels were built and supplied by the Xathroi. Although it is impossible to determine accurately either the correct names or the true positions of the tribes in Northern Sind mentioned by the various ancient authorities, the region occupied by the tribes referred to seems to be that lying to the north and south of N. lat. 28° and between E. long. 69° and 70° 30′. During this stage of the campaign, Krateros, who hitherto, from the beginning; had always marched on the right, or western, bank of each successive river, was transferred to the left, or eastern, bank, which offered greater facilities for movement and was occupied by tribes less hostile than those on the other bank.

Alexander now hurried on in order to surprise the

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powerful monarch called Mousikanos by Arrian, who had proudly abstained from sending envoys or presents to the invader. The capital of this stiff-necked king may be probably, although not certainly, identified with Alor, or Aror, the ancient capital of Sind, now included in the Shikarpui District, and situated in N. lat. 27° 39′, E. long. 68° 59′. The peculiarities of the people of this kingdom excited the surprise and admiration of the Macedonians. The inhabitants were believed to attain the age of a hundred and thirty years, their longevity being the result of good health secured by temperance in diet. Although their country possessed mines of both gold and silver, they refused to make use of either metal. Unlike the other Indians, they kept no slaves, employing in their stead “young men in the flower of their age, as the Cretans employ the Aphamiotai, and the Lacedaemonians the Helots.” They also resembled the Lacedaemonians in observing the custom of a public meal, at which the food served was the produce of the chase. They declined to study any science save that of medicine, and were reputed to have no system of civil law, the jurisdiction of the courts being confined to cases of murder and other violent crime.

King Mousikanos, like the Malloi, being completely surprised by the rapidity of the movements of Alexander, who had reached the frontier before his departure from his last camp had been reported, hastened to meet the conqueror, bringing with him all his elephants and the choicest presents which India could offer. Alexander,

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with his habitual readiness to accept submission, received the king courteously, expressed much admiration of his capital and realm, and confirmed him in his sovereignty. But Mousikanos, acting under the advice of Brahman counsellors, quickly repented of his ready submission, and revolted. Peithon, the son of Agenor, who had been appointed satrap of the country to the south of the territory entrusted to Philippos, was sent in pursuit of the rebel, while Alexander in person operated against the towns, some of which were destroyed, while others were occupied by garrisons. Mousikanos, having been captured by Peithon, was crucified along with the Brahmans who had instigated his defection.

Alexander next marched with a flying column against a chief named Oxykanos, who was taken prisoner. His two principal cities were sacked, and the other towns in the neighbourhood surrendered without attempting resistance; “so much were the minds of all the Indians paralyzed with abject terror by Alexander and the success of his arms.” Another chieftain, named Sambos, whose capital was Sindimana, and who had fled in terror, surrendered, and more Brahmans, who had instigated the revolt of an unnamed town, were executed. It is said that during this campaign on the Lower Indus eighty thousand of the natives were killed, and multitudes were sold as slaves.

After the execution of Mousikanos, the ruler of the Delta, which was known to the Greeks as Patalene, from its capital Patala, arrived in camp and proffered

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the submission of his kingdom, which was accepted. He was sent back to his country to prepare for the reception of the expedition.

About the same time Krateros, one of Alexander’s most trusted lieutenants, was detached with orders to conduct a large portion of the army into Karmania by the route leading through the territories of Arachosia (Kandahar) and Drangiana (Sistan). The troops entrusted to Krateros comprised the brigades (ταξις) of Attalos, Meleager, and Antigenes, besides some of the archers, the “companions” or guards, and other Macedonians unfit for further active service. The elephants also accompanied this force.

Alexander in person retained the command of the troops serving as marines, while Hephaistion was given supreme command of the rest of the army, which advanced on the right bank of the river. Krateros, who had been transferred to the left bank in Upper Sind, had, of course, been obliged to recross the stream in order to begin his homeward march. His place on the left bank was now taken by Peithon, son of Agenor, who was given a mounted force of lancers and Agrianians, with instructions to place colonists in certain fortified towns, suppress attempts at insurrection, maintain order, and ultimately to rejoin Alexander at Patala. The prince and people of that city fled in terror, but were mostly reassured and induced to return to their homes.

Alexander, considering Patala to be a position of high strategical importance, caused Hephaistion to construct

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a citadel there and to dig wells in the adjoining region. He proposed to make a great naval station at the point where the river divided, and remained sufficiently long on the spot to see some progress made in the construction of a roadstead and dockyard. He then resolved to explore personally both arms of the river down to the sea, and first sailed down the western, or right, branch, which probably debouched near or below Debal, the ancient port of Sind, distant about fifteen miles from Thathah (Tatta). His sailors, accustomed to the tideless waters of the Mediterranean, were thrown into a state of great alarm and confusion by the ebb and flow of the tide, but ultimately Alexander succeeded in pushing on with some of the fastest vessels and reaching the open sea. He sailed out a few miles into the deep, sacrificed bulls to Poseidon, and followed up the sacrifice by a libation, casting the golden vessels used in the ceremony into the ocean as a thank-offering.

He then returned to Patala, where he found the works of the new naval station well advanced, and proceeded to explore the eastern, or left, branch of the river. Near its mouth he passed through a large lake, apparently that now known as the Samarah lake to the west of Amarkot, and again reached the seashore in about latitude 25°. Having spent three days in reconnoitring the coast and arranging for the construction of wells, he returned to Patala. Harbours and docks were built on the shores of the lake, and furnished with garrisons. Provisions to supply the forces for

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four months were collected, and all other necessary preparations were made for the two bold enterprises which he had planned: the voyage of the fleet along the coast to the Persian Gulf, and his own march with the army through Gedrosia in a direction, so far as might be practicable, parallel to the course of the fleet.

His plans were conceived upon a comprehensive scale. Nearchos, the admiral who had successfully commanded the flotilla during the ten months’ voyage from Jihlam to the sea, was instructed to bring the fleet round the coast into the Persian Gulf as far as the mouth of the Euphrates, and to record careful observations of the strange lands and seas which he should visit. Alexander himself proposed to conduct the army back to Persia through the wilds of the country then called Gedrosia, and now known as Mukran, hitherto untrodden save by the legendary hosts of Semiramis and Cyrus. The king, who was independent of the winds, started on his march about the beginning of October, 325 B.C. Nearchos, being obliged to watch for the change of the monsoon, did not leave his anchorage in the river until two or three weeks later.

Although Gedrosia has usually remained outside the Indian political system, the province, or part of it, has been included from time to time within the dominions of the sovereigns of Rind, and its history cannot be regarded as altogether foreign to the history of India. But the satrapy of Gedrosia undoubtedly lay beyond the limits of India proper, and a summary narrative of the adventures met with by Nearchos on its coasts and

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his sovereign in its deserts will be sufficient to complete the story of Alexander’s Indian campaign.

Nearchos was detained for several days in the river, and, after much difficulty in making a passage for the ships round a bar, which obstructed the mouth of the western branch, ultimately got out to sea. Contrary winds detained him for twenty-four days in a secure harbour, to which he gave the name of Alexander’s Haven. The coast-line has been changed so much by both accretion and denudation, that attempts at detailed identifications of places near the mouth of the river are a waste of time, but it is safe to affirm that the haven where Nearchos found shelter was not very far from the modern Karachi (Kurrachee). The admiral then crept cautiously along the inhospitable coast, his crews often suffering severely from lack of provisions and fresh water. After travelling a hundred miles or so (850 stadia), the fleet reached the mouth of the river Arabis (the Purali), which formed the boundary between the Arabioi, the last a people of Indian descent settled in this region, and the Oreitai, who occupied an extensive territory to the west of the river.

Having traversed an estimated distance of eight hundred stadia more, the fleet reached a place called Kokala, where the wearied crews were allowed to disembark and enjoy much-needed rest. While the sailors were reposing here in a fortified camp, Nearchos came into touch with Leonnatos, whom Alexander had detached with a field force to subdue the Oreitai. News arrived that a great battle had been fought, in which Leonnatos

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had defeated the natives with terrible slaughter. The Oreitai are said to have lost six thousand men and all their leaders out of a total force of eight thousand foot and three hundred horse. The Macedonian loss, although numerically small, was noteworthy because it included the colleague of Leonnatos, Apollophanes, who had recently been appointed satrap of the country. Communications between Leonnatos and Nearchos having been established, the fleet was repaired and victualled, and sailors who had proved inefficient at sea were drafted into the army, their places being taken by men selected from the troops under the command of Leonnatos.

Continuing their voyage westward, the ships passed along the coast near the mouth of the river Tomeros, which was inhabited by a race of savages, ignorant of the use of iron, and armed only with wooden spears charred at the point to harden them. These wild men were covered with shaggy hair all over the body, and had clawlike nails strong enough to rip up fish and to split the softer kinds of wood. Their clothing was made of the skins of wild beasts or those of the larger fishes. After a skirmish with the savages, the fleet delayed for five days to effect repairs, and on the sixth day reached the rocky headland named Malana (now Ras Malin), the eastern boundary of the Oreitai, a people who were not savages, but were dressed and armed like the inhabitants of India, although differing from them in language and customs.

When the Malana cape had been passed, the inland

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people were known as Gedrosioi, and no longer as Orcitai. The inhabitants of the coast continued to astonish the voyagers by their strange manners and customs. “These poor wretches,” we are told, “had nothing but fish to live on,” and so they were dubbed Ichthyophagoi, or “Fish-eaters,” by the Greeks – what the real name of the race may have been is not known. Whales, which were numerous along this coast, although very alarming to the sailors of the fleet, were extremely useful to the natives on shore, and supplied the materials for the better houses, which were built of whales’ bones, the huge jaws serving as doorways.

The seamen on board the ships . of Nearchos, being superstitious, like the sailors of all ages and countries, were much frightened at the weird tales told about an uninhabited island, which Arrian calls Nosala, and is now known as Astola or Astalu. It lies nearly midway between Urmera and Pasni headlands, and is to this day as much an object of dread to the Med fisherman as it was long ago to the Greek sailors.

Thus threading their way through all dangers, real or imaginary, the explorers made their way to a port called Badis, near Cape Jask at the entrance to the Straits of Ormuz, and so came into touch with the more civilized province of Karmania. Proceeding through the straits, the delighted mariners found themselves at Harmozeia (Ormuz), a charming place, producing everything that they wanted, except olives. Here the men came ashore and were gratefully enjoying their rest, when some of the more adventurous spirits

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strolled inland, and were astounded to meet a stranger wearing Greek clothes and speaking Greek. Tears came to their eyes as they heard the familiar sounds of home in that strange and distant land. Explanations having been exchanged, the stranger proved to be a straggler from Alexander’s army, and gave the welcome information that the king was only five days’ march distant.

Nearchos and Archias at once arranged to go inland to meet their sovereign, and, after many difficulties, made their way to his presence, but so ragged and unkempt were they, that Alexander at first could not recognize them. When at last he was convinced of his friends’ identity, he assumed hastily that they must be the sole miserable survivors from his lost fleet, and was in despair at the imagined disaster. But he was soon reassured by Nearchos, who told him that the ships were safe and sound, hauled up at the mouth of the Anamis River for repairs.

The admiral, after volunteering to conduct the fleet up the gulf to Susa, returned to the coast, to which he was obliged to fight his way, and thence sailed on, with little adventure, to the mouth of the Euphrates. He then heard of Alexander’s approach to Susa, and, turning back, entered the Tigris to meet him, and “it was thus that the expedition which had started from the mouths of the Indus was brought in safety to Alexander.”

The difficulties encountered by the army under the command of Alexander were even greater than those

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met and overcome by the fleet under Nearchos. The king seems to have been ignorant of the existence of the Hala range of mountains, which terminates in Cape Malin. This great obstacle, which he was obliged to turn, deranged his plans, and compelled him to penetrate far into the interior, and for a time to lose touch with the fleet. The army suffered agonies from thirst, and the unfortunate followers perished by thousands. “The blazing heat and want of water,” Arrian tells us, “destroyed a great part of the army, and especially the beasts of burden, which perished from the great depth of the sand, and the heat which scorched like fire, while a great many died of thirst.” Ultimately, the remnant of the force worked its way back to the coast, emerging near the harbour of Pasni, almost on the line where the telegraph-wire now runs, and its sufferings were at an end. But the soldiers had been obliged “to burn the rich spoils taken from their enemies, for the sake of which they had marched to the utmost extremities of the East.” The success of the general was the ruin of the private.

While the army was still in Karmania, a report was received that Philippos, satrap of the Indian provinces north of the confluence of the Akesines with the Indus, had been treacherously murdered by his mercenary troops. Although this disquieting communication was accompanied by the information that the murderers had been slain by the satrap’s Macedonian body-guard, Alexander was not then in a position to make permanent arrangements, and was obliged to content himself

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with sending a despatch to India, directing Ambhi, King of Taxila, and Eudamos, commandant of a Thracian contingent on the Upper Indus, to assume the administration of the province until a satrap could be appointed in due course. The death of Alexander at Babylon in the following year (June, 323 B.C.) effectually prevented any attempt being made to retain control over the conquered countries east of the Indus.

When the second partition of the empire was effected at Triparadeisos in 321 B.C., Antipater practically recognized the independence of India by appointing the native kings Poros and Ambhi, as a matter of form, to the charge of the Indus valley and Panjab. Peithon, whom Alexander had appointed Satrap of the Indus Delta, was transferred to the provinces “which bordered on the Paropanisadai,” i.e. to Arachosia, etc., west of the Indus, and India was abandoned by the Macedonian government in reality, though not in name. Eudamos, alone of the Macedonian officers, retained some authority in the Indus valley until 317.

The Indian expedition of Alexander may be said to have lasted for three years, from May, 327 B.C., when he crossed the Hindu Kush, to May, 324 B.C., when he entered Susa. Out of this period, about nineteen months were spent in India east of the Indus, from March, 326 B.C., when he crossed the bridge at Ohind, until September or October in the following year, when he entered the territory of the Arabioi.

Looked at merely from the soldier’s point of view, the achievements wrought in that brief space of time

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are marvellous and incomparable. The strategy, tactics, and organization of the operations give the reader of the story the impression that in all these matters perfection was attained. The professional military critic may justly blame Alexander, as his own officers blamed him, for excessive display of personal heroism, and needless exposure to danger of the precious life upon which the safety of the whole army depended, but criticism is silenced by admiration, and by the reflection that the example set by the king’s reckless daring was of incalculable value as a stimulus and encouragement to troops often ready to despair of success.

The descent of the rivers to the ocean through the territories of civilized and well-armed nations, admittedly the best soldiers in the East, and the voyage of Nearchos from the Indus to the Tigris, may fairly be described as unqualified successes. The third great enterprise, the retirement of the army led by Alexander in person through Gedrosia, would have been equally prosperous but for the occurrence of physical difficulties, which could not be foreseen, owing to the imperfection of the information at the king’s command. But even this operation was not a failure. Notwithstanding the terrible privations endured and the heavy losses suffered, the army emerged from the deserts as an organized and disciplined force, and its commander’s purpose was attained.

On the whole, Alexander’s Indian campaign was a success. It was not really marred by the mutiny at the Hyphasis. If his soldiers had permitted him to

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plunge more deeply into the interior, he would probably have been unable to maintain the communication with his European base, on which his safety depended, and his small, isolated force might have been overwhelmed by the mere numbers of his adversaries. Koinos and his fellow remonstrants may be credited with having prevented the annihilation of the Macedonian army.

The triumphant progress of Alexander from the Himalaya to the sea demonstrated the inherent weakness of the greatest Asiatic armies when confronted with European skill and discipline. The dreaded elephants lost their terrors, and proved to be a poor defence against the Macedonian cavalry. The unopposed march of Krateros from Sind to Persia through Sistan opened up an alternative land route and solved the problem of easy overland communication with Europe. The circumnavigation of the coast by Nearchos gave Alexander a third line of communication by sea, and, if he had lived, there is no reason to suppose that he would have experienced serious difficulty in retaining his hold upon the Panjab and Sind.

All his proceedings prove conclusively that he intended the permanent annexation of those provinces to his empire, and the measures which he took for the purpose were apparently adequate to ensure success. But Alexander’s premature death destroyed the fruits of his well-planned and successful enterprise. Within three years of his departure, his officers had been ousted, his garrisons destroyed, and all trace of his rule had disappeared. The colonies which he founded in India,

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unlike those established in the other Asiatic provinces, took no root. The campaign, although carefully designed to secure a permanent conquest, was in actual effect no more than a brilliantly successful raid on a gigantic scale, which left upon India no mark save the horrid scars of bloody war.

India remained unchanged. The wounds of battle were quickly healed; the ravaged fields smiled again as the patient oxen and no less patient husbandmen resumed their interrupted labours; and the places of the slain myriads were filled by the teeming swarms of a population which knows no limits save those imposed by the cruelty of man or the still more pitiless operations of nature. India was not Hellenized. She continued to live her life of “splendid isolation,” and soon forgot the passing of the Macedonian storm.

“The East bowed low before the blast

In patient, deep disdain;

She let the legions thunder past,

And plunged in thought again1.”

Footnotes

1. [Matthew Arnold, The Pagan World]

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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