India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.25

c13.25

Secondly, the confederate military arrangement between the Kshudrakas and the Mālavas was not a temporary makeshift, but permanent arrangement so as to find its way into current language in the phrase *Kshaudraka-Mālavī Senā* as a special grammatical formation. There is therefore every likelihood that Pāṇini himself had composed the *Gaṇa-sūtra Kshudraka- Mālavāt Senā-saṁjñāyām*, on the basis of his personal knowledge of such an army. In fact the details given by the Greek writers rather indicate that this joint army had existed before Alexander and was not the outcome of any emergency. Curtius definitely states that the Kshudrakas and the Mālavas *in accordance with their custom* had selected as their head a brave warrior of the nation of the Kshudrakas who was an experienced general (*Alexander's Invasion*, p. 236). Unfortunately, at the time of giving battle to Alexander the events took a turn just opposite to what Weber would have us believe. Diodoros expressly states 'that the Kshudraka-Mālavas could not agree as to the choice of a leader and ceased in consequence to keep the field together' (*Alex. Inv.*, p. 236, f.n.). Curtius almost confirms this version of Diodoros by saying that 'overnight a dissension arose amongst them and they retired to their mountain recesses.' He goes one step further to acquaint us with the subsequent course of events saying that most of the army took shelter in the fortified city of the Kshudrakas which was besieged by Alexander, and this was followed by the most heroic resistance and the fiercest attack that the Greek army had experienced so far, in which Alexander himself received a deadly wound. Obviously after their separation from the Mālavas, the Kshudrakas bore the brunt of the battle singly. Finally, peace was negotiated on behalf of the fighters by depuing one hundred ambassadors whom the Greeks received with uncommon hospitality and honour that would be rather unusual in the case of a crushed enemy. The grammatical illustration which Patañjali repeats thrice in the *Bhāshya* (*Ekākibhiḥ Kshudrakair-jitam, asahāyair-ityarthaḥ*, I.83; I.321; II.412) presents a true picture of the events as preserved on the Indian side, namely that the Kshudrakas were matched alone against the invaders and emerged triumphant.