The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.178

v1.c24.178

It appears, therefore, that both Nearchus and Megasthenes deny, the former by implication and the latter expressly, that Cyrus ever reached India, although Nearchus regards him as having made an unsuccessful campaign in Baluchistān. We must not, however, overlook the fact that Strabo and Arrian, our proximate sources, consider the river Indus to be the western boundary of India proper; and the foregoing accounts consequently leave open the possibility that Cyrus made conquests in the borderland west of the Indus itself. Indeed, Arrian elsewhere (*Indica*, I, 1–3) expressly states that the Indians between the river Indus and the river Cophēn, or Kābul, 'were in ancient times subject to the Assyrians, afterwards to the Medes, and finally submitted to the Persians and paid to Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, the tribute that he imposed on them.'