The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c25.7

v1.c25.7

But in 334 B.C. and the following years the struggle between Persia and the Yavanas took a turn which must have made talk even in the palaces and bazaars of the Punjab. The Indian princes learnt that a Yavana king had arisen in the utmost West strong enough to drive the Great King from his throne. It may be that the western provinces, Asia Minor and Egypt, were torn away in 334, 333 and 332 b.c. by the invader without yet bringing the Indian princes to realise that so huge a fact in the world as the Persian Empire was about to vanish. But there can have been no mistaking the magnitude of the catastrophe, when Darius III was flying northward for his life, when Alexander had occupied the central seats of government and set Persepolis on fire (330 b.c.). If this man from the West was going to claim the whole heritage of the Achaemenian kings, that would make him the neighbour of the princes of India. It must have been a concern to the rāja of Takshaçilā and his fellow-kings to learn in what direction the victorious Yavana host would move next. And in fact the tidings came before long that it was moving nearer. When the winter of 330 fell, it was encamped in Seistān, and with the spring moved to the uplands which to-day constitute the southern part of Afghānistān. Here the awe-struck inhabitants, Pashtus probably, ancestors of the modern Afghāns, saw the European strangers set about a work which indicated a resolve to make themselves at home for all time in these lands won by their spear. They saw them begin to construct a city after the manner of the Yavanas at a point commanding the roads; and when the rest of the host had gone onward, there a body of Europeans remained, established behind the fresh-built walls. If we may judge by analogies, some thousands of the native people were induced by force or persuasion to settle side by side with them in the new city. It was only one of the chain of cities which marked the track of conquering Hellenism. Like many of the others, this too was given the name of the conqueror. In the speech of the Greeks it was known as Alexandria-among-the-Arachosians. To-day we call it Kandahār.