The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c10.59

c10.59

One of these expeditions was dispatched at some date later than 516 B.C. to prove the feasibility of a passage by sea from the mouth of the Indus to Persia. The commander, Skylax of Karyanda in Karia, managed somehow to equip a squadron on the waters of the Panjāb rivers in the Gandhāra country, to make his way down to the ocean, and ultimately, in the thirteenth month, to reach the Red Sea. The particulars of his adventurous voyage have been lost, but we know that the information collected was of such value that, by utilizing it, Darius was enabled to annex the Indus valley, and to send his fleets into the Indian Ocean. The archers from India formed a valuable element in the army of Xerxes, and shared the defeat of Mardonius at Plataea (479 B. C.).