The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c12.56

c12.56

² The chronology is determined by Strabo, xv, 17, who states, on the authority of Aristoboulos, the companion and historian of Alexander, that ‘they remained in the mountainous country belonging to the Aspasioi and to Assakanos during the winter. In the beginning of spring they descended to the plains and the great city of Taxila, whence they went on to the Hydaspes and the land of Poros. During the winter they saw no rain, but only snow. Rain fell for the first time while they were at Taxila’. The passage of the Indus must therefore be dated in February, or at the latest, in March, 326 B.C. Mr. Pearson notes that ‘when Burnes was with Ranjit Singh at Lahore, the festival of spring was celebrated with lavish magnificence on the 6th of February’ (*Ind. Ant.* 1905, p. 257). The rain at Taxila must have been due to a passing storm, because the regular rainy season does not begin before June.