The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c12.66

c12.66

In spite of the most elaborate preparations, the problem of the passage of the Hydaspes in the face of a superior force could not be solved without minute local knowledge; and Alexander was compelled to defer his decision as to the best feasible solution until he should have acquired the necessary acquaintance with all the local conditions. On his arrival he found the army of Pōros, fifty thousand strong, drawn up on the opposite bank. It was obvious that the horses of the cavalry, the arm upon which the Macedonian commander placed his reliance, could not be induced to clamber up the bank of a flooded river in the face of a host of elephants, and that some device for evading this difficulty must be sought.