The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c14.13

c14.13

This theory has been defended at length by Cunningham, whose arguments would have gained additional force if they had been propounded after impartial examination of the site which Abbott, after careful survey, determined to be that of the battle-field. If the battle took place in the Karrī plain, as maintained by Abbott, Alexander’s camp must have been at or close to Jihlam, and the passage of the river must have been effected above that town. But, unfortunately, Cunningham never attempted to meet Abbott’s reasoning, nor did he examine the course of the river above Jihlam. Having formed in 1846 the opinion that Alexander’s camp was at Jalālpur, Cunningham was content in 1863 to examine the Jalālpur position with a determination to make the topography fit in with his preconceived decision. He merely alludes to General Abbott’s paper as ‘an elaborate disquisition’, and there is nothing to show that he ever studied it carefully.¹