The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c14.15

c14.15

Cunningham relies on three arguments in favour of the Jalālpur site for Alexander’s camp. The third of these is that, according to Arrian (*Anab.* vi, 2, 4), the fleet when descending the Hydaspes from Nikaia, the town on the battle-field, reached the capital of Sophytes, king of the Salt Range, on the third day. The capital of Sophytes, according to Cunningham, was at Ahmadābād, ‘which is just three days’ distant for a laden boat from Jalālpur, but is six days from Jhelum’,² and, consequently, Jalālpur suits the conditions better than Jhelum. This argument, on which Cunningham himself laid little stress, obviously depends on the correct identification of the capital of Sophytes. Inasmuch as the ‘identification’ proposed by Cunningham is a bare guess, quite unsupported by evidence, the argument based upon it does not demand further consideration.