The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c14.47

c14.47

I have not the slightest doubt that Alexander marched to the Hydaspes by the shortest and easiest route open to him; that he struck the river at or near Jihlam, where he pitched his camp; that he crossed the stream where it was rocky and narrow, a little below the point where it emerges from the hills; and that the battle with Pōros was fought in the Karrī plain. The line of march between the Hydaspes and the Hyphasis cannot be precisely delineated, but it was certainly as close as possible to the foot of the hills, and must have passed near Siālkōt. Raverty was of the same opinion. He wrote to me in 1905: 'I quite agree with you as to Alexander's crossing-place over the Hydaspes ... I well recollect when we crossed the river after the battle of Guzerāt, in pursuit of the Sikhs and Afghāns, that we crossed just at the place that you have mentioned, and the matter was discussed and Abbott's theory endorsed. We must give Alexander credit for some military knowledge at least, and that would naturally lead him to keep nearer the sources of the rivers in order to cross the more easily; and, at the same time, the hills on the north protected his flank.'¹