The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c11.101

c11.101

Alexander's political arrangements. Pliny puts the number of nations at nine and that of the towns at 5,000, none of which was less than a kos or nearly two miles in extent.⁴ Elsewhere Megasthenes remarks of India as a whole that the number of cities was so great that it could not be counted.⁵ It may be inferred that the number of towns was strikingly large but of their administrative structure we can gather little beyond what Megasthenes says of Pâtaliputra.⁶ Alexander himself is said to have founded cities and fixed the boundaries of 'satrapies.'⁷ The Macedonian conqueror seems to have largely followed the Indian model in his political arrangements. He "not only appointed Poros to govern his own Indians, but added to his original territory another of still greater extent."[¹] He allowed the various districts to be governed by their old rulers under the overlordship of Poros who was to be his own vassal. Besides the satrapy of Poros which extended from the Hydaspes (Jhelum) to the Hyphasis (Beâs) there was the satrapy of Philip at Takṣaśilâ who was also invested with the charge of a province extending as far south as the confluence of the Indus with the Acesinas (Chenâb). But Âmbhi also continued to rule at Takṣaśilâ.[²] According to Curtius, Âmbhi and Eudamos were appointed joint administrators by Alexander.[³] We do not know how their relations were co-ordinated and their spheres demarcated. The third satrapy comprised Sindh and was placed under Pithon, son of Agenor. From the rapidity with which his authority was shaken off, it appears that there were autonomous Indian chiefs under him as well. Alexander left an army of occupation consisting of Macedonians, Thracians and Greek mercenaries but its distribution is uncertain.[⁴] It is probable that while civil administration was left to Indian chiefs, military authority was concentrated in the hands of Macedonian officers. In any case the Macedonian hold on India was extremely weak. The death of Alexander was the signal for its disappearance. In 321 B.C. at the time of the partition of Triparadisos, Pithon, son of Agenor, had ceased to be the satrap of the lower Indus valley and was ruling only west of that river.[⁵]