THE ‘PORUS MEDALLION’
Sometime after the rains commenced ~2350 years ago, during May/June 326 BCE, the Macedonian army under the young Alexander reached the river Hydaspaes (Jhelum) in what is today West Punjab, Pakistan.
Beyond the river was the kingdom of the Puru clan whose ruler, known as ‘Porus’ from greek sources, commanded a formidable army of infantry, chariots and notably a contingent of war elephants — the battle tanks of the ancient world.
Both armies camped on either side of the river for a month, each hoping the other would blink first. From Alexander’s perspective, if he had to defeat Porus, he would first have to cross the Jhelum. The trouble was crossing a river while one’s foe is ready and waiting on the other bank was (and still is — check Ukraine now) a notoriously difficult job.
However, in a superb manoeuvre, that has since added to his reputation as a military genius, Alexander managed that. After weeks of false movements which tricked Porus, Alexander took the advantage of a thunderstorm+downpour to cross the river at night. By the time Porus got to know what had happened, the Sun had arisen and the Macedonians were safely on the other bank.
After an initial skirmish in which Porus’s son was killed, the Macedonians finally came face-to-face with the main Puruvian army. Initially, Alexander’s trusted tactic of using his cavalry to pin down the Puruvian flanks did quite well.
But, then as the Macedonian phalanx charged, Porus’s elephant brigade — something the Greeks had never encountered before — wreaked havoc. It should be noted that these were not docile animals we are familiar with today. These were battle-elephants trained to kill and squash amidst the screams and gore of battle. And every elephant housed a team of soldiers on its houdah who shot arrows and hurled spears. Worse for Alexander, his horses panicked and refused to charge at the elephants.
Any other general would perhaps have retreated. But again, Alexander’s ingenuity in the midst of battle, came to his rescue. He ordered his men to use their long lances to spear the elephants! ‘dont bother about the soldiers, pierce the trunk and head of the elephants’.
And it worked! Soon, the wounded elephants — writhing in tremendous pain — panicked and fell back, crushing their own army who, in turn, retreated in total confusion. Before long, it was all over for Porus who, to his credit, continued to fight gallantly even as his men deserted their ranks. When Alexander enquired how he’d like to treated, his immortal reply was ‘like a king’.
It was probably more than gallant rhetoric and, in any case, Alexander always insisted on securing regional allies who could ensure the flow of taxes from his distant provinces. Thus, Porus was gifted additional lands while he presented his new ‘boss’ with elephants and other exotic gifts (including the first reported specimens of the Indian peacock to travel outside the subcontinent). By latter reports, emboldened by Greek support, he soon became a ‘local bully’, and was assassinated a few years later.
As for the Greeks, they had had enough. They had won enough riches for healthy retirement and would not risk facing the Nanda empire who, it was reputed, had a larger force.
Interestingly, the legend goes that young Chandragupta Maurya met Alexander and learnt some of the Macedonian battle tactics, which he soon used to carve the first pan-India empire….
The ‘Porus Medallion’ — almost-certainly minted at that period and discovered in the 19th cent — commemorates the famous battle. It depicts a Greek cavalryman charging at an Indian elephant. On the reverse is Alexander himself, holding the royal scepter (okay, sengol if you wish to) and also the Thunderbolt. Why? because Alexander believed he was a descendant of Zeus, the king of the gods.
