Alexander's story

[dubeyrakesh]

Hi all,

I am interested in the details of Alexander's life, his purpose of visiting India, his experience and the final result. As far as my knowledge goes, the sages of India already knew before time about his arrival which he was surprised at. Any details would be inspiring.

Om namah shivaya.

Rakesh Dubey.

[Gauracandra]

Haribol Dubeyrakesh,

 

I don't know much about Alexander The Great's life or travels to India. As I understand it he thought India would be easy to conquer but found it very difficult indeed. Both tribal fighting, the weather etc... took a hard toll on his soldiers. At one point I think he was almost fatally wounded in one war, with an arrow piercing his armor. Again, I don't have a whole lot of information. I believe he made it all the way to the Ganges. There is a semi-famous account that is often brought up by ufo people with regard to Alexander and India. Apparently, one of his generals kept a diary and in one of his last attacks mentions that while trying to push forward further into India they were confronted by "flying fiery shields" and so they stopped their forward advance. Apparently the diary is entirely real, so we can make of this entry what we want.

 

I have always thought that Vedic and Greek civilization were related. The following passages [edited to be short] come from a book called "Vedic Archeology and assorted essays":

 

"Heliodorus was a Greek ambassador to India in the second century B.C. Few details are know about the diplomatic relations between the Greeks and the Indians in those days, and, unfortunately, still less is know about Heliodorus. Nevertheless the column he erected at Besnagar in central India about 113 B.C. is considered one of the most important archeological finds on the Indian subcontinent.

 

[i've edited for brevity here. Next we look at a translation of the inscription on this column]

 

A reproduction of the inscription, along with the translation of the ancient Brahmi text, is given here as it appeared in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society:

 

This Garuda-column of Vasudeva (Vishnu), the God of gods, was erected here by Heliodorus, a worshipper of Vishnu and the son of Dion. Heliodorus was an inhabitant of Taxila, who came as a Greek ambassador from the Great King Antialkidas to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior, then reigning prosperously in the fourteenth year of his kingship."

 

Several years ago while watching the history channel I was amazed to find that at one point Cleopatra also tried to conquer India. She didn't get far. Apparently, before she was about to be be captured she had several fleets of boats built, and dragged across land, with the intent to sail to India, escape her enemies, and set up a kingdom in India. Anyways, the slaves who were dragging her boats across land were attacked, the boats burned, and she was ultimately captured. Still it would have been interesting if she had made it to India.

 

Gauracandra

[shvu]

 

It is quite interesting to note that there is no Indian record of Alexander's campaign. Whatever information we have about Alexander is from the west.

 

Trained by Aristotle, Alexander started his conquests at an young age and began to advance Eastwards. He had a large army and defeated everyone on the way. All these defeated armies were added to his own.

 

However his luck changed in India. Many reasons are given here. Some say that his army was weary from constant battle and travel and they had no heart to fight further. Some others say tht he could not conquer any Indian kingdom, and so retreated.

 

He started his journey back hime, but died on the way. He was wounded badly. He died at the young age of 33. This was around 327 bc.

 

His generals maintained dairies of the campaign and they mention India. They also mention Alexander's meeting with a young Indian prince Chandragupta.

 

Chandragupta conquered Seleucus Nicator's empire (Afghanisthan/Iran) around 325 bc. Seleucus was Alexander's general. They had a treaty and Seleucus sent Megasthenes as an ambassador to Chandragupta.

 

Around 300 bc, Megasthenes wrote Indica which described India, it's social, economical, political condition and religious beleifs as well. Unfortunately this record is lost, and is available in pieces thru other works. He describes the Indian Gods worshipped during that time, none of which we know. He does not talk about the Buddha, as far as I know. Buddhism may not have been a big religion yet.

 

Chandragupta became a Jain before his death. Jainism perhaps, was more popular at that time. By the time of Ashoka (50+ years later) Buddhism was spreading and Ashoka played a major role in promoting Buddhism.

 

The Cleopatra part is interesting. I did not know that.

 

Cheers

 

[shvu]

 

To add.....

 

Another reason why there may be no Buddhism and any known Indian Gods in Indica is because the it may have been in the lost portions.

 

Will look for more details on that.

[dubeyrakesh]

According to what I remember from the serial Chanakya that used to be telecasted on Doordarshan some 4/5 years back, Alexander used to wonder what makes the Indian sages not desire money/materialism. And that was the main reason he wanted to conquer India. Infact he started his journey with India as his final destination. And when he reached here he saw our sages lying in all sorts of positions - some hanging themselves from tress, other lying flat on rocks etc. He asked one of them to ask for anything and he (Alexander) would provide him/her with it becuase he had all the wealth of the world after conquering virtaully all countries of the world. The sage simply replied that he wanted the sunlight that was being blocked by Alexander and nothing else. At this Alexander got furious and forcefully dragged that sage to his tent to get his question answered. He was astonished to see that the sage knew him and all his history as well his purpose of visit to India. Not just that he also told him what would happen to all the land and wealth acquired by him through victories. The sage said that he will lose all of it. The following story is not clear to me. But I wonder how did the sages know beforehand about his visit and his future as well. This is a historical episode and not mythological as our entire Hindu history is considered to be.

Om namah shivaya.

Rakesh Dubey.

 

[shvu]

 

I am suprised because there is no record in India about Alexander. Unless it was mentioned in one of the records maintained by his generals. By the time Chanakya met Chandragupta, Alexander was out of India and was probably dead.

 

There is a good article that I have read written by a Professor in PA. It is titled "Alexander the ordinary". Apparently he was not as great as projected by some people. He was a cruel person, who tortured all the kings who chose to fight with him, after defeating them. It did not work in India, as he could not defeat Porus, the king of Punjab.

 

He was just another ordinary person who was obsessed with expanding his empire. I can provide a link to this article, if you are interested.

 

Cheers

[animesh]

Hi Shvu,

It is really nice to see you back. Where had you been? Holidaying somewhere. Or eating Hershey's Sundae pie?

You have written that Alexander could not defeat Porus. But, as I have read, he did defeat Porus.

[shvu]

Hi Animesh,

 

Hershey's sundae pie goes on. I have it as often as possible.

 

I remember reading Alexander's story in school, where he defeats Porus. That history was written by the British guys and was supposedly false.

 

Read the following article. It is titled "Alexander the ordinary", and is a good one.

 

http://www.itihaas.com/ancient/1.html

 

Cheers

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Bringing this thread back into light since the topic has come up.