National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

execution among those who had escaped from the slaughter. Finally Poros, who
had fought with great valour throughout the battle, was forced to surrender.
After recording Alexander's generous treatment of the vanquished king, Arrian
tells us: 'Alexander founded two towns, one on the field of battle and the other
whence he had started to cross the Hydaspes. The former he called Nikaia, in
honour of his victory over the Indians, the other Boukephala in honour of his
horse Boukephalos which had died there', as Arrian states, from toil and old
age.²⁰

From this account of the hard-contested battle, the first recorded in history
among the many by which invaders from the north-west fought their way into
the plains of India, I now turn to the question with which we are concerned here,
that of the ground which was the scene of this the greatest, perhaps, of Alex-
ander's military achievements. Before I proceed to set forth the results of local
examination, partly topographical, partly archaeological, which I believe may
settle the question, it will be useful briefly to review the two contending opinions
which have so far prominently figured in the discussions devoted to it.

Both opinions have been championed by distinguished scholars. One, first
proposed by Sir Alexander Burnes and Monsieur Court, one of Ranjit Singh's
French generals, would make Alexander reach the Jhēlum at the town from
which the Hydaspes or Vitastā takes its modern name.²¹ He was supposed to
have marched there from Taxila by the route which the present Grand Trunk
Road follows past Rawalpindi and across the Salt Range. This view was advo-
cated at some length by General J. Abbott, who, after a two days' visit paid to
the ground in 1848, sought the field of the battle with Poros on the Karrī plain
to the north-north-east of Jhēlum town.²² It had been overshadowed for many
years by the rival theory of General Alexander Cunningham, to be mentioned
below, until revived with many a learned argument by the late Mr. Vincent
Smith, and widely propagated through his scholarly work, The Early History of
India, and other publications based on it.

In a lengthy appendix dealing with the question Mr. Vincent Smith placed
Alexander's crossing at Bhūna, some 10 miles above Jhēlum town.²³ There the
river, after leaving the foot-hills, makes a bend, though not a marked one. But,
as any large-scale map would show, there is no 'headland ascending from the
river' (Arrian's ἄκρα) to be found anywhere near there on the right bank, nor