King Porus

King Porus
King of Paurava and dominions extending to Hyphasis.
LubokAlexanderPorus.jpg
King Porus fighting Alexander at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. An early 18th-century Russian lubok.
Reign 340 - 317 BC
Birthplace unknown
Died 317 BC
Place of death Punjab region
Successor Malayketu (Porus' son)
Royal House Paurava Puru Dynasty [1][2][3] Yaduvanshi Shoorsaini [4][5]
Religious beliefs Hinduism

King Porus (from Latin Pōrus from Greek Πῶρος from Sanskrit; Sanskrit: puru/purushottama; Raja Puru; also Rai Por; Raja Paurava; or Parvatka) was the King of Paurava, an ancient state within the territory of Punjab located between the Jhelum and the Chenab (in Greek, the Hydaspes and the Acesines) rivers, and later of dominions extending to the Beas (in Greek, the Hyphasis).[6] Its capital may have been near the current city of Lahore.[7] Porus fought Alexander the Great in the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC.

King Porus was said to be "5 cubits tall", which could mean either 2.3 m (7½ ft) assuming an 18-inch cubit, or 1.8 m (6 ft) if a 14-inch Macedonian cubit was meant.

Contents

Satrap

King Porus seems to have held the position of a Hellenistic satrap for several years after Alexander's departure. He is first mentioned as satrap of the area of the Hydaspes in the text of the Partition of Babylon on 323 BC. His position was confirmed again in 321 BC at the Partition of Triparadisus.

Alliance with Chandragupta Maurya

Visakhadutta's Sanskrit play, Mudrarakshasa, as well as the Jain work Parisishtaparvan, talks of Chandragupta Maurya's alliance with the king Parvatka, also identified with Porus. This alliance gave Chandragupta a formidable army which included Indo-Scythians, Yavanas, Kambojas, Kiratas, Parasikas and Bahlikas.

"Kusumapura was besieged from every direction by the forces of Parvata and Chandragupta: Shakas, Yavanas, Kiratas, Kambojas, Parasikas, Bahlikas and others, assembled on the advice of Chanakya."
—Visakhadutta, Mudrarakshasa 2 (from the French translation, in "Le Ministre et la marque de l'anneau", ISBN 2-7475-5135-0)

Death

Indian sources record that Parvata (Porus) was killed by mistake by the magadhan chief adviser Rakshasa, who was trying to assassinate Chandragupta Maurya instead.

Greek historians record that he was assassinated, sometime between 321 and 315 BC (317 BC accepted year), by the Thracian general Eudemus, who had remained in charge of the Macedonian armies in the Punjab:

"From India came Eudamus, with 500 horsemen, 300 footmen, and 120 elephants. These beasts he had secured after the death of Alexander, by treacherously slaying King Porus"
—Diodorus Siculus XIX-14

After his assassination, his son Malayketu ascended the throne with the help of Eudemus. However, Malayketu was killed in the Battle of Gabiene in 316 BC.

In 44 CE, Taxila was visited by a Greek philosopher named Apollonius. The philosopher’s account (kept by his diarist) tells us of two temples, one outside the city walls and the other by the main street leading to the king’s palace. Both temples had large copper plate murals adorning their walls. The murals depicted scenes of battle from the struggle that had taken place on the banks of the Jhelum River three hundred and sixty-seven years earlier.

The account marvels at the finesse of the renditions: the colours and the forms were as though one were watching a real scene frozen in time. The murals in both the temples depicted Raja Paurava in defeat. The account goes on to tell us that these murals were commissioned by Raja Paurava when news of the death of Alexander arrived in Taxila. Consider: Alexander was dead in distant Babylon, his Greek garrisons in the Sindhu Valley had deserted and Paurava was now the unquestioned master of this country. As sole sovereign, he could have ordered the murals to turn history around and depict him in glorious victory and Alexander in abject and shameful defeat.

But the Punjabi king was not just great in physical stature; he possessed also a soaring spirit and largesse of the heart. The king ordered the murals, so it is recorded by Apollonius’ diarist, in order not only to acknowledge his friendship with Alexander, but also to preserve history as it had actually unfolded. In his wisdom the king knew that the creative passage of time was bound to alter history.

When the murals were put up, Taxila was what we today know as the Bhir Mound. Two hundred years later, the Indo-Greeks shifted it to the remains we today call Sirkap. It is evident that the murals were admired to be moved to the new city. In the subsequent two hundred odd years the city was rebuilt several times as the various cultural layers show. Each time the murals were safely removed to a new site or they would not have survived three and a half centuries. Finally, in 25 CE Taxila was levelled by a severe earthquake. And when nineteen years later Apollonius arrived, the city was being rebuilt under a Parthian king and the murals had faithfully been reinstalled at the brand new temples.

Dynastic background

Theories based on etymology

There are no known Hindu textual sources regarding Porus indicating the tribe or ethnic group he belonged to. Several ethnic groups in the Indian subcontinent have tried to claim him as their own ancestor.

One scholar, Buddha Prakash, Professor of History and of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Director of the Institute of Indic Studies (1964); in his book Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab states:

“ The Purus settled between the Asikni and the Parusni, whence they launched their onslaught on the Bharatas, and after the initial rebuff in the Dasarajna War, soon regrouped and resumed their march on the Yamuna and the Sarasvati and subsequently merged with the Bharatas, Some of their off-shoots lingered on in the Punjab and one of their scions played a notable part in the events of the time at Alexander's invitation. They probably survived in the Punjab under the name of Puri, which is a sub-caste of the Khatris. , ”

— Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab, By Buddha Prakash, pp 77 [8]

Another scholar, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi (1966) also seems to agree with this view [2] This view has other supporters in Hermann Kulke[3] and Naval Viyogi.[9]

Col. James Tod specifically pointed out Shoorsainis (Sourasenoi in Greek) as the Puru tribe whose king was called Porus, the legendary Indian adversary of Alexander the Great:

“ Puru became the patronymic of this branch of the Lunar race. Of this Alexander's historians made Porus. The Suraseni of Methoras (descendants of the Soor Sen of Mathura) were all Purus, the Prasioi of Megasthenes... ”

— James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan [4]

It must be duly born in mind based on the commonality of name , there are many other claimants to descent from Porus. Col. Tod regarded the Paramaras as the best claimants on this basis [5].

Theories based on symbology and location

Col Tod did not base his theory that Porus was Shoorsaini Yadava on the similarity of names, although he tangentially comments on it. Realizing its obvious weakness Col. Tod explicitly rejected any conclusion based on this methodological approach. He said that based on the similarity of names 'Pramars' , who are generally pronounced as 'Puar', would be the best claimants to the descent from Porus. He rejected this view. Col. Tod wrote the following to explicitly clarify that his conclusion that Porus was a Shoorsaini Yadava was not based on the similarity of names:[5][10]

“ "To convince the reader I do not build upon nominal resemblance, when localities do not bear me out, he is requested to call to mind, that we have elsewhere assigned to Yadus of the Punjab the honour of furnishing the well known king named Porus; although the Puar, the usual pronunciation of Pramar, would afford a more ready solution." ”

— Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, pp 283, By James Tod, Edition: 2, Published by Asian Educational Services, 2001/The annals and antiquities of Rajastʼhan : or the central and western Rajpoot states of India, 1156, Author: James Tod , Publisher: Calcutta : Indian Publication Society; printed by R.C. Ghose, 1898-1899 [5]

Dr. Ishwari Prashad and some other notable scholars of Indian History Congress have taken the identical methodological approach in reaching the same conclusion. The gist of this theory is that Porus' vanguard soldiers carried a banner of Herakles who Megasthenes - who travelled to India after Porus had been supplanted by Chandragupta- explicitly identified with the Shoorsainis of Mathura. This Herakles of Megasthenes and Arrian has been identified by some scholars as Lord Krishna and by others as his elder brother Baldeva [4], who were both the ancestors and patron deites of Shoorsainis.[11][12][13][14] Tod and other notable scholars (Iswhari Prashad et al.) following his lead found further support of this conclusion in the fact that a section of Yadavas/Shoorsainis were supposed to have migrated westwards to Punjab and modern Afghanistan from Mathura and Dvaraka, after Krishna's demise and had established new kingdoms there.[15][16]

Col. James Tod added following to associate Porus with Shoorsainis on the basis of Heracles symbology used by Porus' army and the westward movement of Shoorsaini Yadavas to Punjab and Afghanistan, indicated by Puranic and epicals texts [17], after the battle of Mahabharata:

“ How invaluable such remnants of ancient race of Harikula! How refreshing to the mind yet to discover, amidst the ruins on the Yamuna, Hecules (Baldeva, god of strength) retaining his club and lion's hide, standing on his pedestal at Baldeo, and yet worshipped by Suraseni! This was name given to a large tract of country round Mathura, or rather round Surpura, the ancient capital founded by Surasena, the grandfather of the Indian brother-deities, Krishna and Baldeva, Apollo and Hercules. The title would apply to either ; though Baldeva has the attributes of 'god of strength'. Both are es (lords) of the race (kula) of Hari (Hari-kul-es), of which the Greeks might have made the compound Hercules. Might not a colony after the Great War have migrated westward? ”

— James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan [18]

Another theory however links Herakles with Lord Shiva[19] (See Megasthenes' Herakles).

Porus resided in the cradle of Rigvedic Puru dynasty

According to Puranic legend, below is the Chandravanshi lineage:
Brahma -> Atri -> Chandra -> Budha (married to Manu's daughter Ila) -> Pururava -> Ayu -> Nahusha -> Yayati -> Puru and Yadu [20]

Puru started the Puruvansh and Yadu started the Yaduvansh.

Col. James Tod even mentions that Porus was a descendant of Rigvedic Puru dynasty.

“ In this abode of the sons of Puru resided Porus, one of the two princes of that name, opponents of Alexander, and probably Bindusara the son of Chandragupta, surmised to be the Abisares and Sandrakottos of Grecian authorities. Of the two princes named Porus mentioned by Alexander's historians, one resided in the very cradle of the Puru dynasties ; the abode of the other bordered on the Panjab : ”

— Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, By James Tod , pp 49[1]
“ Sandrocottus is mentioned by Arrian to be of this line ; and we can have no hesitation, therefore, in giving him a place in the dynasty of Puru, the second son of Yayati, whence the patronymic used by the race now extinct, as was Yadu, the elder brother of Puru. ”

— Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, By James Tod , pp 37[21]

[1]

Purus and Harikulas (Yadus) opposed Alexander

Col. James Tod also mentions both Puru tribe (Purus) and Hariculas, fought against Alexander the Great.

“ ... yet if Alexander established his altars in Panchala, amongst the sons of Puru and the Harikulas, what physical impossibility exists that a colony of them, under Yudhishthira and Baldeva, eight centuries anterior, should have penetrated to Greece ? ... When Alexander attacked the ' free cities ' of Panchala, the Purus and Harikulas who opposed him evinced the recollections of their ancestor, in carrying the figure of Hercules as their standard. ”

— Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, By James Tod , pp 61[22]

Puru dynasty is generally understood to be that of the Pandavas. The Harikulas have been identified by some scholars as none other than the descendants of Yadu.[23]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 In this abode of the sons of Puru resided Porus, one of the two princes of that name, opponents of Alexander, and probably Bindusara the son of Chandragupta, surmised to be the Abisares and Sandrakottos of Grecian authorities. Of the two princes named Porus mentioned by Alexander's historians, one resided in the very cradle of the Puru dynasties ; the abode of the other bordered on the Panjab, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, By James Tod , pp 49
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The cause of the Ten-Kings battle was that the Ten tried to divert the river Parushni. This is a stretch of the modern Ravi which, however, changed its course several times. Diversion of the waters of the Indus system is still a cause for angry recriminations between India and Pakistan. The 'greasy-voiced' Purus, though enemies of Sudas, were not only Aryans but closely related to the Bharatas. Later tradition even makes the Bharatas a branch of the Purus. The same clan priests in the Rigveda impartially call down curses and blessings upon the Purus in diverse hymns, which shows that the differences between them and the Bharatas were not permanent. The quarrel was of another sort than that between Aryan and non-Aryan. The Purus remained in the Harappa region and expanded their rule over the Panjab in later times. It was they who put up the strongest fight against Alexander in 327 B.C. The modern Panjabi surname Puri may possibly originate with the Puru tribe., Ancient India: A History of its Culture and Civilisation, By Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand, pp 81-83
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 King Poros belonged to the tribe of the Pauravas, descended from the Puru tribe mentioned so often in the Rigveda. A History of India, By Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermung, pp 57
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Puru became the patronymic of this branch of the Lunar race. Of this Alexander's historians made Porus. The Suraseni of Methoras (descendants of the Soor Sen of Mathura) were all Purus, the Prasioi of Megasthenes...How invaluable such remnants of ancient race of Harikula! How refreshing to the mind yet to discover, amidst the ruins on the Yamuna, Hecules (Baldeva, god of strength) retaining his club and lion's hide, standing on his pedestal at Baldeo, and yet worshipped by Suraseni! This was name given to a large tract of country round Mathura, or rather round Surpura, the ancient capital founded by Surasena, the grandfather of the Indian brother-deities, Krishna and Baldeva, Apollo and Hercules. The title would apply to either ; though Baldeva has the attributes of 'god of strength'. Both are es (lords) of the race (kula) of Hari (Hari-kul-es), of which the Greeks might have made the compound Hercules. Might not a colony after the Great War have mighrated westward? " Annals and antiquities of Rajasthan : or, The central and western Rajpoot states of India Author: James Tod, Asian Education Services, New Delhi 2001.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 To convince the reader I do not build upon nominal resemblance, when localities do not bear me out, he is requested to call to mind, that we have elsewhere assigned to Yadus of the Punjab the honour of furnishing the well known king named Porus; although the Puar, the usual pronunciation of Pramar, would afford a more ready solution." - Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, pp 283, By James Tod, Edition: 2, Published by Asian Educational Services, 2001/The annals and antiquities of Rajastʼhan : or the central and western Rajpoot states of India, 1156, Author: James Tod , Publisher: Calcutta : Indian Publication Society; printed by R.C. Ghose, 1898-1899
  6. ↑ Arrian Anabasis of Alexander, V.29.2
  7. ↑ www.livius.org
  8. ↑ The Purus settled between the Asikni and the Parusni, whence they launched their onslaught on the Bharatas, and after the initial rebuff in the Dasarajna War, soon regrouped and resumed their march on the Yamuna and the Sarasvati and subsequently merged with the Bharatas, Some of their off-shoots lingered on in the Punjab and one of their scions played a notable part in the events of the time of Alexander's invitation. They probably survived in the Punjab under the name of Puri, which is a sub-caste of the Khatris, Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab, By Buddha Prakash, pp 77
  9. ↑ It was they who put up the strongest fight against Alexander in 327 B.C. The modern Punjabi surname Puri may possibly originate with the Puru tribe, The founders of Indus valley civilization and their later history, By Naval Viyogi, pp 155
  10. ↑ Ghazni to Jaiselmer (Pre-medieval History of the Bhatis), pp 93, Hari Singh Bhati, Publisher: Hari Singh Bhati, 1998, Printers: Sankhala Printers, Bikaner
  11. ↑ Proceedings, pp 72, Indian History Congress, Published 1957
  12. ↑ According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Mehtora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning "the city of Krishna"; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard.Krishna: a sourcebook, pp 5, Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press US, 2007
  13. ↑ Chandragupta Maurya: a gem of Indian history‎, pp 76, Purushottam Lal Bhargava, Edition: 2, illustrated, Published by D.K. Printworld, 1996
  14. ↑ A Comprehensive History of India: The Mauryas & Satavahanas, pp 383, edited by K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri, Bharatiya Itihas Parishad, Published by Orient Longmans, 1992, Original from the University of California
  15. ↑ Actually , the legend reports a westward march of the Yadus (MBh. 1.13.49, 65) from Mathura, while the route from Mathura to Dvaraka southward through a desert. This part of the Krsna legend could be brought to earth by digging at Dvaraka, but also digging at Darwaz in Afghanistan, whose name means the same thing and which is the more probable destination of refugees from Mathura...Introduction to the study of indian history, pp 125, D D Kosambi, Publisher: [S.l.] : Popular Prakashan, 1999
  16. ↑ "It seems , therefore, most reasonable to conclude that the name is simply the seat of Purrus or Porus, the name of a King or family of kings...There are no authentic records of tribes seated about Peshawar before the time of Mahmud, beyond established fact of their being of Indian origin; it not an improbable conjecture that they descended from the race of Yadu who were either expelled or voluntarily emigrated from Gujrat, 1100 years before Christ, and who afterwards found Kandhar and the hills of Cabul (Kabul) from whom, indeed, some would derive the Jaduns now residing in the hills of north of Yusafjai..." Gazetteer of the Dera Ghazi Khan District, pp52, Publisher: Lahore, "Civil and Military Gazette" Press, 1898.
  17. ↑ MBh. 1.13.49, 65
  18. ↑ "How invaluable such remnants of ancient race of Harikula! How refreshing to the mind yet to discover, amidst the ruins on the Yamuna, Hecules (Baldeva, god of strength) retaining his club and lion's hide, standing on his pedestal at Baldeo, and yet worshipped by Suraseni! This was name given to a large tract of country round Mathura, or rather round Surpura, the ancient capital founded by Surasena, the grandfather of the Indian brother-deities, Krishna and Baldeva, Apollo and Hercules. The title would apply to either ; though Baldeva has the attributes of 'god of strength'. Both are es (lords) of the race (kula) of Hari (Hari-kul-es), of which the Greeks might have made the compound Hercules. Might not a colony after the Great War have mighrated westward?" Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, Or, The Central and Western Rajpoot States of India, James Tod, pp 36, Published by Higginbotham and co., 1873, Item notes: v. 1, Original from Oxford University
  19. ↑ Apparently Siva is meant, though his many wives and sons are unknown to Hindu mythology. ANCIENT INDIA as described by MEGASTHENES AND ARRIAN, By Dr. Schwanbeck and J.W. McCrindle (1877), pp 57
  20. ↑ Budha (Mercury) founded the Lunar line ; but we are not told who established their first capital, Prayag,' though we are authorized to infer that it was founded by Puru, the sixth in descent from Budha , Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, By James Tod , pp 39
  21. ↑ Sandrocottus is mentioned by Arrian to be of this line ; and we can have no hesitation, therefore, in giving him a place in the dynasty of Puru, the second son of Yayati, whence the patronymic used by the race now extinct, as was Yadu, the elder brother of Puru., By James Tod , pp 37
  22. ↑ When Alexander attacked the ' free cities ' of Panchala, the Purus and Harikulas who opposed him evinced the recollections of their ancestor, in carrying the figure of Hercules as their standard., By James Tod , pp 61
  23. ↑ "Hasti, the twenty-sixth in descent from Pooru, son of Yayati, founded Hastinapoor, on the Ganges, long the capital of Upper India; and although not mentioned by name in any of the Greek writers, was probably the regal abode of the Porus who opposed Alexander. From Hasti issued several tribes, of which the Curu and Pandus were the most distinguished; while from Yadu, elder brother of Pooru, issued the Hericula, or " race of Heri," who erected the cities of Surpaora, Mathura, and Baldevd, on the Jumna." The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany, pp 305, London, Wm. H. Allen & Co.

Literature

External links