Porus: Difference between revisions

King Porus
King Porus
King of Paurava and dominions extending to Hyphasis. Located in Punjab
	King Porus fighting Alexander at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. An early 18th-century Russian lubok.
Reign	340–317 BC
Successor	Malayketu (Porus' son)
Born	unknown
Died	317 BC; Punjab region
House	Paurava Puru Dynasty Yaduvanshi
Religion	Hinduism

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King Porus (from Pōrus, the latinisation of the Greek Πῶρος - Pōros, ultimately from Template:Lang-sa Purushottama), (Template:Lang-pa(Shahmukhi)) was the King of Paurava, an ancient state within the territory of modern day Punjab located between the Jhelum river and the Chenab river (in Greek, the Hydaspes and the Acesines) rivers in modern day [[Punjab, Pakistan}}, and later of dominions extending to the Beas (in Greek, the Hyphasis).^[3] Porus fought Alexander the Great in the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC.

Dynastic background

Theories based on etymology

There are no known Indian 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.^[4]

Another scholar, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi (1966) also seems to agree with this view ^[1] This view has other supporters in Hermann Kulke^[2] and Naval Viyogi.^[5]

Theories based on symbology and location

Ishwari Prashad and some other notable scholars of Indian History Congress believe that Porus was Shoorsaini. They argue that Porus' vanguard soldiers carried a banner of Herakles whom 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, who were both the ancestors and patron deities of Shoorsainis.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] 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 Shoorsainis were supposed to have migrated westwards to Punjab and modern Afghanistan from Mathura and Dvārakā, after Krishna's demise and had established new kingdoms there.^[10]^[11]

Another theory however links Herakles with Lord Shiva^[12] (See Megasthenes' Herakles).

Porus and Harikulas (Yadus) opposed Alexander

Puru dynasty was probably the regal abode of the Porus who opposed Alexander. 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.^[13]

References

^ ^a ^b 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
^ ^a ^b 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
^ Arrian Anabasis of Alexander, V.29.2
^ Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab, By Buddha Prakash, pp 77
^ 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
^ Proceedings, pp 72, Indian History Congress, Published 1957
^ 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
^ Chandragupta Maurya: a gem of Indian history‎, pp 76, Purushottam Lal Bhargava, Edition: 2, illustrated, Published by D.K. Printworld, 1996
^ 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
^ 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
^ "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.
^ 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
^ "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

Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, book 5.
History of Porus, Patiala, Dr. Buddha Parkash.
Lendring, Jona. Alexander de Grote - De ondergang van het Perzische rijk (Alexander the Great. The demise of the Persian empire), Amsterdam: Athenaeum - Polak & Van Gennep, 2004. ISBN 90-253-3144-0
Holt, Frank L. Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions, California: University of California Press, 2003, 217pgs. ISBN 0-520-24483-4
History of India: (from the earliest times to the fall of the Mughal Empire), Dr. Ishwari Prashad

External links

Porus at Livius, by Jona Lendering
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "King Porus" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Template:Persondata

[Kosambi-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

[Hermann-2] 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

[3] Arrian Anabasis of Alexander, V.29.2

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

[Naval-5] 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

[6] Proceedings, pp 72, Indian History Congress, Published 1957

[7] 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

[8] Chandragupta Maurya: a gem of Indian history‎, pp 76, Purushottam Lal Bhargava, Edition: 2, illustrated, Published by D.K. Printworld, 1996

[9] 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

[10] 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

[11] "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.

[siva-12] 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

[Harikulas-Yadu-13] "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.

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-'''King Porus''' (from Pōrus, the [[Latinisation of names|latinisation]] of the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] Πῶρος - ''Pōros'', ultimately from  {{lang-sa|पुरुषोत्तम}} '''Purushottama'''), ({{lang-pa|بادشاہ پورس }}<small>([[Shahmukhi]])</small> was the King of [[Pauravas|Paurava]], an ancient state within the territory of modern day [[Punjab region|Punjab]] located between the [[Jhelum River|Jhelum river]] and the [[Chenab]] river (in Greek, the Hydaspes and the Acesines) rivers in modern day [[Punjab, Pakistan}}, and later of dominions extending to the [[River Beas|Beas]] (in Greek, the Hyphasis).<ref>Arrian Anabasis of Alexander, V.29.2</ref> Porus fought [[Alexander the Great]] in the [[Battle of the Hydaspes River]] in 326 BC.
+'''King Porus''' (from Pōrus, the [[Latinisation of names|latinisation]] of the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] Πῶρος - ''Pōros'', ultimately from  {{lang-sa|पुरुषोत्तम}} '''Purushottama'''), ({{lang-pa|بادشاہ پورس }}<small>([[Shahmukhi]])</small>) was the King of [[Pauravas|Paurava]], an ancient state within the territory of modern day [[Punjab region|Punjab]] located between the [[Jhelum River|Jhelum river]] and the [[Chenab]] river (in Greek, the Hydaspes and the Acesines) rivers in modern day [[Punjab, Pakistan}}, and later of dominions extending to the [[River Beas|Beas]] (in Greek, the Hyphasis).<ref>Arrian Anabasis of Alexander, V.29.2</ref> Porus fought [[Alexander the Great]] in the [[Battle of the Hydaspes River]] in 326 BC.
 ==Dynastic background==