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Alexander : (356-323 BC), son of Philip II, king of Macedonia (376-323). In 333 & 331 Alexander defeated king of Persia, the last of the line of Darius & Xerxes, the next year the Persian king died & Alexander became master of the Achaemenian Empire. In 327, he garrisoned a number of strongholds near modern Kābul & attacked the hill tribes of the Kunar & Swāt valleys; stormed the fortresses on his way to the city of Pushkalāvatī of Gāndhāra which too he ‘conquered’; then on through dense jungles to Ohind (326 BC). Āmbhi, who had exiled his father the king of Takshashilā, received the invader in his own capital with obsequious pomp & provided every support for him to invade neighbouring kingdoms. But on coming to the Indus, the megalomaniac found arrayed on the opposite bank, the huge army of the elder Pururava King, a man of gigantic & powerful build, who was mortified by the pusillanimous conduct of his Takshashilān neighbour. Devious & unethical like every invader has always been, Alexander diverted Pururava’s attention & crossed over at a sharp bend of the river about seventeen miles above his camp, under cover of a thickly wooded promontory over a bridge of boats, onto a mid-stream island covered with jungle. The small force that had hurried to dispute the passage was easily routed. The Paurava reached there with 30,000 foot, 4,000 horses, 300 chariots, & 200 elephants, but made the mistake of allowing the Macedonians to take the offensive with the superior cavalry. He did not flee, but went on fighting on a mighty elephant until he received a severe wound. The invader next overran the petty principalities & tribal territories in the vicinity of the realm of the great Paurava. He crossed the River Chandra [renamed Chenāb] & her sister Irāvati (q.v.) stormed Sāngal, the stronghold of the Kathaioi, & moved on to the Beas. He wished to press forward to the Ganges valley, but his war-worn troops rebelled, so he erected twelve towering altars to mark the utmost limit of the devastation he had achieved, & sent home a part of his troops through Afghānistān. He led the rest ravaging the territory of free & warlike tribes inhabiting the lower valley murdering thousands of civilians, men, women & children. Inhabitants of a city, preferring death to dishonour, threw themselves into the flame in the manner of the Rājputs who practiced Jauhar in later times. The conqueror himself, received a dangerous wound while storming one of the citadels of the powerful tribe of the Mālavas. The subdued nations made presents of chariots, bucklers, gems, draperies, lions, tigers, etc. The maddened megalomaniac reduced the principalities of Sind, & trudged through the deserts of Baluchistān, & after terrible sufferings, reached Babylon where he died in 323 BC. [Vide S. Bhattacharya, D.I.H., R.C. Majumdar et al’s Advanced History of India; Internet]