In 327 BC
Alexander the Great began his foray into
Punjab. King
Ambhi, ruler of
Taxila, surrendered the city to Alexander. Many people had fled to a high fortress/rock called
Aornos. Alexander took Aornos by storm after a successful siege. Alexander fought an epic battle against the ancient Indian monarch
Porus in the
Battle of Hydaspes (326). East of Porus' kingdom, near the
Ganges River, was the powerful kingdom of
Magadha, under the
Nanda Dynasty. According to
Plutarch, at the time of Alexander's Battle of the Hydaspes River, Magadha's army further east numbered 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 war elephants, which was discouraging for Alexander's men and stayed their further progress into the Indian subcontinent: As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was •thirty-two furlongs, its depth •a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at‑arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. And there was no boasting in these reports. For Androcottus, who reigned there not long afterwards, made a present to Seleucus of five hundred elephants, and with an army of six hundred thousand men overran and subdued all India. --
Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Life of Alexander" Exhausted and frightened by the prospect of facing another giant Indian army at the Ganges River, his army mutinied at the
Hyphasis (modern Beas), refusing to march further east. Alexander, after meeting his officer
Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return. Alexander was forced to turn south, conquering his way down the
Indus to the
Arabian Sea. He sent much of his army to
Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general
Craterus, and commissioned a fleet to explore the
Persian Gulf shore under his admiral
Nearchus, while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through
Gedrosia (modern Makran in southern Pakistan). Alexander left behind Greek forces which established themselves in the city of
Taxila, now in
Pakistan. Several generals, such as
Eudemus and
Peithon governed the newly established province until around 316 BC. One of them,
Sophytes (305–294 BC), was an independent Indian prince in the Punjab. ==Seleucid–Mauryan War (305 BC)==