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Exploring India

D uring the sixth century bce , the Persians (see map), moved into northwest India. The region of Gandhara became a part of the Persian Empire. A Greek doctor, Ktesias, who lived at the Persian court in the fifth century bce , left an interesting, if inaccurate, account of life in northwest India. In it he describes a tiger as having three rows of teeth in each jaw and a sting at the tip of its tail which it shot at its enemy like an arrow! Alexander and India In 327 bce , however, the Persians were overthrown by Alexander of Macedonia. Alexander came to the throne of Macedonia, in northeastern Greece, in 336 bce , when he was just twenty years old. Within thirteen years he had conquered a vast empire which stretched from Greece through Egypt and Persia to India. By 330 bce , Alexander had defeated the Persians and their emperor, Darius. He now set out to reach the easternmost part of Darius’s empire—in India. He fought his way through Bactria (see map), crossed the Hindu Kush (see map) and reached the River Indus in 326 bce . At the battle of Hydaspes, he defeated the Punjabi king, Poros, and his troop of two hundred battle elephants. Alexander was so impressed by Poros’s dignity and courage that he left him in charge of the Punjab. So far, the Indian campaign had been a success. But, on reaching the River Beas (see map), Alexander’s army refused to go further and he was forced to turn back. The Greeks in India

T he map above shows Alexander’s empire at its greatest extent. A lexander’s defeat of the Persians paved the way for his journey into India.

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