My Malice and Bias

Often civilizations are known in history by the names they are called by their contemporary civilizations. The sacred land of North-West India that we know as Punjab today has been named with various names over times by the civilization that interacted, communicated, traded, or warred with the people of this sacred land – Sumerian, Persians, Greeks, Chinese, and other regions of India. Figure1:   Greater India and Punjab  I am going to go through these names in chronological order that describes this geographic region. Its important here to note that the definitions are not just limited to the Republic of India but also includes neighboring countries as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka, Tibet, and many countries in Central Asia as well as SE Asia. Most of these political nations were carved out of India fairly recently relative to the history of the region. Meluhha - Sumerian Name for Indus Valley The oldest ever identity of th...

Alexander on Death Bed The story of Alexander the Great ’s triumphant march into India, suddenly giving up at the urging of his soldiers who were tired after years of fighting and who wanted to return to their loved ones in Persia. The Greek odyssey down the Indus, ended with Alexander sustaining a deadly wound; and, finally splitting his army in two so that they would have a better chance of escaping Pentopotamia (Punjab); returning with a fraction of his army to the seat of his empire in Persepolis and his death from his wounds; all based on Greek legends, with no documentation, just a myth. So did Alexander really venture successfully into India and turn back at the urging of his men? Or was it all a spin? So what exactly happened to Alexander in India? The Greek Version Alexander crosses the Indus into the Punjab and somewhere near modern-day Bhera town in Sargodha district of Punjab, now in Pakistan, he faced the army of Porus , the Kshatriya king of West Punjab. The Gre...

Alexander III of Macedon (20 July 356 BC – 10 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas Koine Greek , was a king (basileus) of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He launched unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, and created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the age of thirty, stretching from Greece to Northwestern India. It is claimed that he was undefeated in battles and is widely considered one of history's most successful military commanders. I intend to challenge that notion with this blog and make a case that Alexander was defeated in Punjab in 326 BC and escaped India badly bruised and in disarray. Alexander the Macedonian Conquest of Persia Persia was a powerful empire that had attacked Greece multiple times. Alexander broke the power of Persia in the decisive battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the A...