Harking Back: It’s amazing how Lahore is part of foreign folk history

It was surprising how at the least expected of places and from the least known person the mention of Lahore brings forth immense interest. That ancient history lives within an entire population is amazing.

My three weeks of absence was brought forth after my left hand got seriously burnt under boiling water leading to two weeks of hospitalisation and the prospects of a skin graft stares me in the face. One of the surgeons at the burns hospital is a Serbian who got talking after learning that I am a research associate at Cambridge specialising in Lahore and the Punjab. He responded that everyone in Serbia and Macedonia knows about Lahore. “It part of our folk history”.

That got me interested and this piece has emerged out of that conversation. The Serbian doctor added that the greatest mystery of Alexander’s campaign remains that he deliberately avoided Lahore, and quickly set off for home. “Why did this happen to the world’s greatest conqueror?” He pulled up a chair and sat down to listen.

So here was an interested listener for once, and off I started. Till he reached the Waziristan his speed, ferocity and success depended on his horse cavalry. He had faced elephants and even camels and smaller horse cavalry. But his speed and attacking tactics made short work of opponents. In the mountains of Waziristan horses and speed were not effective. Behind huge rocks laden were Waziri Pathans with arrows, spears and being skilled swordsmen almost half Alexander’s army was decimated.

The Waziris suffered considerably too, but then their fierce women also took up arms. Alexander opted for peace and at night started butchering them. The lack of ethics and honour played a huge part in this victory. So he moved towards the famed Taxila whose university was known to scholars who were part of his army. The ruler of Taxila, the Puru of Ambhi, who was immensely rich, on the condition that if Alexander overcomes the Puru (Porus) of Bheru, all his land would become the property of the Puru of Ambhi. This was agreed to.

So the huge combined army led by Alexander moved forward to fight the Great Battle of Hydaspes – river Jhelum – in May 326 BC. Porus had a massive army of elephants, which against the rapid moving horsemen were useless. But then Porus also used horsemen and expert spear fighters who could hit moving targets at over 200 feet. Here historical misinformation begins.

The Greek historians Ptolemy and Seleucus state that the 7,000 horse cavalry ‘overcame’ the 50,000 horse cavalry of Porus, which given that Porus’s armies had 250 cavalry regiments seems a bit too far-fetched. Indian sources claim Alexander soon realised that the longer the battle continues the greater would be his disadvantage. So a peace was arrived at, but on the terms of Porus.

It was agreed that the huge kingdom of Lahore would be conquered and handed over to Porus. So a massive army now moved eastwards and the Puru of Lahore moved across the Beas and the combined armies of six purus of India numbering 600,000 men, with 100,000 horse cavalry were ready to meet them. The six purus agreed that no peace would be discussed and they would fight till the end.

The army of Alexander saw the opposition and refused to fight. The puru of Lahore, according to Shastri (1988, p56), moved back to decimate the retreating armies. Fearing a slaughter Alexander bypassed Lahore and headed for the port of Kolachi (modern Karachi). On the way he faced immense danger from his own men.

So the honourable Rajput Porus attached a small guard of Dutt soldiers, who guarded him all the way back to Egypt. On the way he faced resistance and at Multan was hit by an arrow, which infected him, leading to his death.

As I lay in bed narrating this reason for Alexander bypassing Lahore, the Serbian doctor was amazed. Other doctors had by then collected around the bed. Everyone had heard of Alexander, but not the retreat and ultimate defeat of this famous invader. The writing of history is invariable biased, and where written history does not exist those that do record a narration of events have an advantage.

Over time the written word rules supreme. The Serbian doctor was utterly shocked at the facts presented and then it was his turn to talk. He started off: “In Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and countries that Alexander once ruled, to this day people do not understand just what went wrong so suddenly. What you explain makes sense”.

“Even today people make fun of others who give up a fight midway and rush home, only to die on the way back”. The story of Alexander is one that is most often quoted. It just shows the power of official narrations that become part of written history.

The Serbian doctor was most impressed and felt happy that a ‘powerful’ counter-narrative had been put forward. This got me thinking that in the writing of Alexander’s history in the Punjab, it is almost a void at how Punjabis have over the centuries not been honoured for their bravery and sacrifices in defending their land. Also surely are the traitors. But then their treachery is invariably awarded, just like the British found plenty of such Sikh generals who were traitors, to win their battles in the Punjab. Even today those who betrayed the land remain the richest.

One finds a lot of ‘Sikanders’ among our friends, but as Tipu Almakky points out no one dares to name their children Porus. Such is the thrust of history. Belief systems and the power of the rich seem to rule supreme. But what was most interesting was how folk wisdom has captured event of the past, where people still ask awkward questions.