6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

16 SIX GLORIOUS EPOCHS OF INDIAN HISTORY
place to his intense hatred against the Brahmin hermits.
Thereupon he began to seize some such Brahmins and hang
them*8. Before beheading one such Brahmin, when Alexan­
der asked him as to why he instigated a certain Indian ruler
against the Greeks, he fearlessly and firmly replied that it
was his most sacred tenet and that if he were to live, he
ought to live honourably, else he should die honourably."
(Plutarch LXIV).
33. After defeating King Porus, Alexander thought his
dazzling victory should unnerve the neighbouring states and
force them to submit meekly, but his hopes in this respect
mostly belied him. As he crossed the Vitasta (Jhelum) and
marched onward, the various republics, big or small, on his
way began to offer sanguinary battles**. Without a decision
at the battlefield, they would never accept his overlordship
meekly. Although the superior number and might of the Greeks
went on overpowering the Indians, the consequent strain of
incessant fighting did not fail to make itself felt on the Greeks.
34. Greek writers have described many such battles
with various Indian republics, but this is no occasion to
mention them either at some length or briefly. However,
some of the chosen incidents have got to be given here
at some length, at least as a mark of respect to those brave
Indian republics who, though not jointly yet severally, offered
the toughest of resistance to that mighty Greek army of a
hundred thousand gallant soldiers and their brave, world-
famous, captain-general Alexander, who had vowed pom­
pously to trample over the whole of India and conquer the
Crown of Magadha. for himself, and which finally forced him to
strike a retreat homeward from the very threshold of India.
REPUBLICS OF SAUBHOOTIS AND KATHAS
35. The constitution of both these republics was demo­
cratic. Writes a Greek writer Diodoros,^" 'they were gover­
ned by laws in the highest degree salutary and their political
system was admirable'^"". One special feature of these