THE%20SINDH%20STORY

When Alexander’s hordes invaded Sindh with the novel war-cry “Alalalalalai!”
the Sindhis were obviously scared. The rulers of Musicanus, Sindemana, and
Patala --- identified by Dr. H.T Sorely I.C.S. author of The Gazeteer of Sind (1968),
as Alor, Sehwan, and Hyderabad, respectively- fled. (“Patala” is believed to be a
Greek corruption of “Patan” which means river bank or sea shore). But before
long they collected their wits and gave Alexander a very bad time. Notes H.T.
Lambrick, a former commissioner of Sindh, and author of the Sindh before
Muslim Conquest: “There was a subtle power in Sindh which created the will to
resist the foreigner, the influence of the Brahmins.” Dushhala’s settling of 30,000
Brahmins in Sindh had not gone in vain!
Alexander confessed to his friends back home: “They attacked me everywhere.
They wounded my shoulder, they hit my leg, they shot an arrow in my chest,
and they struck me on my neck with a loud thud.” At one stage word had spread
in the Greek camp that Alexander was dead --- and he had to be propped up and
exhibited as alive!
Alexander never excused the Brahmins for persuading the Sindhi king Sabbas to
stand up and fight. To the horror of the local people, he had a whole lot of them
slaughtered. However, he was so impressed with the quality and spirit of the
Brahmins that he captured and kept with him ten of them. Plutarch’s account of
Alexander’s questions and their replies makes interesting reading.
“The first being asked whether he thought the most numerous the dead or the
living, answered, ‘the living, because those who are dead, are not at all”. Of the
second he desired to know whether the earth or the sea produced the largest
beasts, who told him. The earth, for the sea is but part of it. His question to the
third was, ‘which is the cunningest of animals?’ ‘That,’ said he, ‘which men have
not yet found out.’ He bade the fourth to tell him what argument he used with
Sabbas to persuade him to revolt ‘No other,’ he said, ‘than that he should either
live nobly or die nobly.’ Of the fifth he asked, what was the oldest, night or day.
The philosopher replied, ‘Day was oldest, by one day at least’. And perceiving
Alexander not well satisfied with that account, he added that he ought not to
wonder if he got strange answers for his strange questions. Then he went on and
inquired of the next, what a man should do to be exceedingly beloved. ‘He must
be very powerful, without making himself too much feared.’ The answer of the
seventh to his question, how a man might become 8 god, was, ‘By doing, that
which was impossible for man to do.’ The eighth told him, ‘Life is stronger than
death because it supports so many miseries.’ And the last philosopher, asked
how long he thought it decent for a man to live, said ‘till death appeared more
desirable than life’.”
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