King Porus (died 317 BC) was the King of Paurava from 340 to 317 BC, preceding Malayketu. Porus was famous for being the final opponent of King Alexander the Great of Macedon, and he lost the Battle of Hydaspes.
Biography[]
Porus' war elephants
Porus, known as Purushottama in Sanskrit, was the king of Paurava from 340 BC. His kingdom was located in between the Hydaspes and Acesines rivers (Jhelum and Chenab Rivers) in the Punjab region of present-day Pakistan. Porus had a huge army of 55,000 infantry, cavalry, and chariots during his reign, along with 85 war elephants. King Porus ruled from Taxila near present-day Rawalpindi, and used the Hindu Kush mountains along the border with the Middle East and the thick jungles along the Sindh coast as barriers to block invaders from the Middle East.
Porus' cavalry
The Paurava infantry
However, in 326 BC Alexander the Great of Macedon and an army of 13,000 Macedonian troops (including Persian Mardian Archers and other non-Greek units) crossed the Indus River and invaded his lands. He conquered Taxila and many other cities, and Porus marched to meet him with his army on the Hydaspes River.
Porus and his massive Indian army blocked the central and eastern fords over the Hydaspes River, but a ford to the west was undiscovered by the Indians. Alexander noticed the ford and used it as a part of his plan. He had his Macedonian cavalry ride back and forth along the eastern ford to make Porus redeploy some of his main army to cover that ford, leaving the western ford without an Indian army guarding it. King Porus rode into battle on top of an elephant, riding with 85 other elephants. The other Indian units were armed for battle, and his army looked fearsome.
However, Alexander sent his main army across the ford to the west, while two units of spearmen and a unit of peltasts covered the central ford and an army of bowmen and infantry covered the eastern ford. Alexander's army that crossed the western ford drew the attention of many Indian units, and the Indians were slaughtered by Alexander's strong cavalry. His army on the ford to the east was able to cross the river after his units on the bank redeployed to fight Alexander's main army, and they aided in a flank attack. The main Indian army was routed, and they withdrew to the heights. Porus' general Teos was killed in the battle, and the Indian elephants were scared off by fire arrows. The Indian army collapsed, and 23,000 Indian troops were killed in the battle. Afterwards, Porus surrendered, but Alexander and his Macedonian army were forced to retreat soon afterwards because of a mutiny in his ranks. Porus died in 317 BC, and his cousin's grandson Malayketu succeeded him upon his passing, which some attribute to poisoning.
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