Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/129

Rh with sending a despatch to India, directing Ambhi, King of Taxila, and Eudamos, commandant of a Thracian contingent on the Upper Indus, to assume the administration of the province until a satrap could be appointed in due course. The death of Alexander at Babylon in the following year (June, 323 ) effectually prevented any attempt being made to retain control over the conquered countries east of the Indus.

When the second partition of the empire was effected at Triparadeisos in 321, Antipater practically recognized the independence of India by appointing the native kings Poros and Ambhi, as a matter of form, to the charge of the Indus valley and Panjab. Peithon, whom Alexander had appointed Satrap of the Indus Delta, was transferred to the provinces "which bordered on the Paropanisadai," i.e. to Arachosia, etc., west of the Indus, and India was abandoned by the Macedonian government in reality, though not in name. Eudamos, alone of the Macedonian officers, retained some authority in the Indus valley until 317.

The Indian expedition of Alexander may be said to have lasted for three years, from May, 327, when he crossed the Hindu Kush, to May, 324 , when he entered Susa. Out of this period, about nineteen months were spent in India east of the Indus, from March, 326, when he crossed the bridge at Ohind, until September or October in the following year, when he entered the territory of the Arabioi.

Looked at merely from the soldier's point of view, the achievements wrought in that brief space of time