Q1.
When, after the battle, Alexander asked Porus how he wished to be treated, Porus answered, “Like a King.” Alexander then left Porus at the head of his kingdom, as satrap. With the help of your teachers, find more details on the battle between Porus and Alexander. Enact a play of this battle scene using your imagination in addition to what you have discovered.
Answer
This is a research-and-drama activity, so the answer is a method plus a model scene you can adapt.
Step 1 — Find out what is known. Almost everything we know comes from Greek writers, not Indian ones, so use the school library or ask your teacher for:
- Where: the banks of the Hydaspes (the Jhelum), in Punjab, about 326 BCE. Note that ‘Hydaspes’ appears on Alexander's map, Fig. 5.10, page 96.
- Who: Alexander of Macedonia, with a battle-hardened Greek and allied army; Porus (Sanskrit Paurava, king of the Pauravas), with infantry, cavalry, chariots and a line of war elephants.
- The conditions: the river was in flood and the monsoon rain made bowstrings slack and chariot wheels sink in mud.
- The outcome: Porus was defeated and wounded but fought to the end; his answer, “Like a King”, so impressed Alexander that he restored his kingdom to him and made him satrap.
- Remember to say who is telling the story. These are Greek accounts, written by the winning side. A good project mentions that.
Step 2 — What your play must contain: a scene before the battle (the swollen river, the elephants, the two camps), the battle itself (rain, arrows, elephants, chariots stuck in mud), the capture of the wounded Porus, and the famous exchange — which is the whole point of the scene.
Sample answer — the closing scene:
ALEXANDER (dismounting): You fought until your own elephants fell. Tell me — how do you wish to be treated?
PORUS (wounded, standing straight): Like a king.
ALEXANDER: Is that all? Ask for something more.
PORUS: There is nothing more. Everything is contained in those words.
ALEXANDER (after a pause, to his generals): He has not lost his kingdom today; he has kept it. Let him rule as before — and let him rule as my satrap.
NARRATOR: And so the man who was defeated on the field kept his throne, while the man who won it would be dead within three years, at Babylon, aged thirty-two.
PORUS (wounded, standing straight): Like a king.
ALEXANDER: Is that all? Ask for something more.
PORUS: There is nothing more. Everything is contained in those words.
ALEXANDER (after a pause, to his generals): He has not lost his kingdom today; he has kept it. Let him rule as before — and let him rule as my satrap.
NARRATOR: And so the man who was defeated on the field kept his throne, while the man who won it would be dead within three years, at Babylon, aged thirty-two.
Tip: Give one student the role of a Greek historian narrating from the side of the stage, and another the role of a local villager watching. Two narrators, two points of view — that is history done properly.