Alexander & the forgotten battle of Chitral

14

Muhammad Huzaifa

The story of a Macedonian conqueror’s wayward expedition to conquer the known world was given a sort of rebirth when the British conquered the Indus region. The British, who in the Macedonian’s success sought a mirror of their own invasions of the Indian Subcontinent, wrote a great deal analyzing and explaining the “Indian Campaign” of Alexander.

J.W. McCrindle’s The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great; the strongest account written back then, proposed Alexander had entered ‘India’ through Dir or Bajaur and made his way to Punjab through Swat. However, when clear contradictions in his account were publicized, he later confessed to having limited knowledge of the region and its geography. Even with that, for the next century and a half, most accounts written have reproduced his outright false version of the invasion.

The correct yet lesser known account was first written by F. Pincott in 1895 and reproduced only but a few times. It wrote in detail of Alexander’s entry into ‘India’ from the very northern fringe of the Subcontinent and the fierce yet forgotten first battle awaiting him in the high mountainous valleys of Chitral, in what is now Northern Pakistan.

Division of forces at Nikaea

After subduing Bactria in 327 BC, Alexander passed through a region known as Nikaea, near present day Kabul, to initiate his invasions of the Indus. After offering a sacrifice to the goddess Athena, Alexander divided his forces: sending one part through the Khyber Pass towards the Gandharan capital on the Indus to initiate the creation of a bridge over the river and keeping the other part to himself. It is easy to deduce that Nikaea was a strategic area. It has been identified as Nangarhar by General Abbot and Jalalabad – where the Chitral river bifurcates – by F. Pincott. Seeing Alexander’s wish to cross the Indus at the highest point, it is only but natural to see that he initiated a northern march with his army set in a direction straight towards Chitral.

What confirms Alexander’s march towards Chitral and not Bajaur is that 10 miles north of Birkot, there lies at the mouth of the Chitral valleys the village of Harnai: which in local language quite literally means “snake town”, as noted by the Macedonians 2,000 years ago

Attacks and northward march In Kunar

Here we are told according to ancient accounts that the Macedonians took a hilly route up the River Khoes (River Kunar/Chitral) where they faced difficulties in crossing streams. According to these accounts, Alexander reached the first city of the Aspasians (the Greek name given to all Dardic inhabitants from Kunar and Chitral up to the hills of Kohistan) and hastily attacked it just after crossing the stream. Historians take this city to be the modern city of Kunar. The city offered resistance and resulted in wounds for both Alexander and his generals. It paid the price of such valour with a massacre of its inhabitants after it fell to the Macedonians.

The Macedonians then reached another city nearby named “Andaka” – which, seeing the conditions of their southern neighbours, immediately surrendered. Here the ancient sources claim the Macedonian army was once again divided and one part was sent to “subdue the local chiefs”. When analyzed, a few miles north of Kunar lies a village known as Andaraj and if that isn’t sufficient enough a reason to believe it to be “Andaka”, there is also the fact that it is located where the Chitral river once again bifurcates with one wing running down from Nuristan in the North West and the other running down from the North East in Chitral. It would be correct to assume Alexander sent some of his forces in the north-western direction to subdue the locals living on the banks of the other arm of the river.

According to ancient sources, after a day’s march they arrived at another city of a local chief which, after a bit of resistance, was burned by its fleeing inhabitants – who were chased and put to sword by the Macedonians. This city is identified to be the city of Birkot, 35 miles from Andaraj and perfect distance for a day’s march.

Afterwards they reached the city of “Arigaion” translating to “Snake Town”, which they burnt. It is pertinent to note that it was the incompetence displayed over this city’s location which caused problems to historians’ accounts of Chitral’s resistance against foreign invaders.

Ritter placed this city to be in Bajaur whereas McCrindle placed it to be the village of Nawagai. If one were only to consider the physical topography of the region and the military strategies that it lends itself to, it would be easy to understand that both were wrong. For one, it was the Macedonian aim to subdue the people of Kunar which would constrict the Macedonians to the Kunar valley – considering that it expanded both in size and population up north as compared to the sparsely populated Bajaur. Another consideration was that Alexander’s wish to cross the Indus river at the highest point would force him to align his march in the north-easterly direction along the river Chitral and if both these points fail to satisfy, what confirms Alexander’s march towards Chitral and not Bajaur is that 10 miles north of Birkot, there lies at the mouth of the Chitral valleys the village of Harnai: which in local language quite literally means “snake town”, as noted by the Macedonians 2,000 years ago.

In action with his famed Companion Cavalry

Alexander noted how superior the cattle of the country were to the Macedonian ones back home and ordered for large batches to be captured and taken back to breed with local cattle of Macedon which, as noted by T.A. Dodge, is responsible for the hump still found in the cattle in Greece

Advent in Chitral

With Arigaion being placed right in the mouth of the area where the valleys start to narrow, thus leading into the narrow valleys of Chitral, Alexander ordered the fortification of the city before they advanced further. The Macedonians then marched ahead and arrived at the foot of a large mountain where they placed their camp. They knew that the fleeing inhabitants of Kunar had fled northwards and were bound to attack their army in a bulk along with their northern neighbors, therefore before advancing further, Alexander ordered his general Ptolemy to secretly march further on a reconnoitering mission to gather information about the strength of the enemy force. The camp itself according to multiple historians was located a mere 18 miles from the modern day Chitral town and Ptolemy had gone a “considerable distance” before returning. Upon his return, he carried the information that the enemy forces greatly outnumbered the Macedonian army as their campfires were in a much greater number than that of Alexander’s. True to his predilection towards always charging first at the enemy, Alexander descended upon the local army and thus commenced the fierce battle of Chitral.

Battle Of Chitral

Much of the populace of the mountain region of what is Chitral and Kunar had combined forces in Chitral and were waiting for the invading force. Alexander, perceiving the greater strength of the enemy, divided his army into three sections; the first under Ptolemy which consisted of a third of the hypaspists or the shield bearers, the brigades of Philip and Philotas, two squadrons of horse archers, the Agrianians (who served as javelin-throwing light infantry) and half of the other cavalry. The second part was under the leadership of Leonatus who was put in command of the brigades of Balacrus and Attacus alongside his own. And finally the third part belonged to the Macedonian king himself, who was leading the famous Macedonian Phalanx and the cavalry.

Alexander made his way through some of the world’s most difficult terrain in what is today northern Pakistan

The invading army came up with an overall strategy of luring in the forces of the locals of Chitral into the open and then ambushing them where they were weak. For this, Alexander hid the other two parts of his army and took his phalanx alone to the battleground. The locals who had been occupying the hills and mountains after being tricked at the sight of a meagre army descended from the higher ground to meet the Macedonians directly. After the commencement of battle, the ancient Chitralis, not anticipating the might of the formidable blow of a Macedonian phalanx, the local army was pushed back and then commenced the ambush from the flanks.

However, even in the midst of the onslaught of the phalanx and the flanking ambush from the sides, the locals put up a tough resistance to the foreign army. According to the ancient historian Arrian, the local army met Ptolemy’s column of soldiers with “unusual vigour”. But even still the local show of might and resistance was not enough of a match for the strategy of the Macedonian general as he stormed his side of the enemy force.

The other section of the army under Leonatus also met resistance, although not of the same depth as that of Ptolemy and thus found it easier to overrun the local forces. It has been noted by the ancient Greek sources that the battle was long and went on for quite a span of time since it took the Macedonians some time to lure down the local armies. The battle was also noted to be severe to the point that a nation as vain and boastful as the ancient Macedonians were compelled to note the bravery of the local populace by describing them to be “the stoutest warriors of the neighbourhood”. Judging the praise put up by all sources as well of that of the severity and length of the battle, it won’t be false to note that the local armies gave a stubborn resistance to the invading armies, something the Macedonians hadn’t expected.

However, like many of the untested tribes and forces which were put to test against the might of the armies from Greece, the locals of Chitral too yielded at the end after suffering a large amount of losses to the organized ranks of the enemy. Arrian boasted that the Macedonians captured 40,000 people. However this figure is seen by most historians as another example of the exaggeration found in his works.

Though no town was mentioned, an interesting event was that Alexander noted how superior the cattle of the country were to the Macedonian ones back home and ordered for large batches to be captured and taken back to breed with local cattle of Macedon which, as noted by T.A. Dodge, is responsible for the hump still found in the cattle in Greece. For this feature, we can now make the cattle of Chitral responsible. This according to L.W. Cummings was additional confirmation that the battle took place in the valleys of Chitral since the valleys in the vicinity of the main area expand greatly and are the only place in the region suitable for raising such livestock – thus finally confirming Chitral’s location as the site of the battle.

Alexander’s armies after concluding the chapter of military endeavors in Chitral against the “Aspasians” moved into battle against a small amount of tribes noted by the Macedonians to be called as “Gureans”, living on the banks of a river Gureos before they passed into the territory of the “Assakenians” of what is now Swat. Interestingly, in the juncture of the valleys of Chitral and Swat still exist a number of tribes known as the Garwi who also live on the banks of a river known by the same name – perhaps further confirmation of the above-mentioned path of Alexander.

Alexander’s tumultuous campaign in the Indus region continued till the mutiny of his soldiers and though much of the information yielded to us by colonial writers is now once again under review and scrutiny for authenticity, one must not forget to list the Battle of Chitral as one such example of the lost heritage of the tribes of the Hindu Kush.

 

SOURCE

14 Comments
  1. Amjad Ali says

    It is a conspiracy like the conspiracy of corona virus and polio drop by western powers. all these are basically against the Muslim nation the world over to keep them terrorized and in panic and create mental distress to them so that they can be stopped from progressing in science and technology to beat USA and other forces.
    What you mean by saying that Alexander attacked Chitral and the locals put up a stiff resistance? You only want to provoke the Chitralis to rise and wage a war against their neighbours or others so that they can be stopped from progress. nay, You wont succeed by your conspiracies.
    Tell me if you have any reference regarding Alexander invasion or entry into Chitral in any Islamic book. Why you people always come up with strange British and American names who most of Muslims even cannot pronounce? Why you don’t come up with reference from Muslim travellers and historians. Why you don’t have any reference to Muslims generals and invaders. Why you don’t have any reference to Memud Ghazni who crashed the Indians and served Islam.
    We Chitrali people are very peaceful and do not like stories of wars and neither we have ever been involved in any war or invasion. Moreover, Chitral is peaceful as there has never been an incident of murder in whole Chitral for decades. We also love education and send our daughters o school. We have our own culture and language and you have faield to explain why the forces of Alexander invaded Chitral and what they gained out of it.

    I hope you ponder over all these facts and write another article explaining actual facts and giving solid proof from Islamic perspective and history.

    Thank you.

  2. Huzaifa says

    Alexander’s entry and battle in Chitral was first noted by Historian Francis Pincott in 1896 in the prestigious “Journal of Royal Asiatic society of Ireland and Great Britain”. Francis has more than 95 works in 211 publications in 4 languages. This battle is spoken of in even more detail in the 1940 book “Alexander the Great” by the British cartographer L.W. Cummings who created it with ‘exhaustive research and extensive collaboration with scholars at Columbia University’. Alexander’s entry into Chitral is further attested in the book “A History of Greece” by John Bagnell Bury. It is also written about in the book “The conquests of Alexander the Great” by Waldemar Heckel. His entry is also in the book “A History of Ancient Geography” by Henry Fanshawe Tozer.

    I can mention many more such sources which speak of his entry into Chitral but if you really believe that you not only know more about it then the works of critically acclaimed historians spanning 130 years and an entire ivy league university, but also that they are all on a collective endeavor to “distort Chitral’s history”, then I believe you need to re-access the prism through which you view the world and it’s priorities. Good day.

  3. tamed cynic says

    the author has created a good fantasy out of thin air.

  4. Abdul Basit says

    I appreciate the work done by the writer on Chitral’s history. All i am asking the writer is to remember Columbus started for India and reached what are today called West Indies thinking he had reached India. I am sure Alexanders armies came into the fertile plains of Swat and Swabi and may have come through the passes in lower Kunar to Bajaur and Batkhela but they never came near Chitral and fought battles here. This area did not support march of large armies because of its terrain and geography

  5. Huzaifa says

    Sir with all due respect, I think you’re finding it difficult to grasp the crux of the matter. The sources on which the article is based are not things pulled out from thin air. The people and their land was noted by ancient Historians such as Arian and Ptolemy, these are not orientalists Fantasies. Even if we take Chitral’s precipitation or it’s geography into account, there is absolutely nothing that refutes the ancient or modern historians and their claims that Alexander entered the Indus plains from this region. It is a well established fact that he did enter Northern Kunar, whether he entered Southern Chitral or Northern Dir is something which can be debated upon but not upon the fact that substantial populations did exist in the region prior to the movement of the Kho and Kalashas into Chitral. The Asspapisoi mentioned by Arrain and Ptolemy to have been occupying Kunar/Southern Chitral have been identified as by many as the Asvaka people who themselves were a Kambojan tribe. According to others they were the ancestors of the Pashai. Entire cities have been discovered in the Swat of the Assakenoi. Also the fact that ancient historians claimed that the battle fought was against an amalgamation of people from all through southern Kunar near Jalalabad, Kafiristan and Chitral. Considering the history of the region, it is not a rude assumption to believe they rallied in such numbers together.
    As far as Alexander’s links to the region are regarded, those are myths and should be treated as such. Alexander had no large impact on Chitral or its modern day inhabitants, but this article is a mere piecing together of some 16 different accounts which all pointed to the same thing, there was a battle fought somewhere in southern Chitral.

  6. Naeem Ur Rehman says

    If the author is not properly guided, he will certaily distort the history of Chitral. To me, frankly speaking he is very much on a mission to distort the facts. I agree with Basit!!! The auhor knows nothing about the area and narrates things like a street guy and not a researcher.

    1. Huzaifa says

      Alexander’s entry and battle in Chitral was first noted by Fredric Pincott in 1896 in the prestigious “Journal of the Royal Asiatic society of Ireland Great Britain”. It was also written about in even more detail in the 1940 book “Alexander The Great” by L.W. Cummings who was a noted British cartographer and created the book with “exhaustive research and extensive collaboration with scholars at Columbia University”. His entry into Chitral is also attested by the Book “A History of Ancient Geography” by Henry Fanshawe Tozer. His entry into Chitral is also written about in the book “The Conquests of Alexander the Great” by Waldemar Heckel. It is also mentioned and attested in the book “A History of Greece” By John Bagnell Bury.

      I can mention other historical accounts too, but if you not only believe that you know more about the topic than the works of multiple critically acclaimed historians spanning 130 years as well as scholars of an Ivy league university, but also that the above mentioned people and institutions are on an endeavor to “distort Chitral’s History”, then you not only need to change the prism through which you view scholarly works but also re-access what you believe are the priorities of the world.

  7. Abdul Basit says

    All I am asking is to understand the context first the quality of history would be much better. The precipitation levels in Chitral are so low that these areas would be a mountain desert if not for the fascinating irrigation channels which have been cut across mountains to bring water to small alluvial plains making the area habitable . You can count the irrigation channels is Chitral, several hundreds of them, that made this possible. So unlike Peshawar which may have been populated and depopulated Chitral had the capacity to support a very small population at all times. In the seventies as the population had grown and barely reached one hundred and seventy thousand there was starvation in the spring season in many of the areas. So thousand of years before that for Alexanders army to march here would be a streak of madness. I am sure the account given is true but the places the writer has got are absolutely wrong. Please do some more research and you will find it. Chitral was a place so difficult to live that only those on the fringes and margins facing persecution in their societies came here and lived here. There are lot of nice myths floated around like the remnants of Alexanders armies. As late as the fifties very few people had heard of them and then a factory started spewing them out. This is good for the area to making it attractive to some tourists but its certainly not history and should not be presented as such.

  8. Huzaifa says

    I’m sorry but before labelling something as rubbish you must acquaint yourself with the concept of depopulation and repopulation. Places like Peshawar had twice the population in 1 CE than they did in the last British census prior to 1947. The Kho migration into southern Chitral is a very late development, something around 1320 and the Kalasha migration from ‘Tsyam’ would’ve briefly preceded it. Our understanding of the populations of the Assapissoi and Assakenoi of Kunar/Chitral and Swat as far as 2300 years back, come from Ancient accounts and these are backed with archaeological findings such as the ancient city of Bazira discovered in Butkhara, Swat. It is sheer ignorance to judge the relevance of a route confirmed by more than 8 historians on something as simple as population comparisons without complete understanding of the matter.

  9. Abdul Basit says

    I am sorry to say this is a load of rubbish written by people who have never ventured up the Kunar valley and Chitral valley. Even as late as the late nineteenth century the entire Chitral area had a population of barely 50,000. Go back to the time of Alexander it must have barely supported a very small population, No big army could have marched through this valley without starving. Even the British who wrote about this had very little information regarding the Hindukkush. Had they known they would have never come to Chitral because the geography made it impossible for any Russain army to march through Chitral. Even two highly sophisticated Soviet gunships got lost in these mountains in the eighties.

  10. Javed Karim says

    This is new for me to learn that Alexander also came to Chitral and fought a war. I had read that his forces crossed into India from somewhere near Peshawar. Some remnants of his forces strayed into Chitral and they were later called the Kalash. Much more is needed to explore the invasion of Chitral by the Macedonian forces.

  11. Nadir Khan says

    That’s great and new window to history of Chitral and shows valour of the people of Chitral against foreign aggression.

  12. Sarwar Kamal says

    Valuable data for the historians

  13. Elahi Bakhsh says

    Valuable account of history. Much appreciable

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