PORUS was of the race of the Puru or Pau rava kings, to which in the time of Alexander two princely rkces belonged. They were the first purely Indian race known to Europe. Colonel Tad derives the name from Puar, once the most powerf u I and conspicuous tribe in India ; classically written Pramara, the dynasty which ruled at Ujjain for ages. The Porus who ruled in the direction of Hastinapura offered a determined resistance to Alexander, with 4000 horse and 30,000 foot of the Kshatriya tribe. He was sovereign of the country near the Jhelum, and opposed Alexander's attempt to cross that river. Alexander drew up his troops at a bend of the river, 14 miles west of the modern Chillianwalla, and crossed during a stormy night. of Porus stuck in the muddy bank of the river, his elephants refused to face the Greeks, and, turning round, trampled down his soldiers. The son of Porus fell early in the battle, and Porus was wounded and fled, but afterwards yielded to Alexander, and aided him. Alexander built Bukephala, near the modern Jalalpur, on the west bank of the Jhelum ; and Nikma, the present Mong, was on the east bank, on the site of his victory over Porus. Bukephala was named after Alexander's charger, which was killed in the battle.
Thedominionsof Poruswero all situated between the Hydaspes (Jhelum) and Ascesines (Chenab), and his immediate neighbours were independent of him, and mostly at war with him. On the
north, his territory extended to the woods under the mountains, but it did not include the whole country between the Hydaspes and Ascesines, for besides other tribes there were the Glaucanicm or Glaussai, who had 37 large cities, whom Alexander put under Porus. On the cast, between the Ascesines and Ilydraotes, be had another Pores who was his bitter enemy. To the S.E. of him were the Cathzei and other independent nations, against whom he assisted Alexander. To the south were the Malli, against whom Porus and Abissares had once led their combined forces, with those of many others, and had been defeated. his western boundary was the Ilydaspes. Beyond that river, in the centre, was his mortal enemy Taxiles, on the north of whose dominions was Abissares, an independent prince, whom Arrian calls king of the mountain Indians; and on the south, Sopithes, another independent sovereign, in whose territories the Salt Range lay. In the time of Augustus Ctesar, a letter in Greek praying for assistance was received at Rome from a king of this name on the Indus. See Chartdragupta ; Hindu ; Kama.