It would appear, that the extensive confederacy formed in Hindostan, by the mutual understanding and the union of the four great kingdoms already mentioned, against foreign invasion, (lid not last long. Before the conquest of the Persians, dissensions had risen among the different states, which, together with the wealth of the people, and their unwarlike character, invited the inroads not only of these conquerors, but also of the fierce and destructive barbarians of Tibet. By them the northern provinces were attacked and laid waste. It appears also, that foreign war, instead of producing domestic concord, extended and heightened their mutual animosities ; so that, at the period of the invasion of India by Alexander the Great, the nations of the peninsula were totally separated from the kingdom of the Prachii, though the western provinces of Hindustan were more closely connected with it than at any former period.
It is highly probable, that this union of the western pro vinces enabled them to make such a vigorous defence against the enterprise and high militaty skill of Alexander, and the much superior discipline of his troops ; that their defence excited his surprise and admiration, we are ex pressly informed by Arian, Plutarch, and other historians; but their efforts, though roused to religious enthusiasm by the eloquence of the Brahmins, were ineffecl•ual. Alex ander, after having subdued several small states on the banks of the Indus, passed the different rivers of the Pun jab, attacked Porus, the sovereign of that district, who had collected a numerous army to oppose his march, and obtained a decisive victory, in spite of the gallant defence of that prince, who, together with some of his most distin guished generals, was taken prisoners. This battle was fought on the banks of the Hylaspes, which river it was necessary for Alexander to cross, in order that he might reach the Ganges, the great object of his ambition. To this point he now resolved to push ; but his troops had already done so much, and suffered so greatly, especially from excessive rains and incessant inundations, that their patience as well as their strength were exhausted, and they unanimously refused to advance farther. Alexander tried every effort, but in vain, to change their purpose ; they were inflexible, and the conqueror was obliged to give way to his troops, to abandon all his favourite schemes of farther conquest, and to issue orders for marching back to Persia. This memorable mutiny took place on the banks of the Hypliasis, the modern Beyah, one of the most celebrated rivers of the Punjab. Alexander left be hind him some of his most experienced officers, with a small part of his army, for the purpose of keeping pos session of the conquered territory on the banks of the Indus ; but his troops gave way to every kind of corrup tion and debauchery, to which they were stimulated by the policy of the Hindoos ; mutual animosities and recrimina tions took place ; and the death of Alexander, which hap pened about this time, hastened the downfal of his power in Hindostan. It was not, however, immediately annihi lated. Pytho, the son of Agenor, seems to have succeed ed to some part of Alexander's Indian conquests ; and Seleucus, who obtained Upper Asia on the death of his master, considering those countries of India, which had been subdued by Alexander, as belonging to that portion of the Macedonian empire of which he was now sovereign, mat ched into it, partly with a view of establishing his own authority there, and partly in order to curb Sandracottus.
Sandracottus, called by the Hindoo writers Chandra Gupta, was descended from the ancient lunar kings of Magadha ; but he was illegitimate, his moiher having been the daughter of a barber. His father was Nanda,
king of the Prachii, of whom the Hindoos relate so many wonderful stories. Sacatara, his prime minister, murdered him in his old age, but was in his turn put to death, with the whole of his family, except one son by Upadhanwa, the son of Nanda. The young man, how ever, who had been spared, watched for an opportunity of revenge, and having provoked Upadhanwa to ofler an af front to a Brahmin, he took advantage of the confusion occasioned by the consequent excommunication of the king ; and associating himself with Chandra Gupta, en treated the assistance of the neighbouring monarchs to overturn the kingdom of the Prachn. Of these mo narchs, the one who could afford the most ready and ef fectual assistance, from the contiguity of his territories and his power, was Parvateswara, lord of the mountains, king of Ncpaul ; to him one-half of the kingdom of the Prachii was promised. This monarch not only assisted Chandra Gupta with his own troops, but also procured the help of the Pavans or Greeks. Their efforts, aided by cruelty and treachery, were successful; Chandra Gupta was seated on the throne of Prachii, but he soon forgot his promise to Parvatcswara. The new monarch put to death all the noble and legitimate children of his father. His reign, however, though commenced with these acts of cruelty, seems to have proceeded in a manner much more creditable to his character ; fur he was respected abroad, and beloved by his subjects. Towards the western princes he was more grateful for the assistance they al forded him in obtaining his throne, than he appears to have been to the sovereign of Ncpaul. At least it seems probable, horn the accounts both of the Greek and llindoo writers, that the invasion of India by Seleucus, about A. C. SOD, was occasioned by Chandra Gupta hav ing offered his assistance to the western minces against the neighbouring dominions of the Macedonians. The particulars of this invasion are obscurely and differently related. According to some accounts, Chandra Gupta marched a formidable army to the banks of the lidos, and having restored the conquered provinces to their rightful masters, offered battle to Selcucus, which that prince de clined. According to other accounts, particularly those of the Greek historians, the expedition of Seleucus was splendid and successful. It is probable, however, that no decisive success was gained by either party ; and the terms of the treaty, by which hostilities were concluded, seem to confirm this conjectutc. By this treaty, Scleu ens gave his daughter in marriage to Chandra Gupta, wno in return agreed to furnish Seleucus annually with fifty elephants. In order to keep up and confirm more completely a friendly intercourse between the two mo narchs, Seleucus sent Megasthenes, one of his officers, a man of considerable acuteness and information, to reside at Baliput•a, the capital of Prachii. Daimachus was af terwards sent as ambassador to. Allitrochidas; the son and successor of Chandra Gupta. The time and manner in which the possessions of the Greeks in India were finally and completely wrested from them, are not known, but it is probable that they were obliged to abandon that country soon after the death of Scicucus. About 179 years after the invasion of this monarch, however, Antiochus the Great made a short inroad into India, and concluded a peace with Sophagasemus, Shivaca Sena, the grandson of Chandra Gupta, receiving from him a number of ele phants and a sum of money.