Ambhikumar against poras

See, there were about 15 elephants. Say each kills 20 Macedonians. It cannot be more, and surely the rest can evade the elephants. They are not fast moving animals. That makes 300 Macedonian soldiers killed. How many would be left over from the limited contingent that accompanied Alexander? Thousands. So why is it seen as a rout?

Originally posted by: inlieu

Till now, Taxila has kept a distance from the battle so neither Alexander nor Puru have any reason to suspect betrayal. Puru just pre-empted Taxila betraying him by sending the elephants ahead. It would be quite easy for Taxila to turn around and side with Puru without giving away their original plan to hand him over to Alexander.

I do think that Alexander will do something interesting to get out of this situation and then come face to face with Ambhiraj right there on the field, so he will have no excuse to escape and not help Alexander. I don't think Ambhiraj has the courage to desert Alexander at this point, but it will be interesting to see what Ambhikumar does. He's having a hard time choosing sides at this point, and I don't blame him.

It is quite possible that Laachi has a part to play Ambhikumar's decision, but that track was never fully developed, so we'll see.

I'm glad Chanakya left the field.

Abh mein yeh jaanna chahti hoon ke uske iss dialogue ka kya matlab tha:

Aaj tumhe maaloom chal jayega ke duniya mujhe Sikander kyun kehti hai.

Aisi dialogue ke baad to uski beizzati nahin ho sakti. To kya haathiyon ko dekh kar bhi woh bahaaduri se saamna kar payega aur cheer ke aage nikal jayega, as we expect? Ya phir uska shaatir demaag kaam karne lage ga?

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My dear Inlieu,,

This so-called battle today was nothing but a farce, for the reasons I shall cite, and which, incidentally, no one else here has done because no one else here is into analysis. They are busy cheering for the home team, which is fine and entirely understandable. But I always try to look at things, even things in a silly TV show, objectively. And I like something a bit more plausible.

Moreover, while cheering for the home team, one should not cheer for the CVs as well, who are perennially insulting the intelligence of the viewers. Porus is now not even a comedy show, as Ayesha said, for it lacks the intelligence for one.

See, there were about 15 elephants. Say each kills 20 Macedonians. It cannot be more, and surely the rest can evade the elephants. They are not fast moving animals. That makes 300 Macedonian soldiers killed. How many would be left over from the limited contingent that accompanied Alexander? Thousands. So why is it seen as a rout?

And the spectacle of those logs, rolled down on to a plain field, where they would have lost momentum and stalled in a minute, knocking out so many Macedonian soldiers on level ground was the pits. This was not a battle or even an ambush. It was a farce.

Ambhiraj will not dare to go against Alexander and side with Porus, who is right now a nobody. Kanishka is the king in Paurav Rashtra, with full control over the army. And as my srithmetic shows, Alexander's army would be more or less intact, bar the loss of a few hundred. Last but not the least, Ambhiraj hates Puru and his whole family. He will thus break cover and openly side with Alexander, which is what he did at the battle of the Hydaspes.

Ambhikumar would count only if he became the king. For that Ambhiraj would have to die, as he did in the 1990 Chanakya, where he committed suicide. This one is not the kind to do any such thing, and Ambhikumar does not look like a Bimbisara, who was ready to kill his father for following the precepts of the Lord Buddha. I think we will stay with Ambhiraj, just like in Chandra Nandni, where they replaced Dhananand,as the ruler of Magadha who insulted Chanakya, with his father Mahapadmanand.

Coming back to the farce, I think Alexander is going to put out the eye of the elephant with his sarissa, and then the elephant will run wild and topple Puru from its howdah. Did you see how Puru's face changed the minute Alexander leapt on to Bucephalus and made straight for him, lance in hand? He thought he could easily trample Alexander,who was standing on the ground, under the elephant's feet and kill him. He forgot the something that made Alexander what he was, one of the greatest military commanders of all time. He is going to find out about it on Monday.

I had written earlier that Alexander would charge the elephants even sword in hand, and he now has a long lance. He would have charged even a dinosaur if one had turned up, and Bucephalus would have carried him fearlessly, as he did ever since Alexander was twelve

What remains to be seen is what happens afterwards. Does Alexander let Puru off, to balance what Puru did in Persia, or does Puru escape on his own?

Today's skirmish was just the dress rehearsal for the battle of the Hydaspes, and Porus has given away his trump card, the shock element of the elephants. In the final battle. Alexander was forewarned, and the Macedonian archers shot out the eyes of many of the elephants, which then ran amuck and trampled the soldiers on their own side.This was, in any case, an occupational hazard in using elephants.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: inlieu

Dear Aunty,

Of course it was a farce!

The unit/team that conceptualized and shot Alexander's marvellous pre-Bharat battle sequences do not seem to be the same one responsible for today's scenes, which seem to have been done by the same one who conceptualized and filmed the fight between the Pauravengers and Darius. 😆 But then again, this show has, over time, made me lower my standards and expectations and suspend belief where possible.

There were 3 people I cheered for today.

• Ambhikumar, for showing us the civil war between his heart and mind very effectively - he has always been consistent about this. He also seems to do well in terms of keeping things in perspective. I like that actor and wish they'd shown us more of him.
  
  
• Hephaestion, for showing as much bravery as could be expected of him and never leaving Alexander's side despite being confounded at the sight of these beasts. Also for worrying about the poor soldiers.
  
  I laughed out loud at his line:
  In bhaartiyon ne apne fauj mein itne vishaal darinde paal rake hain? 😆
  Though I must say Hephaestion used too many Hindi words for my liking (vishaal, sainik).
  
  
• Alexander, for his unwavering determination no matter what! (but that is no surprise, of course)

It seems that the only elephant that Puru has tamed/controlled is the one he is sitting on. The rest he just seems to have let loose to trample people at will which of course should work against him in actual battle. I wonder if the CVs would have the courage to show that Alexander's now aware of Puru's trump card and will figure out a way to overcome these "gigantic" challenges in the final battle. Ambhiraj seems surprised by Puru's tactic but unfazed at the sight of the elephants for he is probably used to/knows about them as native animals. Yeh haati kahaan se aa gaye! 😆

Also, agree with you that only the foot soldiers in the front ranks are trampled. The elephants charge from the side but don't go further back where there are thousands of other Macedonian soldiers waiting. Hephaestion seems to think all their soldiers will die. I am not sure if he's referring to the foot soldiers or the entire army, which is not possible of course. I was nodding as I read through your calculations on headcount. The other hilarious moment was when the Macedonian soldiers are not just showing falling into the pit but pretty much jumping into them. 😆

Puru thinks that the Macedonians cavalry will be no match for the elephants but it does not look like Alexander is worried that the army will be annihilated. His army is quite large and poweful. Interestingly enough, they don't show any horses being trampled, which apparently also happened in the real battle. I think Alexander realizes that the elephants are unruly and are only going to cause damage up to a certain point. He takes time to observe them very closely to see how they would kill soldiers/horses instead of focusing on the death of soldiers for those few moments, while Hephaestion is almost freaking out.

Dasyu gang seemed to be firing arrows at will. If the elephants had been injured, or at least their eyes damaged, then that would have been catastrophic. I also think Ambhiraj will be here until the end battle with more conflicts with his son. Ambhikumar might just end up fighting along with his cousin, who knows? I am looking forward to seeing how Alexander will deal with the Taxila gang.

Can I just say I loved that scene where Alexander sees Puru approaching and walks up to him, seeming tiny in front of that towering beast but nevertheless just as majestic a warrior? I love the look of determination in Alexander's eyes. There is not a moment of uncertainty even while he's listening to Puru threatening to kill him and end his campaign of victory. Ha! It gave me a David vs. Goliath feeling, and we all know how that turned out.

Yes the pre-cap is enticing to say the least. Can't wait to see Alexander in action. While Puru is announcing his punishment for Alexander, I am sure Alexander is observing Puru and how he has mounted the elephant even more closely, the wheels in his head turning at turbo speed to determine the best defense, which looks likely to be an actual attack that should catch Puru off-guard with its boldness. Aleander's soldiers are going to get a huge moral boost seeing their leader's bravery. Likewise, seeing Alexander toppling Puru is bound to affect his gang's confidence and to teach Puru once again not to underestimate Alexander. I was very annoyed when Puru was bragging about having let Alexander go in the pat, when in fact it was Alexander too who let him escape Faras in order to challenge him in Bharat. Totally agree that even T-rex would not have scared Alexander off. Bucephalus is one fine, brave horse - I wish we'd seen more Alexander's bonding with him.

I am very happy now that I have the answer to the question I had asked in one of my previous posts:

Abh mein yeh jaanna chahti hoon ke uske iss dialogue ka kya matlab tha:

Aaj tumhe maaloom chal jayega ke duniya mujhe Sikander kyun kehti hai.

Aisi dialogue ke baad to uski beizzati nahin ho sakti. To kya haathiyon ko dekh kar bhi woh bahaaduri se saamna kar payega aur cheer ke aage nikal jayega, as we expect? Ya phir uska shaatir demaag kaam karne lage ga?

It's great that the makers will actually show Roxanne, Puru, and us why he is Sikander. It's not because he is fulfilling his promises to Roxanne or because he is going to get Porus' head. It's because of his performance as a supreme military commander with Adamantium will and a superior intellect that has figured out the right strategy to disarm Porus on the elephant.

In fact, after what Porus did, and especially since Roxanne has seen for herself that Porus has used sneaky tactics, Alexander's way of dealing with this unexpected and frightening situation (for most people, not for him) should impress her far more than just Puru's head at this point. Though I'm sure Alexander's next move to charge fearlessly at the elephant would not be about impressing his wife but about showing Puru that no challenge is too big for him.

I think it is also a wake up call for Roxanne about the harsh realities of war. It is not a game and her fright should hopefully knock some sense into her. Hopefully she doesn't insist on accompanying him to future battles for silly reasons. She can also finally compare Puru's sneaky tactics versus her husband's fabulous display of mental strength, intelligence, and bravery in salvaging this situation and charging from the front. Maybe she can finally show him some respect. Alexander is still gracious and does not tell her "I told you so", yet! Interestingly, he shares what's going on in his mind with Roxanne, something we've only ever see him do with Olympias that too sometimes.

I am still waiting to see if and how Alexander uses Chanakya's wisdom about the shawl/thread. I wonder if we'll see any more of Chanakya after this.

Cleitus, who always talked to Alexander in previous battles to discuss his moves was nowhere to be seen or heard, except vaguely in one of the background shots. I hope he makes an appearance and is on standby with reinforcements if Alexander needs them.

Please excuse grammar or spelling mistakes - haven't proofread this yet.

Originally posted by: sashashyam

I agree with all of this, my dear. And I loved the David Goliath simile. But Puru did let Alexander go in Persia, when he could have easily cut his throat, thanks to sneaky Barsine, and was in fact invited by Alexander to do so.It is another matter that later Alexander does not chase Puru and his gang down that path which was as wide as Broadway but was described as too narrow for more than one person to pass through.

But for the shot of Alexander pulling himself together and charging Puru's elephant on Bucephalus, the whole of yesternight's episode was a pain to watch. Yes, it was like the Paurav Rashta forecourt fighting, very poorly choreographed.

I really hope they wind this up soon. I have had enough of being forced to watch such stuff just for the Alexander scenes. And yes, they have forgotten about Cleitus after Bactria.

What would you bet that on Monday, Puru will take a flying leap from his elephant straight into the forest and escape, even as the remaining elephants start attacking the Takshashila forces? 😆 Spectacular wire work?😆

Finally, I have to correct a mistake in my post. It was Ajaatashatru who nearly killed his father Bimbisara, in the 6th century BC.

Shyamala Aunty