Puru please don't run away - Page 5

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Surbhi,

Yes, Porus does let Alexander go, though Alexander asks him twice to cut off his head. He is not afraid either.

He let him go because otherwise the show would have ended there😉. No dharma came into it, for in a guerrilla attack of that kind, there are no rules.

They must have killed a lot of Persian civilians with those bombs (bombs in the 4th century BC!!). That did not bother Porus or the rest, who probably wrote them off as permissible collateral damage, like the Americans bombing the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and killing Afghan civilians. But then why spare Bin Laden when you have got him at swordpoint? Makes no sense at all to anyone except the CVs.

Of course it was a guerrilla attack without an actual cause, for Alexander was then nowhere near Bharat, but was only announcing his intention to conquer it, and intentions are not actions in law.

But later, when he has killed Visuddhi, Alexander does let Porus escape. If he and his men had chased our quartet, they would most likely have been caught. That is why Hasti says later that he cannot understand how they escaped alive. That is what Olympias tells Alexander was a major mistake on his part, and it was, again because the show has to go on and for that Porus cannot get caught!😆

This is what Alexander means when he says he let Porus go. It is a fact.

So they both let each other escape with their lives for no reason that makes any logical sense. Chanakya would have wanted Porus to behead Alexander on the spot, even if it meant his being killed afterward while trying to get away - though seeing the melee there, I doubt that.😆 Porus would have got clean away,and the threat to Bharat would have been completely removed. Again, he would not have understood why Alexander did not chase Porus down.

Now, I do not agree with Deepika on this Porus leaving the battlefield business. If Porus does indeed beat a strategic retreat, he will be doing something sensible,keeping the interests of his kingdom and country in mind. Chanakya would have approved. Chandragupta twice ran away from the battlefield after being overwhelmed by Dhananand's forces.

One has to be dispassionate when analysing these things. But one thing, seeing the quality of the wire work I have seen so far in Porus, Alexander's leap off his horse to the level of Porus on that elephant is going to look totally fake.😆 Just like the shot of Puru jumping on to the back of the wild elephant earlier.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Yes, my dear, I agree. But see, that was simply the way it was back then. That was all I was trying to say.

The other thing is that after Ashoka adopted ahimsa and became Ashoka the Great, the Mauryan army was allowed to run down. So, just 47 years after Ashoka's death, the Mauryan empire, the greatest the subcontinent had ever seen, collapsed when the then emperor, Brihadrata Maurya, was assassinated by his own commander in chief. Pushya Sungamitra, who then founded the Sunga dynasty on part of Ashoka's domains. The rest broke away, the wonderful system of administration set up by Chanakya, which greatly benefited the people, cracked up. The populace suffered greatly.

The point is that if you wanted to be peaceful and non-aggressive in those days,the others would not let you. They would attack and try to destroy you. So most kings adopted the aggressive approach straightaway and sought to be feared, so that they and their people were safe.So they attacked and conquered as many neighbouring kingdoms as they could. This way, their army also stayed in fighting fettle, and did not get rusted and go soft and flabby, and was ready and effective when the empire was attacked.

I don't know if this makes any sense, but this is the best I can do. Also the last, for now, that my fingers can do! So bye for a day at least!

Shyamala Di (sounds odd for someone as young as you are to call a 70 year old Di,but let it be as you prefer!😉)