Gangaridai

"The earliest account based on Megasthenes occurs in Diodorus (1st century B.C.). Referring to the Ganges, he (II.37)3 writes: "Now this river which at its source is 30 stadia broad, flows from north to south, and empties its waters into the ocean forming the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai, a nation which possesses the greatest number of elephants and the largest in size. Owing to this, their country has never been conquered by any foreign king; for all other nations dread the overwhelming number and strength of these animals. Thus Alexander the Macedonian, after conquering all Asia, did not make war upon the Gangaridai, as he did on all others; for when he had arrived with all his troops at the river Ganges, and had subdued all the other Indians, he abandoned as hopeless an invasion of the Gangaridai when he learned that they possessed four thousand elephants well trained and equipped for war.""

"Indeed Diodorus himself in another passage (VI.XCIII)1 tells us in general where Alexander would have touched it: "he had obtained from Phegus a description of the country beyond the Indus. First came a desert which it would take twelve days to traverse; beyond this was the river called the Ganges with a width of thirty-two stadia and a greater depth than any other river; beyond this again were situated the dominions of the nation of the Prasioi and the Gandaridai, whose king, Xandrames, had an army of 20,000 horses, 200,000 infantry, 2,000 chariots and 4,000 elephants trained and equipped for war.""

"Curtius (IX.2)2 writes in the course of his account: "Next came the Ganges, the largest river in all India, the farther bank of which was inhabited by two nations, the Gāngāridae and the Prasii...""

"Plutarch's treatment (LXII)3 of the situation reads: "...its farther banks were covered all over with armed men, horses and elephants, for the kings of the Gandaritai and the Praisiai were reported to be waiting for (Alexander)...""

"This situation of theirs becomes even clearer in a passage from Diodorus elsewhere (XVIII.6):6 "(India) is inhabited by very many nations, among which the greatest of all is that of the Gandaridai against whom Alexander did not undertake an expedition, being deterred by the multitude of their elephants. This region is separated from farther India by the greatest river in those parts (for it has a breadth of thirty stadia), but it adjoins the rest of India which Alexander had conquered...""

"The next version from Megasthenes comes in Pliny. Pliny (IV.22)2 touches on the Gangaridai after making an observation about the Ganges in mid-career: "...it flows out with a gentle current, being at the narrowest eight miles, and on the average a hundred stadia in breadth, and never of less depth than twenty paces (one hundred feet) in the final part of its course, which is through the country of the Gāngārides. The royal city of the Calingae is called Parthalis. Over their king 60,000 foot soldiers, 1,000 horsemen, 700 elephants keep watch and ward 'in procinct of war'.""