Porus

Porus or Poros (from the Greek Πῶρος, Pôros), was a king of the Pauravas whose territory spanned the region between the Hydaspes (Jhelum) and Acesines (Chenab) rivers in what is now Punjab. Porus fought with Alexander the Great in the Battle of the Hydaspes. Alexander was however greatly impressed by his adversary and not only reinstated him as a satrap of his own kingdom but also granted him dominion over lands to the south-east extending until the Hyphasis (Beas).

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Porus was assassinated by one of Alexander's generals named Eudemus sometime between 321 and 315 BC.

Porus's elephant cavalry as depicted in the 16th century German work, Cosmographia

The only information available on Porus is from Greek sources. Historians however have reasoned that based on his name and the location of his domain, Porus was likely to have been a descendant of the Puru tribe mentioned in the Rig Veda.

The historian, Ishwari Prasad, noted that Porus might have been a Yaduvanshi Shoorsaini. He argued that Porus' vanguard soldiers carried a banner of Herakles whom Megasthenes—who travelled to India after Porus had been supplanted by Chandragupta—explicitly identified with the Shoorsainis of Mathura. This Herakles of Megasthenes and Arrian has been identified by some scholars as Krishna and by others as his elder brother Baladeva, who were both the ancestors and patron deities of Shoorsainis. Iswhari Prashad and others, following his lead, found further support of this conclusion in the fact that a section of Shoorsainis were supposed to have migrated westwards to Punjab and modern Afghanistan from Mathura and Dvārakā, after Krishna's demise and had established new kingdoms there.

The Battle of the Hydaspes was fought in 326 BC by Alexander the Great against King Porus of the Paurava kingdom on the banks of the river Hydaspes. The battle resulted in a Macedonian victory. Alexander was however greatly impressed by his adversary and not only reinstated him as a satrap of his own kingdom but also granted him dominion over lands to the south-east extending until the Hyphasis (Beas).

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Porus was assassinated by one of Alexander's generals, Eudemus, sometime between 321 and 315 BC.

• Porus is played by Arun Bali in the 1991 Chanakya (TV series)
• Porus appears in the 1999 animated series Reign: The Conqueror
• Porus is portrayed by the Thai actor, Bin Bunluerit, in Alexander (2004)
• Porus appears in the 2011 Chandragupta Maurya (TV series)
• Sony TV is launching a new serial titled Porus on the Battle of Hydaspes