Yantra , Tantra, Mantra

Regrettably no account of Chandragupta Maurya's campaigns against Seleukus Nicator survive ala Caesar's Commentaries on his decade long wars against the Gauls. So this gives agenda driven Western historians a further face saving measure about the ultimately pitiful and fruitless Greek adventure in India. Firstly historians neglect to mention that Alexander's rival Porus was not even a proper king with an empire but just happened to be a glorified chief of a frontier republic who only took on the Macedonian warlord because he alone in that area had the traditional four division army. And Alexander very nearly lost even this engagement. Now there are Indian nationalist historians who see his disengagement from India as a strategic retreat and some go as far as to claim that he was defeated by Porus but I am inclined to give Alexander benefit of the doubt. Bactria and Persia were the verge of rebellion and Porus was apparently pacified so Alexander saw fit to deal wit

I would like to start off with the title which to my mind is itself misleading because I don't think there exists a specific dichotomy between Puranic and Vedic Hinduism. To be more precise the dieties associated with the Puranas such as Shiva,Brahma,Vishnu,Ganesha, Karthikeya, Durga are not theologically distinct from Indra, Agni,Vayu, Varuna et al but a continuation and or amalgalm of them. One of the reasons I prefer the Ramayana  apart from the fact that it reads as  a great thriller and adventure story is that it is more concise, linear,coherent and has sense of continuity and parallel story of the "Vedic era" as opposed to celebration of inconsistencies, jumbled structure and confusion that comprises much of the narrative of the Mahabharata. As with all great kings, the geneology is of prime importance hence we see the Ikshaku stalwart Sagar defeated the mlecchas from northwestern India, brought Ganga down to earth on the physical and spiritual realm and host