BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 17: Over two thousand villagers who believe they are descendents of Alexander the Great and live in remote villages nestled in the Himalayas at an altitude of around 9,900 feet above the sea level are refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine because it is against their beliefs.
(The five-foot tall king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia, who set out to conquer the world after succeeding his assassinated father at the age of 20, had invaded India in 327 BC. In July 326 BC, he fought King Porus of the Paurava kingdom at Bhera on the banks of River Jhelum in present day Pakistan’s Sargodha district. However, he was forced to turn back when his exhausted and homesick soldiers refused to accompany him on his expedition across the River Ganga. He died in Babylon in present Iraq in June 323 BC, and lies buried in Alexandria in Egypt. Several thousand people claiming to be descendents of Alexander’s soldiers live in remot