DBA Armies

This list covers the Indus and Ganges basins and Deccan from the development of a more practical view of warfare than that depicted in the Vedas until the fall of the Guptas. Elephant crew sat astride on a padded caparison and consisted of a driver and a single noble archer, accompanied if he was a leader by a parasol or standard bearer. Larger crew mentioned in the Mauryan period may have sat on a fighting platform. Towers were first used and probably invented by Pyrrhos of Epiros. Elephant escorts, although advocated in Indian literature, are not mentioned in Poros’ army. Although Indian elephants were defeated at Hydaspes by Alexander’s Macedonians, they made a deep impression on his generals, who after his death tried to acquire as many as they could. The large 4-horse 6-crew chariots were mentioned only by Curtius as part of Poros’ army and manned by 2 javelin-armed drivers, 2 archers and 2 shield-bearers. Other rulers used 4-horse chariots with a crew of a driver & two archers. 2-horse chariots are also depicted in art. Indian chariots were used as a main combat break-through arm against all types of enemy troops and either preceded or deployed separately from the cavalry. The javelin-armed unarmoured cavalry were used either on the flanks, to pursue broken enemy or to cover a retreat. After 178 AD, chariots were progressively replaced by extra cavalry and by 320 had been entirely replaced by men with lance and bow on armoured horses. The Indian bow was long and shot heavy arrows. Arrian suggests that their power made them difficult to string in muddy conditions and that this affected the result at Hydaspes. Archers and javelinmen carried a heavy two-handed sword for those occasions when they could not avoid close combat. Good infantry were provided by hereditary warriors or mercenaries, which usually had to be supplemented with a massed horde of often similarly armed levies.” Wild tribes” of hillmen or jungle-dwellers could provide skirmishers. A favoured deployment was to have the elephants in the centre, the chariots on their flanks and the cavalry on the wings. Gore Vidal’s novel describes two Indian armies meeting frontally on the march, with first the cavalry of both sides colliding, then the chariots coming up and ploughing into them from behind, then the elephants, then the good infantry and finally the levies and camp followers. Because all the commanders are at the front and vast clouds of dust are generated, no deployment or manoeuvre is possible and the confusion continues until both armies are exhausted and night falls. References: Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars D. Head, Ancient Indian Warfare S.D Singh, History of Alexander and Indica Arrian (and other histories of Alexander), The Arthashastra Kautilya, Creation G.Vidal (novel).