Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia

Kaushik Roy

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317321279
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire du monde

Roy investigates the various factors that influenced the formation and mobilization of military forces in the region from 300 BC to the modern day.

1 WARFARE AND MILITARY MANPOWER MOBILIZATION IN ANCIENT INDIA, 1500 BC–AD 550

Introduction

India’s history begins with the emergence of the Indus Valley Civilization. However, the Indus script is yet to be deciphered. The existing archaeological evidence tells us that the Indus Civilization followed a sort of defensive fort based strategy; the coming of the Aryans with their horses and chariots marked an epochal change in the conduct of warfare. Gradually the pastoral society was transformed into an agrarian society generating adequate surplus for the genesis of monarchies. Literary and numismatic sources are available in adequate quantities to trace the trajectory of warfare and military manpower mobilization of the sedentary polities in the Indian subcontinent from 500 BC onwards. Technological and economic changes along with political fluctuations shaped the composition and size of the armies. Now, let us focus on the emergence of the first civilization in South Asia.

Armies and Warfare from the Indus Valley Civilization to the Vedic Age

River Indus constitutes the western boundary of the subcontinent. Indus separates the subcontinent proper from the arid zones of Persia and Central Asia. The Indus Valley Civilization along the banks of Indus came into existence around 3500 BC. The Indus Valley people used arrows made of bronze and copper. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin (nine parts copper and one part tin) and is harder than pure copper and thus better suited for making weapons. These arrows were flat and thin with long narrow barbs. The Indus people also used double edged swords.¹ Small dome shaped copper pieces, each of which were perforated with two holes, were found in the Indus Valley sites. G. N. Pant opines that these pieces were probably sewn to garments and used as body armour.² The Indus cities were fortified with walls constructed with burnt brickslaid in both mud and gypsum mortar.³ The Indus Civilization collapsed owing to a series of factors. The drying up of the Indus region owing to silting of the river and climatic shift adversely affected agriculture; the attacks by the Aryan speaking people riding on horse-drawn rathas (chariots) and equipped with bows and arrows completed the collapse.⁴

The Vedic Age extended from 1500 BC to 600 BC. The Vedic Aryans fought for land and pasture for raising cows. War was conducted by the tribal militias. A number of families constituted a grama (village); a number of gramas (villages) comprised a vis (clan); and a number of clans constituted the jana (tribe). The grama was led by gramani and the clan by vispati. The vispatis elected the tribal elder known as the rajan.⁵ U. P. Thapliyal speculates that the gramanis were mostly Vaisyas. He asserts that the core of the Vedic era forces were composed of personal retainers of the tribal chieftains supplemented by volunteers from the villages led by the gramanis.⁶ Between 1000 BC and 600 BC, the Aryans migrated from Brahmavarta (land of five rivers, i.e. Punjab. The five rivers are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) to Aryavarta (north India especially the Ganga-Jamuna doab). Then, the various Aryan tribes started fighting against each other for supremacy.⁷ This struggle is reflected in the epic Mahabharata.

The later Vedic period witnessed the rise of the chaturvarga (four fold caste) system. The fighting people of the clans called themselves rajanyas and later they were known as Kshatriyas. Only the Kshatriyas went to war as Hinduism asserted that fighting was the caste occupation of the Kshatriyas.⁸ Between 1000 BC and the beginning of the Common Era, the status of military service declined among the Brahmins. While the Mahabharata depicts many Brahmins as yuddhacharya (teachers of military science), Manusmriti (composed around the Common Era) disparages military service among Brahmins.⁹ In the subcontinent, military service remained voluntary. Unlike in India, conscription of able bodied males was introduced in China in 221 BC for a short period.¹⁰

Vedic warfare was based on ideas of personal glory. Combat mostly consisted of duels among chariot borne rajanyas.¹¹ Varma (coats of mail) and sipra (helmets of metal) were used by the Kshatriya charioteers.¹² Chariots reached China through Central Asia around 1300–1200 BC. The chariot remained the strike corps of the Chinese armies under the Shang Dynasty (1500–1027 BC), Western Chou (1045–770 BC) and the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC). The Shang chariot was made up of a rectangular box with multi-spoked wheels. Battles in Shang China as in Vedic India were composed of individual clashes between the nobles riding chariots. However, while the Shang charioteers fought with long spears, the preferred weapon of the Vedic charioteers was the bow.¹³ The arrows were barbed, pointed and crescent shaped. The arrow blades were thin and flat. The naracha (iron tipped arrows) were considered especially suited for wounding and killing elephants.¹⁴ Iron arrowheads were used in north India somewhat between 750 and 500 BC. The arrowheads were both socketed and tanged varieties. When the arrowhead was fastened to the shaft it was tanged. And when the arrowhead was hollow at the base and was inserted within the shaft which was made of flexible wood such as cane or reed, it was known as socketed.¹⁵ The proto-Australoid people of the subcontinent who were pre-Aryan inhabitants and spoke Austric languages domesticated and trained the elephants.¹⁶ From them, the Aryans learnt the art of using elephants in combat.

Early sixth century BC witnessed the emergence of sixteen mahajanapadas (regional territorial polities). They were Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji, Malla, Cedi, Vatsa, Kuru, Pancala, Matsya, Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara and Kamboja. The political organization of these polities differed greatly. The capital of the Surasena was Mathura and the Yadava family dominated the political set up. The Vajji was a powerful confederation of eight clans, the dominant clans being the Licchavis of Vaisali and the Videhas. Magadha was a monarchy.¹⁷ Of these mahajanapadas, Magadha emerged supreme and become the seat of imperial power in ancient India.

Magadha included the Patna and Gaya districts of Bihar. The region was bound in the north and west by the Ganga and Son rivers and in the south by the spurs of the Vindhyan Range. In the east was River Champa. The earliest capital of Magadha was Girivraja or Rajgir among the hills near Gaya. The capital was surrounded by five hills. Magadha rose to pre-eminence under Bimbisara, who came to the throne around 543 BC. He annexed Anga (Mungher and Bhagalpur districts) after defeating Brahmadatta. Later, Bimbisara captured Kasi. One ancient source states that Bimbisara’s kingdom was made up of 80,000 towns,¹⁸

although the figure may be a slight exaggeration. Nevertheless, it reflects rapid urbanization owing to bumper crops produced in the fertile river valleys and an expanding network of trade and commerce plus vast demographic resources in the eastern part of Ganga River Valley. Under Bimbisara, we find the emergence of a bureaucracy. The sabbatthaka was the officer in charge of general administration. The sena nayaka mahamattas were the generals of the army. And the voharika mahamattas were the judges. At the lowest rung of the administrative layer, there were the gramikas (village headmen). Bimbisara strengthened the fortifications of Rajagriha and established a new fortified city at Pataligrama (later Pataliputra) at the junction of Son and Ganga rivers.¹⁹

The principal competing polity for Magadha was Kosala with its capital Sravasti located on the western bank of River Rapti in Awadh. The Rapti is a tributary of River Sarayu which has its origin in the Himalayan Range.²⁰ Bimbisara’s son Ajatasatru (r. 491–459 BC) defeated Prasenjit of Kosala and annexed Vaisali. Ajatasatru was credited with two military innovations: mahasilakantaka (a catapult from which stones could be launched) and rathamusala (a scythe chariot). It is probable that the intense political competition between the mahajanapadas resulted in innovation and utilization of new military technology. Ajatasatru also captured Champa and placed his son Udayin as the viceroy of this region. Ajatasatru was succeeded by Udayin who shifted the capital to Pataliputra.²¹ Magadha emerged as the dominant power in north India. Besides ambitious and effective rulers, Magadha’s success was also because the forest south of Gaya provided access to elephants which were caught and trained for war. And in addition, Magadha had copper and iron deposits which were used for manufacturing implements of war.²²

Greek Invasions and the Maurya Empire

The first battle of ancient India about which historical data survives is the Battle of Hydaspes fought between Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 BC) and one of the regional rulers of Punjab named Paurava/Puru (whom the Greeks called Porus). Most of the sources dealing with this battle are by Greek and Roman authors. Paurava commanded a chaturangavahini comprising 4,000 cavalry, 200 elephants, 300 chariots and 30,000 infantry. Every chariot had six persons: two sarathis (drivers); two shield bearers; and two men equipped with bows, arrows and quivers.²³ The charioteers were equipped with simple bows made of bamboo.²⁴ Paurava’s army was made up of mercenaries recruited from Punjab. Long distance mercenary service was an established tradition in Punjab and North-West India. North-West India came under Persian (Achaemenid Empire) control under Darius I and Xerxes. The Indus Valley along with Punjab and Sind were probably annexed by the Persians around 518 BC.²⁵ The Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus I recruited mercenaries from Punjab in the infantry branch.²⁶ Xerxes (r. 486–65 BC) took Indian mercenary infantry (clad in cotton cloth and equipped with cane bows and arrows with iron tips) during his invasion of Greece.²⁷ At Gaugemela (331 BC), an Indian contingent of fifteen elephants was present in the Achaemenid Army of Darius III (Emperor, 336–330 BC).²⁸ Beside the Indians and the Persians, the Chinese also used elephants in warfare. In 506 BC, the Chu Army used elephants against the Wu Army.²⁹

Paurava’s kingdom was divided into two parts. One part was ruled directly by him and was known as the Kekaya region. It was regarded as fertile and had some 300 cities. The principality of his son Younger Paurava was called Gandaris or Sophytes. The Salt Range (in west Punjab, now Pakistan) in this region produced adequate salt for internal use as well as for export.³⁰ So, taxation on salt along with agricultural produce constituted the principal economic base of Paurava’s monarchy. The large number of cities in Paurava’s kingdom reflects a high rate of demographic density and urban culture. Alexander had some 5,000 cavalry and between 9,000 to 10,000 heavy and light infantry soldiers.³¹ As a point of comparison, the Shang expeditionary armies averaged between 3,000 and 5,000 men. But, during emergencies armies numbering approximately 30,000 men were raised. And ancient Chinese polities like Tsin were able to muster 700 chariots in 632 BC and 4,900 chariots by 537 BC. Chi had only 100 chariots in 720 BC but over 4,000 at the beginning of the fifth century BC. Between 650 BC and 450 BC, the population of China rose approximately from 12 million to 40 million.³² Herodotus (484–31 BC) tells us that the population of India was enormous,³³ but we do not have the exact figure for India’s population at that time.

When Alexander made a landfall on the bank of River Hydaspes (Jhelum), Paurava sent his son (Younger Paurava) with 2,000 cavalry and 120 chariots. Owing to the morning rain, the ground ...