Page 215 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1992 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Indian peasantry supplemented their agrarian incomes by bribery demonstrates the remarkable continuity of Kau-
soldiering, which was seen as an honourable profession. tilyan strategies.
A military labor market, mediated by military entrepre-
neurs known as Jama’dars, became a feature of pre- Campaigns
colonial India. Throughout this period, campaigns of the Indian
empires, both north and south, were essentially similar.
Magadha and the Armies were moving cities, complete with large bazaars
Mauryan Empire to handle supply. War elephants were the most impor-
Kingdoms had developed on the Gangetic plain by 500 tant component until about 1100 CE. They were dis-
BCE. One of these, Magadha, straddling the Ganges placed by the heavy cavalry of the Muslim invaders,
River in modern-day Bihar, was responsible for intro- who reintroduced the stirrup—originally invented in
ducing the war elephant into South Asian warfare. Ele- South Asia in the first century—to warfare there. The
phants soon became as important as chariots in South stirrup, by anchoring the rider firmly to the horse,
Asian warfare. Besides becoming the traditional mount of made cavalry a true shock weapon, and more useful
rajas, elephants were used to trample and slaughter than elephants in battle.
enemy troops, batter down enemy forts, for transport, Siege engines, and after about 1350, large bombards
and as archery platforms. However, elephants were and cannon—which required industrial and financial
expensive and difficult to maintain, and only the richer capacity that only the large empires could sustain—were
Indian polities could afford large numbers of them. highly unwieldy, requiring hundreds of pack-oxen. This
Archery was also well developed by 500 BCE. Indian meant that the progress of an imperial army was painfully
archers used double-curved, composite wood-and-horn slow, about 8 kilometers per day even in Mughal times.
bows, which had a range of about 100–120 meters. Given the nine-month long, monsoon-delimited cam-
In battle, archers on foot were shielded by a rank of paigning season, an imperial army’s typical reach was
javelin-armed infantry. The absence of swift horses in between 1,080 and 1,200 kilometers. Campaigns were
South Asia resulted in the transformation of the two- also slowed by the nature of the frontiers, which were
wheeled chariot into the four-wheeled armored chariot imprecise bands of territory between two core areas,
carrying many more archers.Thus, though their offensive inhabited by petty rajas who would either have to be co-
power increased, their battlefield mobility was impeded. opted or subdued before the invading army could pro-
Magadha also developed the catapult. ceed. Battles were short and confused affairs, the onus
Magadha became the basis for the Mauryan empire (c. being on individual heroic prowess rather than on disci-
324–c. 200 BCE ), during which time the Arthasastra, a plined maneuver. If a king or commander were killed or
classic work of Indian statecraft that adopted an amoral, captured, then as in chaturanga, the precursor to chess
realist approach to war and diplomacy, appeared. Reput- that was popular among members of the Kshatriya class,
edly authored by the philosopher and imperial adviser his army was considered defeated.
Kautilya (flourished 300 BCE), it included details on mil- Traditional Indic warfare was land based. The only
itary organization, strategy, tactics, and logistics and exception to this were the Colas, who, under Rajaraja I
stressed the value of effective espionage and bribery. (reigned 985–1014) and his successor Rajendra I
That the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1618–1707; (reigned 1014–1044), took to the sea to conquer Sri
reigned 1658–1707) wanted to abolish the special fund Lanka and Srivijaya (an empire located on the islands of
for bribing enemy forts, and that the British under Robert Sumatra and Java). The strategic vision impelling these
Clive (1725–1774) defeated the forces of the nawab seaborne campaigns was the control of Southeast Asian
(provincial governor) of Bengal at Palasi (1757) through maritime trade.