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Module - I Armies in Ancient Age

Military History
 How well an army is organized and how well it is disciplined.
of Ancient India
In the Varna system followed by ancient Indians, a Kshatriya was considered as the
best warrior. There was however no restriction on hiring soldiers from any of the other
castes. According to Kautilya, a body of troops who are of the same region and caste
become a great asset. Sukraniti describes the characteristics of a good army..
Thiruvalluvar, the author of Thirukkural, says that homogeneity, tradition and valour
Note were the most important characteristics of a good army. The Tanjore inscriptions are
testimonial to the recording of 31 regiments of regular units in the Chola army. It is
interesting to note that some regiments were assigned duties such as guarding the
temple or being temple musicians. Even today the army has units which perform other
national building tools tasks like afforestation, building roads & bridges etc.

Armies are organized as per the weapons they carry and their role in the battle. In the
ancient age, one chariot, one elephant, three horses and three infantry soldiers formed
the basic unit and was called Patti. This was the smallest unit of the army. Such a unit
was complimentary to each other. For example, the three infantry soldiers protected
the elephants and the three horses could scout ahead as sentries to look out for enemy.
This smallest unit was then grouped with similar units to form larger forces. The largest
such unit formation was called Aksauhini and was considered to represent the complete
army. Large armies had hundreds of chariots, elephants and foot soldiers. A well-
organized army became a cohesive fighting unit and thus constituted a good army.

2.3 Strategy and Tactics in War

It is not enough to only have a good regular army, which is well trained and well
equipped with weapons. All good armies should have good tactics and strategy.
The word Tactics means the use of fixed drills in an intelligent manner so as to destroy
the enemy in battle.

Strategy on the other hand is about deployment of all resources of a King, in peace
and war to be victorious at all times. It is about ways and means to win a war.

Planning for war involves making good strategy while actual fighting in battle is done
by sound tactics. What were the tactics and strategy followed by the ancient Indian
armies?

Any war is preceded by a number of actions to be taken by the King and the army.
The actions required to be undertaken by armies have been very well documented
from ancient times. Let us see these one by one.
(a) Marching - Armies have to march from one place to another. Before a battle
takes place, they have to march to the war front and camp. The strategic
considerations for a march will require detailed planning for the route to be
taken, protection of the route against invaders, weather and climate, how far the
army is required to march etc. Accordingly the route will be reconnoitered

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MILITARY HISTORY