A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c18.11

c18.11

In war the king sometimes took the field in person, but more often sent his trusted generals. The traditional fourfold division of the army is often spoken of, particularly in literary works, but there is no tangible evidence of the chariot playing any part in battle. Elephants retained their importance to a very late date, and Yuan Chwang observed that in Mahārāshtra they were made drunk before an engagement. Cavalry was so important that kings often competed with one another in the terms they offered to Arab merchants in the busy trade in horses. Firearms came into use in the wars between the Bāhmani and Vijayanagar kingdoms, although the gunners were usually foreigners. Forts played a prominent part in the defence system from very early times, but the art of besieging and reducing them was also well understood. Details of the recruitment, training and equipment of armies are lacking till we come to the period of Vijayanagar. It is clear, however, that they included men from all strata of society, and that their numbers were increased by the addition of fresh recruits and feudal levies when a war was on. A select body of troops often served as a king's chosen bodyguard who shared a meal with the king at the time of his accession and were thereafter always bound to defend him with their lives. They were called by various names—*Sahavāsis* under the Chālukyas, *Vēlaikkārar* under the Cholas, *Garuḍas* under the Hoysalas, and *Āpattudavigaḷ* under the Pāṇdyas. The institution seems to have fallen into desuetude in later times. Though total war was altogether unknown, war was not always confined in its effects to the fighting forces. Although instances of clemency, such as Narasimhavarman I sparing Bādāmi, and Vikrāmāditya II the citizens of Kāñchi, are indeed known, the wars between the Cholas and the Chālukyas of Kalyāni, and those between Bāhmani and Vijayanagar, were undoubtedly marked by much wanton destruction and cruelty. Nuniz describes an expeditionary force of the Vijayanagar army in the following terms: ‘All were equally well armed, each after his own fashion, the archers and musqueteers with their quilted tunics, and the shieldmen with their swords and poignards in their girdles; the shields are so large that there is no need for armour to protect the body, which is completely covered; the horses in full clothing, and the men with doublets, and weapons in their hands, and on their heads headpieces after the manner of their doublets, quilted with cotton. The war elephants go with their howdahs from which four men fight on each side of them, and the elephants are completely clothed, and on their tusks they have knives fastened, much ground and sharpened, with which they do great harm. Several cannon were also taken.’ On the camp, the same writer observed: ‘All the camp was divided into regular streets. Each captain's division has its market where you found all kinds of meat, such as sheep, goats, pigs, fowls, hares, partridges and other birds, and this in great abundance; so much, so that it would seem as if you were in the city of Bisnaga.’ There were gymnasia in the capital and other important centres where the troops were systematically trained in military exercises in peacetime. Commanders who were defeated were given women's clothes to wear, as Yuan Chwang observed, and as has been confirmed by Chola inscriptions of the eleventh century.