Public Administration in Ancient India c18.78

c18.78

Poros’s distribution of the army at the battle of the Hydaspes, as described by Greek writers, is very interesting in this connection. Poros distributed his cavalry on the wings, and placed his elephants in his front line at equi-distances, so arranged as to strike the enemy with terror. In the intervals between the animals he stationed the rest of his soldiers, instructing them to succour the elephants and protect them from being assailed in flank by the enemy’s missiles. The whole disposition of the army gave it very much the appearance of a city—the elephants as they stood resembling its towers, and the men-at-arms placed between them resembling the lines of wall intervening between tower and tower.²