War in Ancient India c7.s1.t3.2

c7.s1.t3.2

From the time of the epics to the epoch of the Purāṇas the art of fighting from chariots had developed a high degree of perfection. But we must not be blind to their defects. If the ground became slippery by incessant rain, the chariots got stuck in the mud and became immovable from their great weight. This is what happened in the battle of the Hydaspes. Owing to the storm of rain, ‘the chariots in rushing into action jolted over broken and slippery ground.’ The horses again took fright and precipitated the carriages not only into the sloughs and pools of water but even into the river itself.³⁵