[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [War in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944) › c7.s3.32 # War in Ancient India c7.s3.32 War in Ancient India c7.s3.32 - **Language:** English ### [c7.s3.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c7.s3.32) From this we may conclude that in ancient India ships were employed in warfare at least as early as the \*Rg Vedic\* times, though only on a scale which would appear insignificant to-day what with U-boats and submarines. But it is an incontrovertible fact that there was a naval department in Mauryan times. We have the testimony of Megasthenes that the navy was under a special officer called the Superintendent of Navigation. This official was in turn controlled by the Admiralty department. The officer whom Megasthenes refers to as Superintendent of Navigation is called \*Nāvādhyakṣa\* as already seen, in the \*Arthaśāstra\*. The Greek accounts bear testimony to the fact that navigation had attained a very high development at the time of Alexander’s invasion, for we are told that the invader was able to secure a fleet from the Punjab at short notice. The \*Arthaśāstra\* lays down some healthy regulations relating to navigation. Vessels which gave trouble or were bound for the enemy’s country, or transgressed the regulations of port towns were to be destroyed.¹²² - [Previous: c7.s3.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c7.s3.31) - [Next: c7.s3.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c7.s3.33) - [Up: c7.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c7.s3) ## Cites (2) - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c7.s3.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c7.s3.32) · Pramāṇa