War in Ancient India c8.s1.t1.3

c8.s1.t1.3

In the Mahābhārata we see another schedule of military officers. There were officers in charge of a platoon of ten, a troop of a hundred, and a battalion of a thousand men,⁷⁷ corresponding to modern sergeants, captains, colonels, etc. The *Arthaśāstra* seems to follow the epic in this particular, when it speaks of a Padika in charge of ten soldiers, of ten Padikas being under a Senāpati, and ten Senāpatis under a Nāyaka.78 But there is a considerable difference between the epic and the *Arthaśāstra*. The latter furnishes a scientific division of the officers into grades. The Senāpati was not in charge of 100 soldiers, as the epic would have it. But he was in charge of Padikas. In the same way the Senāpatis were answerable to the Nāyaka. This is a graded system of officials quite workable in practical administration.