War in Ancient India c8.s1.t1.5

c8.s1.t1.5

It seems more reasonable to suppose that there was an officer in charge of every unit of the army. The Pattipa or Pattipāla was an officer in charge of a patti, which consisted of one elephant, one chariot, one horse, and five footmen. Next was the military officer in charge of a Senāmukha, which had a total of thirty, of which 15 were foot-soldiers. The Gulmapa or Gaulmika was the leader of 90 men, 45 of whom were infantry, 27 were cavalry men, and 9 in charge of elephants and of chariots. Next came the officer who was the leader of a gaṇa of 270 men. Next in rank was the Vāhinīpati who was in charge of 81 elephants, the same number of chariots, 243 horsemen, and 405 foot-soldiers. The *Rāmāyaṇa*79 in one place calls Prahasta, Rāvaṇa's General, Vāhinīpati. Perhaps he was elevated to the rank of Generalissimo on the eve of the Rāma-Rāvaṇa yuddha. Above the Vāhinīpati was the officer in charge of the unit that went by the name of Pṛtana consisting of 2,430 warriors. Still above him in rank was the Camūpati in charge of 729 chariots and elephants, 2,187 horsemen, and 3,645 infantry. Among the military officials who figure in the Gupta inscriptions is one Camūpa, equated with Daṇḍabhinātha. Perhaps this was the officer in charge of the Camu unit of the army. Above the Camūpa was the officer in charge of Anikinī, and still above him in rank was the army officer who was the leader of an akṣauhinī. This officer is styled Senā-prenatara in the Mahābhārata. There is no authority in our literary works to warrant such a gradation of officers. But we have ventured to conjecture that a similar grade of officers over the different units of the army existed in ancient India.