The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.405

c2.s5.405

The still more formal distribution of forces gives a rather different picture of the relative use of the elephant. This account groups all the fighters engaged, and may be here given in full. The elephants are looked upon in this passage not as an independent array, but as adjuncts to the knights in chariots, ten or fifty about each car. Here we find that seven men (not in chariots, as above) attend each elephant, two leading it by hooks (aṅkuçadharāu), two carrying bows, two carrying swords, one carrying a spear and club (çaktipinākadhṛt). According to the same description, the distribution of horse-riders was thus: if each war-car had ten elephants, then each elephant had ten horse-riders, and each horse-rider in turn had a guard of ten foot-men, pādarakṣāḥ; if each car had fifty elephants, then each elephant had one hundred horsemen, and each horseman seven foot-men.‖