History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.458.4

v4.c62.458.4

62 the destruction of the enemy's forces and victory depended on elephants.²⁶⁶ Śāntiparva (100. 24) says that an army in which the infantry predominates remains firm and that cavalry and chariots are all right when there is no rain. Śānti (59. 41-42) enumerates eight elements of the army viz. the well-known four (elephants etc.), viṣṭi (labourers or porters who gave free labour and were only fed but were paid no wages), boats, spies, and guides (deśika).²⁶⁷ Vide Śānti 121. 44 also. In the Mahābhārata elephants do not, except in rare cases, play any role in the fighting that went on, while chariots and the other arms of an army are described everywhere. In the Virāṭaparva (65. 6) Vikarṇa was seated on an elephant when he attacked Arjuna; Bhīṣmaparva 20. 7 refers to Duryodhana as riding an elephant and (95. 32-33) Bhagadatta is described as seated on an elephant when he attacked Bhīma. In this respect the Epic carries on the vedic tradition. Megasthenes (Fragment 1 p. 30) notes that in ancient India elephants were trained for war and turned the scale of victory. Vast armies were kept by ancient kings and emperors. When Śatrughna started against the demon Lavaṇa he had an army of 4000 horses, 2000 chariots and 100 elephants with him (Rāmāyaṇa VII. 64. 2-4). In the Daśakumāracarita VIII the cynical jester Vihārabhadra reminds his master that the latter had 10000 elephants, three lakhs of horse and numberless foot-soldiers (B. S. S. p. 133, of ed. of 1919).