Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c13.s2.48

c13.s2.48

Eastern India Home of Elephants. From a comparison of the contemporary armies of India which we have referred to above, it is evident that the army under Chandragupta was an advance upon them in respect of elephants, in the recruiting and training of which the east, i.e. Magadha, had the pre-eminence, according to the unanimous testimony of the Indian records (Rhys Davids, *Buddhist India*, p. 266]. We may recall in this connection the mention by Kauṭilya of *Prāchya* (the east) as the region which supplied the best elephants, and also a passage of the *Mahābhārata* [XII. 101] which, in comparing the military skill attained by different peoples, points out the pre-eminence of the *Prāchyas* at elephant-fighting. With this we may also compare the statement ascribed to Megasthenes [*Ancient India*, p. 118] that the largest elephants in all the land were those called the *Praisian* i.e., of the land of the Prasii or eastern people, the Māgadhāns.