The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t1.8

c11.t1.8

In point of numbers the Roman armies must have been regarded as pigmy indeed or but as “pocket armies” by the generalissimos of Hindu nationalities. For, the fighting hordes maintained by the states of India appear to have always been formidable in size. A “standing army” of half a million was nothing extraordinary in military India’s psychology. Among the fragmentary notices of the nations, some of them difficult to identify accurately, that we can glean from Megasthenes’ stories (*c* B. C. 300) we find that the Pândyas⁴ of the extreme south who were ruled by women had an army of 150,000 foot and 500 elephants. The ruler of Gujarat⁴ on the Arabian Sea coast was in command of 1,600 elephants, 150,000 infantry and 5,000 horse; and the force wielded by the sovereign of the races⁵ between the Ganges and the Himalayas, occupying the districts of north Bihar, north Bengal, and possibly western Assam, was composed of 50,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 400 elephants.