Description

About The Book

The book offers a comprehensive exploration of the structure, composition and governance of military systems in early India, the chosen timeframe spanning the period from the age of the great epics to the rise of the Mauryans. The work focuses on two highlight themes: the organisational and functional aspects of the military and the intricate system of vyuhas – battle formations.
The first section focuses on the organisation and administration of armies of ancient Indian kingdoms and janapadas. It examines the chaturanga-sena – the fourfold army of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants – as well as the hierarchical units such as the Akshauhini. The content analyses how armies were recruited, sustained and governed in those times. The logistical challenges of moving and sustaining large forces, the codes of conduct for soldiers as well as crucial aspects like encampment, battlefield selections and remuneration system are also discussed in great details.
The second section turns to the vyuhas, the elaborate battle formations that represent the tactical capabilities of Indian warfare. The content tries to cross analyse the details of the vyuhas and the multiple subtypes of each vyuha – found across the epics, puranas and the niti texts.
By combining, correlating and analysing the information across the epics, Puranas, Niti Shastras, Buddhist, Jain and Greek sources among others – the book highlights the systematic and highly organised nature of Ancient Indian military. Thus it tries to offer an integrated account of ancient Indian military organisation and battle formations.

About The Author

Aditya Gokhale – an independent researcher who is interested in two particular lines of history. First being the geopolitics of the timeframe between the Epics era and Maurya era, and second being the history of the Maratha kingdom in the timeframe between Shivaji Maharaj’s death and Aurangzeb’s death. He is a life member of the prestigious Bharat Itihas Samshodhak Mandal, Pune. He has published papers at national history conferences organised by reputed institutions like the Deccan College and Pune University. A post graduate in computer applications, he has worked previously in the quality audits and process optimizations fields in the IT industry. He has a special liking towards data analysis and is thus oriented towards methodical collection, correlation and analysis of the reference data from various historical sources.