Part VI: Chapter 17: Warfare in India

M. Mendoza & B. Antela-Bernárdez (eds.), The Impact of Alexander's Conquest. Subjects, Conquered and Chroniclers, Alcalá, Editorial Universidad de Alcalá, 2022

This study focuses on the Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem, an apocryphal letter sent by Alexander to Aristotle, describing the territory and the wonders of India. The text probably dates back to the 7th century AD. It is a work that portrays India as a symbolic, not yet civilized space. This research deepens the dynamics underlying the text, starting from the analysis of the narrative pathway that progressively follows the advancement of Alexander and his army, who are able to conquer the territory thanks to a skillful use of weapons and the endurance of the soldiers. The Indian space, especially in King Porus' palace, conceals immeasurable treasures, but the Macedonians have to fight with weapons against terrifying beings, monsters and wild animals. They also have to face extraordinary atmospheric phenomena. War moves from a real historical dimension to an to an out-of-history, timeless perspective because it is devoid of enemies that are concretely human. At the end of the story Alexander is said to have built gold pillars and five gold trophies for himself, to affect his victories and travels. Examining the matter well, it emerges that he represents the new order of the cosmos, because he has now subdued the world. Thus, the main aim of this investigation is to demonstrate how the Epistola reveals the mechanisms through which the Western thought has devised a "mythical" description of India that is both attractive and terrible at the same time. The mythologization of the ethno-geographic view emerges powerfully to strengthen the dual device of self-identification and exclusion of the Other, who - through a process of "colonization" of the imaginary - is bound to become a subject to Western domination.

World of Coins, 2016

From time immemorial, India has served as a magnet to various invaders attracted by its considerable wealth. This paper recreates the imaginary battle between the Greek "Alexander The Great" and the native Indian King Parvataka (Porus); and traces the coinage of the Yavanas (Indo-Greeks); Sakas (Indo-Scythians) & Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians).

2009

The most influential account of the career of Alexander the Great was penned by Cleitarchus the son of Deinon, a Greek writing in Alexandria in the decades after Alexander's death. Most of the surviving ancient texts on Alexander were more or less based upon his work, but every single copy of the original was discarded or destroyed in antiquity. To what extent might it be possible to reconstruct it from the secondary writings? This book argues that a considerable degree of reconstruction is feasible and demonstrates the point by presenting a full reconstruction of Cleitarchus' version of Alexander's campaigns in India, the first time that this has been done. For more details see also www.alexanderstomb.com. Alexander the Great in India comprises the reconstruction of books 10 to 12 of Cleitarchus, but the download includes Book 12 only.

Following the rapid collapse of the Mughal Empire after 1707, the Mughal Successor States attempted to modernize their state apparatus and their armies. Both the Indian kingdoms and the British-led East India Company (EIC) attempted the construction of hybrid military organizations. How, then, can one explain the continuous military victories of the EIC? For opening up new dimensions on the military supremacy of the Europeans in Afro-Asia, the analytical tool of Military Synthesis might be more useful than the concept of Military Revolution or Military Evolution. This essay focuses on the period from the 1740s to 1849.

Global Military Transformations: Change and Continuity, 1450-1800, ed. (Roma: Societa Italiana di Storia Militare), 481-506., 2023

This book chapter etches the contours of early modernity in South Asian warfare. It focuses mainly on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, while outlining the transition from medieval forms of warfare that remained dominant until the fifteenth century. The goal here is not to be exhaustive about the military developments of this period; rather, the aim is to highlight some of the defining shifts of the times as indications of an overall paradigmatic change in the practices of war-making. Adopting a war and society approach, I look at five major dimensions in the following sections – adaptation, organisation, mobilization, environment, and culture. I argue that in all these domains, there were important developments around the sixteenth century, marking an overall shift away from medieval patterns of war-making. The chapter argues that the new paradigm they ushered in comprised South Asia’s version of military early modernity. This phase continued until the mid-eighteenth century, when another set of shifts accompanying the large-scale Europeanisation of South Asian armies jettisoned the early modern tendencies.

The Persians - Power and Glory in Anatolia [Anadolu’da Kudret ve Görkem], 2017

Fate bestows immortal fame upon very few people, which is so much more important than mundane everyday life. From antiquity to the present, there has not been another personality as charismatic as that of Alexander the Great who has inspired kings, generals, philosophers, historiographers, biographers and intellectuals alike, to think and to write about him (Fig. 1).1 The soldiers that have embarked upon describing the life, campaigns and career of the genius king, amount to more than a dozen. Amongst these sources are the semi-historical works of contemporary writers who personally witnessed the events or who lived during the reign of Alexander. These include individuals such as Callisthenes of Olynthus, a nephew of Aristotle and the official court historian (FGrHist 124), Ptolemy, bodyguard, general and also the son of Lagus, who was the founder of the Egyptian Dynasty (FGrHist 138); Aristobulus of Cassandreia, technical specialist (FGrHist 139); admiral Nearchus of Crete, a close friend of the king (FGrHist 133); Onesicritus of Astypalaea (or Aegina), the maritime pilot of the flagship (FGrHist 134; Chares of Mytilene, the head chamberlain (FGrHist 125); Anaximenes of Lampsacus (FGrHist 72); Hieronymus of Cardia (FGrHist 154); Marsyas of Pella (FGrHist 135); Ephippus and Nicobulus of Olynthus (FGrHist 126-127); Polycleitus and Medeius of Larissa (FGrHist 128-129); Duris of Samos (FGrHist 76) and Cleitarchus of Alexandria (FGrHist 137). To these sources can be added the royal correspondence and diaries in which important events/meetings were recorded, and which are thought to have been written by Eumenes of Cardia and his assistant secretary Diodotus of Erythrae (FGrHist 117).

Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 2014

While modern international humanitarian law is most directly linked to 19th and 20th century Europe and The Hague and Geneva Conventions, cultures throughout history have developed rules of warfare for the protection of non-combatants and civilian populations. This paper provides an overview of the Dharma-based Hindu and Buddhist norms for conflict in Ancient India, and then proceeds to a detailed examination of the practices of Ankam and Mamamkam on the medieval Malabar Coast from the Sangam period through the rule of the Zamorins of Calicut. Ankams were ad hoc proxy duels between professional fighters conducted to resolve inter-state disputes, while Mamamkam was a periodic contest designed to allow relatively bloodless transfer of power. Both demonstrate an understanding of modern concepts of proportionality, distinction and victims' protection. The paper concludes by enumerating the humanitarian values carried by Ankams and Mamamkam.

IJTSRD, 2021

In this present paper we will try to discuss the ancient Indic or Hindu doctrine of war and how the laws which were formulated in Indian subcontinent were helpful in maintaining the peace and harmony in society in broader context. The concept of warfare in India is as old as the Vedic civilization but when we compare the ramifications of Indian wars with that of graeco-Romans and other civilizations of ancient times we find a remarkable contrast. In India there were laws which clearly mentioned that no civilian should be harmed in battles whereas warriors of other nations rejoiced in plundering massacaring the defeated foes. Even in Iliad of Odyssey we see that how after Greeks defeated Troy the people of the city were mercilessly killed while they were sleeping and entire city was put to flames. When we talk about Indian subcontinent, in Modern terminology or connotation it would include the like of modern countries as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghnaistan because this geographical entity engulfed all of these modern nations. The importance of war was known to the Indians right from the beginning and if we will trace the origin of war then we will have to look no beyond than the age of Rigveda itself. Rigveda gives us ample evidence regarding the battles that were fought for wealth, cattle, fertile lands and the areas which were closer to the rivers; because for every civilization to flourish control over the water was paramount. There were two important wars about which Rigveda informs us largely,one was the battle fought between the Panchala king Divodasa and the other Dasa king Sambara and the other was Dasarajana war between king Sudasa and his enemies which was an alliance of ten kings 1. It were these wars which later become the sources of stories and later legends were interwoven around them and certain special powers were attributed to these war heroes including the god Indra who was given the epithet of Purandhara,i.e., the destroyer of forts. Although wars and battles were common in Ancient India but almost all the lawmakers including Kautiliya and Manu were of the opinion that it should be the last resort even the Mahabharata war began after all the negotiations by Krishna failed and it became inevitable.

Graeco Indica, 1991

In an article published in Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1986, under the title “India and Greece before Alexander” we have treated of the relations between India and Greece before Alexander, presenting a series of facts that refer to the presence of Indians in Greece and to the knowledge that Greeks had of India. In the present article we shall occupy ourselves with the same relations in the period that goes from Alexander up to Augustus.