Wars and War-Tactics in Ancient India by Uma Prasad Thapliyal

Narender Yadav

Dr Narender Yadav works as Deputy Director in the History Division, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. The views expressed here are his own. read more

The history of mankind is replete with devastating wars since the beginning of civilisation. The Indian history also witnessed many wars. The earliest wars in India appear to have been fought by the people of the Indus Valley civilisation. Their expertise in building forts to defend themselves confirms this theory. Subsequently, the Aryans waged wars against the natives of the land (p. 18). The battles depicted in the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata further provide valuable information about the warfare mechanism of the ancient period. Later, Sisunagas, Nandas, Mauryas and Guptas fought various wars to build and consolidate their empires. Unfortunately, the subject has attracted little attention of Indian academia, which is why there aren’t many publications covering this vast subject.1 Uma Prasad Thapliyal, a well-known scholar of military history, in his book Wars and War-Tactics in Ancient India, has made an attempt to explore the history of warfare and combat system in ancient India.

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