Untold Military History of Indian Subcontinent

Indian Subcontinent has long military history comparable to Sumerians and Egyptians; archaeological excavations around the Indus valley proved the existence of military activities around Bronze Age besides their economy plays a paramount role in Asian and African societies for millenniums.

Military Accomplishments:

Indians have acquired unusual military achievements from the time of the Vedic Period (1500-500 BC) until the fall of the Maratha Empire by the British Empire during the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1808). Especially from the 1^st century to the early 18th-century, history saw the Indians as the preeminent force on the planet earth, controlling over roughly more than one-quarter of the world’s population and its wealth. In recorded history, there are several unique military achievements of Indians, which have scarcely discussed by any: 

• The first significant rise of the Indians occurred during the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya. He defeated Alexander’s general Seleucus Nicator (305-303 BC) and taken eastern satrapies of the Seleucid Empire. Even in that contemporary period, Alexander’s campaign in India could also be taught as a disaster. Currently, the prevailing idea regarding Alexander’s campaign in India is that he successfully defeated the Porus army at the Battle of Hydaspes. After the battle, Alexander was so inspired by the bravery and valor of Porus that he appointed him again the ruler of his own kingdom plus he also gave him the territory of king Ambhi of Texila. However, some modern historians are not considered as a victory for Alexander. David J. Lonsdale, a lecturer in Strategic Studies at the University of Hull, writes that “Alexander’s invasion of India and Napoleon’s invasion of Russia both appear heedless and pointless from a strategic standpoint. Therefore, perhaps they can both be explained by the pure naked aspiration of the two commanders”. Famous Soviet commander Georgy Zhukov said (regarding Alexander’s campaign in India) “Following Alexander’s failure to gain a position in India and the defeat of his successor Seleucus Nicator, relationships among the Indians and the Greeks or Romans (Later), was primarily under the trade and diplomacy. The Greeks and other ancient people did not see themselves as in any way uppermost, only separate”. But one thing is true that all this information about the victory of Alexander against Porus was described by only Greek historians and famous Greek Geographer, Strabo frequently contradicts the ideas of Greek historians regarding Alexander’s campaign in India. According to me, the Battle of Hydaspes is disputed; we need to rely on science (Archaeological excavations or other scientific means) plus authentic verification of ancient textbooks with different sources (not only from Greek sources) to come up with plausible results that coherent with reality. Alexander’s campaign in India seems dubious to me. In most cases, highly possible that Greek historians distort history and exaggerated Macedonian’s success e.g. like the strength of Persian soldiers which they often faced, described them as 250,000 to 1,000,000 soldiers, much-overstated figure. Modern historians reject those figures mostly and gave a figure (50,000 to 100,000 Persian Soldiers) which most likely possible that the Macedonians faced. Nevertheless, even we accept that Alexander defeated Porus in battle but this is the actual fact which nobody doubts; (1) Alexander unable to invade India and his army has no will to face the ultimate threat i.e. Nanda Empire of Magadha and Gangaridai of Bengal, which were more powerful than Porus kingdom and (2) under the command of Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha, Indians defeated Alexander’s general Seleucid Nictor and recovered all of his eastern territories which has previously occupied by Macedonians/Greeks and (3) they (Greeks) did no different than the rest of the others like Persians, Arabs and Mongols by occupying only the slightest part of India i.e. Northwestern parts of India (circumscribed to the Indus valley region). Eventually, they were all defeated and India remained intact.
• Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire in India, an empire that encompasses the almost entire Indian subcontinent under his grandson Ashoka the Great. Maurya Empire became the largest entity ever existed in the Indian subcontinent, covered 5 million km² at its zenith. It remained powerful for one and a half-century.

• Later on, Chandragupta I founded the Gupta Empire upon the demise of the Maurya dynasty and particularly his son Samudragupta carried the expansionist policy of his father and conquered the Kushan Empire, which was established by Yuezhi people whose root traces back to a western Chinese province called Gansu. Before his death, he had conquered 20 kingdoms. Chandragupta II, son of Samudragupta conquered 21 kingdoms, in which he defeated the Parasikas (Persians), then the Hunas (Huns) and the Kambojas (Indo-Iranians) tribes. One of the descended of Chandragupta I, Skandagupta (455-467) defeated and successfully repelled the Hun invasions. However, Huns successfully penetrated into India after Skandagupta’s death and ruled Northwestern parts of India for some time until they were finally defeated by King Thanesar of Harsha Empire and permanently drove them out of India.
• Chola Empire (848-1279 CE) established during the medieval period by Viyayalaya Chola. Under Rajaraja Chola I and his successors, the dynasty became a military, economic and cultural power in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Rajaraja Chola expanded his traditional Chola territory to embraced (or occupied) parts of Northern India, two-thirds of Srilankan territory, Maldives, and parts of East Asia, between 985 and 1014 CE. His son and successor Rajendra Chola I emerged as the greatest of all Chola kings and completed the entire conquest of Srilanka and successfully invaded the domains of Srivijaya in Malay, Sumatra, Southern Thailand, Java in Southeast Asia and exacted tribute from the kingdom of Thailand and Khmer of Cambodia. In addition to it, he emerged victorious over the Bengali Pala king Mahipala of Gauda kingdom. Under his reign, the Chola Empire has emerged as the most dominant maritime sea power in the world.

• In the medieval period, the two most successful empires emerged from the deserts of Arabia and Gobi to rule much of the known earth. First, the Islamic caliphate of Arabia (Rashidun Caliphate, 632-661 CE), united by his leader and Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم). Inspired by the Koran’s instructions and Muhammad’s teachings, they burst out of the Arabian Peninsula and knock out the two superpowers (Byzantine Romans & Sassanian Persians) within just two decades. Caliphate reached his height under the Omayyad dynasty, spreading from Spain/southern France to the borders of China. Second, the Mongol Empire of Tartars/Mongols united by famous conqueror Genghis Khan in 1206 CE and then embarked on a series of conquest that eventually stretches from the Sea of Japan to the Danube River. Both Arabs (712-740 CE) and Mongols (1221 to 1327) invaded numerous times in the Indian Subcontinent but almost every time defeated by Indians and their invasions were permanently repulsed. In the end, the Achaemenid, Macedonian, Omayyad, and Mongol Empires restricted to the modern area of today called Pakistan and never able to conquer India despite their several invasions, even later on Indians also took the area around the Indus valley regions from the Persians, Macedonians/Greeks, Arabs and Mongols/Tartars.

• In between the Arab & Mongol invasions, there were also Turkic Afghan invasions came in the form of Mahmud of Ghazni and Shahabuddin Ghori, before the establishment of Delhi Sultanate which united northern and central India for three centuries (1206-1526 CE). During the time of Mahmud Ghaznavi, Northern India was comprised of petty and weak Indian states which mostly quarrel with each other, and southern India comprised of two powerful empires Chalukyas and particularly Cholas. This kind of situation (in Northern India) creates an opportunity for this Turkic conqueror, who invaded 17 times in northern India just for the sake of plunder and to loot the enormous wealth of northern India. Lack of unity among Hindu states and rivalry among themselves creates a power vacuum and provides an opportunity for the Mahmud to play divide and rule policy, for example, in 1021 CE he supported Kannauj king against Chandela Ganda, who was defeated. However, he never invaded southern India where ultimate Hindu power resides at that time, even in northern India despite all these facts Lohara (Kashmiri origin) dynasty of Srinagar inflicted two major defeats on Mahmud during his siege of Lohara fort in Tosa Maidan (1003 & 1021 CE) and also won a battle against the reconnaissance army of Mahmud (1014 CE) by the hand of Lohara king Samgramaraja (1003-28 C.E). Like predecessors, Ghaznavid ruled was also limited to the modern state called Pakistan and the rest of all India remained independent (except the Mahmud’s period in which most of the Hindu states in northern India remained internally independent but as a vassal to the Ghaznavid rule).
  After that, another Turkic invader made encroachments into northern India whose name is Muhammad of Ghor, famously known as Shihab ad-Din Ghori. He was the first Muslim ruler who permanently established his rule throughout northern India, but even his journey towards northern India was not simple. During his first campaign against an Indian ruler, he suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Kayadara (1178 CE) by the hand of Mularaja (r. 1175 – 1178 CE). Both from Muslim and Indian accounts, the Battle of Kayadara was considered disastrous for Shihab ad-Din Ghori. After this defeat, he never came in Gujarat again to give up another fight. 
  He was again defeated in the First Battle of Tarain but prevailed in the Second Battle of Tarain and captures Delhi at the Battle of Chandwar. The Second Battle of Tarain was one of the most famous battles in history; it starts the Muslim rule and expansion over northern India. 
• Genuinely, Timur (Tamerlane) founder of the Timurid Empire & Timurid Dynasty was the first conqueror/military commander who successfully prevailed over northern India even without a single loss of a battle and finally broke the invincibility of Indian war elephants during the Battle of Delhi (1398). Sultan Mahmud Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his army of Tartar was feared by the elephants, Timur commanded his men to dig a trench in front of their sites. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry and when the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants howling in pain; Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur also mined the field with caltrops (a four-headed spike, with one spike always upward). These all kinds of ingenious strategies proved successful and Tughluk forces routed easily. 

• After Tamerlane, the Age of Gunpowder was spread across the world and the Indian military gradually declines. One of the most successful Timurid general of all time, named Babur whose success in India was also one of the reasons that he possessed excellent firearms and artillery weapons. Due to this fact, the Rana Sanga of Mewar defeated in battle against Babar (founder of the Mogul Empire) despite superior in strength. But Indian destiny was still not gone. The introduction of Gunpowder weapons into the Indian Subcontinent by Moguls made India still a dominant force on earth. From Akbar to Aurangzeb (1556-1707 CE), India enjoys great prosperity and military might for 150 years, spreading his kingdom from the borders of Uzbekistan in the north to the borders of Burma in the south, ruled over one-quarter of the world’s population, and its wealth.

• The decline of the Moguls in the early 18^th century was happened due to the internal struggles between Mogul princes for the throne, eventually gave not only rise to new powers in India such as Marathas and Sikhs but also foreign invaders like Nader Shah of Persia and Ahmed Shah of Afghanistan to gain the wealth of the crumbling Mogul Empire. Finally, the empire reduced to nothingness and confined to the fort of Delhi until it was dissolved by the British East India Company after the War of Independence (1857). 
• The Indian subcontinent was divided into weak insignificant states in the early 19th century. Colonial British Empire was the major benefactor of this turmoil and starts to occupy India after the Battle of Plassey (1757). But Indians were beyond admiration for their resilience and determination against British rule. Even at that time, they were weak and divided among themselves, still capable enough to inflict several defeats on the British army during this time and even won initial wars against the British; First Anglo-Mysore War, Second Anglo-Mysore War, and First Anglo-Maratha War was the best example. Internal dissensions and wars between Indian states primarily lead British colonization and supremacy over India, suppose if Mogul Empire remained intact like a Global Power just like during the period of Aurangzeb than British or even any other colonial force unable to occupy India. Child’s War (1686-1690) was the best example when the Mogul Empire was at height of his power and ruled over almost the whole Indian subcontinent; Aurangzeb Alamgir inflicted a disastrous defeat on the British Empire and the company’s envoys had to prostrate themselves before Aurangzeb, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behavior in the future.

• The Third Anglo-Maratha War saw the ultimate end of the Indian military and economic might. All Indian territories were finally occupied by the British Imperialists, ending the Indian Glory. Nevertheless, India is still one of the major forces on earth who won all of his wars except the First Sino-Indian War (1962) and contains 7.45 % (2017) share of the world’s GDP (PPP).
• Indians were the only nation on earth that has both highest undefeated military commanders and naval admirals in history (Second highest undefeated military commanders are from Egyptian Pharaohs i.e. Ahmose I, Thutmose I, Thutmose III, Seti I, and Ramesses II and second-highest undefeated naval commanders are from Korea i.e. Yi Sun-sin and Jang Bogo).

10 Undefeated Indian Military Commanders in History

Sudas: Indian King of 15th century BC, victor in the battle of Ten Kings. 

Chandragupta Maurya: Mauryan king (4th century BC), conquered the Nanda Empire, defeated Alexander's general Seleucus I Nicator of the Seleucid Empire and recovered all of his eastern territories around the Indus valley region from the Greeks and successfully prevailed over the Eudemus and Sophytes of Punjab, Peithon of the Indus, and various Indian kingdoms.

Samudragupta: Gupta king of the 4th century, against over 20 Indian, Scythian and Kushan kingdoms. 

Chandragupta II: Gupta king of the 4th century, victor against 21 kingdoms, including the Parasikas (Persians), Yavanas (Greeks), Hunas, Kambojas, Kinnaras, and Kiratas.

Lalitaditya Muktapida: Kashmiri king of the 8th century, conquered Kalinga, Gauda, Karnata, Konkana, Uttarapatha, Strirajya, Uttarakuru and defeated the Omayyad Arabs several times (even once Abbasids).

Devapala: Pala king of Bengali origin (9th century), victor against the Utkalas, Assamese, Hunas, Kambojas, Gurjara Pratiharas, and Dravidas.

Zafar Khan: Famous Muslim Indian general, who won numerous battles against Mongols during their invasions of northern India in the 13th century.

Ashoka the Great: Ancient Indian king of Mauryan dynasty who ruled almost all Indian Subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BC.

Kumbha of Mewar: ruler of Mewar kingdom of western India. He successfully expanded his kingdom against the combined forces of the Gujaratis, Malawians, Marwaris, and Nagauris. He remained undefeated 35 years of his total reign. 

Akbar: Third Mogul king, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. A figure with a strong personality and successful military leadership, Akbar gradually expanded the Mogul Empire to include nearly all Indian Subcontinent north of the Godavari River. 

3 Undefeated Indian Admirals in History

Rajaraja I: He defeated the fleet of Chera king and also Pandian king Amarabujangan during Kandalur War. 

Defeated the Mahinda V of Sri Lanka (during naval engagement) and conquered North-East Sri Lanka. 

Captured the regions of Gangapadi, Nolambapadi and Tadigaipadi defeated the Western Chalukyas. In addition to it, he defeated the Hoysalas and led his successful final expedition against the Maldives.

Rajendra Chola I: He launches the successful naval campaigns against Rashtrakutas and Western Chalukyas. Completed the entire conquest of Srilankan island. 

Defeated the Pala king Mahipala, last ruler of the Kamboja Pala dynasty Dharmapala of Dandabhukti and Govindachandra of the Chandra dynasty. 

He led successful naval expeditions into Southeast Asia against the Srivijaya kingdom (Indonesia) of Sangrama Vijayatunggavarman, the Tambralinga Kingdom in Southern Thailand, and the Langkasuka Kingdom in modern Malaysia. After this, the Chola Empire conquered large portions of the Srivijaya Empire including its ports of Ligor, Kedah, and Tumasik (current-day Singapore).

Kanhoji Angre: Kanhoji (August 1669 – 4 July 1729) fought against the British, Dutch, and Portuguese naval interests on the coasts of India for 40 years. Despite the several efforts from the British and Portuguese to subdue Angre, he maintained his undefeated naval career until his death.