Armies of Ancient India (100BC-1AD approx)

[ParthianBow]

Hi there
I'm doing research on the above topic for my latest novel (the sequel to The Forgotten Legion). I have a number of textbooks, including Ancient Indian Warfare by Sarva Daman Singh, but would like more, especially any with good illustrations.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

[MeinPanzer]

Duncan Head's 'Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars' has some good reconstructions of Indian warriors from this time period. If you're looking for original sources, check out any book about the Sanchi reliefs, which date to the 2nd-1st c. BC. There is one segment of the reliefs in particular that features a representation of the "War of the Relics" and it shows a large army besieging a walled city, with all sorts of warriors depicted. All four traditional arms of the military are represented on these reliefs: elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry (archers and spearmen with shields). The best books I've been able to get my hands on are:

A.L. Srivastava, Life in Sanchi Sculpture, Humanities Press Inc., Atlantic Highlands, 1983.

F.C. Maisey, Sanchi and its Remains, Indological Book House, Delhi, 1972.

There's also a 1st c. BC painting from Ajanta which depicts a group of infantrymen and archers (the former, again, with spear and shield). You should be able to find it in any good book about the Ajanta caves, but the best I've found is:

Madanjeet Singh, Ajanta. Ajanta Painting of the Sacred and the Secular, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1965.

Which illustrates the entires series of paintings in question (they're from Cave X).

[ParthianBow]

Hi there
Thanks very much for all the info! I've ordered D Head's book and Srivastava's book to start. The Maisey book is unavailable on Amazon, but I can always order it from a bookshop in the future if needs be.
Best wishes

[bachmat66]

hello,
when you are talking about Indian armies here you actually mena Indo-Scythians (Indo-Saka), Indo-Parthians and the Kushans, aren't you?
eg Gondophernes king of Indo-Parthians
Indo-Saka, Indo Scythians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Kshatrapas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Scythians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondophernes
otherwise your hero(s) would have to do lots of traveling and /or sailing to reach more south-central reaches of the Indian subcontinent where the Satavahanas ruled //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satavahana">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satavahana

perhaps this book could be of some use - E. Jaiwant Paul, Arms and Armour
http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Armour-Tradi ... 46&sr=11-1
Kushans
http://www.amazon.com/Dynastic-Arts-Kus ... 756&sr=1-1
Pehaps your book could focus on the the Gandhara ( northern Indian and Afganistan and Pakistan)

Several months ago I saw at the NYPL some very nicely illustrated books on the Kushans, Gandhara and Indo-Scythians but I cannot remember the titles...

and the best images of warriors - ready to use - come from the book (2 volumes) written by gospodin V. Nikonorov - the Armies of Bactria, published by Montvert - http://www.amazon.com/Armies-Bactria-70 ... 389&sr=8-1
it can be gotten from many sharing spaces on the net or perhaps through an interlibrary loan - I have a copy but will not part with them

[MeinPanzer]

hello,
when you are talking about Indian armies here you actually mena Indo-Scythians (Indo-Saka), Indo-Parthians and the Kushans, aren't you?
eg Gondophernes king of Indo-Parthians
Indo-Saka, Indo Scythians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Kshatrapas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Scythians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondophernes
otherwise your hero(s) would have to do lots of traveling and /or sailing to reach more south-central reaches of the Indian subcontinent where the Satavahanas ruled //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satavahana">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satavahana

I didn't even think of this, but that's a good point. If your novel is set in the first century BC and your characters have to travel to India from the west, they are going to have to go through non-Indian kingdoms in order to reach "proper" Indians; depending on which part of the first century, they could even encounter the Indo-Greek kingdom. The Indo-Scythians and Kushans had a much different style of warfare from the Indians themselves. The Indo-Saka and Kushans were steppe nomads, and so their militaries seem to have followed the standard steppe composition of a small number of noble heavy cavalry with a large proportion of light cavalry and some infantry.

Pehaps your book could focus on the the Gandhara ( northern Indian and Afganistan and Pakistan)

There are quite a number of sources illustrating warriors from Gandhara which lie roughly within your timeline, but they are hard to get a hold of. Nikonorov's title mentioned above is the most easily accessible source, but it still only illustrates a small proportion of the evidence.

[ParthianBow]

hi there
Thanks for that. I have already included an encounter with the remnants of the Scythians (who as you know were in terminal decline by then), but the heroes will be travelling in what is now modern day Pakistan, east of the huge mountain ranges, but west of the Indus.

[MeinPanzer]

hi there
Thanks for that. I have already included an encounter with the remnants of the Scythians (who as you know were in terminal decline by then), but the heroes will be travelling in what is now modern day Pakistan, east of the huge mountain ranges, but west of the Indus.

And what time period would that be in? If it is early enough in the first century BC, that would be right in the territory of the Indo-Greek kingdom.

[bachmat66]

Hey gents,
I thought that the book(s) take place some time within the 3rd quarter of the 1st century BC, after the Roman defeat at Carrhae?

Also, perhaps the Pontic Scythians (of the Black and Azov Seas) were in decline but the ones in Pakistan and north India were not.. their last great King Azes II ruled 30-10 BC, steming the onslaught of the Kushans from the north-east and Parthians from the west and pushing east towards what was left of the Indo-Greeks kingdoms of India etc

anyway, this area is very interesting and quite pictureseque, especially in weapons, costumes, cultures, architecture, arts, ethnic grups etc.


So trying to reason here it seems that your heroes would have found themselves in the midst of the Indo-Scythian 'empire' ruled by Azes I, the conqueror of Indo-Greeks in Punjab, and their Indo-Greek neighbours/vassals .

The Indo-Scythians left coins from which it was possible to reconstruct their rulers usually mounted and armoured appereance and weapons - most popular seems to have been the war-hamer (klevets) and gorytos(bows and arrows, albeit the bow is larger one than the Pontic Scythian), but also lance and horse-whip eg Siparilises http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spal ... Armour.jpg
look at this map from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Indo ... ansMap.jpg
Indina weapons googlebooks http://books.google.ca/books?id=slUOAAA ... =firefox-a

[ParthianBow]

Hi there
Great to get so much feedback. The heroes are indeed some of the survivors from Carrhae, and the book is set in 52-48 BC approx. I've got pretty good info on the Scythians and their weaponry, but am interested to hear of the other texts like the Nikonorov (too expensive to buy at $168 for a paperback!). Will get searching on those references...
Cheers

[greekwarrior34]

Here you have some information about the Bactrians (I suppose that you're interested in them too)

· Thundering Zeus by Holt

·The Indo-Greeks by Narain, AK

And, why not, take also a look on this.

Hope it helped.

[MeinPanzer]

Hi there
Great to get so much feedback. The heroes are indeed some of the survivors from Carrhae, and the book is set in 52-48 BC approx. I've got pretty good info on the Scythians and their weaponry, but am interested to hear of the other texts like the Nikonorov (too expensive to buy at $168 for a paperback!). Will get searching on those references...
Cheers

There are copies of Nikonorov's book on Abebooks, both volumes, for $32.50:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR ... =t&x=0&y=0

[ParthianBow]

Excellent, thanks!