Question

The Arthashastra lays down minute details of administrative and military organisation. This is what it says about how to capture elephants: Guards of elephant forests, assisted by those who rear elephants, those who enchain the legs of elephants, those who guard the boundaries, those who live in forests, as well as by those who nurse elephants, shall, with the help of five or seven female elephants to help in tethering wild ones, trace the whereabouts of herds of elephants by following the course of urine and dung left by elephants. According to Greek sources, the Mauryan ruler had a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,000 cavalry and 9,000 elephants. Some historians consider these accounts to be exaggerated.

If the Greek accounts were true, what kinds of resources do you think the Mauryan ruler would have required to maintain such a large army?

Answer 1

1. If the Greek accounts of a massive Mauryan standing army consisting of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 elephants were true, the empire would have required an immense and highly organised mobilisation of financial, agricultural, and logistics resources.
2. First and foremost, maintaining such a large force demanded vast financial resources to pay regular, cash salaries to nearly seven lakh soldiers, which could only be sustained through a highly rigorous and centralised tax collection system spanning across the entire subcontinent.
3. Secondly, agricultural resources were absolutely critical; the state needed to collect and store millions of tons of grain to feed the human troops daily, alongside procuring enormous quantities of fodder, sugarcane, and specialised feed required to maintain thousands of heavy military elephants and warhorses.
4. Thirdly, industrial and raw material resources were necessary to constantly mine iron ore from regions like Magadha to forge strong weapons, shields, and armour, while vast timber resources from local forests were required to manufacture chariots, supply ships, and fortification walls.
5. Finally, as highlighted in the Arthashastra text excerpt, the state had to invest heavy human and environmental resources, including employing networks of specialised forest guards, trainers, and track-finders just to capture, train, and manage wild elephants to prevent them from damaging the imperial infrastructure.