The Deployment of Battle Array and Camps

The deployment and drawing up of an army in array formed the major part of the plan of battle. While marching on a campaign, the soldiers were arranged in several arrays. The term for battle-order in Sanskrit is vyūha and the arranging of an army in battle array was one of the essential duties of the commander-in-chief. The conception of battle array is found in the Vedic literature.^[1] The arrays were many and various and they have been dwelt upon at considerable length. The vyūha was made as defensive measures. The Āryan warriors regarded it as a fundamental proposition of warfare that offence was better than defence. The Ṛgveda-saṃhitā gives description of various types of battle formation like, narākṛti, pārāvatākṛti, etc.^[2] Referring to the pārāvatas, Griffith holds that it was a tribe who dwelt on the banks of the Paruṣṇī who may have been in the habit of making sudden incursions into the country through which the Sindhu or Indus flows.^[3] The Manusmṛti gives the description of a number of different types of vyūhas likes, daṇḍa, śakaṭa, varāha, makara, sūcī, garuḍa, padma, etc.^[4]

In the Arthaśāstra, Kauṭilya mentions that battle-orders were divided under four main heads, viz. daṇḍa, bhoga, maṇḍala and asaṃhata.^[5] Each of these is again sub-divided into several varieties. Among these four main heads of battle-arrays, the daṇḍa is an array in which the troops were arranged in curved lines or columns. The bhoga is an array in which the troops in the different divisions were arranged in one continuous chain. Again, the maṇḍala has been defined as a battle-order in which the wings, flanks and front stood in close proximity to one another, without having any intermediate space between them. The asaṃhata has been explained as an array in which the wings flanks and front were stationed apart from each other. The Mahābhārata also furnishes descriptions of various types of vyūhas like, sūcī, garuḍa, padma, makara, śyena, śṛṅgī, vajra, etc., in different parvans. In the fighting with the demons, Agni arranged his army in three rows putting one commander in charge of every row, which is stated in the Aitareyabrāhmaṇa.^[6] In one of the Ṛgvedic verses, Indra is requested to excite the warriors, to excite their weapons, their horses and their chariots for the war.^[7] To strike terror in the opponent’s heart, the front of the army should always be terrible. The Kauṣitakibrāhmaṇa mentions that a great king was placed in front of the army.^[8] During the war time, all cities or fortresses were surrounded by armed forces and all supplies were cut off.^[9] Fire was used to drive the enemies from their hidden places.^[10]

Sāyanācārya in his commentary of the relevant verse of the Ṛgveda-saṃhitā states—

he vaiśvānara…// yat yadā pūrave rājñe śośucānaḥ dīpyamānaḥ puraḥ tasya śatrūṇāṃ puraḥ darayan dārayan adīdeḥ ajvalaḥ//^[11]

The purpose of arrays is to co-ordinate all arms, units and sub-units of the armies in the battlefield and to actuate them for a common cause.

In the Vedic period, there was another way of harassing the enemy. Many populous cities and villages were situated on the banks of the rivers during the early period. When an enemy’s hosts invaded these territories, they sometimes attempted to discomfort and defeat the inhabitants very early by cutting the embankments or artificial dykes, which were constructed for the protection of the low-lying villages and thus flooding them. Though the Ṛgveda-saṃhitā mentions of such attempt, but it became unsuccessful. When the great king Sudās was attacked in his territory by the ten kings, the later cut the embankment of the river Paruṣṇī with a view to flooding his territory, but the waters could not be diverted through the breach, and flowed in its channel as usual, to the great chagrin and disappointment of the invaders.^[12]

The warrior should select a suitable site also for establishing the camp. The term sukṣiti,^[13] senāniveśa^[14], śivira, etc., are used to mean the camp. In the Śāntiparvan of the Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma recommends an area near the forest as the best site for camping.^[15] The camp was generally established near the river to secure an adequate supply of fresh water for the warriors. For instance, the Pāṇḍavas laid their camp close to the river Hiraṇvatī.^[16] In the camp, there should have a regular and plenty supply of drinking water and food so that the warriors would be able to continue their fight for long period. Physicians with the surgical instruments were also marching with the army. The Aśvins are mentioned as the physician of the gods in the Vedic period.^[17] In a Ṛgvedic verse, it is stated that in the battle of king Khela, Viśpalā lost her one leg, and received an iron leg from the Aśvins at the prayer of

Agastya.^[18] Commenting on the verse caritraṃ hi verivācchedi….,etc., Sāyaṇācārya says—

viśpalā nāma strī saṃgrāme śatrubhiśchinnapādā āsīt/ purohitenāgastyena stutāvaśvinau rātrāvāgatya ayomayaṃ pādaṃ samadhattām//

Again, the seer prayed the Aśvins to restore Viṣṇāpū’s eyes to look on with their powers.^[19] The Mahābhārata also refers to that the physicians and the surgeons were marching with the Pāṇḍava armies to the field of Kurukṣetra.^[20]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

svāduṣaṃsadaḥ pitaro vayodhāḥ kṛcchreśritaḥ śaktīvanto gabhīrāḥ/ citrasenā iṣubalā amṛdhrāḥ satovīrā uravo brātasāhāḥ// Ṛgveda-saṃhitā , 6.75.9 Also vide, Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā , 29.46

[2]:

adhā naro nyohate’dhā niyuta ohate/ adhā pārāvatā iti citrā rūpāṇi darśyā// Ṛgveda-saṃhitā , 5.52.11

[3]:

Vide, Griffith, R.T.H., op. cit., p. 265

[4]:

daṇḍavyūhena tan mārgaṃ yāyāt tu śakaṭena vā/ varāha-makarābhyāṃ vā sūcyā vā garuḍena vā// yataś ca bhayam āśaṅket tato vistārayed balam/ padmena ca-eva vyūhena niviśeta sadā svayam// saṃhatān yodhayed alpān kāmaṃ vistārayed bahūn/ sūcyā vajreṇa ca-eva-etān vyūhena vyūhya yodhayet// Manusmṛti , 7.187, 188, 191

[5]:

Arthaśāstra , 10.6

[6]:

sa triśreṇirbhūtvā tryanīko’surān yuddhamupaprāyad vijayāya / Aitareya-brāhmaṇa , 3.4.1

[7]:

uddharṣaya maghavannāyudhānyutsatvanāṃ māmakānāṃ manāṃsi/ udvṛtrahan vājināṃ vājinānyudrathānāṃ jayatāṃ yantu ghoṣāḥ//Ṛgveda-saṃhitā , 10.103.10

[8]:

Kauṣitaki-brāhmaṇa , 5.5

[9]:

tvaṃ karañjamuta parṇayaṃ vadhīstejiṣṭhayātithigvasya vartanī/ tvaṃ śatā vaṅgṛdasyābhinatpuro’nānudaḥ pariṣūtā ṛjiśvanā //Ṛgveda-saṃhitā , 1.53.8

[10]:

tvadbhiyā viśa āyannasiknīrasamanā jahatīrbhojanāni/ vaiśvānara pūrave śośucānaḥ puro yadagne darayannadīdeḥ// Ibid., 7.5.3

[11]:

Sāyaṇa, Ibid.

[12]:

Ṛgveda-saṃhitā , 7.18.8,9

[13]:

upa kṣatraṃ pṛñcīta hanti rājabhirbhaye citsukṣitiṃ dadhe/ nāsya vartā na tarutā mahādhane nārbhe asti vajriṇaḥ// Ibid., 1.40.8 Also vide, Ibid., 1.91.21.

[14]:

Mahābhārata , 5.149.67-69

[15]:

pareṣāmupasarpāṇāṃ pratiṣedhastathā bhavet/ ākāśāt tu vanābhyāśaṃ manyante guṇavattaram// bahubhirgūṇajātaiśca ye yuddhakuśalā janāḥ/ upanyāso bhavet tatra balānāṃ nātidūrataḥ// Ibid., 12.100.16-17

[16]:

āsādya saritaṃ puṇyāṃ kurukṣetre hiraṇvatīm/ sūpatīrthāṃ śucijalāṃ śarkarāpaṅkavarjitām// Ibid., 5.149.73.

[17]:

aśvinau vai devānāṃ bhiṣajāvaśvināvadhvaryū…// Aitareya-brāhmaṇa , 1.4.1 Also vide, Taittirīya-saṃhitā , 2.3.11.2

[18]:

caritraṃ hi verivācchedi parṇamājā khelasya paritakmyāyām/ sadyo jaṅghāmāyasīṃ viśpalāyai dhane hite sartave pratyadhattam// Ṛgveda-saṃhitā , 1.116.15

[19]:

avasyate stuvate kṛṣṇiyāya ṛjūyate nāsatyā śacībhiḥ/ paśuṃ na naṣṭamiva darśanāya viṣṇāpvaṃ dadathurviśvakāya// Ibid., 1.116.23

[20]:

Mahābhārata , 5.151