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In the 4th century BC, an Indian army marched along the Hydaspes River and took battle order near modern-day Jhelum. This region bordered the Persian Empire but instead of Persians, they encountered a strange force clad in heavy armor under the command of the Greek General Alexander the Great. According to the Greek sources – Indian ones do not exist – Alexander clashed with King Porus in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC. In a decisive battle, he defeated the mighty Indian war elephants, the renowned Indian longbowmen, cavalry, and chariots before turning back and leaving the defeated Porus to rule his newly conquered land for him. Clearly, India had a structured and organized army by Alexander’s time, but we can’t say the same with confidence for the earlier Bronze Age civilization of Pakistan and India. In this video, we trace the beginning of violence in ancient India and investigate when and how the first Indian armies entered the stage of history.
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00:00 Intro
02:05 Chapter 1: “to light upon the remains of a long forgotten Civilisation”
07:27 Chapter 2: “There is only war”
15:05 Chapter 3: The Vedic Age and Fourfold Army
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