Naval Warfare in Ancient India
Naval Warfare in Ancient India
Naval Warfare in Ancient India
p. 645
I
Introduction
India has an extensive sea-board, being bounced
on three sides of her borders by the sea. She has a
net-work of large and navigable rivers, free from the
freezing effects of a severely cold climate. She has
also a wealth of forests, abounding in strong timber
which might be readily utilised for the construction
of ships and boats. These natural advantages--coupled
with the steadiness in the direction of the monsoons
over the Indian Ocean and China Sea--aided the Hindus
to acquire that nautical skill and enterprise for
which they were justly famous in the ancient world.
The history of Indian shipping and maritime
activities goes back probably to the early times of
the Rgveda (I, 48, 3 and I, 116, 5). The Jatakas, the
Greek and Roman authors, the early Tamil poems as
well as a host of archaeological discoveries in India
and abroad--all go to prove that long before the
birth of Christ the Hindus had acquired a fair
knowledge of the art of navigation and that they
plied their boats not only on the inland rivers but
also on the high seas. There were ports and harbours
all along the coast-line, such as Tamralipti,
Kaviri-pattanam, Bharukaccha and Surparaka; and it
was practicable to attain to any of them starting
from up the Ganges, not only from Campa (Bhagalpur)
but even from Benares. The Samudda-vanija Jataka (iv.
159) relates how a settlement of wood-workers,
failing to carry out the orders for which pre-payment
had been made, made a 'mighty ship' secretly, and
emigrated with their families, shipping down the
Ganges, by night, and so out to the sea, till they
reached a fertile island. The Mahajanaka Jataka (vi,
34) tells us that prince Mahajanaka set out for
Suvannabhumi from Campa. And according to the Vinaya
(iii, 338) Mahinda travelled by water from Patna to
Taimalitti, and to Ceylon. Not only were coasting
voyages round India frequent, but distant over-sea
journeys were also carried out with equal boldness
and alacrity. The Baveru-Jataka indicates "that the
Vanijas of Western India undertook trading voyages to
the shores of the Persian Gulf and of its rivers in
the 5th, perhaps even in the 6th century B.C. just as
in our
p. 646
own days." The author of the Periplus of the
Erytlhraean Sea saw Hindu merchants settled down in
the desert island of Socotra off the coast of Africa.
Tacitus refers to "some Indians who sailing from
India for the purpose of commerce had been driven by
storm into Germany." Euxodus speaks of the famished
Hindu sailor who piloted the Greeks across the
Arabian sea to the Malabar coast.
There were obvious risks attending sea-voyages.
Sanskrit and Pali literature contains innumerable
allusions to vessels wrecked on the high seas so much
so that we seem to hear across the ages the piteous
wailings of souls lost in the ocean. But nothing
could daunt the people into passivity. Love of
adventure and wealth stimulated them to defy death;
and in storm and tempest these early navigators and
their comrades learned the art and craft of the sea.
They established commercial relations not only with
Burma and the islands of the Indian Archipelago on
the east but also with Mesopotamia, Arabia, Phoenicia
and Egypt on the West. And the same volkerwanderund,
which had impelled the primitive Aryans to move out
of their original home, found expression in the
colonial empire which their descendants built up in
southern Asia. Ceylon was colonised before the 3rd
century B.C., and Burma and Siam not much later. The
colonial movement went on apace, and by the 2nd
century A.D. Hindu soverignty and Hindu culture
dominated almost all the lands and islands, which
constitute the Indian Archipelago.
It is not the purpose of the present writer to
attempt anything like a history of the art of
navigation in ancient India, nor even of the colonial
activities of that distant past--however fascinating
such a study might be--but to limit himself to the
less ambitious subject of navy, meaning thereby ships
and vessels employed for military and police
purposes.
II
Early traces in literature
That the art of employing boats and ships for
military purposes was known and practised in very
remote days is testified to by the ancient literature
of India. The Rgveda retains the echo of a naval
expedition, on which Tugra, the Rsi king,
commissioned his son Bhujyu. Bhujyu, however, was
ship-wrecked on the ocean,"where there is no support,
no rest for the foot or the hand," but was rescued by
the twin Asvins in their hundred-oared galley (Rv. i.
112, 6;
p. 647
116, 3; 117, 14-15; 119, 4; iv. 27, 4; vi, 62, 6).
The Mahabharata relates how the Pandavas, ingeniously
escaping from the 'house of lac' by a subterranean
passage, came upon the Ganges and got on board a
vessel, which 'was provided with machinery and all
kinds of weapons and was capable of defying storms
and waves': sarvavatasaham navam yantra-yuktam
patakinim (Adi Parva, ch. 15). Elsewhere in the same
work we read how Sahadeva, the youngest of the
Pandava brothers, continued his march of conquest
till he reached several islands in the sea (no doubt
with the help of ships) and subjugated the Mleccha
inhabitants thereof.(1) In the Santi Parva there is a
verse which specifically refers to the navy as one of
the angas of a complete army(2). In the Ramayana we
have a picture of the preparations made by a Nisada
chief for an impending naval encounter with Bharata.
Finding the huge folIowing of Bharata from a
distance, the tribal chieftain thus ordered his
retinue:
tisthantu sarvadasas ca Gangam anvasrita nadim/
balayukta nadirakasa mamsamulaphalasanah//
navam satanam pancanam kaivartanam satam satam/
sannadhanam tatha yunam tisthatv ity abhyacodayat //(3)
Naval warfare was also well-known in the days of
Manu, for he had laid it down that boats should be
utilised for military purposes when the theatre of
hostilities abounded in water (VII, 192). A very
much later work, the Yuktikalpataru, specifies a
class of boats called agramandira (because they had
their cabins towards their prows) as eminently
adapted for naval warfare (rane kale ghanatyate).(4)
III
From the 4th Century B.C. to the 7th Century A.D.
So far as our information goes, it was in the
time of Candragupta Maurya that the first real
attempt to build up a royal navy of any magnitude was
made.
Megasthenes
states that Candragupta's
war-office was divided into six boards, of which the
first was "associated with the Chief Naval
Superintendent". The fact that a commi_______________
1 Sabha Parva, ch. 31, vv. 66-8,
2 Ratha naga hayas caiva padatas caiva Pandava /
Vistir navas cras civa desika iti castanam // Ch.
59. v. 41.
3 Ayodhya Kanda, ch. 84, vv, 7-8,
2 Yuktikalpataru (Calcutta Oriental Series, No. 1),
p. 228.
p. 648
ttee of five members was appointed to, co-operate
with the admiral of the fleet probably indicates that
the number of war-boats maintained. by the Maurya
emperor was not altogether insignificant. The
Arthasastra of Kautalya (Bk. II, ch. 28), in
agreement with Megasthenes, speaks of an official
called Navadhyaksa or the Superintendent of ships.
This officer had manifold duties to perform. For
instance, he examined "the accounts relating to
navigation, not only on oceans and mouths of rivers
but also on lakes, natural or artificial, and rivers
in the vicinity of sthaniya and other fortified
cities". He was required to maintain the customs of
commercial ports (panyapattna-caritra) and the
regulation of the port superintendent (pattanadhyaksa
nibandha); he was also enjoined to show "fatherly
consideration"to vessels in distress, and to allow to
pass on half toll (sulka),or exempt altogether,
merchandise damaged by water. In addition to these
functions, he had to provide state ferries for the
fording of all rivers in the kingdom, for which a
graduated system of tolls was laid down and realised.
It has been contended that the Navadhayaksa of
Kautalya, whose duties thus appear to be mainly civil
and commercial in character, cannot correspond to the
"Naval Superintendent" of Megasthenes. In the first
place, it is to be clearly understood that the
functions assigned by Kautalya to other adhyaksas of
this category, such as asvadhyaksa, hastyadhyaksa,
rathadhyaksa etc., partake of the same nature; and in
fact throughout the whole section on Adhyaksa-pracara
Kautalya deals with the duties of officers as they
were, or as they should be, in times of internal
tranquillity and external peace. In the second place,
it may be pointed out that Megasthenes' admiral, like
the Navadhyaksa of Kautalya, had certain civil
functions to perform-functions relating to the
letting out of ships on hire for the transport both
of passengers and merchandise (Strabo, XV, 1,46).
Lastly, it should be noted that Kautalya does not
altogether shut out of sight the military aspect of
Navadhyaksa's functions. In one place he says:
"Himsrika
nirghatayet,
amitra-visayatigah
panyapattanacaritropaghatikas ca. Himsrikah mean
pirate ships, and the Navadhyaksa had to see that
they were pursued and destroyed whenever they were
found. The same regulation applied to ships and boats
of an enemy's country when they crossed its
territorial limit(1), and also to vessels which
violated the
________________
1 Dr. Shamasastry takes 'amitra-visayatigah' to mean
"vessels which were bound for the country of an
enemy". (Kaut. trans.,
p. 649
customs and rules enforced in port towns. Now the
pursuit and destruction of pirate vessels as also of
ships belonging to the enemy's country could only
have been adequately effected by war galleys
belonging to the state, and as this duty devolved on
the Navadhyaksa, it cannot be reasonably held that he
was a purely civil official. In fact, like the
Asvadhyaksa, Hastyadhyaksa and Rathadhyaksa who were
concerned with horses, elephants and chariots used
both for war and peace, the Navadhyaksa was as much
concerned with armed vessels as with state boats
which were used for peaceful traffic.
The Maurya navy created by Candragupta probably
continued to the end of Asoka's reign. We learn from
the XIIIth Rode Edict of Asoka that the emperor
maintained diplomatic relations not only with Ceylon
(Tamraparni) but with the Hellenistic monarchies of
Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, Macedonia and Epirus. We agree
with Dr, V. A. Smith when he states that diplomatic
relations with such distant powers presupposes the
existence of a "sea going fleet as well as an army".
(1)
With the dissolution of the Maurya empire
probably fell the great navy which the genius of
Candraguta and his successors had reared up. But the
naval traditions which the Mauryas had built up were
kept alive in at least some of the kingdoms which
sprang up on the ruins of their empire. This is
evident from certain pieces of Andhra or Satavahana
coins, belonging to the reign of Pulumayi and bearing
the figure of a two-masted sailing ship.(2) These
'ship'
________________________
p. 153). Pandit Ganapati Sastri (vol. I, p. 308)
suggests the same interpretation: amitra-visayatigah
satrudesayayinih". This is probably not quite
correct, for atiga means 'going beyond limits', The
meaning suggested by these learned scholars would
have been all right if we had abhigah instead of
atigah.
1 Edicts of Asoka, Introd., p.viii.
2 In his article in Z. D. G. (1903, p.613) as well as
in his Early History (4th Ed., p. 223) V, A. Smith
refers these coins with the 'ship' type to the
reign of Yajna Sri. Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri in his
'Political History of Ancient India' does the same.
But Prof. Rapson, who has made a special study of
Andhra coinage, remarks that on the solitary
specimen on which the traces of the coin-legend
admit of any probable restoration "the inscr.
p. 653
"Now this royal camp of victory, pitched at
Pataliputra, where the manifold fleets of boats
proceeding on the path of the Bhagirathi make it seem
as if a series of mountain tops had been sunk to
build another causeway (for Rama's passage)'', The
terms nau-vata and nau-vataka, which occur in this as
well as in many other inscriptions of this period,
undoubtedly refer to the war-ships of the Pala kings.
The admiral in command of the royal navy was called
Naukadhyaksa and his functions were probably akin to
those performed by the Navadhyaksa of Kautalya. There
is enough evidence to show that the royal navy under
the Palas was an efficient instrument of offetsive
and defensive warfare. When the Pala empire was being
shattered by rebellions and insurrections on every
side, it was "with a strong navy" that Vaidyadeva,
the minister of Kumarapala (a.c. 1097 A.D.),
"restored peace to the whole empire."(1) The Kamauli
Grant credits this Vaidyadeva with a naval victory in
southern Vanga, near the mouths of the Ganges. Mr.
R.D. Banerji suggests that this naval encounter
probably took place with Anantavarman, king of Utkala
and Kalinga.(2) The Kamauli Grant describes the
battle as follows:
Yasy-anuttara-vanga-sangara-jaye n a u v a t a-hihiravatrastair ddikkaribhis-ca yan-na calitam cen-nasti tad-gamya-bhub /
Kin-c-otpatu kake-nipata-patana-protsarpitaih sikarairakase sthirata krta yadi bhavet syan-niskalankah sasi //(3)
rrg
The naval power of Bengal long outlived the
collapse of the Pala dynasty; and the Candras, the
Varmans and the Senas inherited not merely the
dominions but also the naval traditions of their
predecessors. The Naukadhyaksa was substituted by the
Nau-vyaprtaka or Nau-bala-vyaprtaka,(4) but that was
all. In all important respects the navy appears to
have continued on its old efficient basis, and the
Deopara inscription states that king Vijayasena sent
it forward on a conquering expedition "up the whole
course of the Ganges, " pascatyacakra-jaya-kelisu
yasya yavad-Ganga-pravaham anudhavati nau-vitane(5),
-------------1. Ramacarita by Sandhyakara Nandi, Memoirs of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol.III, no.I, p.15.
2. The Palas of Bengal M. A. S. B., vol. V, no. 3,
p.101.
3. Ep. Ind., vol. II, p.351, v.II.
4. Ibid., vol. XII, p.40 II. 33-4; P.139, I, 20; P.9,
etc.
p. 655
kingdom for himself(1). Even in the later middle
ages, the Hindu chiefs of Kamarupa continued to rely
on their navy as an indispensable weapon of defence
and offence. The Padishah-namah, a work of the 17th
century, highly speaks of the skill and bravery of
the Assamese naval troops.
V
In the Punjab and Sindh
The Punjab and Sindh, enjoying the same
physiographical advantages as Bengal,were destined to
play a remarkable part in the naval history of
ancient India. Sindh is not only watered by the Indus
and her many affluents but is also skirted by the
sea. The Punjab is so called because she is washed by
five rivers. Moreover, in ancient times extensive
timber forests grew in those regions(2)-- forests
which enabled Alexander to construct the famous
flotilla which sailed down the Indus under the
command of Nearchos.
Possessed of these natural advantages, the people
of the Punjab and Sindh appear to have early acquired
a 'knack' for naval and maritime activities. Arrian
informs us that the Xathroi (Ksatri), an autonomous
tribe living on the Indus, supplied Alexander, during
his return voyage, with thirty-oared galleys and
transport vessels, which were all built by them.(3)
The Bactrian and Indian coins of Antimachus with
their types of 'Poseidon' and 'Victory' probably
refer to a naval triumph. "It is difficult to explain
the allusion" says Prof. Rapson, "except on the
supposition that this king had won a victory on one
of the great Indian rivers--the Indus or the
Jhelum"(4). This will show that even before the birth
of Christ the navy had come to be looked upon as an
instrument of warfare in this region.
Even before Alexander's invasion of India, the
nautical habits of the people of the Indus basin had
led them to the practice of piracy on the high seas.
Issuing in their "keels" from their country about the
mouth of the Indus, they were sea-wolves, who
captured what they could afloat, and carried fire and
sword into the countries
____________________
1. Ep. Ind., vol.II, p.351 vv. 13-4.
2. Arrian says: "In the neighbouring mountains was
abundance of timber fit for building ships". India
and its invasion by Alexander, p.216.
3. Ibid., p.156.
4. Cambridge History of India, vol.I, p.547.
p. 656
they visited. They were the 'Vikings' of ancient
India, and the great Persian monarchy was the worst
sufferer from their depradations. Strabo and Arrian
inform us that, in order to protect their cities
against piratical attacks, the Persians made the
Tigris entirely inaccessible to navigation. The
course of the stream was obstructed by masses of
stone, which Alexander, on his return journey from
India, caused to be removed for the furtherance of
commercial intercourse. That the Persians built no
city of any note upon the sea-coast was due to this
dread of Indian pirates, and not to any religious
motive as Robertson supposed.(1)
For many centuries after Alexander's invasion,
these hardy seamen of the Indus basin appear to have
clung to piracy as a means of livelihood. In the days
of Alberuni they were notorious for "their robberies
on sea in ships called bira"(2) and the Muhammadan
historians tell us that the first Islamic invasion of
India in the 8th century: A. D. was brought about by
a piratical inroad committed by the Meds and certain
other inhabitants of Debal and the Indus mouths, For
example, Al-Baladhuri states that when al-Hajjaj was
the governor of Iraq, "the king of the island of
Rubies (Ceylon) sent to al-Hajjaj some women who were
born in his country as Moslems, their fathers, who
had been merchants, having died. He wanted to court
favour with al-Hajjaj by sending them back. But the
ship on which they were sailing was attacked by some
of the Meds of ad-Daibul in barks (bawarij), and was
captured with all that was in it". When tidings of
this mishap reached al-Hajaj, he sent envoys to Dahir
asking him to set the women free. Dahir replied
:"Pirates, over whom I have no control, captured''.
The reply was not considered satisfactory by the
governor of Iraq, and he sent the first Muslim army
across the frontiers to punish the Sindhians. The
expedition failed, and two Arab generals were
successively defeated and killed. But al-Hajjaj was a
man of iron resolve, and his first failure merely
strengthened his determination to conquer and punish
the miscreants. He organised a fresh expedition on a
very much larger scale than before and placed it
under the command of his nephew, Muhammad bin Qasim.
Thus came about the first Islamic invasion of India.(3)
_______________
1 Strabo, Geography XVI, I; Arrian VII. 7; Elliot,
History of India, vol. I, pp. 5I2 f.; Robertson's
Disquisition, p. 160.
2 Vol. I, p, 208.
3 Futuh-al-Buldan, trans. by Clark Murgotten, pp.
215, 216.
p. 657
The people of the Indus region not only practised
piracy, which testifies to their nautical pluck and
skill, they also fought--and this is more important
from our standpoint--several naval battles with their
Muhammadan foes on the Indus or her tributaries. We
have it on the authority of Al-Baladhuri that Dahir's
son Hullrshah waged a naval war with Al-Junaid at
Batihat-ash-sharki. "Hullishah was taken prisoner,
his ship having missed the way".(1) Several centuries
later the Indus was the scene of another naval
encounter between the Jats and Sultan Mahmud.
According to Tabakat-i-Akbari of Nizamuddin Ahmed,
the last expedition of Sultan Mhamud was directed
against the Jats of the Salt Ranges, "who had
molested his army on its return march from Somnath
(1025 A.D.). To wreak vengeance on the Jats, Mahmud
led a large force towards Multan, "and when he
arrived there he ordered fourteen hundred boats to be
built, each of which was armed with three firm iron
pikes, projecting one from the prow and two from the
sides, so that everything which came in contact with
them would infallibly be destroyed. In each boat were
twenty archers, with bows and arrows, grenades and
naphtha; and in this way he proceeded to attack the
Jats, who having intelligence of the armament sent
their families into the islands and prepared
themselves for the conflict. They launched, according
to some, four, and according to others, eight
thousand boats, manned and armed, ready to engage the
Muhammadans. Both fleets met and a desperate conflict
ensued. Every boat of the Jats that approached the
Muslim fleet was broken and overturned. Thus most of
the Jats were drowned, and those who were not
destroyed were put to the sword".(2) An inglorious
conclusion--a sad epitaph, indeed. In naval tactics,
as in many other branches of military science, the
Hindus proved themselves unequal to their Muhammadan
antagonists, The Jat fleet, though numerically
superior, was vastly inferior to that of their rivals
in its organisation, in the type of its men-of-war,
and probably also in the art and science of maritime
warfare.
------------------I Futuh-al-Buldan, trans. by Clark Murgotten, p 226.
2 Elliot, History of India, vol. 11, p. 478; Cf. also
Brigg's, Ferishta, vol. I, pp. 81-2.
p. 658
VI
In the Tamil land
coasts,
p. 661
of bestowing upon the Red-cera is that the "Chera
p. 663