Here are the units from the early classical period of northern India. This is the first of many Bakuel's Indian packs I will be making available to general public. Bakuel's own description:
The Pre- and Post-Mauryan period (500-50 BC),
Historical background:
Spoiler :
This period starts with the establishment of the short lived Nanada dynasty (424 BC- 321 BC) which managed to conquer many of the small petty kingdoms and tribes of the Indian Plains and establish a fairly large empire for it's era. Alexander never reached this far in India only fighting against the minor kingdoms in the west around Pakistan, so many have wondered how he would have fared against a full blown Indian empire. A treat for lovers of alternative history.
The Nanada dynasty was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya who established the Maurya Empire (321-185 BC), a watershed event in Indian history. Chandragupta was only 20 years old, and he would go on to conquer most of the territories of the Empire, with only Bindusara and Ashoka making minor gains conquering Kalinga, some southern territories and vassalizing the Tamil kingdoms in the south. Chandragupta can be thought of as the Indian's version of Alexander, though his territory gain wasn't as large, it was still quite a feet since these where many independent kingdoms and the conquest of the Seleucid's eastern territories. This is the largest empire which has every existed in Indian history, including all of the Indian subcontinent, excluding the ancient Tamil kingdoms in the south who were vassals. After the death of Chandragupta, the next ruler was Bindusara who conquered some southern territory, and had cordial relations with the Seleucids. However, the next ruler was Ashoka the Great who was, well, greater. After some small conquests (at least compared to his grandfather) Ashoka converted the Buddhism, traditionally after seeing how much damage the war had caused. Thus, he switched to Pacifism and began to propagate Buddhism throughout the subcontinent. Even if Buddhism isn't the major religion in India today, for much of the ancient period it existed alongside Hinduism, Jainism and other religions and was actually the favored religion for many rulers. After Ashoka the Great, the other Mauryan emperors were all less then great, from about 195 BC onwards the Mauryan empire began to lose territories and the last Mauryan emperor was killed in 185 BC, assassinated by his commander-in-chief Pusyamitra Sunga who founded his own dynasty leading to the Post-Mauryan period.
The Sunga Empire (185-73 BC) wasn't as large as the Mauryan empire, only have control of the Eastern parts of the Indo-Plain and some parts of the Deccan Plateau. This period was one of general decentralization and warfare over much of India with even the Indo-Plains being largely divided with the Indo-Saka kingdoms in the west. The Sungas fought against the Indo-Greek kingdoms, the Kalingas, the Satavahanas and others. However chaotic when compared to the Mauryans, this period showed a flowering of Indian art, culture and philosophy largely due to the patronal activates of many Sunga rulers.
After the fall of the Sungas, the next major dynasty in the east plains would be the Guptas.
Now, without further ado, I present to you Pre- and Post- Mauryan (500-50 BC) units or the Classical India Age pack! In this pack I reused many of the models twice so people could have more variety when using or reusing the models.
Spoiler :
The Mauryan, Nanda and Sunga empires all followed the classical four-fold Indian army division as laid down in the epic age, Infantry (patti), Chariots (rathin), Elephants (hasti) and Cavalry (ashva). Sometimes I heard that four other non-fighting catogories were added to these, burden-carriers, ships, local guides, and spies. All of this comes from the Arthashastra, a Mauryan period text on statecraft, economics and warfare often compared to Machiavelli's The Prince. Expect, unlike The Prince, the text is not a parody.
Now onward to the units!
Archer (Early Ajanta Caves, Internet Image)
Archer (Back Knot) (Early Ajanta Caves)
Archer (Noble) (Early Ajanta Caves)
Out of the four folds, the infantry was classically viewed as the most useless by the upper classes. In classical literature they form faceless mobs to be thrown about by the heroic warriors. Much like heroes in modern action movies can take down millions of peons. Nonetheless, the Greeks say plenty of good things about India's infantry and the skills of her archers which were armed with cane longbows.
Spearman (Topknot) (Early Ajanta Caves, Sanchi)
Spearman (Padded Armor) (Early Ajanta Caves, Literary Source, EB)
Spearman (Bareheaded) (Early Ajanta Caves)
These spearman represent the common mob found on many monuments of military scenes from the Mauryan and Sunga periods. The padded armored one is based on literary sources which mention armor made out of fur, wool, cloth or leather.
Axeman (EB)
Axeman (Fancy Turban) (EB, Bhaja Caves, Internet Image)
Axeman (Leather Strap Armor) (EB)
All the axeman have a lot to thank with Europa Barbarorum as far as concepts are concerned. The one difference is the fancy turban model, which is based off a peculiar image at the Bhaja Caves and a image based off of it from I found on the internet.
Swordsman (Guild Warrior) (EB)
Swordsman (Scale Armor) (Internet Image)
Swordsman (Pointy Helmet) (EB)
Light Swordsman (Small Plate) (Ajanta Caves, EB)
Armor, is very, very rarely shown in India art. Yet it is spoken of in ancient Indian literature, both epic and normal. Helmets are the rarest of the rare and seem to have been rarely used. The Guild warrior, which I think I already sent you awhile back, is based off of the EB unit. Scale Armored one with the turban and helmet is based off a internet image and the Pointy Helmet Swordsman is based off of the EB's new Mauryan units for their MTW mod.
The Light Swordsman armor is somewhat speculative in nature, being based off of the enlarged "cross straps and pendant" that many ancient warriors are shown wearing. It is generally considered that these monuments show a ornamental version of more practical armor which was used elsewhere in south Asia. Also I have a latter Burmaese which shows a Chola soldier wearing similar armor. There may be other references to this type of armor as it is the type the EB team used as well. And if they used it, it most not be too off mark.
Clubman (Large Gada) (Early Ajanta Caves, Literary Source, EB)
Clubman (Small Gada) (EB)
The club was used often in ancient Indian armies, however, it's most common appearance is small. The large club unit is largely a novelty unit, large clubs (Gada) are often spoken of in the epic literature being used with skill by great warriors. Nonetheless, the weapon was hard to wield and use and it is very doubtful it saw widespread use outside of nobles who could spend considerable time practicing with it.
Javelinman (EB)
Javelins saw plenty use in India, but it wasn't used as extensively as the bow. Nonetheless I included it because many mods feature Javelins.
Pikeman Greek Mercenary (EB)
Greek Mercenaries were used by many Indian rulers after Alexander, and could be found in many armies which could afford them. The conquered Greeks also served in the Mauryan army as well and gave a good account of themselves. While I couldn't find any concrete evidence on what type of fighting style the Indo-Greek mercenaries used in the Mauryan army, I decided to stick with the Macedonian style used by the successor states.
Light Horseman (Internet Image, Sanchi)
Light Horseman (Small Plate) (Ajanta Caves, EB)
Light Horseman (Noble) (Ajanta Caves)
Cavalry is one step above infantry in the epic literature, yet, still not too noble as they generally get the short end of the stick in descriptions of battles. Horses often panic and throw their riders and cavalry often outright flees the battlefield, painting a very grime picture of Indian equestrian skills. However, by Puros's time cavalry seem to have been a important part of Indian tactics and performed somewhat well.
Cavalry (Fancy Turban) (EB, Bhaja Caves, Internet Image)
Cavalry (Pointy Helmet) (EB)
Cavalry (Small Plate) (Sanchi, Bharhut)
These are just a bit heavier cavalrymen, attached to the Light horsemen animations and most of them using the armored models. Heavier cavalry then this was rarely used in native Indian armors, if it appeared at all it was probably used by central Asian, Indo-Greek, or Indo-Saka mercenaries from the north or west.
Chariot (Bhaja Caves, Sanchi, Internet Image)
Going by the ancient epics, the chariot was the ultimate vehicle used by kings, nobles and heroes in battle. How many soldiers were in each chariot seemed to vary. I have heard historians claim six to two. It probably depended on how much men the king had on hand/ or how slow he could afford them going. How useful the chariot actually was is questionable. In this period the chariot's place in battle was slowly being replaced by the elephant, this era is the twilight of the Indo-Aryan chariot.
