Indian War Elephants: Tanks on the Ancient and Medieval Battlefield

[@OddCompass]

Hey everyone, hope you enjoy this latest video! It should be relevant not only to those interested in Indian history, but anyone who is interested in SE Asian history (where war elephants were employed into the early modern era as well). If you'd like some supplemental history tidbits, I encourage you to follow me on instagram: instagram.com/oddcompasshistory/

[@jairiske]

We always hear about the European armor of knights or the samurai armor from Japan, but what did the armor of trained soldiers from India wear?

[@OddCompass]

It depends a lot on region, era, and class! In the medieval era, low-level peasant soldiers would likely wear folded, thick woven cloth (for light protection against arrows and blades, along with a large shield), while nobility and elite soldiers would wear chainmail.

[@alishaik2087]

Hello bro make video on sher sha sur

[@OddCompass]

Hey Ali, I'll keep it in mind -- a bit swamped with topics at the moment!

[@babitasharma4816]

Love you like a teacher i never had🤣🤣 just waiting for the next video

[@BronzeAgeMan1350]

Fiction: Fire Dragons 🐉 History: War Elephants 🐘

[@SS-hw1ou]

Very subtle

[@beaconhousepechsfilm-makin8187]

No wonder Cersi wanted Elephants from the golden compant

[@scintillam_dei]

Leviathan is real but not letting itself be discovered. See new creatures discovered every year or even every month in deep sea dives.

[@buddinglearner7085]

You just roasted china

[@user-cp1ce5mu2v]

Fiction: Bloodlust History: Druglust

[@trueblueclue]

Before this video: "Elephants are so cute" After the video: "That drunk and high elephant with poisoned sword tusks is going to bite your head off and toss you with its trunk."

[@vagabondsoul1286]

They usually hold you down with one front leg and tear you in half with the trunk.

[@kakalimukherjee3297]

Indian kings often used elephants to execute people. The prisoner would and the elephant would be locked in an enclosure and the elephant would trample them to death

[@abhishekbaba8084]

🤣

[@Mid_b]

I feel like Indian history is pretty underrated after this video

[@OddCompass]

Haha yeah, it really deserves to be talked about more!

[@Mid_b]

@@OddCompass I am ethnically Swedish so I am usually into European history. This channel though has made me interested in Asian/Indian history. Your videos are so high quality, I am suprised you aren't famous yet.

[@OddCompass]

Welcome to the channel! And thank you for the kind words. I think many people do not realize how much interesting Indian history there is, so the topics aren’t as “viral” - but the channel is slowly growing, so I’m hopeful there’s an audience for this content!

[@lingnarzihary2492]

@@OddCompass yes sir there is an audience. Could you do more about North East India. EVEN INDIANS ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THAT part of the country. Views and followers guaranteed.

[@oldworldblu3s305]

That’s what I’ve been saying for so long India would make the perfect assassin‘s creed

[@EzioIlMentore]

Meanwhile, Indians in Age of Empires 2 have the worst elephant unit.

[@surgeonsergio6839]

lol, so true, hopefully aoe4 will have better and viable elephants.

[@scintillam_dei]

I use Persians to represent Indians in The Conquerors expansion which is all I have, and I enjoy using India in my realistic map of Eurasia or my realistic map of the Spanish lake or the realistic map of the world. Check them out in my videos on each map. In Rise of Nations the Indians were cool, and I think I learned the word "mahout" from that game.

[@---ko1dg]

AOE 2 didn’t have India but AOE3 did. And those elephants could turn the tides of a battle if used right.

[@shubhamjadhav8530]

@@---ko1dg Have you even played aoe 2?....it does have India

[@shreyasmahangade3774]

elephant archer.....

[@boogeymann6686]

I love Indian and South East Asian history and I'm so happy that I managed to come across a channel like yours.

[@OddCompass]

Thank you so much! Stay tuned, lots more to come :)

[@Iam-cx2vt]

Read about North-Western India (Rajasthan) history ✌️

[@Deathsboyg]

​@@Iam-cx2vt no read about eastern indian (Bihar state) history instead 1. Because it is the state where buddha get enlightenment 2. It have the capital of anicient indian empires (Patliputra) like maurian empire, magadh empire, nanda empire, gupta empire [golden period of indian history] This single state of India influenced indian history so much that blue Chakra in current indian flag and national symbol 'Ashok stambh' of India is from this state. This state is home to many anicient university like Nalanda university [ 4th century ad to 12 century ad] and vikramshila university. In Nalanda university there was a man known as aryabhatta who first time calculated approximately TRUE distance between earth and in in 700 ad. This university also played an important role in the development of decimal system, which went to arab and then europe. Therfore decimal system is also known as hindu arabic numerals. But on the other hand if you will read the history of rajasthan, you will only see a weak king become king only because he belongs to upper caste rajpoot. He loosed the battles from muslim invaders so his queen jumped into fire.

[@rangan101]

In the epic Mahabharata, there is description of famous king Bhagadatta, fighting on the side of the Kauravas, arriving in the battlefield on his legendary battle elephant Supratika. The behemoth caused sheer delirium and panic among the Pandava army and caused destruction of exorbitant proportion. Bhima,the strongest of the Pandavas,son of the Air God Pavana, was himself a demigod having power equivalent to 10000 elephants and yet was manhandled by the beast. Finally the elephant was somehow managed to be killed, but this video reminded me of that incident and how we're carrying on with the traditions of battle elephants ever since.

[@ameygawade2752]

Elephants were also used to pull heavy artilery.

[@31oannamphong66]

yes in vietnam war, you can find some footage

[@astitvakumar8618]

They were artillery,ndians had put about500 metal rockets with a range of 2km on them.

[@nunyabiznes33]

Don't they also have archers and cannons on them?

[@astitvakumar8618]

Yes,you are correct but whats more interesting,a war elephant with 5 archers on its back or a war elephant with about 500 rockets on its back

[@Rihangarg090]

all dislikes r from those who were throttle by Indian elephants in their past life

[@Rihangarg090]

@@Dark_Shade91 Alexander too

[@yeetusfeetus713]

This comment is as old as my dead great great grandfather

[@Rihangarg090]

​@@yeetusfeetus713lol XD

[@Legendaryium]

@@Dark_Shade91 edgy, and doesnt even work really...

[@BlackSakura33]

😂😂

[@redmonkey477]

Earlier today I had the question, "Were war elephants real?" as I've never really learned about them. I've looked it up and found your video, and I just need to say great work! I'm looking at the comments section and you seem to reply to nearly every comment which is commendable, I hope to see you grow because you deserve way more attention!

[@OddCompass]

That’s very kind of you - thanks! I hope you enjoy the rest of the channel :)

[@Dingusdoofus]

Hannibal used war elephants to invade the Roman Republic during the second Punic War.

[@creationsxl2979]

@@OddCompass seriously bro I must say the same thing, great work I’m absolutely loving your channel x

[@Gamerking64210]

If you ever Read all The lord of the rings after finishing reading the Hobbit or just skip to the movies, you get to see some action of War elephants like Mûmakil (Oliphaunts)

[@BrokeBillionare]

Great content. I feel bad for the poor beasts. Fight through so much chaos. They are one of the most gentle creatures.

[@OddCompass]

I appreciate it! And yeah, it does make you wonder how much they had to suffer for the greed of mankind

[@spaceexplorer5481]

You are wrong We worship Elephants They are like us in battlefield

[@spaceexplorer5481]

I was stopped for 2 hrs in Kerela because elephants were crossing roads

[@madhavsankarks3832]

@@spaceexplorer5481 in kerala we have elephant fans assosiation we worship them and if anyone touch them ur gone

[@cole8834]

I can't help but feel ten times worse for the human beings that had to be killed by them. People certainly come up with inventive and exhaustive ways to kill one another.

[@dv9239]

Rome: We have great warriors on our side India: Hold my drunk riders

[@Duck_The_Coloniser]

Wtf lol drunk riders 🤣🤣🤣

[@dv9239]

@日本人 And? They legit lost everything now

[@dv9239]

@日本人 bro they had the world but now just confined to a tiny island where sun doesn't even rise anymore

[@arunstalii3666]

@日本人 I think he meant that they've lost everything with regard to military. If am not wrong they're not even on the top 5 when their former colony(India) is in the fourth position in the military power ranking.

[@arunstalii3666]

@日本人 It doesn't mitigate the fact that India is 4th in items of military power and uk is way below that India lol. Regardless of what they do Uk can never become a top military power in current scenario coz they no longer have their Indian soldiers to fight hehe.

[@takenbythewindNdrivenbythesea]

Fantastic information... War Elephants, the Indians Main Battle Tank. Yes I agreed, there’s an advantages and also disadvantages. It’s quite scary when your elephants are totally out of control. But anyway, the creation of more modern artilleries, Gatling gun totally changed the warfare.

[@OddCompass]

Yeah -- a berserk elephant must have been a truly terrifying thing to behold! The increasing ubiquity of rifling (and high-caliber guns in general) definitely brought about an end to "traditional" modes of warfare in India. Thanks for watching!

[@robertplanas6064]

Old + New = Gatling Gun Elephant

[@ChandranPrema123]

Yes Indians still use Elephant in Borders of Burma,China claiming Indian Territory and forestry Border.

[@alexyoon-sungcucina7895]

Agreed. I remember seeing some British historian derisively speaking if them as crude terror weapons that would fail against "disciplined Western troops." I couldn't help but think if pachyderms had been native to the British Isles that doubtlessly they would have been employed and regarded by that same historian as "mobile weapons platforms combining mobility, armor and firepower. The forerunner of the tank."

[@takedashingen4674]

Nothing is more terrifying than a trained, courageous War elephant

[@atriacharya2967]

My paternal grandfather was a vet in the Indian Army. He treated and performed surgery on the war camels in the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan. To this day, India is the only country that has used camels for warfare!

[@OddCompass]

Interesting!

[@alphacompany4837]

Yes 1965 war I think

[@よしみ-x5j]

What are you on... Of course camels were used in warfare by many forces, from ancient times

[@yourae-l2o]

@@よしみ-x5j He said "To this day"

[@よしみ-x5j]

@@yourae-l2o Exactly. BS. India is NOT the only country 'to this day' that used camels in warfare. No idea what are you confused about.

[@gabrielgarcia7554]

Hey just want to say that I am so glad to find a really good educational KZbin channel that almost exclusively focuses on South Asian history. I think this region of the world is unbelievably fascinating, and it’s great to be able to learn more through this platform. Please keep up the great work! You have earned another subscriber! 🙏

[@OddCompass]

Thank you Gabriel! That’s very kind. Looking forward to putting out some more content 👍

[@alexanderphilip1809]

Less than 50k subscribers for a channel with this level of quality and indepth analysis of historic content . Where are my Indians.

[@v.k5417]

I'm an indian.

[@rgfromkl3594]

I keep sharing these videos for better reach, indeed more people need to know about this channel

[@rajas9803]

Indian only study engineering sadly

[@hrishikeshbandari8777]

perhaps one of the best video on Indian elephants. While we've always seen the rather barbaric fights of African elephants amongst themselves on wildlife channels, a charging war elephant is a rare spectacle these days. Thankyou for this amazing presentation that brought this terrifying medieval tank back to life

[@OddCompass]

Great comment, thanks for watching! I can’t imagine how terrifying it would have been to fight a charging war elephant 🐘

[@pranavr9783]

Hanibil used African elephant against Roman Empire. He took such elephant on a path that was very difficult to journey through. Just stating when britan used war elephant against Nepal at anglo Gurkha war. Britan elephant were unwilling to journey on (they were eithered left or killed). African elephant are not adapted to such difficult glacier and mountain yet hanibil determination moved such creature. Similarly Asian elephant are suppose to be more stable in such environment, stating for fact that Nepal have elephant as well, infact 12 elephants were given to neighbouring mugal empire from Nepali kingdom. training and being obident from young age and are the key reason for how hanibil could move such creature in the Alpine region. Don't think African elephant can not be trained. They have bigger tusk, size, and probably more scarier than Asian elephant. How you train them is the main factor relating to there effectiveness. It is true that war elephant are generally used by Asia. However hanibil used his African elephant as well.

[@sacheinc5014]

I'm commenting here for KZbin algorithm because this video deserves to be more popularity. And this channel deserves 1 million subscribers.

[@abhinavneoharysvarma8551]

Search angry elephant noise, enough to make a grown man shit his pants

[@abhinavneoharysvarma8551]

@Вхламинго I'm no history scholar but Alexander did fought Porus of India and was satisfied and returned home, later his general Necetar fought Chandragupta Maurya or Sandrokotos and was utterly defeated. Turks and Arabs had Gun powder and heavy canons with them and that was one of the major reasons how they managed to win with small numbers.

[@shubhampreetsingh8630]

@@abhinavneoharysvarma8551 That too because silk road passed through them, so turks and central asians were one of the first people to lay they hands on Gunpowder after it was invented in China.

[@PulkitDhiman]

@@abhinavneoharysvarma8551 They had better cavalry, Arab horses were finest and very crucial to win a battle. North Indian kingdoms were always at war with each other and never united. Moreover, they were petty kings, who did not possess large army to counter invaders. On a philosophical Note: It is observed throughout history that only those places with scarce resources and very hard life(Arabia, Afghanistan, Mongolia) produced tougher and battle hardened men whose primary occupation was raiding and looting the neighboring Settlements. While Indians were content with fertile land, monsoons, 3 crops in a year, these invaders were fighting for every scrap of food and drop of water.

[@abhinavneoharysvarma8551]

@@PulkitDhiman Yeah, but I'm talking about how gained upper hand in their initial conquests. No matter how fine and skilled they were they couldn't win against an army twice of their size without the help of gun powder. Also google marwari horses, they're a unique breed of horse. Rajput and even warriors from Punjab region were literal beasts, google Maha Rana pratap. Yes, I do agree that not all Indians were like them and both Turk and Arab armies had more local Indians than soldiers from their native land

[@abhinavneoharysvarma8551]

@@PulkitDhiman Also traditional Indian conquests were very different, they would conquer a land and made king swear an oath collect revenue and leave. These foreign invaders would impose religion and in most cases dethrone and replace the king with their own or marry the king's daughter. They would also impose heavy taxes for religion and forcefully convert the local population while destroying temples or converting them. This helped tighten their hold on the regions

[@a8uella]

Given how intelligent elephants are this is amazing. The skill it takes to train an intelligent life form to do such complex actions is incredibly impressive.

[@878sarath]

Where are you getting your data from ? Man ! I have never seen anyone explaining chola history in such an elaborate way. Thanks for your work!! I'm sharing the channel to everyone I know!

[@OddCompass]

Thank you for sharing, I genuinely appreciate it! My sources are in the descriptions (and in pinned comments for some videos). For a detailed explanation of medieval Chola empire and culture, I recommend reading “From Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa.” Enjoy!

[@pranavr9783]

When britan also used indian war elephants against Nepal during anglo Gurkha war. But these elephant were mostly hindersnce as they were not willing to travel in difficult Nepali Terain. Britan even had to make path for the elephant, so much so that they either had to kill or leave the elephants at nepal. They probably thoughts about how hanibil had taken African war Elephant to glaciers mountain and outsmarted Roman Empire with his powerfull war elephant. Nepal did have war elephant as well, it stated that Nepali kingdome gave 12 elephants anually to mugal empire. Elephant are just to costly from training from young age to looking after them, however they did give strategic advantage. There are advantages and disadvantages of all battlefield wepons.

[@OddCompass]

Thanks for the excellent info!

[@rudraneupane4173]

Total bollocks

[@chch1959]

Rashtrakutas conquered Himalayas of nepal to ceylon in sri Lanka The inscriptions says that The horse of govinda-3 drank from icy himalayan streams , and his war elephants tasted the sacred waters of the ganges And nepal king nanya deva of nepal is from Karnataka 🟨🟥

[@KunalSingh-kq9tk]

3 disastrous battles that sealed the fate of India involved Kings/Commanders mounted on Elephants - 1008- Battle of Chaach when King Anandpal’s elephant scared by flying arrows ran amok, causing confusion and rout of own army 1556- Second Battle of Panipat, King Hemu sitting atop his elephant was targeted by Mugal soldiers. Hit in his eye by an arrow he fell and was taken captive to be beheaded 1761- 3rd Battle of Panipat. Invading Afghans shot the Maratha prince atop his elephant causing collapse of the Maratha reserve. His uncle’s frontal charge couldn’t get any backup.

[@nirupamakumar3917]

They kind of remind me of the AT AT walkers from Star Wars

[@OddCompass]

Haha, they are kinda similar!

[@mazadancoseben4818]

Lucas was greatly influenced by eastern traditions, after all

[@duneydan7993]

Knowing how elephant teeth work, imagining an elephant biting a man's head off is a horrifying thought

[@harshavardhana3895]

An chinese traveller has written that Cholas had 60,000 war elephants.

[@leandergabriel6542]

தமிழ் சக்தி 🔥💪🏾

[@dhanu_4539]

I appreciate you referring to some sri lankan history...as a sri lankan it makes me proud ...The story about the duel between two elephants was one that I heard from my grandfather when he was alive.

[@jeyaramsathees6128]

Just as I was wondering why he doesn’t post more vids,, thanks

[@OddCompass]

Haha yeah, this one took me awhile, been quite busy with work and some other things!

[@gravewalker34]

Recent discovery of Syrian elephants which appeared some 3500 years ago also show Genetically related to Indian and Thai elephants. Our chad mahouts have been in service since 3500 years.

[@gaurav.dhanraja]

Elephants + music + alcohol and drugs in war, what could be more crazier?

[@jayantasen2406]

Reminds me of some scenes from The newest Mad Max movie :P

[@salmansingh66]

Take them over the alpines

[@cruelplatypus67]

drugs in war?

[@salmansingh66]

@@cruelplatypus67 five shots of vodka for mother russia

[@sv4647]

@@salmansingh66 u mean Hannibal Barca's passage through the Alps in winter that led to ancient history's second world war or better known as The Second Punic war between Carthage and Rome🙂

[@SS55075]

I did not expect this video coming, this was super amazing! Though, I feel particularly sad for elephants, because unlike horses, goats, and camels, they were never domesticated, only tamed. So, they must have really suffered from all the battlefield trauma(as a wild animal), even if they were trained to fight:(

[@OddCompass]

That is very true - in researching this video, it struck me how much trauma these poor elephants were subjected to for the ambitions of their human masters

[@AryanSingh-oy6uv]

WAR ELEPHANTS WERE ONLY THE REASON THAT ALEXANDER SAID THAT BATTLE OF HYDAPS WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT BATTLE IN HIS LIFE

[@Rajj854]

The history of war elephants in India is the triumph of tradition over experience.

[@OddCompass]

Very true!

[@anujagarwal7992]

What makes you say that?if tradition was the major factor why did Mughals employ war elephants?which middle eastern tradition could they be using?

[@Vajra98]

@@anujagarwal7992 inspired from pre existing native tradition ofc

[@anujagarwal7992]

@@Vajra98 exactly It was a triumph of experience that is why elephants survived in history of warfare in india,even foreign kingdoms who came to India continued to use war elephants for its continued usage in various forms of warfare.

[@Birb728]

Innovation would be better word instead of experience.

[@tejasviangadi6097]

One more way the elephants could be beaten were pigs The elephants are scared of pigs, so when you were attacked by elephants you could send out pigs which would freak out the elephants. So armies raised their elephants with pigs in order to make them not afraid of pigs. Until someone had the bright idea of burning pigs, which the elephants didn't have experience of.

[@OddCompass]

Thanks for the additional info!

[@horsenuggets1018]

Ah yes, the roast pork strat

[@tylerdurden3722]

Ah the Flaming War Pig. That would be the Romans against Pyrrhus who brought 20 Indian war elephants with him to Italy. Pyrrhus was given those as a gift from Ptolemy to help him take back his kingdom. Who in turn got elephants that used to belong to Seleucus. Who received 500 war elephants as part of a peace agreement from Chandragupta. Seleucus used those elephants in his battle against Antigonus. He kept them in the rear in reserve. Apparently, Pyrrhus was 16 years old and fought in the Antigonid Cavalry wing that managed to defeat their counterparts and was about to swing around and hit Seleucus in the rear in the typical hammer and anvil tactic of the Macedonians. Normally this would be the end. But the 400 elephants Seleucus placed in the rear were in the way and frightened the cavalry away. I sometimes wonder if Pyrrhus' 20 elephants were present on that battlefield. Those elephants had one hell of a life.😅

[@remained1]

i am so glad that somebody has invested in Indian history with so much details. please tell us the source of your information also.

[@waleedelephantboy1796]

This is how Indian culture is Superior with elephants. I’m proud of my paternal grandmother’s Indian roots and my affinity with elephants as my roots.

[@DJShire_ATL]

Ever since I first played age of empires 2 and my civ was stuck next to the Persians and seen a horde of elephants trampling over my shit was when I first thought of these things as medieval tanks.

[@kannadakabba7306]

Thank you for mentioning kannada empires like chalukyas, rashtrakutas and Mysore..most of the indian historians ignore the glorious history of Deccan plateau and concentrate only on north india Please make more videos on other kannada empires as well.

[@memeguyTM]

Came here from playing Age of empires 3 definitive edition. Ended up staying because Indian history is truly amazing. Oldest history in the world 🌎

[@ppt-pg3vz]

What about Aoe4

[@jilukv2]

Amazing videos man... It's a real treasure of Indian history long forgotten

[@OddCompass]

Thank you!

[@saltycoins8835]

This is such a great channel. I’m so glad I found it. Thank you and please continue. This will blow up HUGE one day

[@OddCompass]

Glad you enjoy it, and thanks!

[@oceejekwam6829]

That's true for the entire South Asian sub-continent, even today. I'm glad they are no longer used the battlefield.

[@v.k5417]

why?

[@instantkevlar4763]

Felt a deep chill imagining these battles with raging mammoths

[@phantomwarlock5002]

This is the first channel I've seen dedicated to Indian history with quality videos, keep making these!

[@harshagrawal1000]

This video actually explained alot of defeats suffered by Indian kings ....Against Ghuri army entire allied north Indian just because war elephant went berserk after taking arrow...entire allied army thought commander is running away..so ran too !

[@Varun37251]

It’s a classic example. War elephants were great, but relying on anything too much will backfire

[@sathyasayesh9914]

Commenting so that the algorithm would publicise this video more

[@pushkar28]

I really wish you would get more viewers, this is great content! Hope you can make a video on the Satvahana dynasty sometime

[@OddCompass]

Almost certainly will be covering the Satavahana Dynasty (hopefully sooner rather than later!). Glad you enjoyed the video 👍

[@hikodzu]

wars back then was far more interesting than i thought lol. imagine seeing music band in the middle of a war while fighting a giant mythical like animal

[@tyrmorson4259]

யானை மேல் துஞ்சிய தேவர்- இராஜாதித்த சோழன் 🐘 🐅🐅🐅சோழ நாட்டு மாவீரர்🐅🐅🐅

[@persistedframes5536]

Kalingattuparani is a 12th-century Tamil poem and a war song by Jayamkondar, celebrating the victory of Kulottunga Chola I over the Kalinga king, Anantavarman Chodaganga in the Chola-Kalinga war. Parani is a type of literature that is written on a king (or a general) who kills a thousand elephants in a war. Kalingattuparani depicts the Chola invasion of Kalinga under the command of Karunakara Tondaiman where a thousand elephants are slain . It gives a vivid and a graphic description of battle scenes. It is hailed as one of the master-pieces of Tamil literature with its majestic style and diction.

[@OddCompass]

Very cool! Thanks for the recommendation 🙏

[@shivampatnaik2000]

It always puzzled me as to why Kulottunga would attack and drive away his own nephew. And Anantavarmadeva was rather proud of his Chola roots. Thus the surname 'Chodaganga' which means 'someone who is descended from the Choda (Chola) and Ganga dynasties'. Chodaganga would later recover the lands lost to Kulottunga however (the region around Visakhapatnam).

[@OddCompass]

I have to imagine Kulottunga Chola's nephew sought to increase his autonomy and thus break-away, precipitating the whole affair -- just my initial guess, though!

[@shivampatnaik2000]

Some say he failed to pay yearly tributes. Nothing's known for sure however.

[@ЭдгарРожков]

@@shivampatnaik2000 the region around Visakhapatnam is known as Kalingandhra, historically considered part of the Kalinga region: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visakhapatnam

[@callistine8559]

Another great incredible video and I expected no less! Fascinating how you talked about indigenous war tactics and the role of elephants! I saw that during the Vijayanagar Empire's conquest of South India, they left out a sliver of coast on the Western Coast of what is present-day Kerala, does this indicate the Kingdom of Cochin was never inculcated? If so how come this was the only territory they didn't manage to conquer, despite them having such a great army? Here in present-day Kochi, elephants are mostly seen in temple festivals and just last year, one of it crossed the road in front of my house as part of a temple procession nearby and its amazing thinking of how these mammoth beings were subjugated and employed as living tanks in ancient battles!

[@OddCompass]

What a wonderful comment - thank you! Regarding Cochin, its history with Vijayanagar is somewhat mixed, with some historical records pointing out that they were feudatories, and others pointing out that they were independent, but that the Cochin Kingdom always had a “cautious eye” towards Vijayanagar. It’s worth noting, also, that once Cochin came under the Portuguese sphere of influence in the early 1500s, Vijayanagar would have stepped away from any ambitions it had against it - as Vijayanagar depended heavily on the Portuguese horse trade.

[@callistine8559]

@@OddCompass oh that makes sense! I also read a bit about how the Kingdom of Cochin became the only South Asian protectorate of the Ming Empire. That was pretty fascinating to learn and explains about how there's a lot of Chinese influence here from our Chinese fishing net (Cheena-vala) to our language and words like Cheena Chatti, a type of pot to cook that's there in every household. I'm not sure if the Ming Empire was a contemporary of the Vijayanagara one but being the only protectorate of a foreign power, along with Portuguese ties could also balance powers. Its incredible how all of these history exists and how so little we know of em! Thanks for providing a platform to learn more about these!

[@OddCompass]

Oh that’s really interesting - I had no idea that it was also a Ming protectorate! I’ll definitely research more into that. The Ming were contemporaries of Vijayanagar so that makes a lot of sense. And I’m glad to provide a platform for this history, thanks for watching 🙏

[@vigneshorthodoc]

@@OddCompass it was after Zheng ye landed there with his treasure fleet... Cochin was in war with zamorin of Calicut He also mitigated a peace between them by making them a Ming protectorate!!

[@ManjunathKamathKochi]

@@OddCompass do read up a blog named Maddy's Ramblings which are rich with the history of Kerala

[@MukulBhardwaj0]

Such a great and very detailed video about Indian war elephants. Thanks for the content. You are doing great! Its also nice to hear correct pronounciation of indian names from someone who is from outside India.

[@DMystif]

Thank you for your work ! I was wondering exactly that after reading about multiple indian battles where the whole war elephant thing went really wrong.

[@OddCompass]

You’re welcome! 👍🏽

[@samratdas7590]

It has 50% probability of wining and defeating battles

[@abhimanit12]

Best produced channel on unknown Indian history.

[@DevPatel04]

Thank you for making quality videos of Indian history !!!!

[@eons8941]

At 1:09 The north African elephants (Loxodonta africana pharaohensis) were quite short and small compared to the Indian elephants (Elephas maximus) that's why ptolemeic Egypt tried to get the African Bush elephants(Loxodonta africana) from East Africa cause they saw the North African elephants were much smaller than the Indian elephant used by the Seleucid Empire

[@tylerdurden3722]

Those were the same species of elephant Hannibal used. These elephants were better at handling rough terrain, existing mostly around the atlas mountains... and required less food and water.

[@eons8941]

@@tylerdurden3722 yeah but in the video he said Indian elephant were smaller than North African elephant. In fact north African elephant were much smaller than Indian. Which is why to beat the Indian elephant ptolemeic Egypt tried to get the African Bush elephant from East Africa

[@tylerdurden3722]

@@eons8941 The North African Elephant was busy going extinct and was difficult to find at that time. Ptolemy II tasked a guy called Philadephus with recruiting actual Savannah African Elephants from Eritrea. These elephants were tested in the Battle of Raphia. It turns out the bigger African Elephants don't like fighting. In the battle, their Asian counterparts drove them back. They were also panicky at the smell of Asian elephants...just like horses panic. Ptolemy still managed to win the battle dispite his elephants not doing so well.

[@eons8941]

@@tylerdurden3722 Yes I know all that but you are missing the point I corrected the guy in the video when he said Indian elephants were smaller than North African..... Also even if the north African elephant were to be found they wouldn't win a fight with Indian elephants

[@olorin4317]

I think elephants were pivotal because of terrain. Varied altitudes with lush, dense vegetation are difficult places to build and maintain roads. Elephants create and maintain pathways in such a landscape naturally. Control elephants then you can control transportation.

[@nitishmysore]

Love from Mysore. Here we still use elephants in festival called Dasara

[@silverspider2142]

Love ya dp

[@musirhythm]

Where you burn ravana?

[@musirhythm]

Fun fact- damascus steel is from India

[@raghuls1515]

Especially from tamil country..

[@Aakashputtur]

@@raghuls1515 dumil country?

[@raghuls1515]

@@Aakashputtur vantheris

[@Aakashputtur]

@@raghuls1515 dumil konga, where is my idli sambar order?

[@raghuls1515]

@@Aakashputtur off springs of tamils 😂

[@vj_great551]

Although elephants will be a force to reckon with, continued exposure of the enemies to them in battlefield can negate their effectiveness. Like how romans learnt to evade elephant charge.from Hannibal. Elephant unlike horses can't be trained effectively and after taking enough punishment will turn on its rider

[@nunyabiznes33]

Maybe just make them mobile artillery?

[@IndoManiac90]

Its also worth pointing out that indian people were the first in the entire world to tame elephants, thats pretty damn impressive

[@roccopecori8446]

Riding on war elephants must have been the closest thing in real life to riding a war mech

[@chiranjitsaha3140]

You described Indian war tactics better than Indians.

[@aneeshprasobhan]

i think he is ( at least ethnically)

[@srikarnv9834]

Thanku for recognising our indian talent.

[@kasrajafari1060]

Iranian king "Nader Shah" attacked India several times and in one of his battles against Indians, he used camels to scare war elephants. He ordered to put iron pots on the camels' back and fill them with fire and hot oil. Camels suffering from the burning hot pots began to scream and shout and running toward the war elephants. This tactic caused Indian war elephants to fear and attack friendly units, thus an easy win for the Iranians.

[@agentopaque3776]

This was originally used by Tamerlane in his invasion of the Delhi Sultanate Yeah camels frightened elephants heck even the Achaemenids used camels to scare horses as the scent of a camel was new to them which caused them to flee and throw off their riders

[@johnreese5230]

At that time, muhammad shah ruled the moghul empire of delhi. He was an incapable general, did not know how to utilize his weapons properly and could not keep his commanders and armies united. More than the elephants, it was the ineffective moghul king that made the persian shah's victory easier

[@dr.renukrajmedegarpp7603]

Chalukya quen Naayaki devi difeated Ghori with her elephant army.

[@Edward4Plantagenet]

Looter Nadir Shah & his pets.

[@adrianbelko7683]

Indians ? No, Nader Shah fought the Timurid Turks of Delhi, popularly known as Mughal nowadays, they were themselves outsiders, they never really spoke the contemporary Hindustani language, but the extinct chagatai language of Turkic language family

[@tathagatasinharoy3332]

Amazed by your detailed knowledge of Indian history. You earned a subscriber today, keep up the good work.

[@OddCompass]

Thanks 🙏🏽

[@KunalSingh-kq9tk]

Worth studying war horse manoeuvres vis a vis battle elephant. Battle of Haldighati, where Rana Pratap’s horse charged his cousin Man Singh’s elephant.

[@subhadramahanta452]

Thanks a lot fpr making the video, you explained it so beautifully!

[@puviyarasu_]

aright I've found a new channel to binge.

[@braunarsch]

this is awesome! as an indian it's awesome to see history through the eyes of a non-indian :) cheers dude! subsrcibed!

[@OddCompass]

Thanks! I'm actually Indian-American, but I suppose that gives me a different perspective as well haha. I appreciate the kind words!

[@braunarsch]

@@OddCompass nice! It's good to see some fresh videos on some of the lesser mentioned kingdoms like the cholas and vijayanagara. Good stuff dude! Keep it comin, we need more south Indian representation in KZbin videos 😁

[@OddCompass]

@MisterBraun Haha, will do! I'm excited for all the different topics that I still have to cover -- and agreed, South India deserves proper representation

[@BrokeBillionare]

Hey odd compass! Can you do a video on the army logistics and composition. Most of the history go through kings or heroes in Indian history. I would be really interested in that. Let me know when you set patreon support because this could involve extensive research.

[@OddCompass]

That’s an interesting topic! I’ll definitely keep it in mind (might be able to tackle it as part of a video on a more militarily aggressive empire, like the Rasthrakutas?). I’m waiting a little while before setting up a patreon, but thanks for the awesome support! Liking and sharing is more than enough for now :)

[@OddCompass]

I see -- good to know! It's unfortunate that Indian history is missing so many details that we take for granted with other histories :(

[@tylerdurden3722]

I was also wondering about the logistical nightmares of supplying 6000 elephants with 70-150 litres of water and 150-300 kilograms of food....each. That's 1.3 to 2.7 million tons of supplies, per day, for 6000 elephants. Seleucus marched 500 elephants from India to Anatolia through some challenging terrain. Must of been quite a feat of logistics.

[@TritiumCupcakes]

Omg how do you not have millions of subscribers! Keep it up!

[@vikash.s8523]

This is the kind of history i would have really loved to have in my high school history classes

[@FakeDelTaco]

The problem was that they were overused. They should have been deployed as a small, but important part of larger formations, with defined roles, interlocking tactics and layers of redundancy.

[@GeDiceMan]

Alexander the Great: THE WORLD IS MINE TO CONQUER!!! Indian War Elephants:

[@leandergabriel6542]

Indian war elephants didn't defeat him. The stinky flies and mosquitos from India did.

[@anuragg-p8k]

Alexander and his minion Greeks ran away after seeing 6 ‘ 3” tall sturdy soldiers of Porus in Punjab and war elephants 😂😂❤

[@rockomax1491]

Great quality content. Love it!

[@OddCompass]

Thank you!

[@the_number_one]

9:40 I was sure this would follow about Rajaditya --> Just before the timeline of the hit Tamil film series "Ponniyin Selvan". That single lucky arrow shot, appropriated by the prince! 10:40 "Yaanaiyil thunjiya devar" - King who died on elephant. Rajendra Chola II was experienced enough to turn around the battle and reduce opponent's city to a rubble ("Yaanaiyil thunjiya devar" - referenced in the "Ponniyin Selvan" film too, where a young Rajaraja/Arunmozhi instructs an elephant to swing an opponent with its trunk and throw to kill him) 13:30 Alcohol and drugs before battle? This explains the two hundred years of continuous defeat to the Cholas, LOL

[@JacobTheIndoAmerican]

Excellent. Chinese monk recorded armored elephants and tusk blades used in the Harsha army.

[@OddCompass]

Yeah, the poison-coated tusk blades sound like something out of a nightmare!

[@Someone-uu9xv]

9:38 Battle of Takkolam Atakur inscription of Krishna III and Butuga II - A.D. 949-50 The Subsidiary Record at the Top of the Stone. (Line. 20) - At the time when Kannaradeva (Krishna III) was fighting against the Chola, Butuga (II.), while embracing Rajaditya, treacherously stabbed him with a dagger, and thus fought and killed him; and Kannaradeva gave to Butuga, in token of approbation, the Banavase twelve thousand, the Belvola three-hundred, the Purigere three-hundred, the Kisukad seventy, and the Bagenad seventy. Source: Epigraphia Indica Vol. VI (p57)

[@OddCompass]

Hmm - I wonder if that is after or before his elephant was downed? Thanks for the interesting info 👍

[@Someone-uu9xv]

@@OddCompass I don't remember exactly where I read But from what I remember Rajaditya was winning the war so Krishna send Butuga to Cholas for peace talk and when Rajaditya came to Krishna camp he was stabbed by Butuga. And while escaping he was shot to death on top of the Elephant.

[@OddCompass]

Cool! I’ll have to look into it, seems like a fascinating story

[@RoyalClanAoe]

This Video is really well done!!!! Can you cover Rajputs and Gurkhas as well.

[@ogchirag]

I like your content. The amount of love and effort you put in these videos is admirable.

[@daedalus2726]

I just found this channel from Useful Charts, loving the production quality for such a small channel! Out if curiosity, which of the sources did you get the info on elephant weaponry (flails, rams, etc.) from? I'm interested in doing a bit if research into it myself since I haven't seen much on the topic before.

[@OddCompass]

Hey, thanks for checking out the channel, glad you’re enjoying it! I don’t recall which of my sources specifically talks about those weapons, but I’d probably start with the Sri Lanka and Ghaznavid ones. There are additional citations there that are more general and will give you a nice intro into armor and arms!

[@rohithram1762]

This is how we indians got our philosophy and culture!!!!!

[@lintoppthomas]

WoW great explanation with details....Indian empire history retold like never before...

[@OddCompass]

Thank you very much!

[@kathleenchaffin2591]

I learned so much! Thank you from Michigan USA

[@ashwindeva7111]

The cholas especially princess have wide knowledge about elephats and their behaviours. Infact raja Raja chola was saved by his elephant from a plot. He is wise such that he can talk to elephant and made it to behave like a pet dog. Infact they carried thousands of elephants by ships to srivijaya for a war

[@rishi.girdhar]

Loved the graphics and story-telling. Well done and keep it up.

[@Jabbersac]

Another great video! One small quibble - you're mispronouncing "berserk". Generally the emphasis is on the second syllable.

[@OddCompass]

Haha whoops -- one of those mistakes I didn't even realize I was making!

[@trishitmukherjee5552]

Excellent video as usual. Great explanation.!! :-)

[@OddCompass]

Thanks for your comment, Trishit -- cheers!

[@tarvalslain87tfk22]

Funny how mythical chinese 3 kingdom have more recognition than real history.

[@NghiaNguyen-rw1vi]

3 kingdoms are real but vastly exaggerated

[@voidvector]

Cause it's one of those stories that's super easy to make into video games -- multiple factions, each with strength and weakness, relatively famous characters (even googleable for English speakers). It is really hard to do that for most other classics from East or West. Shakespeare? Grimm's fairy tales? Arabian nights? Good luck making video game with any of those.

[@riseALK]

@@voidvector Hmm Arabian Nights video game, may be not action but some genre can be possible, then success depends on the popularity of the genre as well. I will like to see some attempts in this, cos of fun stories in that collection.

[@Legendaryium]

@@voidvector maby when a chinese game company makes a videogame for the chinese market. i am european and i love history, yet i know practicly nothing about chines or indian history before 1800's. Im not sure how that market is progessing at the momen tho. Are you chinese? if so, do you know anything about gameculture in china?

[@voidvector]

@@Legendaryium the most famous 3 kingdom video game I know -- Dynasty Warriors -- is actually made by Japanese. I don't know Chinese video game scene. I don't live in China

[@enslavedcontent]

Now this is why indian servants are the best heroic spirits

[@malikshabazz2065]

great video

[@emperorofgondar]

armoured elephant: I'm a living terror machine, nothing can stop me! A random burning pig boi: HELO.

[@HikmaHistory]

The first thing I think of is Timur's strategy against the elephants, genius!

[@OddCompass]

It’s so fascinating how some societies stagnate due to the calcification of existing norms (i.e., over reliance on war elephants), giving innovative thinkers an opportunity to take advantage.

[@HikmaHistory]

@@OddCompass "Calcification of existing norms" - that's a great way of putting it.

[@ShivamKumar-wf5db]

I think Indian history is underrated in India

[@SpaceMonkeyBoi]

Who needs those war dinosaurs from the 90s when you have heroin overdosed elephants of death?

[@Sandipan_Mondal_Indian]

Thank you for making videos on India.....,❤️❤️

[@mathieuleader8601]

reminds me of those elephants from LOTR

[@OddCompass]

Yeah, I can see the resemblance!