Most Ancient Indian battlefield depictions featured war elephants. Of course, it wasn't called India then and they were multiple warring princely states under d

Most Ancient Indian battlefield depictions featured war elephants. Of course, it wasn't called India then and they were multiple warring princely states under dynastic rule. The Tamil phrase ரத, கஜ, துரக, பதாதிகள் refers to Chariots, Elephants, Cavalry, Infantry respectively and is used in several fictional descriptions of antique battlefields. The historical fiction novel, Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki (written in mid 20th century) about the Chola dynasty (circa 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE) has this exact phrase appearing in Volume 1, Chapter 19. > காத தூரத்துக்குக் காததூரம் ரணகளம் பரவியிருந்தது. ரத, கஜ, துரக, பதாதிகள் என்னும் நாலுவகைப் படைகளும் போரில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்தன (trans: The bloody battlefield was spread out over four square miles. Chariots, Elephants, Cavalry, Infantry--all four forces were fighting the battle) In Tamil classical literature, there is a verse form called பரணி (Parani). The literal meaning of this verse form is: > ஆனை ஆயிரம் அமரிடை வென்ற மானவனுக்கு வகுப்பது பரணி.(இலக்.வி. 839) i.e., A song in praise of a warrior who fought and won a thousand elephants in battle. There is a 12th century poem titled கலிங்கத்துப்பரணி (Kalinga's Parani/Verse) written by செயங்கொண்டார் (Jeyamkondaar). It was customary to give the name of the defeated as the title of the verse. This one was the defeat of the Kalinga ruler Anantavarman by the Chola king Kulothunka Chola. Hence the name. This poem also mentions war elephants. References: கலிங்கத்துப்பரணி: https://ta.wikipedia.org/s/62z https://ta.wikipedia.org/s/62z ரத கஜ துரக பதாதிகள்: https://ta.wiktionary.org/s/twc https://ta.wiktionary.org/s/twc