The elephant armour of the Rajput warrior clans of India

This remarkable elephant armor, last used in the 16th century by the Rajput warrior clans of India, has a storied history. Armored elephants were first documented by Megasthenes’ indica, who described Alexander the Great and Seleucus being awed by these mighty beasts during their battle with King Porus in 326 BC.

In 326 BC, the army of Alexander approached the boundaries of the Nanda Empire. His army, exhausted from the continuous campaigning and concerned at the prospect of facing yet another gigantic Indian army, demanded that they should return to the west.

One of the reasons why he did not advanced more inside India was Dhana Nanda’s formidable force which had 200,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 2,000 four-horsed chariots and 3,000 armoured elephants. So it is safe to say that these kinds of armoured elephants were in use from at least 326 BC (documented) to 16th century.