The Oath of the Vayuputras: Shiva Trilogy 3

Chapter 30

Battle of Devagiri

Sati sat on a tall wooden platform that had been constructed for her, behind the cavalry line. It gave her a panoramic view of the entire field and the city of Devagiri in the distance. She watched the city where she had spent most of her life, which she had once called home. A nostalgic corner of her heart longed to be able to revel in its quiet, sober efficiency and understated culture. To worship at the temple of Lord Agni, the purifying Fire God, a ritual she had adhered to as a Vikarma, an ostracised carrier of bad fate. Despite being so close, she couldn’t even enter it now to meet her mother. She shook her head. This was no time for sentimentality. She had to focus.

Sati checked her horse, which had been tethered to the platform base. Nandi and Veerbhadra waited next to the platform, mounted on their stallions. They had been designated her personal bodyguards.

Sati knew this would be a difficult period – the time till Shiva returned with Ganesh’s army. She had to keep her soldiers in war readiness, and yet, avoid war. As any general knows, this can sometimes breed restless irritability amongst the troops.

Her attention was pulled away as she detected some movement in the far distance. She couldn’t believe what she saw. The main gate of the Tamra or bronze platform of Devagiri was being opened.

What are they doing? Why would the Meluhans step out into the open? They are outnumbered!

‘Steady!’ ordered Sati. ‘Everyone remain in their positions! We will not be provoked into launching an attack!’

Messengers below immediately relayed the orders to all the brigade commanders. It was important for Sati’s soldiers to remain in line. As long as they did, it was almost impossible to beat them. It was especially crucial that the elephant line, at the periphery of Sati’s formation, held position. They were the bulwark of her defence.

Sati continued to watch the small contingent of Meluhan soldiers marching out of Devagiri, perhaps no more than a brigade. As soon as they were out, the city gates were shut behind them.

Is it a suicide squad? For what purpose...

The Meluhan soldiers kept marching slowly towards Sati’s position. She watched their progress, intrigued. Perched at a height, she soon observed that the soldiers were being followed by carts that were being pulled laboriously by oxen.

What do these thousand foot-soldiers hope to achieve? And what is in those carts?

As the Meluhans drew close to the hill, she saw that many of the soldiers carried long weapons in their left hands.

Archers.

She instantly knew what was about to happen, as she saw them stop. They even had a strong wind supporting them. The Meluhans had clearly planned this for when the winds would work in their favour. She knew the elements well in these parts and realised immediately that her archers would not have the pleasure of giving as much as receiving.

‘Shields!’ shouted Sati. ‘Incoming arrows!’

But the archers were too far. They had clearly overestimated the wind. The arrows barely reached Sati’s forces. The strong wind, though advantageous for the Meluhans, was not working to Sati’s benefit. She couldn’t reply to the Meluhan volley of arrows in kind with her own archers. She saw the Meluhans inch closer, lugging ox-drawn carts behind the archers. In all her years, Sati had never seen ox-drawn carts being used in warfare.

Sati frowned. What in Lord Ram’s name can oxen do against elephants? What is Pitratulya doing?

Sati was clear that she did not want to test General Parvateshwar’s strategy today. It was admittedly tempting because this small contingent would be wiped out in minutes if she sent her elephants. However, she smelt a trap and did not want to leave the high ground. She knew what had to be done: hold position till Shiva returned. She did not want to fight. Not today.

Having moved even closer, the Meluhan archers loaded their arrows again.

‘Shields!’ ordered Sati.

This time the arrows hit the shields at the right end of Sati’s formation. Having tested the range, the Meluhan archers moved once again.

The Meluhans probably have some secret weapon that they are not absolutely sure about. The ox-drawn carts may have some role to play in it. They want to provoke some of my men into charging at them so that they can test their weapon.

The upshot was obvious. If her army refused to get provoked, no battle would take place. All the animals in her army were well-armoured. The soldiers had massive shields, prepared in defence for the very arrow attack that the Meluhans were attempting right now. Despite two showers of arrows, her army had not suffered a single casualty. There was nothing to gain by breaking formation. And, nothing to lose by staying in formation.

Sati also figured that since the enemy had already come close, ordering her own archers to shoot arrows now may prove counter-productive. The ox-drawn carts were not manned. A volley of arrows may well drive the animals crazy, making them charge in any direction, perhaps even at her own army, along with whatever evil they carried in the carts. She had a better idea. She instructed her messengers to tell a cavalry squad to ride out from behind the hill she was positioned on, thus hiding their movement, and go around to an adjoining hill towards the west. She wanted them to launch a flanking attack from behind the crest of that hill, surprise and decimate the Meluhan archers as well as drive the oxen away. All she had to do was wait for the Meluhans to move a little closer to her position. Then, she could have them blind-sided with her cavalry charge.

Sati shouted out her orders once again. ‘Be calm! Hold the line! They cannot hurt us if we remain in formation.’

The Meluhan archers, having moved closer, arched their bows and fired once again.

‘Shields!’

Sati’s army was ready. Though the arrows reached right up to the centre of her army, not one soldier was injured. The Meluhans held their bows to their sides and prepared to draw nearer once again, this time a little tentatively.

They’re nervous now. They know their plan is not working.

‘What the hell!’ growled an angry Vasudev elephant-rider as he turned to his partner. ‘They are a puny brigade with oxen, against our entire army. Why doesn’t General Sati allow us to attack?’

‘Because she is not a Vasudev,’ spat out the partner. ‘She doesn’t know how to fight.’

‘My Lords,’ said the mahout to the riders, ‘our orders are to follow the General’s orders.’

The Vasudev turned in irritation to the mahout. ‘Did I ask you for your opinion? Your order is to only follow my orders!’

The mahout immediately fell silent as the distant shout of the brigadier’s herald came through. ‘Shields!’

Another volley of arrows. Again, no casualties.

‘Enough of this nonsense!’ barked one of the elephant-riders. ‘We’re Kshatriyas! We’re not supposed to cower like cowardly Brahmins! We’re supposed to fight!’

Sati saw a few elephants on the far right of her formation, the ones that were the closest to the Meluhan brigade, begin to rumble out.

‘Hold the line!’ shouted Sati. ‘Nobody will break formation!’

The messengers carried forward the orders to the other end of the field immediately. The elephants were pulled back into formation by their mahouts.

‘Nandi,’ said Sati, looking down. ‘Ride out to that end and tell those idiots to remain in formation!’

‘Yes, My Lady,’ said Nandi, saluting.

‘Wait!’ said Sati, as she saw the Meluhan archers loading another set of arrows. ‘Wait out this volley and then go.’

The order of ‘shields!’ was relayed again and the arrows clanged harmlessly against the raised barriers. None of Sati’s soldiers were injured.

As Sati put her shield down and looked up, she was horrified. Twenty elephants on the right had charged out recklessly.

‘The fools!’ yelled Sati, as she jumped onto her horse from the platform.

She galloped forward to cover the breach opened up by the recklessly charging elephants, closely followed by Veerbhadra and Nandi. While passing by the cavalry line, she ordered the reserve cavalry to follow her. Within a few minutes, Sati had stationed herself in the position left open by the Vasudev elephants that had charged out of formation.

‘Stay here!’ Sati ordered the soldiers behind her as she raised her hand.

She could see her elephants sprinting forward in the distance, goaded on by their mahouts, bellowing loudly. The Meluhan archers stood their ground bravely and shot another round.

The order resonated through Sati’s army. ‘Shields!’

The Vasudev elephant-riders screamed loudly as they crashed into the archers. ‘Jai Shri Ram!’

The elephants swung their powerful trunks, tied to which were strong metallic balls. Meluhan soldiers were flung far and wide with the powerful swings. The few who remained were crushed under giant feet. Within just a few moments of this butchery, the archers began retreating.

Though it appeared as if the twenty Vasudev elephants were smashing the Meluhan archers to bits, Sati shuddered with foreboding as she felt a chill run down her spine. She screamed loudly, even though she knew that the elephant-riders couldn’t hear her.

‘Come back, you fools!’

The Vasudev elephant-riders though, were on a roll. Encouraged by the easy victory, they goaded their mahouts to keep the elephants moving forward.

‘Charge!’

The elephant-riders primed their main weapon, pulling the levers on the flame throwers. Long, spear-like flames burst forth from the howdahs. The riders positioned the weapon, aiming for maximum effect as they crashed into the next line of Meluhans.

The elephants continued dashing forward, seeing the ox-drawn carts farther ahead. And then the tide turned. The retreating Meluhan archers spun around with arrows that had been set on fire, aiming straight for their own carts. The dry and volatile dung cakes on the carts had been mixed with chilli, and caught fire immediately. The startled oxen, sensing the blaze somewhere behind them, ran forward in panic, towards the advancing elephants.

It was the mahouts who had the first inkling that something was wrong. Attuned deeply to the beasts, they could sense their innate distress. Goaded on by the fiery elephant-riders behind them though, they continued to press their elephants ahead. Soon the contents on the carts were completely aflame, letting out a thick, acrid smoke. But the elephant-riders were too committed to the charge. They rode straight into the blinding smoke.

As soon as the smoke hit them, the elephants shrieked desperately. The mahouts recognised the smell.

Chilli!

‘Retreat!’ screamed a mahout.

‘No!’ shouted back a belligerent elephant-rider. ‘We have them! Crush the oxen. Move forward!’

But the elephants were already in a state of frenzied panic. They turned from the source of their discomfort and ran. The hysterical oxen, with the fires burning hard on the carts, continued their frantic sprint forward as though to elude the blaze.

Sati could see the developing situation unfolding from the distance. Whatever the oxen were carrying was making the pachyderms hysterical. Within a matter of a few minutes the oxen would reach her remaining outer elephant line and spread the panic deep into her force. She saw a fire arrow being shot from the gates of Devagiri as they opened once again. The Meluhans could see their strategy was working and were committing themselves to a full attack. Her worst fears were confirmed as she saw the Meluhan cavalry thunder out of the Devagiri gates. The city was ten kilometres away, and she knew she had the luxury of some time before they reached her position. Her immediate concern was the oncoming oxen that could make all the Vasudev elephants charge madly back into her own force.

Turning back, she shouted out to her herald, ‘Tell the lines at the back to retreat to the boats. NOW!’

She ordered the remaining elephant line to disband and escape southwards immediately. If the ox-driven carts reached the line of the lumbering animals and managed to spread panic among the hundreds of elephants under her command, her army would get destroyed completely by her own pachyderms.

She then ordered her cavalry forward.

‘Charge at these beasts moving towards us! We have to deflect them on to a different path! We need time for our soldiers to retreat!’

Her cavalry drew their swords and roared: ‘Har Har Mahadev!’

‘Har Har Mahadev!’ bellowed Sati, as she drew her sword and charged forward.

Sati’s skilled cavalry kept up a steady volley of arrows as they drew near the elephants and oxen. While this did deflect many of the oxen away from Sati’s army, the elephants continued their headlong charge. Many of the elephant howdahs had transformed into hell-holes, emitting fire continuously. The shocked elephant-riders, sitting atop the berserk animals, had fallen on some of their flame-throwers, breaking the levers.

Moments later, Sati’s cavalry fearlessly charged headlong into her retreating elephants, riding expertly to avoid the wildly swinging trunks and metallic balls. They needed to bring their own elephants down. This required riding up close from behind and slashing the beasts’ hamstrings, thus making their rear legs collapse. But this was easier said than done, with the malfunctioning flame-throwers spewing a continuous stream of fire. Sati bravely led her section of the cavalry in pursuit of the task at hand. Since there were only twenty elephants, they were brought down quickly. But not before many of the cavalrymen had lost their lives, some crushed, many burnt by the flame-throwers. Sati herself had had her face scorched on one side.

In the meantime, the rest of Sati’s cavalry had managed to redirect all the charging oxen through the skilled use of spears and arrows. The bulls were still charging, panic-stricken with the burning carts tethered to them, but to the west and safely away from the rest of Sati’s elephant corps. Sati looked back to the east, where many of her foot soldiers were already sailing out to the safety of the ships. Her cautious planning had ensured that a large number of rowboats had been kept ready for just such an eventuality.

But this would prove to be a minor victory, before absolute disaster. The Meluhan cavalry had been riding hard towards the battlefield, making good time. And, as the oxen stampeded away, the Meluhan riders charged into Sati’s cavalry.

Swords clashed.

Sati’s cavalry had numbered three thousand riders and was evenly matched with the Meluhans. But her riders had just emerged from a bruising encounter with the panic-stricken elephants and oxen. Their numbers had come down and their strength was already sapped. However, Sati knew that retreat was not an option. She had to battle on for a little longer so that all her foot soldiers could get away to the safety of the ships.

Then Sati heard the sounds of the elephants once again.

She killed the Meluhan in front of her and looked behind.

‘Lord Ram, be merciful!’

Some of the elephant corps that she had ordered south were now thundering back. The elephants were trumpeting desperately, with fire spewing in all directions. The mahouts had already fallen off, leaving the animals totally out of control. Behind the elephants, were charging oxen with burning carts tethered to them.

The Meluhans had, in a brilliant strategic move ordered by Parvateshwar, kept another corps of ox-driven carts, laden with chilli-laced dung cakes, to the south of Sati’s position. These carts had slipped out of Devagiri the previous evening, disguised as agricultural produce transport. Since Sati had not besieged the city, but only camped close to it, they only attacked armament transport and let non-lethal materials travel freely in and out of Devagiri. The reason was very obvious: a full siege would have committed too many soldiers and possibly even provoked a battle. Sati had wanted to avoid that. Little did Sati’s Chandravanshi scouts realise that even dung and agricultural produce could be lethal for them.

As the elephants had charged towards these carts, they had also been set on fire. And, as expected, these retreating elephants turned around in alarm and charged back into the battlefield.

Sati was in a bind. The Meluhan cavalry was in front and a huge horde of charging, panic-stricken elephants spewing fire was behind her.

‘Retreat!’ yelled Sati.

Her cavalry disengaged and galloped towards the river. Fortunately for them, the Meluhan cavalry did not give chase. Alarmed by the sight of the terrified elephants speeding towards them, they turned around and rode towards the safety of their walls.

Many among Sati’s horsemen were trampled or burned down by the rampaging elephants. Some of the riders managed to reach the river and rode into the waters without a second’s hesitation. The horses swam desperately towards the ships, carrying their riders with them to safety. Many though, sank into the Saraswati under the weight of their light armour. Sati, Veerbhadra and Nandi were among the lucky few who managed to reach the vessels.

While most of the foot soldiers had been saved, the elephant and cavalry corps had been decimated. Memories of the elephants’ killer blows in the battle of Mrittikavati were quickly forgotten as the magnitude of the disaster the animals had wreaked sank in.

Chenardhwaj, who was in charge of the ships, quickly ordered that they retreat, as soon as the last of the surviving soldiers was onboard. Without the protection of the land army, their stationary navy was a sitting duck for further attacks.