How to feed an Indian army?

Jens Nordlunde · 3rd November 2018, 06:39 PM

I am now and again wondering about the TONS of food an army needed. Lets take a medium army – 30,000 men on horse, 60,000 men on foot, 500 elephants, camels, bullocks, donkies and all the followers (often said to be of the same number as the army). I dont know how much an elephant or a horse eats and drinks each day – but it must be a lot – not to speak about the soldiers and the followers. Think also when a fort was sieged, most of them had limited room for storring a lot of food, and what about the water?
I am at the moment reading Jonathan Scott’s book about Deccan (the part Ferishta wrote), and what seldom is mentioned in other book is mentioned here, that the armies got ‘intelligence’ about the other armies – so they had a lot of spies. Also that it often happened that one army raided the other armies supplies – that must have been a disaster. When you have a lot of elephants and bullocks the moving speed must have been very limited so to move from Delhi to Deccan would have taken quite some time.
To day I read that a certain camp in Deccan (about 1450 AD) covered ten miles – just imagine to get an urgent message from one end to another.

Ok I have cheated – I have Goggled. An elephant eats about 200-600 pounds pr day, and drinks about 50 gallons of water. A horse eats 15-20 pounds of hey pr day, and drinks 5-10 gallons of water pr day. This may be understated, as Google speaks of wild animals (I think), and working animals would have a need for more food – not to speak about the camels, bullocks, donkies, the soldiers and the followers. The soldiers and the followers would need maybe half a gallon of water and at least half a pound of food each day - or more likely one pound of food.

Add to this that an elephant moves at a speed of 15 miles pr day - likely depending on the quality of the roads.
You may say that both armies had the same problems, which is true – but still.
Both armies must have had real problems with their delivery lines if they were cut.

3rd November 2018, 06:39 PM	#1
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	How to feed an Indian army? I am now and again wondering about the TONS of food an army needed. Lets take a medium army – 30,000 men on horse, 60,000 men on foot, 500 elephants, camels, bullocks, donkies and all the followers (often said to be of the same number as the army). I dont know how much an elephant or a horse eats and drinks each day – but it must be a lot – not to speak about the soldiers and the followers. Think also when a fort was sieged, most of them had limited room for storring a lot of food, and what about the water? I am at the moment reading Jonathan Scott’s book about Deccan (the part Ferishta wrote), and what seldom is mentioned in other book is mentioned here, that the armies got ‘intelligence’ about the other armies – so they had a lot of spies. Also that it often happened that one army raided the other armies supplies – that must have been a disaster. When you have a lot of elephants and bullocks the moving speed must have been very limited so to move from Delhi to Deccan would have taken quite some time. To day I read that a certain camp in Deccan (about 1450 AD) covered ten miles – just imagine to get an urgent message from one end to another. Ok I have cheated – I have Goggled. An elephant eats about 200-600 pounds pr day, and drinks about 50 gallons of water. A horse eats 15-20 pounds of hey pr day, and drinks 5-10 gallons of water pr day. This may be understated, as Google speaks of wild animals (I think), and working animals would have a need for more food – not to speak about the camels, bullocks, donkies, the soldiers and the followers. The soldiers and the followers would need maybe half a gallon of water and at least half a pound of food each day - or more likely one pound of food. Add to this that an elephant moves at a speed of 15 miles pr day - likely depending on the quality of the roads. You may say that both armies had the same problems, which is true – but still. Both armies must have had real problems with their delivery lines if they were cut.