Indian war elephant

Timeline

1. 1251Delhi · DelhiThe Delhi Sultanate's army carried on the indigenous Indian tradition of elephant warfare, with court mahouts managing elephant breeding grounds; war elephants were armored and carried wooden towers for archers to fight from. Elephant corps were mixed with Turkic-Afghan cavalry and Indian infantry, forming the sultanate's mobile force for foreign campaigns and suppressing rebellions.
2. 1251Tamil Nadu · Tamil NaduLate Chola and southern Indian polities such as the Pandyas and Hoysalas still maintained large elephant forces. Southern elephant troops were used mainly in sieges, defense, and jungle warfare, tactically emphasizing flanking maneuvers by elephant herds in coordination with chariots and infantry phalanxes, forming a regional contrast with the cavalry charge patterns of northern India.
3. 1255–1260Punjab and Sindh frontier · IndiaAfter Mongol forces invaded Punjab in the 1240s, northern Indian polities strengthened coordinated elephant and infantry defenses. War elephants were deployed at the center of the line to slow cavalry charges; though of limited effect against mobile Mongol light horse, they remained the most distinctive heavy arm of South Asian armies against steppe invaders.