Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
Thats plausible, once the Indians sustained some defeats at the hands of the Greek/Makedonian military system they may well have adapted to meet the challenge.
Actually, the macedonian system didn't change the Indian system all too much. The opposite happened rather. The Indo-Greek kingdoms gave up all their rigid pike system and equipped their greek units with hoplite style short spears, so that they could be mobile. Pike Phalanxes are excellent targets for armoured elephants you see. Slow moving armoured infantry is very problematic in the subcontinent. There is a reason why armies were always elephant and later cavalry oriented with infantry playing a supportive role, traditionally in the form of ranged support. It was only much later at the time of the Kushans, and the Saka, that cavalry was used extensively by any subcontinental power. Seleucus also tried to secure the territory beyond the Hindu Kush after Chandragupta established himself, it ened up with him ceding Gedrosia, and Achroasia(sp?). So it cannot be said that the phalanx was superior to the Indian method of war.