We began this week’s class by talking about the different ways in which people around the the world used animals to fight battles in war. Indians used elephants for war because it instilled fear in their opponents and made it easier for them to intimidate the enemies. According to me, it’s interesting to see how overtime, the decline in using elephants and horses to fight in wars was because of the fast growth of weaponry and firearms.

We then spoke about the Nanda empire which was ruled by King Nanda. After listening to the story about the rise of the Mauryan empire due to Chandragupta and Chanakya rise to power, I was fascinated by the tactics they used to do so and the way the idea came to Chanakya. I learned that the idea came to him when a mother told him about how her son drinks his soup from the side and then goes to the middle of the bowl. This made Chanakya realise that he has to start off from the corners of the empire, collecting allies and forming alliances in order to take down King Nanda.

A method of living that has always excited me, whether its in James Bond movies, or any detective film, is how people use poison as a way to kill themselves. I learned about how the Vishkanyas use to consume a small dose of poison everyday to increase and better their immunity to it, and how some people of the army, when captured would consume larger amounts of the dosage to die instead of being held hostage by the enemy. Its interesting for me to see how these tactics have been occurring for years and how well this tactic has stuck to us till date.