Magadhan Empire

The Magadhan Empire was an ancient historical power based in Magadha. It was established by Bimbisara of the Haryanka dynasty in . It was ruled by the Shaishunga dynasty, Nanda dynasty, Maurya dynasty, Shunga dynasty and the Kanva dynasty. 

 Military 
 Nanda dynasty 
According to Curtius, Alexander learned that Agrammes had 200,000 infantry; 20,000 cavalry; 3,000 elephants; and 2,000 four-horse chariots. Diodorus gives the number of elephants as 4,000. Plutarch inflates these numbers significantly, except the infantry: according to him, the Nanda force included 200,000 infantry; 80,000 cavalry; 6,000 elephants; and 8,000 chariots. It is possible that the numbers reported to Alexander had been exaggerated by the local Indian population, who had the incentive to mislead the invaders. 

 Maurya dynasty 
According to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants besides followers and attendants.

A vast espionage system collected intelligence for both internal and external security purposes. 

 References