Thread by @Scion_of_Shekha

The War Elephant-2 part
The Mahabharata mentions the use of elephants in battle as 2nd preferred vehicle of the warriors.

Yudhistir, Bheema, Duryodhan, Vikarna, Bagdhatta, Saibya are some who are shown riding Elephant in battle.
Arjuna also knew how fight from elephant back.

The samyutta nikaya mentions a “hattharoho gamani’s” visit to budha. He is a head of village and by profession mercenary soldier of Elephant corp. the epics "NIkayas" and "Vinaya" assign proper place to elephant in army organization.

Each kingdom had its own elephant corps headed by a commander or superintendent

King Bimbisara (c. 543 BCE) relied heavily on his war elephants.

Alexandra returned back after hearing great number of Nanda army which also had 6,000 elephants.

Chandragupta Maurya, had about 9,000 elephants.
there was a different board that looked after the elephants that was headed by Gajadhyaksha he was the superintendent of elephants corps. The use of elephants in the Maurya Empire as recorded by Chanakya in the Arthashastra..

catching, training, and controlling war elephants was one of the most important skills the military academies taught. The best time to catch a wild elephant was summer, then elephant was taught how to run, jump over obstacle, roll over & move in formation with other elephants.

It would also learn how to destroy and trample horses, chariot and men and fight with enemy elephants and how to attack forts.

Every kingdom had elephant but kalinga Elephant were much prized and were in demand in other state. Hiuen Tsang has also mentioned about dark colored elephants of Kalinga.

Heavy iron chains with steel balls at the end were tied to their trunks, which the animals were trained to swirl menacingly and with great skill. Numerous cultures designed specialized armor for elephants.