YUDDHA is going on a mid-season break as Anirudh and Aditya are struggling with a sudden invasion of responsibilities from their day jobs (and Anirudh's very exciting first book!) More in this brief episode. YUDDHA is made possible thanks to the support of the Takshashila Institution and the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation. Notes and sources will be available at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com - sign up for updates! You can follow Anirudh on Twitter @AKanisetti and...

YUDDHA is going on a mid-season break as Anirudh and Aditya are struggling with a sudden invasion of responsibilities from their day jobs - we'll be back on December 1st! More in this brief episode. YUDDHA is made possible thanks to the support of the Takshashila Institution and the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation. Notes and sources will be available at https://www.anirudhkanisetti.com - sign up for updates! You can follow Anirudh on Twitter @AKanisetti and Instagram...

By the time of the Battle of Haldighati in 1576, the Mughals had consolidated their power over a large swathe of North India. Yet, the desire for further conquests never waned. As the Mughals transformed from a war band into an empire, their armies also mutated into gigantic earth-shaking beasts. Yet it required deft politics and a complex bureaucracy to build and maintain this massive war machine. The Mughals may have made war, but war in turn, made the Mughal state. YUDDHA is made possible...

It is the unlikeliest of stories. In 1540, Humayun was out of luck and on the run, while Sher Shah was victorious. Barely fifteen years later, Sher Shah was dead in a freak accident and his empire was in chaos. The Mughals returned to the plains of Hindustan with a renewed fury. But it was Humayun’s brilliant young son, Akbar, that would bring fire and death to his enemies and create a world-changing empire. Check out our discussion on the mysterious Rajput warlord Silhadi...

The establishment of the Mughal empire was by no means inevitable. In the 1530s and 40s, Farid, the grandson of a horse trader and daughter of an Afghan father and Rajput mother, would drive out Babur's heir, Humayun, and establish one of the most remarkable Indian polities: the Sur Empire. Join us as we explore his brilliant, ruthless career, witnessing how he innovated his way from humble beginnings to become the most powerful man in Hindustan: remembered today as Sher Shah. YUDDHA is made...

How did a small-time Central Asian warlord defeat the vast army of the Delhi Sultanate? Join us as we explore the turbulent, syncretic culture of North India in the 15th century, witness the growing ambitions of the Timurid prince Babur, and his finest hour at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. YUDDHA is made possible thanks to the support of the Takshashila Institution and the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation. Notes and sources will be available at...

Season 2 of YUDDHA returns us to the turbulent world of the 16th century. Join us as we explore the social and military churn of the globe from Europe to Central Asia, and meet the ruthless, cultured warlords Timur and his descendant Babur. Together they will transform the history of India and the world. YUDDHA is made possible thanks to the support of the Takshashila Institution and the Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation. Notes and sources will be available at...

In our Season 1 finale, we look at the saga of how an unlikely coalition of warring sultanates came to destroy the might of Vijayanagara. We begin with the Battle of Raichur in 1520, in which Vijayanagara's Krishna Deva Raya inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Bijapur sultanate. Over the half-century after Raichur, Bijapur and the other sultanates would learn bitter lessons, creating an unparalleled military revolution that blended the best of European and Indian innovations. On 23 January...

In the 15th century, the Indian Ocean was visited by two fleets that would change the history of the world. The first was the gigantic armada of the Chinese admiral Cheng He, carrying thousands of sailors and tons of luxuries representing centuries of development of maritime commerce in this interconnected region. The second was the tiny squadron of bedraggled ships that came from a distant, insignificant European country: Portugal. The Portuguese and their leaders - da Gama, Cabral, Almeida,...

The great 300-year eruption of the Turkic and Mongol peoples has come to an end, and the sun rises upon a world transformed. The peoples of Eurasia are now welded into an enormous network of competing, innovative, and "globalised" states and societies ranging from England in the West to Japan in the East. And as the Sultanate of Delhi unravels and collapses after its Deccan misadventures, two empires rise south of the Narmada river: the Bahmani Sultanate, the first Sultanate ever seen in the...

As the Mongol threat faded, the warlords of Delhi turned their attention south to the riches of peninsular India. In a matter of a few decades, they would transform the fate of the subcontinent forever. The figures that led this transformation - Alauddin Khilji, Malik Kafur, and Muhammad bin Tughluq - have passed into legend. The Delhi Sultanate came to dominate the subcontinent. But the conquest of the Deccan also spelt the beginning of its disintegration and decline. This is the second of a...

Nobody in the late 13th century would have believed you, if you told them that the tiny Sultanate of Delhi - established by a turbulent band of Turkic warlords - would one day dominate the vast Indian subcontinent. To its Northwest, the terrifying hordes of Genghis Khan rampaged across Iran. To its Southeast, the sophisticated lords of India continued with their wars and poetry, raiding Delhi's trade routes. Yet, somehow, Delhi rose to the challenge, with some of the Indian subcontinent's...

Anirudh and Aditya are stuck in lockdown as India battles the Covid-19 pandemic. YUDDHA will be back to regular programming once it's lifted. We have epic stories from India's military history waiting for you on the other side - Vijayanagara, the Mughals, the Marathas, the British! Stay safe and take care. You'll hear from us soon. You can follow Anirudh Kanisetti on his twitter handle @AKanisetti and on his instagram handle @aniryuddha. You can follow Aditya Ramanathan on his twitter handle...

India, the 12th century.As European crusaders in search of blood, glory and wealth rampage into the Near East, the ambitious warlord Muhammad of Ghor and his armies of mercenaries set their eyes on the great expanse of Northern India and its warlike kings. As they bicker and battle, cities are sacked, universities destroyed, and thousands displaced. And in the process, the economic, cultural, and political fabric of the early modern world begins to take shape. In this second and final part of...

This is the first of a two-part series on the complicated human stories that led to the rise of the Delhi Sultanate. The subcontinent experienced a violent upheaval a thousand years ago, as Turkic armies began making inroads into the Northern plains. Why did the Turks want to invade India? What made them successful? And why did they sometimes fail? In this episode, Anirudh and Aditya dive into the world of Mahmud of Ghazni and his Indian rivals. How did they fight? When did they talk? How did...

From the icy peaks of the Himalayas across the blue waters of the Indian Ocean, the medieval South Indian soldier transformed the fate of the world. Anirudh and Aditya explore the vibrant military culture of medieval South India, from the Great Furious Commanders of the Forces in their perfumed courts to peasant soldiers lost in the dust of battlefields. In the process, they unpack everything from infantry tactics to what Indian military camps might have looked like, from battlefield...

There is no military doctrine so uniquely Indian as the use of the war-elephant. These magnificent animals dominated Indian battlefields for over two thousand years, and Indian war-elephants fought as far afield as Greece, Africa, and Southeast Asia. But how were they actually used in battle? What were their weaknesses? How were they trained, what did they eat, how were they decorated? What do they tell us about the military culture and geopolitics of medieval India? Anirudh and Aditya...

India's violent past shapes the conflicts of its present, and looms over its uncertain future. If you've ever wanted to look beyond Bollywood's dudebros and glamourous costumes, and wrangle with the darker side of medieval and modern India, Yuddha is the show for you. Hosts Anirudh and Aditya break down what you can expect in this first podcast to ever explore the military history of the subcontinent. Tune in to new episodes on Wednesday every fortnight. You can follow Anirudh Kanisetti on...