History of the horse in the Indian subcontinent

The horse has been present in the Indian subcontinent from at least the middle of the second millennium BC,[1] more than two millennia after its domestication in Central Asia.

[2] The earliest uncontroversial evidence of horse remains on the Indian Subcontinent date to the early Swat culture (around 1600 BCE).

During the Late Pleistocene, a species of equine, Equus namadicus, was native to the subcontinent, but it was extinct by the start of the Holocene.

The horse only appears in Mesopotamia from around 1800 BC as a ridden animal and acquires military significance with the invention of the chariot.

B. Lal, stated that "The occurrence of true horse (Equus caballus L.) was evidenced by the enamel pattern of the upper and lower cheek and teeth and by the size and form of incisors and phalanges (toe bones).

[28] Swat valley grave DNA analysis provides evidence of "connections between [Central Asian] Steppe population and early Vedic culture in India".

[29] Derived from asva, its cognates are found in Indo-European languages like Sanskrit, Avestan, Latin and Greek (such as hippos and equus).

Horse-drawn chariot carved onto the mandapam of Airavatesvara Temple , Darasuram , c. 12th century.
Krishna , Arjuna at Kurukshetra , 18th- to 19th-century painting.
Early Vedic Period.