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, more than two millennia after its domestication in Central Asia.

It is likely enough that camel, horse and ass were in fact all a familiar feature of the Indus caravan. —Mortimer Wheeler

Quotes

• The four and thirty ribs of the strong steed,
  Kin of the gods, the axe meeteth;
  Skilfully do ye make the joints faultless;
  Declaring each part, do ye cut it asunder.
  • Yajurveda, iv, 6, 9b, translated by Arthur Berriedale Keith (1914)

• The birthplace of the horse, indeed, is the sea, its kindred is the sea.
  • Yajurveda, vii, 5, 25, translated by Arthur Berriedale Keith (1914)
  • See also: E. F. Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture (Oxford University Press, 2001), ch. 9

• Horses had she of noblest breed,
  Like Indra's for their form and speed,
  From Váhlí's hills and Sindhu's sand,
  Vanáyu and Kámboja's land.
  • Ramayana, i, 6, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)

• Like youthful elephants, tall and strong,
  Fleet coursers whirled the car along:
  In such a car the Thousand-eyed
  Borne by swift horses loves to ride.
  • Ramayana, ii, 16, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)

• Let couriers to thy father speed
  On horses of the swiftest breed.
  • Ramayana, ii, 19, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)

• Why does no gold-wrought chariot lead
  With four brave horses, best for speed?
  • Ramayana, ii, 26, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)

• Scarce could I move each stubborn horse:
  Shedding hot tears of grief he stood
  When Ráma turned him to the wood.
  • Ramayana, ii, 59, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)
  • So in Homer the horses of Achilles lamented with many bitter tears the death of Patroclus slain by Hector: Iliad, xvii, 426

• Śatrughna, look, the mountain see
  Where heavenly minstrels wander free,
  And horses browse beneath the steep,
  Countless as monsters in the deep.
  • Ramayana, ii, 93, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)

• And thought-swift horses whirled their lord
  Racing along the earth, or rose
  High through the clouds whene'er he chose.
  • Ramayana, v, 47, translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870–4)