Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing soldiers at the Adampur Air Force base today, quoted some lines from a poem, which, he said, corresponds to modern-day weaponry -- some of which were used to contain Pakistan and bring an end to its four-day aggression last week. Adampur is also the base where India has stacked its S-400 missile defence system -- considered one of the best in the world. The base was one of several which Pakistan claimed to have hit.
The lines he quoted describe Chetak, the famous horse of the iconic Rajput king Maharana Pratap.
"He showed skill in his moves, flew among the terrible spears. He went fearlessly among the shields, and galloped among the swordsmen," reads a rough translation of the poem -- Chetak ka Veerta (The bravery of Chetak) by Sham Narayan Pandya.
"These lines were written on Maharana Pratap's famous horse Chetak. But these lines also fit today's modern Indian weapons," PM Modi added.
India's armed forces had mostly used indigenously made weapons for both phases of Operation Sindoor -- the targeted military strike on terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir; and later against Pakistan's military installations after four days of drone and missile attacks from across the border.
An indigenous system, developed by the DRDO, thwarted Pakistan's strikes - the Drone-Detect, Deter and Destroy (D4) system. It is akin to the famous "Iron Dome" shield used by Israel to thwart rocket attacks by Hamas in Gaza and Houthis in Yemen.
The indigenously developed a surface-to-air missile system Akash was also instrumental in neutralising missiles and drones and protecting cities. The system is designed to engage multiple targets simultaneously.
"Pakistani drone, aircraft, and missiles failed in front of our formidable air defence system... We destroyed not just the terror bases, but we demolished their malicious intentions and their overconfidence. They tried to attack our bases, but their unholy intentions failed," PM Modi said.
"India's Army, Navy and Air Force have made the Pakistani military bite the dust. You told them that we will strike your bases. They will have sleepless nights because of our drones, missiles," he added.
A best trained warhorse of the day, Chetak has a memorial dedicated to him in Rajasthan's Rajasamand district. The horse died of battle injuries after helping the Rana Pratap effect a miraculous escape from the Battle of Haldighati.
The memorial in Balicha village is said to be standing on the spot where the horse died.
