Raise army to besiege India (5)
I believe the answer is:
hoist
'raise' is the definition.
(hoisting is a kind of raising)
'army to besiege india' is the wordplay.
'army' becomes 'host' (host is a kind of army).
'to besiege' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'host' enclosing 'i' is 'HOIST'.
(Other definitions for hoist that I've seen before include "Raise on pulleys" , "Lift using pulley and ropes" , "Come down" , "Jack" , "Lift up; device for this" .)