Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c6.45

c6.45

The axes have a buttend somewhat narrower than the edge. The bar harpoons have a large spear-blade with two or three pairs of hooked barbs, sometimes with a hole, and a lug above the stem. They are quite large ranging from 12 to 17 in. and cast in a mould with a stout mid-rib. Spear heads both simple and barbed and also copper swords and daggers have been found. In the Rigveda we find reference to a weapon named Riṣṭi held on shoulders by the Marut-host with which it is tempting to identify these copper spearheads, just as the celts with Ayasī vāśi handled by Tvaṣṭā [Fig. 8], the barbed harpoons with the Vajra of Indra, and the axes with Svadhiti and Paraśu [Fig. 9].