The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.410

v1.c10.410

**Lasso :** The lasso, *nāgapāśa*, "the noose of the Nāgas", or simply *pāśa* may also be described as an offensive weapon of the nonmissile class. It was largely used, and is frequently alluded to. Of its form and use we extract the following description from the *Agni Purāṇa*. The *pāśa* should be ten cubits long, with one end of which a circle should be made a cubit in diameter. It should be constructed of the strings made of hemp, or of flax, or of *muñja* grass or of *bhaṅga*, (*Crotalarea juncea*), or of *snāyu* (tendon or muscle of beasts, supposed to be what is understood by the word *tāñt* in common Bengali), of *arka* skin, (fibre of the *Calotropis gigantea* and other things of which strong thread may be made. The *pāśa* should be prepared of thirty pieces of thread twisted together. The learners should make a running knot in the *pāśa*; and having held one end of it with the left hand, and twisted it round on the right, they should turn it over their heads, and afterwards throw it on the throat of a human figure, made of wicker work or reeds. They then [124] should do the same to a real man, after covering his body with skin. After this, they should try to throw the string on the neck of a horse at full gallop, or of animals jumping about, or such as are moving fast. This practice should be repeated many times, in order to be accustomed and well skilled in it. In this manner, being masters of their hands, they will begin to bind (their enemy) with the *pāśa*". This lasso is sometimes exhibited in sculpture. On the Rāṇi Neur frieze at Udayagiri, there are two or three nooses seen on the body of a crouching elephant in a cave, and one also in the hand of one of its assailants ready to throw it on the animal.