The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.414

v1.c10.414

The shape of the instrument was ordinarily circular, as in the Illustrations Nos. 209 and 210, from the temples of Bhuvaneśvara; but it was not invariably so. Illustration No. 211 shows an oval shield; and oblong shields made of boards, or wicker work covered with leather, with sometimes an iron rim, very like the scutum of the Romans, were not unknown; and small bucklers of an oblong or irregular shape were common. The former occur repeatedly at Bhuvaneśvara, (Illustration No. 212 taken from a figure in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal), and the latter at Sāñci. (Illustrations Nos. 213 and 214, taken from General Cunningham's *Bhilsa Topes*). At Khaṇḍagiri there is a shield, the top and sides of which are rectilinear, and the lower part pointed. Judging from the extent of the body it covers, it was probably two and a half feet long, and had a prominent ridge in the middle. At Sāñci, two instruments have been noticed of a similar shape, but without the ridge, the ground of the one being plain, and that of the other bearing a diagonal cross. (Illustrations No. 215 and 216 taken from Fergusson's *Tree and Serpent Worship*). These were, however, never made so big as to entirely cover the soldier, as was the European pavise. Two specimens of this shield, made of wood and shaped very much like canoes with wooden handles,²⁰¹ exist in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Illustration No. 217). At Bhuvaneśvara some of the circular shields are padded inside, and held by two straps tied to four rings. (Illustration No. 210).