Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c8.27

v1.c8.27

*Paraśu* is the battle axe. The earlier specimens of this are light and graceful. The *paraśu* of the archaic type consists of a steel blade which is fitted on a turned, light, wooden handle. The handle is sometimes fixed in a ring which is attached to the blade of the axe. Sometimes, however, the blade is fixed in a hole bored in the handle (Pl. II, fig. 6). The later forms consist of a heavy club, closely resembling the *gadā*, into which the head of the *paraśu* is fitted. The blade is disproportionately small in these later forms (Pl. II, fig. 7), but is of proper proportion in the earlier types.