Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c14.86

c14.86

The Aryan chariot, as it appears in the Rigveda, has a name (ratha) which is an Indo-European ‘wheel’ word, represented by the Latin rota, Celtic roth, Old High German rad, and Lithuanian ratas, and similarly common to the whole language group are the words for wheel, axle, nave, and yoke. The body of the chariot is denoted by a word which is also used for a bucket (kośa), and implies a more or less closed vehicle, unlike the Celtic Iron Age version, open back and front, but agreeing with the Western Asiatic, Mycenaean, and Egyptian chariots, which (as Sir Cyril Fox has remarked) are all built on the principle of a modern milk-float. The material of which this body was built is unknown, but by analogy it is likely to have been of wicker-work (Aegean and Celtic chariots), or perhaps leather (as in Egypt) on a light wooden framework.