India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s3.3

c12.s3.3

*FIGHTING SERVICES*—The army to be effective must be properly manned and officered. A cavalry commander was called *aśvapati* (IV.1.84). The commander of the army as a whole was *senāpati*, whose rank according to Kauṭilya was one of the highest in the realm mentioned along with the chief-minister and the crown-prince in the civil list. An ordinary soldier who served in the army was known as *sainika* or *sainya* (IV.4.45). A soldier with a marching army or bound for field operations was distinguished as *senāchara* (III.2.17). The principle underlying the nomenclature of the various classes of fighting forces was the same as found at present in such words as musketeers, lancers, riflemen, etc. Pāṇini says that the fighter is named after the weapon which he wields (*Praharaṇam*, IV.4.57), *e.g.* *āsika* (swordsman), *prāsaka* (lancer), *dhānu-shka* (bowman). He makes special reference to those fighting with a battle-axe (*pāraśvadhika*, IV.4.58), and spear (*śāktika*, IV.4.59). Patañjali says that in forming the names of armed persons no suffix is necessary, for example *kunta* would denote both a lance and a lancer (cf. *kuntān praveśaya*, II.218). Amazonian soldiers also seem to be known, as *śāktikī*, *yāsh-ṭikī*, mentioned by Patañjali (II.209), but since neither Pāṇini nor Kātyāyana makes provision for the addition of a female suffix after *īkak*, it is doubtful if the institution of women warriors was known before the Mauryan period. Kauṭilya mentions them in connection with the emperor's palace-guards (*strī-gaṇair-dhanvibhiḥ*, *Arth*. I.20, p. 12), and it is possible that it was an innovation of Chandragupta. Special mention is made of contingents of armoured soldiers organised as *kāvachika* units (*kavachināṁ samūhaḥ*, IV.2.41). *Kavacha-hara*, 'one who wears the coat of mail', was a term denoting the age at which a youth was admitted to arms (III.2.10). The armour seems to have become a part of regular military uni-form for which a special root (*saṁvarmayati*, III.1.25, dons the armour) had come into use.