India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s3.4

c12.s3.4

PARISKANDA—According to Pāṇini the word was pro-nounced as *pariskanda* in the Prāchya-Bharata region (*Kuru-* *Pañchāla*), and *parishkanda* elsewhere (VIII.3.75). The word occurs in the Vrātya hymn of the *Atharvaveda* (XV.2.6, *et. seq.*) denoting in the dual, the two footmen running beside a chariot (*Vedic Index*, I.497). The *Mahābhārata* also refers to footmen protecting the wheels of a chariot on either side (*rathānāṁ chakra-rakshāścha*, Bhīshmaparva, 18.16). The Greeks also found them as forming part of the full equipment of a chariot in the Indian army in the fourth century B.C. It is said of war-chariots that each of them 'was drawn by four horses and carried six men, of whom two were shield-bearers, two archers posted on each side of the chariot, and the other two, charioteers, as well as men-at-arms, for when the fighting was at close-quarters they dropped the reins and hurled dart after dart against the enemy.' (McCrindle, *Alexander's Invasion*, p. 260). The two shield-bearers correspond to the two footmen running by the side of the wheels, and called *chakra-raksha* or *pariskanda*.