A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.52

c12.52

Each ruler maintained an army of well-equipped professional soldiers who no doubt found frequent employment in those bellicose times. Captains of the army were distinguished by the title of ēṇādi conferred at a formal ceremony of investiture where the king presented the chosen commander with a ring and other insignia of high military rank. The army comprised the traditional four arms—chariots (drawn by oxen), elephants, cavalry and infantry. Swords, bows and arrows, armour made of tiger-skins, javelins, spears and shields (including a protective cover for the forearm) are among the weapons of offence and defence specifically mentioned. The drum and the conch were employed on the field for signalling and the former to summon soldiers to arms. Each ruler and chieftain certainly had a war-drum among his insignia. Not only was it carefully guarded, but it was bathed periodically and worshipped with loud mantras. The occasions for war were numerous, but we need not suppose that the refusal of one king to give his daughter in marriage to another was as frequent a cause as the poets assert. A campaign might be started by the capture of the enemy's cattle, or a brahmin messenger might be sent with a formal declaration before hostilities started. The military camp was often an elaborate affair, with streets and roads and a separate section for the king guarded by armed women; in this camp the hours of day and night were announced by watchers of water-clocks; the gnomon was employed to indicate midday and a drum beaten early every morning. Camp fires kept off the cold when necessary, and there were towers at important points from which a regular watch was maintained against surprises from the enemy. Death in battle was welcome to the soldier and even to his mother, for it was held to lead him straight to heaven. To the warrior, a peaceful death in bed was looked upon as a disgrace, and in the families of ruling chieftains the body of a man who died otherwise than in war was cut with the sword, and laid on darbha grass, and mantras were chanted to secure him a place in the warriors' heaven (virasvarga). Soldiers who fell in war were commemorated by hero-stones which bore inscriptions detailing their names and achievements; these stones were often worshipped as godlings. Wounded soldiers were carefully attended to, their wounds being cleaned and stitched where necessary.