A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.54

c12.54

The Kalavali is one of the most detailed descriptions we possess of a battle-field in the Tamil country, and the poem supplies in a casual way much interesting information on military affairs. The soldiers, infantry and cavalry alike, wore leather sandals for the protection of their feet. The nobles and princes rode on elephants, and the commanders drove in pennoned chariots. The poet says that women whose husbands were killed bewailed their loss on the field of Kalumalam; unless this is mere rhetoric, we must suppose that women, at least of the higher orders, sometimes accompanied their husbands to the field.