War in Ancient India c10.51

c10.51

In the Śānti Parvan of the *Mahābhārata* it is said that the navy is one of the angas of the army.²⁹ Examples of ships being used for military purposes are not lacking. When Vidura scented danger to Kunti's five sons, he made them escape to the forest with their mother, crossing the Ganges in a boat equipped with weapons having the power of withstanding wind and wave.³⁰ This may perhaps be put down as river navigation. But in the Dig Vijaya portion of the Sabhā parva, it is said that Sahadeva crossed the sea and brought many islands under his sway after defeating the Mlecchas and other mixed tribes inhabiting them. If this be an historical fact the inference is irresistible that he could not have effected his conquest without the use of boats and vessels.³¹ We read in the *Rāmāyaṇa* that Durmukha, a Rākṣasa who had been fired by the impulse of anger at the deeds of Hanumān, offered his services to Rāvaṇa even to fight on the sea. There is testimony enough of the use of a fleet for war purposes, without which fighting on the sea would not be possible.³² There are other references here and there to ships in the *Rāmāyaṇa*. When Hanumān was crossing the ocean to Laṅkā, he is compared to a ship tossed by winds on the high seas.³³ Sugrīva speaks of Sumatra, Java and even the Red Sea,³⁴ when sending forth his monkey hosts in quest of Sītā. The *Amarakośa* mentions a number of nautical terms which stand for ship, anchorage (naubandhana), the helm of the ship (naukaraṇa), the helmsman (nau-karaṇadhara).³⁵ That there were ship-building yards in different parts could be inferred from a significant term nāvātakseṇī occurring in a copper plate grant of Dharmāditya dated 531 A.D.³⁶