[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [War in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944) › c14.24 # War in Ancient India c14.24 War in Ancient India c14.24 - **Language:** English ### [c14.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c14.24) That every \*vyūha\* of the Mauryan army was distinguished by the device of \*dhvajas\* and \*patākas\*, besides the special musical instruments like \*turya\* is evident from the \*Arthaśāstra\* of Kauṭalya. It is said that these different divisions had their respective flags and banners whether they were in camp, in march or in active warfare.¹² It is not possible to show whether \*dhvajas\* and \*patākās\* connoted the same meaning of flags and banners or they stood for different varieties of standards. The fact that Kauṭalya uses the two terms together raises a doubt that \*dhvaja\* was different from a \*patākā\*. \*Patākās\* were possibly festoons which were a feature and adornment of an army and those were hanging in rows between two points of the army. The \*patākās\* were such an essential feature of the army in later times that the army came to be designated as \*Patākini\* by writers like Kālidāsa.¹³ Later on in suggesting remedies against the injuries of one's own army,¹⁴ Kauṭalya again refers to the trumpets, \*dhvaja\* and \*patākā\*, and suggests the preparation of a certain medicinal mixture which, when besmeared over these flags and banners, would tend to remove the poison at the very look, if their poisoning were in any way suspected. The \*dhvaja\* was evidently a flag attached to a pole on the war chariot.¹⁵ It was so much valued that the army became designated in the \*Mahābhārata\*, \*dhvajani\* and in Tamil \*koḍiccenai\*.¹⁶ - [Previous: c14.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c14.23) - [Next: c14.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c14.25) - [Up: c14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c14) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c14.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c14.24) · Pramāṇa