War in Ancient India c14.9

c14.9

The coupling of drums with banners is indeed significant. The drum represents music. It may be the music of the festival and festivities; or it may be war music. For the drum was used in those days for both purposes. So one has to infer that banners were used not only for military purposes but also as decoration on festive occasions. We are concerned here with the military use of the flag. It was at once a symbol and an emblem. It was not peculiar to the Indian nation. Every ancient nation, e.g. the Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Roman, had its own standards in different colours and devices. Every modern nation possesses its own flag. Britain is proud of her Union Jack and is prepared to stake its all for keeping it unimpaired throughout the British Empire. Turning to ancient India we find that there was no common flag in the sense in which we understand to day the term ‘national’. ‘There were a number of flags and the number depended upon the number of heroes or leaders in war. Every leader had his own insignia to distinguish one division from the other. This device avoided confusion in the ranks both during the march of an army and in action in the battle-field.’⁷ This is much in evidence in the epic *Mahābhārata*. In the battle-field of Kurukṣetra, one could see a number of flags. The following are some of the flags which distinguished the Pāṇḍava and the Kaurava heroes in that historic battle-field. The expressions standing for flags and banners in the epics were dhvaja, ketu and patākā.⁸ In the Droṇa Parva of the *Mahābhārata* to a question put by Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Sañjaya reports about the various flags and banners employed by the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas. One full chapter (105)