War in Ancient India c6.s1.5

c6.s1.5

Intimately connected with this topic is the question whether the ancient Hindus knew the use of gunpowder and guns. Sir A. M. Elliot tells us that the Arabs learnt the manufacture of gunpowder from India, and that before their Indian connexion they had used arrows of naphtha. It is also argued that though Persia possessed saltpetre in abundance, the original home of gunpowder was India. It is said that the Turkish word *top* and the Persian *tupang* or *tufang* are derived from the Sanskrit *dhūpa*. The *dhūpa* of the Agni Purāṇa means a rocket, perhaps a corruption of the Kauṭalīyan term *nāla dīpikā*.³⁴