[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) › c6.s2 # War in Ancient India c6.s2: Section III: Other Weapons War in Ancient India c6.s2 - **Language:** English ### Section III: Other Weapons ### [c6.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.2) The Bhindipāla and the nine following are minor weapons of this class. Probably this was a heavy club which had a broad and bent tail end, measuring one cubit in length.⁴⁶ It was to be used with the left foot of the warrior placed in front. The various uses of this weapon were cutting, hitting, striking and breaking.⁴⁷ It was like a kunta but with a big blade.⁴⁸ It was used by the Asuras in their fight with Kārtavīrya Arjuna. ### [c6.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.3) ⁴⁶ Niti., IV. 30-31. ### [c6.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.4) ⁴⁷ Agni Purāṇa, 252. v. 15. ### [c6.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.5) ⁴⁸ Ganapati Sastri, Vol. I. p. 252. ### [c6.s2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.6) The next, śakti, is identified with the spear.⁴⁹ It was two cubits long and had an open and a broad mouth in shape like the leaf of a tree. Its ends resembled the udder of a cow and were four hastas in length. It required the use of both the hands. Six kinds of position regarding this are given. The blade was of metal and the handle of wood. This as well as the Bhindipāla are mentioned also by Kauṭalya. Kālidāsa puts its use for cutting open the body.⁵⁰ ### [c6.s2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.7) ⁴⁹ Niti., IV. 32-35; Ganapati Sastri, Vol. I. p. 251; Raghu., 12.77. ### [c6.s2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.8) ⁵⁰ The Auśanasa Dhanurveda gives more details. The śakti is said to be of three kinds—the best, middling and inferior. Their handle was again of four kinds—bamboo, wood, ivory and iron (See Lakṣaṇa Prakāśa, pp. 313 ff). ### [c6.s2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.9) The Drughana, again in shape like the mudgara, is translated as a latchet by Dr. Oppert⁵¹ but probably was a wooden mace or a staff headed with a heavy spiked ball of iron, as is seen from the further details given in the stanza. Its length was from 4 feet to 2 inches, and it was put to four kinds of use. It is also mentioned by Kauṭalya. ### [c6.s2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.10) ⁵¹ \*Niti.\*, IV. 36-37. ### [c6.s2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.11) The Tomara is another weapon of war frequently mentioned in all kinds of warfare.⁵² It was of two kinds, an iron club (\*sarvāyasam\*) and a javelin (\*daṇḍa\*).⁵³ According to Vaiśampāyana it was a club three cubits long and capable of three different movements. According to the \*Agni Purāṇa\* it was to be with the help of an arrow of straight feathers, and was powerful in dealing blows on the eyes and hands of an enemy. But Kauṭalya's commentator says that it is a rod with an arrow-like edge. It was of three kinds, the inferior, the middling, and the best, according to their respective measurements, 4, 4½ or 5 hastas in length. ### [c6.s2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.12) ⁵² \*Niti.\*, IV. 38-39; \*Agni Purāṇa\*, 252, v. 10; Ganapati Sastri, p. 252 (Pt. 1). ### [c6.s2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.13) ⁵³ Auśanasa Dhanurveda quoted in \*Lakṣaṇa Prakāśa\*, pp. 311 ff. ### [c6.s2.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.14) The Nālikā⁵⁴ is a hand gun or musket rightly piercing the mark. It was straight in form and hollow inside. It discharged darts if ignited. As has been already said, Śukrācārya speaks of two kinds of nālikas, one big and the other small. The small one, with a little hole at the end, measured sixty angulams (i.e., distance between the thumb and the little finger) dotted with several spots at the muzzle end. Through the touch hole or at its breech which contained wood, fire was conveyed to the charge. It was generally used by foot-soldiers. But the big gun had no wood at the breech and was so heavy that it had to be conveyed in carts. The balls were made of iron, lead or other material. Kāmandaka uses the word nālika in the sense of a firing gun as a signal for the unwary king. Again in the Naiṣadha, a work of the mediaeval period, there is a beautiful stanza where the two brows of Damayantī are compared to the two bows of the god of love and goddess of love, and her two nostrils to the two guns capable of throwing balls. Thus there is clear evidence of the existence and use of firing guns in India in very early times. ### [c6.s2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.15) ⁵⁴ \*Ibid.\*, 40-41; \*Śukra\*, IV, 7, 194-200; \*Kāman\*. V, 52; \*Naiṣadha\*, II. 28. ### [c6.s2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.16) The Laguḍa was probably a cudgel or heavy staff with metallic feet.⁵⁵ It was two cubits long. It could be used in four different ways. It was sometimes put to the same uses as a Bhindipāla. It was cased in a sheath of leather and held either with both hands or only with the right hand. ### [c6.s2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.17) ⁵⁵ Niti., IV. 42-43. ### [c6.s2.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.18) The next weapon is the Pāśa,⁵⁶ which is a noose killing the enemy at one stroke, of two or three ropes used as a weapon attributed to the god Varuṇa. It was triangular in shape and embellished with balls of lead. It was associated with three kinds of movements. Four different ways of throwing a noose are mentioned. In the Agni Purāṇa are described eleven ways of turning it to one's own advantage by dexterity of hand: some of them are turning back, advancing forward, using it lightly and also extraordinarily quickly and rending asunder. In this Purāṇa a noose is ten cubits long made of cotton, thread, muñja grass, leather, or sinews of animals. It may be thirty cubits long and folded up in three rings. It was held on the left side and then taken to the right and whirled over the head. It could be easily thrown from a horse in trot. It is said that by the performance of the Varuṇa-Prakāśas, the sons of Prajāpati were released from the noose of Varuṇa.⁵⁷ ### [c6.s2.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.19) ⁵⁶ Ibid., 45-46; Agni Purāṇa, ch. 252. vv. 5-8. ### [c6.s2.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.20) ⁵⁷ \*Kau. Brāh.\* V. 3. ### [c6.s2.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.21) The Cakra,⁵⁸ the next weapon in the category, is a circular disc with a small opening in the middle. It was of three kinds of eight, six and four spokes.⁵⁹ It was used in five or six ways. It resembled the quoit of the Sikhs to-day. The various uses of a disc were felling, whirling, rending, breaking, severing, and cutting. It is one of the instruments peculiar to Viṣṇu. Kauṭalya speaks of it as a movable machine. ### [c6.s2.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.22) ⁵⁸ \*Nīti.\* IV. 47-48; \*Agni Purāṇa\*, 252. vv. 5-7. ### [c6.s2.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.23) ⁵⁹ See Auśanasa Dhanurveda quoted in the \*Lakṣaṇa Prakāśa\*, pp. 309 ff. ### [c6.s2.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.24) The Dantakaṇṭa⁶⁰ is another weapon of war, perhaps of the shape of a tooth, made of metal, of strong handle and a straight blade. It had two movements. ### [c6.s2.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.25) ⁶⁰ \*Ibid.\*, IV. 49-50. ### [c6.s2.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.26) The Musuṇḍi⁶¹ is the last weapon in this category and was probably an eight-sided cudgel. It was furnished with a broad and strong handle. Its peculiar movements were whirling and jerking. It apparently comes from the root-meaning to cleave or break into pieces, and is perhaps akin to the Musala. ### [c6.s2.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.27) ⁶¹ \*Ibid.\*, IV. 51-52. In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa mention is made of Bhusuṇḍi. ### [c6.s2.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2.28) All these weapons are found used in one battle or another both in the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. ## Linked texts (10) - [Agnipurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.agni.252.15) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.kausitaki.5.3) — Kauṣītaki, Sanskrit - [Naiṣadhīyacarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.bharata.naisadhiyacarita.2.28) — Śrīharṣa, Sanskrit - [Raghuvaṃśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.rama.raghuvamsa.12.77) — Kālidāsa, Sanskrit - [Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.brahmanda) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Matsyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.matsya) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Daśakumāracarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.novels.prasiddha.dasakumaracarita) — Daṇḍin, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Kāmandakīya Nītisāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kamandaka_nitisara.5.52) — Kāmandaki, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c6.s2) · Pramāṇa