War in Ancient India c6.s3.18

c6.s3.18

The Kunta⁷⁴ is a lance and also a kind of barbed dart, six to ten cubits long. It can be manipulated in six ways. It is of iron and has six edges. Śukra speaks of ten hastas as its measurement, having the end of a ploughshare capable of opposing another dart. It is mentioned in the Ṛg Veda. According to Kautalya's commentator who seems to follow the Auśanasa Dhanurveda,⁷⁵ it is a wooden rod 5 to 7 hastas in length. It is of three kinds, the best, the middling, and the inferior, measuring 7, 6 and 5 hastas respectively. The Rājavijaya, however, mentions a tool of 11 hastas and 9 hastas.⁷⁶