War in Ancient India c6.s3.28

c6.s3.28

The Gadā⁸⁰ is a heavy rod of iron with one hundred spikes at the top. Three kinds are distinguished according to the Auśanasa Dhanurveda.⁸¹ One of four cubits was able to destroy elephants and rocks. It could be handled in twenty different ways. By means of gunpowder it could be used as a projectile weapon of war. Its principal use was to strike the enemy either from a raised place or from both sides and strike terror into the enemy especially of the Gomutra array. Various ways of handling it with skill were bending, stooping low, springing forward, retreating, ready to fly upon, and so doing as to generate fear. Kauṭalya includes it in his list of movable machines.