War in Ancient India c6.s3.48

c6.s3.48

It was generally placed on the walls of a fort and is included among the movable machines by Kauṭalya. These and other weapons are frequently mentioned as employed actually in the wars of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. Thus both the mukta and amukta weapons are 32 in number, all made according to tradition from the bones of the sage Dadhīci as explained in the Mahā- bhārata. They were made out of the bones of his body except the backbone, of which was formed the Vajra. But in the Amukta category an important weapon of war, the Asi or the sword,⁹⁰ is not included. Its omission is due, not to the lack of knowledge, for Vaiśampāyana has practically devoted a whole chapter to its description, but to the fact that it has been referred to elaborately enough in a previous chapter. Vaiśampāyana thought it unnecessary to repeat it here. Or it may be that it was such a useful celestial weapon that it had to be treated separately and not along with the ordinary weapons that are given in the list. The Asi⁹¹ is also known in Sanskrit literature by different other names—Nistrimśa, Viśamana, Khaḍga, Tīkṣṇadhāra, Durāsada, Śrīgarbha, Vijaya, and Dharmamūla, meaning respectively cruel, fearful, powerful, fiery, unassailable, affording wealth, giving victory, and the source of maintaining dharma. And these are generally the characteristics of a sword. It was commonly worn on the left side and was associated with thirty-two different movements. It measured fifty thumbs in length and four inches in width.