War in Ancient India c6.s4.25

c6.s4.25

That the use of fortresses became more and more important is well seen from the latest publication of King Bhoja’s Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhara, which is assigned to the 11th century A.D. In it are mentioned the door-keeper machine and the warrior machine at the gateway to prevent undesirables from entering the city. Then there were other kinds of machines with arrows and other weapons for the protection of the fort, besides the water machines for letting down waters in torrents and the one for catching elephants, etc. Thus most of the machines refer to siege warfare in general, a sign that the use of fortresses was very common.¹¹⁴ Here again the sword, the Prāsa, the Kunta the Śataghnī, are mentioned.