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War in Ancient India c6.s5: Section VI: On Armour

War in Ancient India c6.s5

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Section VI: On Armour

c6.s5.1

The questions relating to the kind of armour and the mode of wearing them are indeed of lively interest and have a direct bearing on the arms used. We know that even in the days of the *Ṛg Veda* the equipment of the soldier consisted of a coat of mail, helmet, and even an arm-guard.

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Varuṇa is mentioned as wearing a golden mail with lustrous appearance and as surrounded by spies.¹¹⁵ That several varieties of armour were made of horns, skins, and also of iron, is evident from the *Arthaśāstra* literature. The animals whose horns were used for this were tortoise, rhinoceros, bison, elephant, and cow.

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¹¹⁵ *Ṛg Veda*, I. 25. 13.

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The four important varieties of armour, all of iron according to the commentator of the *Arthaśāstra*, were in the first place a coat of mail to cover the body from head to foot including the two hands, secondly a coat of mail of two separate plates covering the head, hump, and arms respectively, and thirdly, a kind of armour to be worn as a loin-cloth.¹¹⁶

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¹¹⁶ *Ar. Śās.*, 18 (Commentary by Ganapati Sastri).

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Other varieties of armour used merely for protecting the body were *Śirastrāṇa* or protection for the head, *Kaṇṭhatrāṇa* or protection for the neck, *Kimpasa* or a covering for the trunk, *Kañcuka* or a jacket up to the knee joints, *Vāravāṇa* or a jacket extending to the heels, *Paṭṭa* or an upper garment, and *Nāgodārka* or gloves to protect the fingers. Some of the instruments used to shield one's hands in engagements were Pethi (a kind of shield made of creepers of Kāṣṭa), Carma, otherwise known as Resumendaka (made of leather, perhaps to protect the palm of the hand), Tālamūla (another variety of shield made of wood perhaps palmyra), Bhamanika (a shield made of reed), Kavāṭa (a shield resembling the panel of a door), Kiṭikā (a protection made of hide or bamboo), Apratihata (perhaps a shield used in elephant fights) and Valāhakānta (one of leather or bamboo like the Apratihata but surrounded by iron fringes). The war elephants as well as the war horses were also provided with trappings and ornaments to shield them from the attacks of the enemy's forces. The Śukranīti speaks of a coat of mail for the body and the trunk as well as for fingers. For the former, big leaves resembling wheat leaves, made of iron, were considered best, whilst for the latter iron nails with sharp edges were considered the best.¹¹⁷ The skins, horns, and iron were used abundantly for the making of shields and the coats of mail are obvious from the sculptures which we shall presently examine. But the author of Śukranīti mentions the use of leather armour for war animals.¹¹⁸

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¹¹⁷ Ibid.

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¹¹⁸ Śukra, 4.7.216-17.

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It is needless to mention that there is a close link between the Arthaśāstra literature and the epic and Puraṇic literature. The Asuras or the demon warriors put on armour made of the skins of elephants, antelopes, and barks of some trees.¹¹⁹ It is said that during the fight between the king of Virāṭa and Suśarma, all the soldiers put on their respective coats of mail. Virāṭa's brother Śatānīka wore one of adamant, and ornamented with gold, whilst his eldest son Sankarṣaṇa had a coat of well-tempered iron.¹²⁰ Again, the great warrior Kṛpa’s mail armour was of tiger-skin.¹²¹ In the *Mahābhārata* war all had finger-guards and put on coats of mail made of the skin of the antelopes and other animals.¹²² And Duryodhana had a helmet formidable to look at.¹²³ The soldiers had also bracelets made of bull’s hide.¹²⁴ Jayadratha, the great king and warrior, wore a plate of gold which was broken into two pieces by Saubhadra’s sword.¹²⁵ When Bharata came to meet his brother Rāma, Guha, the lord of the Niṣādhas took him for an enemy and asked his followers to be ready for an attack with their mail accoutrements.¹²⁶

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¹¹⁹ Harivam., 31.

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¹²⁰ Virāṭ Parva, ch. 33.

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¹²¹ *Ibid.*, 54.

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¹²² Bhīṣma Parva, chh. 16 & 18.

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¹²³ *Ibid.*, 64.

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¹²⁴ *Ibid.*, 88.

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¹²⁵ Droṇa Parva, 43.17.

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¹²⁶ *Rām.*, Ayodhyā., ch. 84.

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It would be interesting to close this section with the remark that with the progress in metal culture and advance in civilisation, effective methods of warfare were also developed. If we go far back in time, we find that the primitive tribes used weapons made of stone and wood. We find in the *Rāmāyaṇa* that the monkey tribes, which may be considered one of the most ancient tribes in India, used trees and stones as implements. The civilized man just emanating from the life of a hunter used bows and arrows in war. Stones and stone weapons were in use continuously for thousands of years. Then bronze came into large use, and gave an advantage in warfare to those tribes who first obtained it.¹²⁷ In the Chalcolithic period as borne out by the numerous archaeological finds in the Indus valley, and much earlier, as is seen in the epoch of the Ṛg Veda Samhitā, copper and bronze had come to supersede stone. Though there was a large use of bronze for purposes of making implements of war, stone weapons continued to be used.

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¹²⁷ H. G. Wells: *The Outline of History*, pp. 109-110.

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The epoch which followed the Chalcolithic period of India’s history witnessed the introduction of iron. This was the age of the Yajur Veda Samhitā where distinct mention is made of the use of iron and iron weapons. Arms and armour of this metal now came to be used, for, it was found more valuable than even bronze. Gold and silver were also pressed into service because of their plastic and ornamental possibilities. These metals came to be used for the making of arrows as well as for shields and other effective weapons of defence. This state practically continued to flourish until the days of Alexander the Great and of Megasthenes, the ambassador of Seleukos. For the Fragments of Megasthenes testify to their use in abundance. Javelins made of simple bamboo and sago palm quite innocent of iron, remnants of which still linger among some of the hill tribes of India, have been superseded by iron swords and the throwing spear. These swords were straight in shape and two-handed, in use at the time of Alexander’s invasion of India and popular later in the Malay Archipelago, as evident from bas-reliefs of Angkor-Wat in Cambodia.

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