War in Ancient India c6.s6.t1.5

c6.s6.t1.5

The dress of the soldiers, it appears, was made in two pieces, viz. from the breast to the waist and again from the thigh to the soles. The chief musical instruments were the drum and the kettle-drum. In the pictures the troops are crossing a broad river and from the bank the enemies attack them. Possibly the soldiers attack from the water. Both horses and elephants are provided with excellent ornamental trappings. A bell is seen hanging from the elephant’s back. The war-horses have the prominent Roman nose, piercing eyes, and a gallant appearance. The trappings resemble those of the present day. The one peculiarity is that no stirrups are seen in any of the pictures. The usual war accoutrements of the elephant and the elephant goad, like the modern one, are easily traced. Plate lv shows two kinds of helmets: pot-shaped ones, and skull caps, made of leather or iron richly ornamented. Again in Cave x¹⁴⁵ there is a peculiar kind of buckler ornamented with various designs and motifs and triangular in shape. The writer in the *Journal of Indian Art* remarks: ‘the langure de hoeuf or cross-hilted katar, which is supposed by some to be a peculiarly ancient weapon, nowhere appears’. But a careful examination of Plate xxiii¹⁴⁶ seems clearly to indicate the existence of such a cross-hilted sword in the Ajanta paintings. In Fig. 25 (B) of the *Journal* the Vajra or thunderbolt is also shown.¹⁴⁷ The Ajanta paintings, now somewhat mutilated, are valuable for their reference to the political relations that existed between India and Persia in 625-26 A.D. Here the Persian envoys present Pulakeśin with valuable presents sent by their king. This is an unmistakable reference to the friendly relations that existed between the two States.¹⁴⁸