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War in Ancient India c6.s6.t3: Iconography

War in Ancient India c6.s6.t3

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Iconography

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In this connexion a word may be said about Indian Iconography which affords adequate material for the study of the forms and the uses of several weapons current in Ancient India and is therefore of great interest and significance. A detailed study of the different images has been made by Gopinatha Rao and Bhattacharya.

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We are concerned here only with the arms and armour worn and the symbols they stand for. We may take some prominent images and examine them briefly.

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Though the several hymns in the Ṛg Veda bear eloquent testimony to the existence of image worship, it became highly popular only during the epoch of the Purāṇas. Besides Skanda several other war-gods and goddesses waged wars against demons Asuras and Rākṣasas. In this category come Viṣṇu, Sūrya, Gaṇeśa, Śiva, and several goddesses of whom Durgā is the most prominent. Abbé Dubois¹⁶⁴ speaks of thirty-two gods to each of whom one weapon or another is peculiar. Viṣṇu is popularly addressed as Śankha-cakra-gadā-pāṇi, that is, having Śankha or conch, Cakra or disc, and Gadā or wooden mace in three of his four hands. In another verse the Śārngi and the Nandakī (bow and sword) are also attributed to him. By blowing the conch he strikes terror into the enemy. The Cakra attributed to Viṣṇu is of two different forms, as is seen in the sculptured images.¹⁶⁵ The spokes of one are like the wheels of the ordinary car, while those of the other resemble the petals of a lotus. The Cakra belongs to the category of a missile. According to Vāmanapurāṇa¹⁶⁶ as well as the sculptured figure, the Cakra has lustrous and sharp edges. The gadā is the wooden mace or heavy staff with a tapering top and a stout bottom. The Śāranga or the bow of Viṣṇu has a single bend, three bends, and five bends respectively, showing a perceptible evolution of the form of the weapon.¹⁶⁷ Nandakī is the name of the sword attributed to Viṣṇu. Though the Varāha-purāṇa¹⁶⁸ gives an allegorical interpretation of it (i.e. that the conch stands for the destruction of avidyā or ignorance, the sword for dispelling ignorance, the disc for the circles of time, the club for routing irreligious monarchs), yet the fact remains that such weapons were in common use in this land.

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¹⁶⁴ *Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies*, p. 689.

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¹⁶⁵ Gopinatha Rao: *Hindu Iconography*, Vol. I. Ayūdhapuruṣas.

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¹⁶⁶ Ch. 79.

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¹⁶⁷ Gopinatha Rao: Op. cit.

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¹⁶⁸ See Vedānta Deśika’s Ṣoḍaśāyudhastotra where the allegorical interpretations are developed.

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Again, the conception of the sun-god in Indian mythology is of value to the student of ancient Indian military history. The idea is that the sun-god wants to destroy darkness. Therefore he dons a lustrous armour and with his two queens behind, starts marching in his swift flying chariot drawn by seven powerful steeds, Aruṇa (dawn) being his charioteer. In front of the car march two soldiers, one with a sword and the other with a śūla or trident, a kind of spear with three keen edges. The piercing rays of the sun are the shooting arrows. Such a grand conception is well represented in stone in the Sun Temple at Kanarak, of which there are two excellent plates in the published work of Lord Ronaldshay.¹⁶⁹ The first plate shows the sun-god with his accoutrements in a standing posture, while the second is a representation of the chariot with huge stone wheels all carved and ornamented. Though sun temples are rarely found, the sun-god is still worshipped in India with great veneration as the deity capable of bestowing on mankind both health and wealth. Thus the whole thing presents a life-like portrait of the military dress as well as the march against an enemy. Śiva is represented in various aspects, as holder of the Pināka or the bow, of the Khaṭvāṅga or the heavy club, as Mṛgadhara or wearer of a shield of antelope-skin, and of the śūla or trident. There is in the Elephanta Caves a splendid fragment of a huge sculptured image of Śiva the destroyer.¹⁷⁰ In the same way the elephant head of Gaṇeśa is a symbolical representation of victory. Hence at the commencement of every undertaking the orthodox Hindu offers prayers to this god to bless him with success. He is the Lord, again, of the Gaṇas or troops of inferior deities.¹⁷¹ There is a good image of him (see Plate I in the *Industrial Arts of India*) with ankuśa and paraśu in his hands. Subrahmaṇya or Skanda, the celebrated war-god of the Purāṇic literature, has a peacock for his vehicle (vāhana), just as Viṣṇu has the Garuḍa or the golden eagle. He is represented with six heads. He wears the weapon Śakti resembling a spear, and his standard of victory flies over his head. Other weapons attributed to him are the bows and arrows. He is the devasenāpati, the commander-general of the celestials. His is the symbol of energy and strength. These gods are very familiar even to children in India, for every village temple contains some of them.

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¹⁶⁹ A Birds-eye-view of India, Plates 1 and 21.

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¹⁷⁰ Havell: *Indian Sculpture and Painting*, p. 49.

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¹⁷¹ *Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa*, 82.

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Lastly, we may consider Durgā, the war-goddess, who is represented in several temples. Special mention may be made of the one found in Mahābalipuram; there was another at Singasari in Java, now in the Ethnographic Museum at Leyden. It is a masterpiece in a great stone alto-relievo of Durgā killing the demon Mahiṣa.

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It roughly belongs to the 10th century A.D. or later. It is worth while comparing this with the description of Durgā’s battle with the Asura in literature.¹⁷² In the battle that raged between Mahiṣāsura and Indra the latter was defeated and consequently the Asura became the god of heaven. All the gods became enraged and created a goddess, each out of his own element. Śiva endowed her with a trident, Viṣṇu with a disc, Varuṇa with a noose, Agni with a spear, Marut with bow, arrows and quiver, Indra with the thunderbolt and the bell of his elephant, Yama with pāśa or rope, Kāla with a lustrous sword and shield, and Viśvakarma with a battle-axe. She rode on a lion with a voice that struck terror. In the battle thousands of Asuras with horses, elephants, and chariots offered resistance. The Mahiṣāsura himself was equipped with the tomara, bhindipāla, śakti, musala, gadā, paraśu, and paṭṭiśa. Durgā attacked him with all her fury and a river of blood flowed in the field. Cinchchuna, the general-in-chief of the Asura host, was killed with the trident, his staff, chariots, and horses being broken. Lastly came Mahiṣa assuming the forms of a man, an elephant, and a buffalo, and fought bravely, but in vain. His head was cut off and the whole of heaven and earth was filled with indescribable joy.

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¹⁷² See, for instance, Devi Bhāgavatam, Bk. V. Ch. VIII.

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Another manifestation of Śiva is Vīrabhadra, an image of which stands on the Kalmunda with Bhadrakālī in the Perur temple, in Coimbatore District. It agrees with the description in literature.¹⁷³ He has one head but thirty-two hands, matted hair, and three eyes. In the sixteen hands on his right side he wears respectively the symbol of protection from fear (abhayaprada), sword, trident, cakra, damaru, bow, arrow, ploughshare, lotus, scad of knowledge, barbed spear, dagger, rudrākṣamālā, khaṭvāṅga, club and battle-axe. In those on the left side he wears respectively the symbol of blessing, a piece of wood, the hammer, the goad, the noose, the snake, the fire, the deer, the bell, the bow, the gun, the lotus, a water pot, the shield, and others.

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¹⁷³ Bhā., P. IV. 5. (whole).

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