War in Ancient India c7.s1.5

c7.s1.5

The chariot was an indispensable instrument of war in the days of the Vedas, and on its possession depended victory. Indra is said to attack the chariot of Keśin.¹⁴ Originally the warrior was his own charioteer whose office had not yet been separated from that of the fighter. Thus when the dreadful Asuras attacked the celestials, both Indra and Agni yoked and guided their horses themselves. The separation of the two offices must have been effected about the time of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*¹⁵ where mention is made for the first time of a charioteer distinct from the warrior. The large¹⁶ number of references to chariots in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* would seem to indicate that the chariot was an important instrument of war in those days. This inference is supported by the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa*¹⁷ which mentions a class of people called *rathakāras*, or chariot-makers; and this may be taken as proof that war-chariots were in great demand. Wars carried on mainly with the help of chariots, as during and before the days of the Brāhmaṇas, could not have been very complex, and hence the *dvandvayuddha* of Sanskrit literature must be taken to have been a normal feature of this rather than of the later period. The *dvandvayuddha* or single combat became gradually obsolete as a method of warfare, owing doubtless to the progress made in the art of war and the consequent growth in the scale and magnitude of military operations. It is, however, evident that the practice died only slowly. The *Rāmāyaṇa* has accounts of many single combats.