War in Ancient India c7.s1.t3: Different Types

War in Ancient India c7.s1.t3

Language: English

Different Types

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Chariots were of different types and materials. Śukra mentions³¹ an awe-inspiring chariot of iron with swift-moving wheels, provided with good seats for the warriors³² and a seat in the middle for the charioteer; the chariot was also equipped with all kinds of offensive and defensive weapons.³³ The *Harivaṃśa*³⁴ speaks of the iron car of the Dānava Tata having eight wheels, axles and poles and being furnished with a crow standard. It was two miles in length and drawn by 1000 mules. Iron nets were hung from its windows and a variety of weapons were found in it. This is an exaggerated description apparently of a very strong and huge chariot, and shows that chariots were freely used in wars.

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From the time of the epics to the epoch of the Purāṇas the art of fighting from chariots had developed a high degree of perfection. But we must not be blind to their defects. If the ground became slippery by incessant rain, the chariots got stuck in the mud and became immovable from their great weight. This is what happened in the battle of the Hydaspes. Owing to the storm of rain, ‘the chariots in rushing into action jolted over broken and slippery ground.’ The horses again took fright and precipitated the carriages not only into the sloughs and pools of water but even into the river itself.³⁵

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³⁵ See McCrindle: *Ancient India, The Invasion of Alexander*, p. 208. 36 *Bhīṣma*, 101. 47-48; *Sauptika* 13.4. 37 *Ādi*, 64.17.

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Each chariot was marked off by its ensign and banner. Though a reference is made to the position of the flag-staff in a car,36 its exact place is only a matter of conjecture. It may be, as Hopkins thinks, that a staff was fixed at the back of the chariot rising aloft from the floor. The main staff was fixed in the middle of this back portion and small flags flew on either side. It must be remembered that the first object of attack by the enemy’s arrows was the flag pole, which was made of bamboo, if *vaiṇavī yaṣṭi*37 means anything. If the banner fell, the hero lost his prestige and there arose confusion in the rank and file. On the top of the staff was placed the *dhvaja* or *ketu* bearing an image. Whether *dhvaja* and *ketu* were one and the same thing, or the *ketu* formed a part of the *dhvaja*, it is not possible to say. The *dhvaja* came to be so important that the army went by the name of *dhvajinī*.³⁸ The symbols were either animals or trees and flowers. Bhīṣma’s ensign was the palm. Bells and garlands sometimes adorned the flag.³⁹

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³⁸ *Udyoga*, 155. 25.

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³⁹ *Droṇa*, VII. 105 (whole).

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Besides flags, umbrellas (*chattra*, *ātapatra*) and fans were a part of the paraphernalia of the war chariot. The umbrella, which was a prominent feature of all festive occasions, was also seen in the field of action. It was often of white material, the stick sometimes being golden.⁴⁰ Among the spoils of war one had to gather the umbrellas in the battle-field. In the old Tamil literary works we are told that often the umbrella sticks and the flag staff recovered from the enemy became the *talaikkol* used by dancing girls in Tamil India.⁴¹ This only indicates that the ancient Tamils attached as much importance to these paraphernalia as their northern brethren.

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⁴⁰ *Bhīṣma*, 55. 31.

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⁴¹ See Dikshitar, *Śilappadikāram*, pp. 102-3.

Linked texts (1)

Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit