The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.280

c2.s5.280

Almost as part of the banners stands the *chattra*, or umbrella, a real protector, and indispensable part of a car’s furniture, but also regarded as a flaunting ornament. It was generally white. On festal occasions it is carefully held over the head by another equal or attendant. In spite of its frequent occurrence in descriptions of spoils, it does not seem to play any part in the action, and I fancy it does not really come into the poem until a later age, but properly is to be associated with the mass of effeminate luxuries depicted long after the original.¶