The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.663

c2.s5.663

† Compare iii. 43. 24. jyāçarakṣepakaṭhināu (bāhū), ‘arms stiff with the stroke of the arrow and bow-string.’ In A. V. we find hastaghna meaning ‘hand-guard.’ The Epic terms this hastāvāpa (but hastāvāpa is an emission of arrows). Compare vii. 165. 28, hastāvāpa; iv. 55. 54, hastāvāpin (N. hastatrāṇaṃ tadvān). In xiv. 77. 21, papāta gāṇḍīvam āvāpaç ca karād api (the form would be karāvāpa), we have not a simple ‘armband,’ but defensive gauntlet, as usual. The usual aṅgulitra or -trāṇa, in vii. 41. 16; 44. 14; viii. 19. 40; 58. 22 (sāṅgulitrāir bhujāgrāiḥ); iv. 5. 1, godhā, etc.; also cārutalin (tala), iv. 53. 9 (N. hastāvāpa); while karavāla, i. 30. 49; v. 19. 3, etc., is sword.