The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.710

c2.s5.710

We saw in a quotation given above the ready knight stand armed with bow and breastplate, and wear, besides, rings on his arms and in his ears. Another we saw wearing red, yellow, white, and black clothes. The princes royal are arrayed in red. To these ornaments we must add the garlands with which each knight went into battle; the gems and diamonds worn about the armor, and even set in the common arms; the rings, again, worn upon the fingers; the chains of gold and pearl; the girdles of gold; and the tinkling bells of sword and club and chariot. Many of these—the rings and bands, in particular—are differentiated in Sanskrit without difference for us. Could we get at the true distinctions between these seemingly synonymous names, we should have a yet more bewildering view of the flashing, not to say flashy, magnificence of the Hindu warrior.†