The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c11.s1.16

c11.s1.16

*Kamthah, kamanth*. This is the long bow of the Bhīls. We find it named in the *Āīn* list, i, 111, as N°. 39 under the first form; the second is that used by Anand Rām, Mukhliṣ, *Mirāt-ul-Iṣṭilāḥ*, fol. 184*b*. Blochmann, p. x, in describing fig. 33 of his plate xiii confounds the *kamtha* with the *Kamān-i-guroha* or pellet bow. I think this must be wrong. Steingass, 1051, has a word *kamnait*, an archer, which he thinks might be from P. *kamān*, bow, plus Sanskrit, *netā*, owner. The word might, with more probability, be connected with the above words *kamtha* or *kamanth*, just as *dhalait*, a man with a shield, comes from *dhāl*, a shield; or *gorait*, a watchman, from *agornā*, to watch. According to Shakespear, 2258, *kamthā* is Hindī for a bow of bambu.