The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c11.s1.9

c11.s1.9

*The string.* This was called either *zih* or *chillah*. Hindī names are *rodā*¹, Shak., 1195, catgut, a sinew used as a bow-string, and *panach* or *panchak* (id. 552, 553). Bow strings were made of strong threads of white silk laid together until of the thickness of a goose quill. Whipping of the same material was then bound firmly round for a length of three or four inches at the centre, and to this middle piece large loops of scarlet or other colour were attached by a curious knot. These gaudy loops formed a striking contrast to the white silk (Egerton, 144). Captain Williamson, on the contrary, says, p. 87, that the string was composed of numerous thin catguts laid together without twirling, then lapped with silk in the middle and at the ends.