History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.480.1

v4.c62.480.1

A treatise will be required to deal with the weapons of war from ancient times. Even in the Ṛgveda several weapons are mentioned e. g. ṛṣṭi (Ṛg. V. 52. 6, V. 57. 2 and 6 on the shoulders of the Maruts), arrows (V. 57. 2, VI. 75. 17), quivers (V. 57. 2), the aṅkuśa (of Indra in VIII. 17. 10, X. 44. 9), paraśu (X. 28. 8), kṛpāṇa (probably a dagger, in X. 22. 10), vajra made of *ayas* (X. 48.3, X. 113.5). Atharvaveda IV. 6. 6. refers to poisoned arrows. In the Atharvaveda²⁷⁹ I. 16. 2 and 4 reference is made to lead as destroying sorcerers and it is said 'if you kill our cow or horse or man we shall pierce you with lead so that you will cease to kill our strong men'. In Tai. S. I. 5. 7. 6 it is said²⁸⁰ that when a *samidh* is offered into fire with the mantra 'indhānās-tvā śataṁ himāḥ' the sacrificer discharges against his enemy the śataghnī (weapon killing a hundred) which acts like vajra itself'. Dr. Oppert in his Introduction to the Nītiprakāśikā pp. 10-13 relies on these and other passages for holding that the ancient Indians knew fire-arms and that Atharvaveda I. 16.4. refers to leaden balls discharged from cylinders. Vide Dr. Oppert's work on the 'weapons, army organisation and political maxims of the ancient Hindus' (1880), where he describes several weapons and holds that gunpowder was known in India long before the 13th century A. D. Mr. G. T. Date's 'Art of war in Ancient India' (London 1929), Dr. P. C. Chakravarti's work (1941, Dacca) and Prof.