Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c9.s2.46

c9.s2.46

4. *Artillery*: Artillery had no great importance in the wars of ancient and mediaeval South India. It was only in the Vijayanagar days that it made its appearance on the scenes of battle. It would be interesting to examine here when exactly gun powder began to be used in South India. In describing the battle of 1368 fought between Bukka I and the Bahmani Sultan, the Tohfut-us-Salātīn mentions gun carriages and battering rams.⁸³ Briggs surmised that it was possible that the Muhammadans might have procured the guns in 1368 from the west as they had been used by Edward III eighteen years earlier at the battle of Cressy.⁸⁴ Thus if the Muhammadan work is to be believed it is reasonable to infer that guns were used in 1368. But the works of ancient Nīti literature show that the Hindus were acquainted with the use of guns. Śukrācārya, for instance, mentions them.85 The date of Śukra is a matter of doubt but though he is considered to be a mediaeval writer the fact that he refers to the guns shows that they were in use in that period.