Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.s1.9

c4.s1.9

A chariot was a very important and an esteemed apparatus of war. No details as to its construction are however met with. But we may imagine it to be not very materially different from the Epic chariot which again was not a great development on the Vedic one. Let us observe its different parts (*aṅgā*) which were complete (*samattā*) and well-fastened to one another (*susaññatā*).⁵ It had generally two wheels (*cakka* or *cakra*) probably four angular wides,⁶ spokes (*ārā*) and a nave (*nābhi*). The rim and the felly together constituted the *nemi*. The hole in the nave was called ‘*kha*’ into which the end of the axle was put. The axle (*akkha-akṣa*) was made of wood and the body of the chariot (*kosa*) was placed above it. There were seats for the warriors (*upādhiyo-upasthā*)⁷ Ordinarily, there was a pole (*īsa* or *kubbaro-kūbara*),⁸ which was fastened to the box of the car on one end and passed through the yoke on the other end. The yoke (yugo) was placed on the necks of the horses, one on each side of the pole. The fastenings of the yoke are termed yottaka (yoktṛ-modern jotar) which fastened the yoke and the pole in the middle and probably the two ends of the yoke with the neck of the horses. There were reins, raśmi, controlled by the Sārathi who goaded the horses with the patoda. The car-pole, held at one end by the yoke, was either regarded as divided at the heavy end into three parts, two of these being side braces that ran behind the horses and connected at each end with the axle-wood, and this was called the ‘three-fold piece’ tidaṇḍa (tridaṇḍa or triveṇu) or this piece was a triangle of bamboo one side of which was parallel to the axle and the other two ran together to the pole.¹ There was a white chaṭṭaka (chhatra) or an umbrella above. Whether the sides (pakkhara) had railings or not we do not know.² The noiseless running of the car (akūiana) seems to be praised. The little, light and swift (lahu-laghu) car was desirable. The normal number of horses seems to have been two, but four are also often mentioned.³ “It is uncertain whether in these cases, the extra horse was attached in front or at the side; possibly both modes were in use.”⁴ This is a typical description of a war-chariot: