Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.8

v2.c19.8

¹ Cp. xii, 100.43. But it is uncertain in this passage whether the army is meant to be marching out to the battlefield, or attacking. Judging by the somewhat loose formation, indeed, one would be inclined to think rather of the last-named alternative. “In front let the army of the men be, of those armed with sword and shield, behind let the army of carts be, and in the middle the womenfolk.” Or, since the carts and the women always go together at other times : “Behind and in the middle let the army of carts and the womenfolk be”? The carts (çakaṭā) are according to Nil. on v, 196.26 bhāṇḍavanti anāṃsi “the waggons carrying the ‘outfit’.” By this is first of all meant all kinds of army implements (cp. e.g. v, 196.10), and then probably table-ware, provisions, etc. In our passage, where āpaṇa is wanting, the carts may partly also contain traders’ goods. These are anyhow also near the women. Cp. Kauṭilya, 565.7 ff.; but also 515.3-4; 516.21 ff. These passages, it is true, show that probably also in the Epic by kalatra are meant, above all, the wives of the soldiers. Cp. Kauṭ., 515.25 ff.—Droṇa’s wife, Tārkshi, looks on in the battle between the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas, and is there wounded by an arrow and dies. Mārk.-Pur., ii, 34 ff.