Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c7.57

c7.57

**Races.** Next to hunting were the races in which the kings indulged in those days. In Chandragupta's time, there was a special trotter breed of oxen "which equalled horses in speed." A carriage was harnessed to a mixed team of two such oxen with a horse between. The course was about a mile and three quarters in length, and the king and his nobles betted keenly in gold and silver on the result. Kauṭilya also knows of oxen which equalled horses in speed (*Balīvardānāṁ nasyāśvabhadragativāhināṁ*) [II. 29].