A Concise History of Science in India c9.s8.7

c9.s8.7

Spectacular display of fireworks was a common feature in marriages and other ceremonies in medieval India. In the fifteenth century A.D., various kinds of fireworks were displayed at Vijayanagar during festivals. Even foreign travellers like Barbosa in the sixteenth century A.D. have given vivid descriptions of the display of fireworks in certain parts of India. Bernier has given an account of ‘*bannes*’ in warfare and how they used to be thrown against the enemy as a sort of grenade attached to a stick, and *cherkys*a thrown to explode with a view to separating fighting elephants.