Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.75

c2.75

Hoernle has the following note on these two, *Mahāśilā* and *Ratha-musala*, which are clearly war-machines: "...the *Mahāśilākaṇṭaka* must have been some engine of war of the nature of a catapult which threw big stones. It created such a panic among the enemy that all fled...the *Ratha-Musala* would seem to have been a sort of 'scythed chariot'¹² such as the ancient Persians used to employ in war, but apparently furnished with clubs instead of scythes. It would also seem to have been provided with some kind of self-acting machinery to propel it, as it is described as having moved without horses or driver; though, possibly, as in similar contrivances in the middle ages, it was moved by a person concealed inside who turned the wheels."¹³