FReeper Canteen ~ Part III: War in Ancient India ~ July 27, 2004

A Tribute to Hinduism ^ | July 27, 2004 | LaDivaLoca

[LaDivaLoca]

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Part III: War in Ancient India

Weapons of War as Gathered from Literature

Dhanur Veda classifies the weapons of offence and defense into four - the mukta, the amukta, the mukta-mukta and the yantramukta. The Nitiprakasika, on the other hand, divides them into three broad classes, the mukta (thrown), the amukta (not thrown), and the mantramukta (discharged by mantras). The bows and arrows are the chief weapons of the mukta group. The very fact that our military science named Dhanur Veda provides sufficiently clearly that the bow and arrow were the principle weapons of war in those times. It was known by different terms as sarnga, kodanda, and karmuka. Whether these are synonyms of the same thing or were different is difficult to say. The Rg vedaic smith was not only a steel worker but also an arrow maker. 

Fire-Arms:

It would be interesting to examine the true nature of the agneya-astras. Kautalya describes agni-bana, and mentions three recipes - agni-dharana, ksepyo-agni-yoga, and visvasaghati. Visvasaghati was composed of 'the powder of all the metals as red as fire or the mixture of the powder of kumbhi, lead, zinc, mixed with the charcoal and with oil wax and turpentine.' From the nature of the ingredients of the different compositions it would appear that they were highly inflammable and could not be easily extinguished. 

A recent writer remarks: 'The Visvasaghati-agni-yoga was virtually a bomb which burst and the fragments of metals were scattered in all directions. The agni-bana was the fore-runner of a gun-shot.....

Sir A. M. Eliot tells us that the Arabs learnt the manufacture of gunpowder from India, and that before their Indian connection they had used arrows of naptha. It is also argued that though Persia possessed saltpetre in abundance, the original home of gunpowder was India. It is said that the Turkish word top and the Persian tupang or tufang are derived from the Sanskrit word dhupa. The dhupa of the Agni Purana means a rocket, perhaps a corruption of the Kautaliyan term natadipika. 

(source: Fire-Arms in Ancient India -  By Jogesh Chandra Ray I.H.Q. viii. p. 586-88).

Heinrich Brunnhofer (1841-1917), German Indologist, also believed that the ancient Aryans of India knew about gunpowder. 

(source: German Indologists: Biographies of Scholars in Indian Studies writing in German - By Valentine Stache-Rosen. p.92).

Gustav Oppert (1836-1908) born in Hamburg, Germany, he taught Sanskrit and comparative linguistics at the Presidency College, Madras for 21 years. He was the Telugu translator to the Government and Curator, Government Oriental Manuscript Library. Translated Sukraniti, statecraft by an unknown author.

He attempted to prove that ancient Indians knew firearms. 

(source: German Indologists: Biographies of Scholars in Indian Studies writing in German - By Valentine Stache-Rosen. p.81).

(For more refer to article by G R Josyer - India: The Home of Gunpowder and Firearms).

In his work, Political Maxims of the Ancient Hindus, he says, that ancient India was the original home of gunpowder and fire-arms. It is probable that the word Sataghni referred to in the Sundara Kanda of the Ramayana refers to cannon. 

(source: Hindu Culture and The Modern Age - By Dewan Bahadur K.S. Ramaswami Shastri - Annamalai University 1956 p. 127).

The word astra in the Sukraniti is interpreted by Dr. Gustav Oppert as a bow. The term astra means a missile, anything which is discharged. Agneya astra means a fiery arm as distinguished from a firearm.  

Dr. Oppert refers to half a dozen temples in South India to prove the use of fire-arms in ancient India. The Palni temple in the Madura District contains on the outer portion in an ancient stone mantapa scenes of carved figures of soldiers carrying in their hands small fire-arms, apparently the small-sized guns mentioned in the Sukranitisara. Again in the Sarnagapani temple at Kumbakonam in the front gate of the fifth story from the top is the figure of a king sitting in a chariot drawn by horses and surrounded by a number of soldiers. Before this chariot march two sepoys with pistols in their hands. In the Nurrukkal mantapam of the Conjeevaram temple is a pillar on the north side of the mandapa. Here is a relief vividly representing a flight between two bodies of soldiers. Mounted horsemen are also seen. The foot-soldier is shown aiming his fire-arm against the enemy. Such things are also noted in the Tanjore temple and the temple at Perur, in the Coimbatore District. In the latter there is an actual representation of a soldier loading a musket. 

The Borobudar in Java where Indian tradition is copied wholesale. They are ascribed roughly to the period 750-850 A.D. There is a striking relief series PL. I, fig. 5, (1605) representing a battle in which two others are seen on each side, one wearing a curved sword in the right hand and a long shield, and the other a mace and a round shield resembling a wheel, all apparently made of iron. The story of the Ramayana is also given as in the Tadpatri temple from Rama's going to the forest down to the killing of Ravana. There is also a wonderful sculpture of an ancient Hindu ship. 

(source: Suvarnadvipa - By R.C. Majumdar. pp 194-5).

Medhatithi remarks thus "while fighting his enemies in battle, he shall not strike with concealed weapons nor with arrows that are poisoned or barbed on with flaming shafts."

Sukraniti while referring to fire-arms, (agneyastras) says that before any war, the duty of the minister of war is to check up the total stock of gunpowder in the arsenal. Small guns is referred as tupak by Canda Baradayi. The installation of yantras (engines of war) inside the walls of the forts referred to by Manasollasa and the reference of Sataghni (killer of hundreds of men) pressed into service for the protection of the forts by Samaranganasutradhara clearly reveals the frequent use of fire arms in the battle-field.

(source: India Through The Ages: History, Art Culture and Religion - By G. Kuppuram p. 512-513).

Lord Rama with his bow defeats Ravana in the gold city of Lanka

In the light of the above remarks we can trace the evolution of fire-arms in the ancient India. There is evidence to show that agni (fire) was praised for vanquishing an enemy. The Arthava Veda shows the employment of fire-arms with lead shots. The Aitareya Brahmana describes an arrow with fire at its tip. In the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the employment of agnyastras is frequently mentioned, and this deserves careful examination in the light of other important terms like ayah, kanapa and tula-guda. 

The agnicurna or gunpowder was composed of 4 to 6 parts of saltpetre, one part of sulphur, and one part of charcoal of arka, sruhi and other trees burnt in a pit and reduced to powder. Here is certain evidence of the ancient rockets giving place to actual guns in warfare. From the description of the composition of gunpowder, the composition of the Sukraniti can be dated at the pre-Gupta age. 

(source: War in Ancient India - By V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar 1944. p. 103 -105).

Next Tuesday, Part IV of War in Ancient India

[Soaring Feather]

Just in case we should keep this baby warmed up and running.

[HopeandGlory]

WooHoo!!! . . . let's go Miss Feather

Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder . . .

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Drive the liberals crazy!

Feel free to copy and paste my "post"

Kerry's OWN
Vietnam Veterans Against the War

NOT a "right wing wacko site"

"Our military response to the attacks has caused more civilian deaths
in Afghanistan than the hijackers caused in our country."

http://www.vvaw.org/commentary/?id=8


Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement on John Kerry

http://www.vvaw.org/commentary/?id=400

John Kerry and War Crimes in Vietnam

http://www.vvaw.org/commentary/?id=399

How come he doesn't mention
his service to his country
AFTER he came back
from his war crimes against civilians in Viet Nam?

Who wants a self confessed war criminal like Kerry?

Not Me!

PS From Vietnam Veterans Against the War website

VVAW Statement on Robert Kerrey

(A 9/11 commission member
AND self confessed war criminal
against civilians in Viet Nam)

http://www.vvaw.org/commentary/?id=5

[Soaring Feather]

Okay sweetie, let her rip!!

[StarCMC]

Hey ya'll!

I'm here for a while. I got 4 7-8 year old boys running around here. They swam. They ate. They rode bikes. They sawed a tree down in the woods. I'm hoping they're pooped enough to sleep! :o)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Airmen 1st Class Shawn Brown, left, and Lattrice Goldsby stand together at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. The two are sisters and deployed to Iraq from Kadena Air Base, Japan. Except for attending different technical schools, the sisters have been together throughout their military careers. They are two in a set of quadruplets. Master Sgt. Debbie Aragon / U.S. Air Force

The aircraft carrier George Washington enters the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday (07/20/04 I think) after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. The Norfolk, Va.-based ship is returning from a scheduled deployment conducting missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Summer Pulse 2004, the simultaneous deployment of seven carrier strike groups. Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Joan Kretschmer / U.S. Navy

SHE'S HOME!! but it's a cool picture.

[herewego]

Bless you !

[Soaring Feather]

Got a plane?? You need to take FLIGHT from that bunch of kids. LOL

[Radix]

Actor Tom Selleck walks the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan on Thursday somewhere off the coast of California.

Somewhere off the coast of California is likely to be about a million square miles.

 Still, I loved you in Magnum P. I.! 

Sailors stand outside the construction site at the World Trade Center in New York City on Thursday. The commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks unveiled its report, which cited missed opportunities to thwart the attacks, today.

Sailors are known to be bad tippers, still they always seem to wonder why they have such trouble hailing a taxi  in NYC! 

Sgt. Marcus Houser hugs his son, Chandler, as the Alabama National Guard’s 217th Military Police Company returns to Prattville, Ala., on Thursday. The unit was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a year.

Hey. Poppa, can I go with you on your next hardship tour to the Caribbean?

Airmen 1st Class Shawn Brown, left, and Lattrice Goldsby stand together at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. The two are sisters and deployed to Iraq from Kadena Air Base, Japan. Except for attending different technical schools, the sisters have been together throughout their military careers. They are two in a set of quadruplets.

Hey, we got two out of four here, and that ain't bad!

The aircraft carrier George Washington enters the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. The Norfolk, Va.-based ship is returning from a scheduled deployment conducting missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Summer Pulse 2004, the simultaneous deployment of seven carrier strike groups.

The real George Washington never even saw the Straight of Gibralter, but that is only mentioned because there is nothing really funny about deploying seven carrier groups.

A Navy F/A-18F “Super Hornet” assigned to the "Black Aces" of Strike Fighter Squadron Four, home-based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif., is refueled by a KC-135R Stratotanker assigned to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Air Refueling Wing during exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder 2004-01 on Wednesday. Cope Thunder is a multi-service, multi-platform coordinated combat operations exercise.

Many of the current flight crews are expressing views that they are sick and tired of the "self-service" refueling stations.

A Humvee drives past Iraqi children sweeping a bomb site on a street in northern Baghdad on Friday. An improvised explosive devise detonated as a bus drove the area, wounding eight Iraqi, including a child.

Mayor Giullanni evicted the unwelcome window washers from the tunnel ramps in NYC, but they still find their way to lucrative intersections in other areas.

Actor Tom Selleck shakes hands with Petty Officer Shaunik Johnson aboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan on Thursday.

Hey Tom,  we saw you in that movie "in and out." With that grip, we are convinced, you must be gay.

Michael Reagan, far left, son of former President Ronald Reagan, looks back as an F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan on Thursday.

Michael is still learning that light travels faster than sound!

Staff Sgt. Todd Reid talks with his wife, Christine, on Thursday before leaving for Iowa from Salina, Kan. Reid and other members of the 425th Army Reserve were leaving for Iowa to train before eventually deploying to Iraq. The Reids were married July 16.

Hey Sarge, Congratulations! 

Staff Sgt. Garry Bledsoe, of Topeka, Kan., says goodbye to his son, Christian, 3, before departing from Salina, Kan., on Thursday for Iowa. Members of the 425th Army Reserve will train in Iowa before eventually being deployed to Iraq.

Iraq, Iowa, from here, they all seem like the same place. O.K., O. K. I am just kidding Granny!

The merchant ship Cenk Kapatanoglu, from Istanbul, is detained Thursday in the Delaware Bay, near Milford, Del., by the Coast Guard after it was reported to have a bomb onboard.

Actually the ship was contained because of the horrible spelling of it's nomenclature which was indiscernible to military  security officials.

Just another day at the office for our Troops!

 

[Soaring Feather]

Where's TEXOKIE when we need her? Man she can fly!
Or drive like no bodies business.

[StarCMC]

LOL!! ACtually they have been pretty good so far! And, they're planning to sleep in the basement while I'll be sleeping 2 floors up on the second story. As sleepy as I am, I'm thinking they could just about tear the house down and I'll still get my sleep. He he he!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Star, I love the Revenge funnies. Already emailed them around. My fav....the remote in her purse.

[StarCMC]

Hey you!! Thanks for the pics and the captions! And BTW - I have loved Tom Selleck forever. Could've kissed him when he took on Rosie the pig about gun control! :o)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Chet Atkins & Hank Snow ~ Wildwood Flower

[Soaring Feather]

Be right around to put on an air show for ya Star! LOL

[StarCMC]

Mine too. And I'm not telling it to hubby in case I ever need to use it!! He he he!!

[Soaring Feather]

WOO HOO Ma, good picking!!

[StarCMC]

LOL!! The Angels!! Those guys are awesome!

[Soaring Feather]

Howdy Radix, gotta a plane??

Thanks for the pics.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Marilyn Monroe ~ I Want to Be Loved by You