Part 4 - Other Cutting Weapons in the Mahabharata

To the second group of cutting weapons belong 1 Battle axes 489

Axes 2 Hala (ploushares) 3 Kuddala (hoe) = 490 Parasvadha, parasu, kuthara and kulisa were the 4 different axes known to the Mahabharata Parasvadha, a weapon of Mrtyudeva (1.218.33) was either hurled by the hand (III.16.9, 274.220; VI. 50-72; 114.23; VII.113.19, 154.29; VIII.16.9), or used for cutting and lopping off the limbs (VI.44.34, 53.13, 87.14; VIII.8.4), a function it shared with the sword and certain special types of arrows like ardhacandra, ksurapra and bhalla. Both the parasvadha and parasu were not pure battle-axes. They were also used for felling trees and cutting wood, and entire forests were cut down with them (III.280.18; VIII.65.29; IX.40.14; X.10.5, XII.195.12). Kuthara according to a mythological story, was comparatively a stronger and a heavier axe than Parasu (V.9.26). Kulisa is mentioned only once, as part of Duryodhana's preparations for the war (V.152.3). Parasu and kulisa were ancient Vedic axes, but used even in the Vedas they were not necessarily in warfare (Singh 1965:96; Chakravarty 1941:170).

Hala also known as langala was a ploughshare, used as an axe-like weapon. It was a characteristic weapon of Balarama, who is referred to as Hali or Langali (IX.54.4, 59.7). There is yet another example, that of the raksasa Alayudha, who also carried a hala, during the Mahabharata war (VII. 151.19). His very name is probably a corruption of "Halayudha", "fighting with a ploughshare", which was also an epithet of Balarama (IX.52.24). Kuddala The spade or the hoe, another agricultural implement, possibly used as an axe-like weapon, since it was included in the pre-war stockpiling of weapons by Duryodhana (V.152.3)