Part 6 - Projectile Weapons in the Mahabharata

To this category belong three types of weapons 1. Sling stones 2. Cakra 3. Pasa Sling Stones Stones of various sizes and shapes, hurled by the hand and from slings and catapults, were used in defensive (III.16.5-8; III.268.30) as well as open warfare (III.23.10; VII.97.35, 154.36). These include giant boulders (parvata) (1.218.33; III.21.32, 23.10; 221.34), huge stone slabs (mahapasana, mahasila) (III. 23.10; IV.44.45; VII.154.26), smaller rocks and stones (pasana, upala, asma, graiveya) (1.218.44; III.159.32, 268.30; VI.50.49; VII.29.16, 35.25, 97.15, 97.34-35, 131.33, 150.35, 154.267, 166.54) and rounded balls of stone and metal (asmaguda, ayoguda) (III.16.5-8; VII.29. 16, 35.24, 153.21, 154.36, 170.18%; VIII.14.37). 502

The most interesting thing about these sling stones is that their use is mostly restricted to raksasas and mlecchas, aborigines, forest-tribals and foreigners from the hilly North-west. -292 Thus during his fierce fight with the raksasa Saubha, Krsna faced his most difficult moment when he found himself almost crushed under a heavy shower of houlders and rocks. A heap of stones covered his chariot, horses, charioteer, and even himself making them look like a huge ant-hill. Even his banner placed high atop the chariot became invisible, creating panic in his army. At this crucial moment Krsna drew out his vajra - a deadly club and shattered to pieces the stones around (III.21-23). During the Mahabharata war too, it is the two raksasas, Ghatotkaca and Alambusa, battling for Supremacy who pelt each other with stones and metal balls (VII.150.35, 153.21). Ghatotkaca's paraphernalia of weapons included huge stone slabs, as well as round stone balls, creating havoc in the Kaurava army (VII.154.26, 36). A stone picked up from just anywhere, the most primitive weapon, was also the most natural to a raksasa in a forest, like it was to Kirmira in the Naimisa forest, hitting Bhima on the head with a stone slab (III.12.51). The more sophisticated versions of these crude stones is what Saubha or Ghatotkaca or Alambusa used on a large scale on the battlefield. The Mahabharata heroes 503

were strangers to these primitive weapons and this primitive mode of warfare. Apart from the raksasas the only other people to use sling-stones were certain tribes of foreign and The following tribes are mixed origins (VII.97.13-15). named: = 504 1. Saka 2. Kamboja 3. Bahlika 4. Yavana 5. Khasa 6. Tangana 7. Ambastha 8. Kuninda 9. Parada 10. Mandara 11. Paisaca Of these the Sakas and the Yavanas were the foreign Scythians and Greeks from the North-West. From the same region hailed the Kambojas and the Bahlikas. To this group may also be added the Gandharas, who led by Sakuni, the maternal uncle of the Kauravas and a Prince of Gandhara, were also experts in stone-warfare (VII.29.16). These tribes are described as 'parvatiya', inhabiting the mountaineous regions of the North-West.

of the remaining the Paisacas, described as "vanayujan" were probably semi-aborigine tribes living in the forest. The rest were of mixed origins, very often looked down upon as degraded Ksatriyas. All these tribes were ranged on the side of the Kauravas and were brought on to the field by Duhsasana, who knew very well that none of the other tribes from the doab, like the Kurus themselves, had any training or experience of fighting with sling-stones. Thus, one of the most thrilling moments of the Mahabharata war comes when Satyaki (of Krsna's Vrsni tribe) stood all alone in his chariot, undaunted by a mad shower of stones, cutting them down systematically with his arrows. The sky at that moment became full of stones and naraca arrows, and darkness descended upon the earth (VII.97.29-43). 505 Despite references to stone and metal balls, there is no word which can be pinned down to mean a sling or a catapult. Three words, Ksepani, Cakrasma and Srngika, which according to dictionaries are some kind of slings, do occur in the Mahabharata Of these Ksepani was probably the true sling for it was weilded by those same mountaineous tribes who attacked Satyaki with stones (VII.97.33). It occurs a few times, enumerated along with other weapons that littered the battlefield (VI.72.4, 15, 114.2; VII.35. 25, 89.12). The Cakrasma is mentioned only once (1.218. 24), and was carried by the gods defending the Khandava

forest. The word, however, is part of a compound which includes other weapons too, and can therefore, be split into two words, a cakra (discus) and an asma (slingstone). Srngika, as part of the defences of Dwarka (III.16.5-8), was probably a catapult from the V-shape which resembles the two horns (sriga) of an animal. Cakra Unlike in later times, the cakra or the discus was not an exclusive weapon of Visnu or Krsna. The Vedic Sun-god Mitra carried a razor-sharp cakra during the attack on Krsna and Arjuna in the Khandava forest (1.218. 34). Similarly followers of Kartikeya and even some semi-divine Siddhas carried cakras (IX.44.104. XIV.16.22) which were also a part and parcel of the Epic arsenal. Two types can be distinguished Giant ones, forming part of the defences of a city, and smaller ones, carried and flung by the hand. Huge metal wheels placed along the fortifications gaurded Indraprastha and Dwarka (I. 199.33; III.16.5-8). Some idea of their make and function can be had from a mythological story. The giant Eagle Garuda, attempting to snatch away the jealously gaurded amrta of the gods, found the jar containing it protected 506

with by a specially contrived mechanism, a metal wheel/razorsharp edges, shining like the sun, and rotating continuously, so that anyone trying to go past it was cut to pieces. The Garuda found his way through by contracting his body and pushing it through the space between the spokes, in a matter of a split second (1.29.2). From the above account it appears that large metal wheels with spokes and very sharp cutting edges, were placed along the walls of a city, and made to rotate continuously at great speed, probably by men manning handles attached to the axle-staff, running through the centre of the navel. Thus, The smaller ones, flung by the hand, are often described as littered all over the battlefield (VIII.14. 34). They were evidently used in large numbers. when Asvatthama set in motion his dreaded Narayanastra, bringing down a torrent of weapons (VII.170.19) or when Ghatotkaca created his "maya' with all kinds of weapons comming out of nowhere (VII.154.26,36), hundreds of sharp-edged metal wheels, appearing like tiny orbes of the sun, came whirling through the sky. It is difficult to believe that these descriptions are authentic, and the very word 'maya', illusion, seems to say as much. There are, however, examples of single cakra(s) used by individuals. The most famous and the most dreaded of these was Krsna's Sudarsana cakra, a metal wheel with 507

a thousand spokes, set around a firm navel (1.216.3; V.12.20). It was unique in so far that it would never be lost, though used again and again. It came back into the hands of Krsna, somewhat like a boomarang, after lopping off the heads of the enemy (1.216.24, 219.7). It was presented to him by Agni, the god of Fire (1.216. 24), and it gave him his supremacy over gods and men, Nagas, Raksasas and Pisacas. The only other person, apart from Krsna who used the cakra in actual warfare was Ghatotkaca. His cakra too, had a 1000 spokes, an edge as sharp as a razor's, was studded with jewels and precious stones and glittered like a miniature sun (VII.131.40, 150.42). However, as a dreaded weapon it stood in no comparison to that of Krsna's. Ghatotkaca used it twice, once against Asvatthama (VII.131.40), and a second time against Karna (VII.150.42), but it was cut down by arrows, on both the occasions. a Krsna's Sudarsanacakra seen in action during the destruction of the Khandava forest, and against the raksasa Subha, is described on both the occasions as the Agneyastra or the Fire-missile (1.216.21-24; III.23.30). Some inflammatory matter may have been attached to the spokes, and set on fire before the cakra was sent whirling on its courge. The Sudarsana, hurled as a last resort, to the accompaniment of spells and chants, setting in motion 508

the Agneyastra, not only split the city of Saubha into two, but reduced it to ashes as well (III.23.33-34). Causing fire with the aid of cakras is mentioned again (1.26.43) when the 'devasena', the army of the gods, attacked Garuda, with burning cakras, emitting sparks, flame and smike. Another type of cakra was a rathacakra, a chariot-wheel, which was used on rare occasions and in moments of great distress, as a handy weapon. A warrior, deprived of the protection of his car and weapons, took up a chariot-wheel and whirled it around to keep the enemy away, or flung it, crushing anything and everything that came in the way (VII.142.10; X.8.23). Young Abhimanyu, with all his weapons gone, putting up a desparate fight, kept the Kaurava warriors at bay for a long time, armed only with a rathacakra (VII.172.10). 509 Pasa or the noose, is a very insignificant weapon in the Epic, never used in actual warfare. But nooses and ropes were included in the pre-war stock-pilling of weapons by Duryodhana (V.152.3) and infantry soldiers were armed with them, along with the bows and the swords (VIII. 8.17), probably to bring down mounted men, those riding horses, elephants and chariots. The Epic also describes a curious weapon, the Nagastra, with which Arjuna tied the feet of the Kaurava

soldiers, paralyzing the entire army, which was unable to take even a step forward (VIII.37.21-22). This was probably some kind of a lasso, the ropes imagined as Nagas (serpents), although its effect is somewhat exaggerated.