Essay name: Archaeology and the Mahabharata (Study)
Author:
Gouri Lad
Affiliation: Deccan College Post Graduate And Research Institute / Department of AIHC and Archaeology
This study examines the Mahabharata from an archaeological perspective. The Maha-Bbharata is an ancient Indian epic written in Sanskrit鈥攊t represents a vast literary work with immense cultural and historical significance. This essay aims to use archaeology to verify and contextualize the Mahabharata's material aspects.
Chapter 14 - Weapons
23 (of 123)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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= 480 (xi) Bhusundi: too, was a missile weapon, refered
to frequently, but it is difficult to envisage its exact
shape (1.186.7; III.167.3; VI.114.2; VII.131.34).
Of all these 11 varities, the prominent ones
were the sakti for the chariot-warrior, tomara for the
elephant corps and prasa for the cavalry, the last two
being carried by the infantry soldiers also.
Rsti, the ancient Vedic javelin, carried by the
Maruts in the Rgveda, is often mentioned but mostly in a
group of weapons (VI.16.27; VII.18.33; VIII.19.25) and not
individually. The same is true of the bhindipala (VI.53.
13; VII.64.45; VIII.16.29). The others are insignificant,
simply enumerated a few times and always in a group.
Sula
The sula was an iron spike, with a very sharp-
pointed head, a highly polished, shining surface which was
sometimes decorated with gold (III.166.14.190.64; VI.91.59).
Originally the sula must have been a hunting
weapon. In a very suggestive simile, Arjuna boasts that he
will attack Lord Siva, disguised as a Kirata, merely with
the tapering end of his bow, as if he were an elephant
hunted down with a pointed sula (III.22.2).
The sula was hurled by the hand like a spear, and
was similarly often cut-down in mid-air by arrows or blunted
with a mace (III.157.65%; VI.91.59; IX.20.23-24).
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If a sula
