Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Página 722

HINDU WEAPONS
682
practical manner.
They have introduced
great changes in their methods of attack and defence, and,
A sad and
in fact, in the whole of their military system.
fatal gift, which they may perhaps one day use against those
who brought it to them
Before finishing this subject I will add a few words on the
different kinds of weapons that have been used in India at
different times.
I have already mentioned that there are
thirty-two different kinds of old-fashioned weapons, each of
which has a name and shape peculiar to itself. Models of
these are to be found in the hands of the principal idols.
Each deity is provided with the one that he most affected.
As my readers would find no counterpart to them in a
European armoury, it would be difficult to describe them
without illustrations. All that I can say about them is that
besides many instruments for cutting, there were others for
hacking, stabbing, and felling.
Among Indian arms of more modern times the most
important defensive ones are the helmet and the shield.
The latter is made of leather, and ornamented in the centre
with large bosses. Most Indian soldiers can use it very
skilfully.
Some wear a thick-quilted corselet as a cuirass
or breast-plate, which, it is said, is impervious both to sword
and arrow \ But as this breast-plate affords no protection
against a bullet and is undeniably most uncomfortable to
wear in a hot climate, its use has been almost entirely aban-
doned. Among the offensive weapons of India are bows
and arrows. The bow measures only about two feet and
a half when strung, and each arrow is nearly two feet long.
These are but poor specimens of the weapons which history
The bow used by Rama,
credits the Hindu gods with using.
for instance, was so enormous that the fifty thousand men
who were employed to bring it to him succumbed beneath
the burden. Vishnu's favourite weapon was the chakram,
and many of his devotees have it branded on their shoulders
with a red-hot iron. It is still used in some parts, and con-
sists of a metal disk about nine or ten inches in diameter, with
well-sharpened edges. There is a hole in the centre, and
scientific
and
!
1
The Creeks, and Romans, and many other nations of old used this
sort of cuirass, but they also wore metal ones of different shapes.
Dubois.