What was the greatest battle in the past? Ask about it in India, and you will be answered: of course, the battle in the field of Kuru or Kurukshetra. Everyone there knows about this battle and everything connected with this event, because the study of the poem "Mahabharata" (The Story of the Great Battle of the Descendants of Bharata) is included in the school curriculum, and there are people who know it in verse!
It is interesting that the first mention of the epic about the war of the descendants of Bharata dates back to the 4th century. BC, while it was recorded only in the 5th - 4th centuries. AD, i.e. formed "Mahabharata" for a whole millennium! As an epic monument, this work is unmatched. However, from it you can also learn a lot about what weapons the ancient Indo-Europeans fought with, what military equipment and armor they had.
Arjuna and Krishna go to fight. This is how the Indians imagined it in the past.
So from it you can learn that there was a combat formation called "shakata" (cart), but in order to oppose it, the troops had to be arranged in order under the name "krauncha" (crane).
Judging by the composition of the mythical military unit akshauhini, which included 21870 chariots, 21870 elephants, 65610 horse and 109,350 foot soldiers, chariots, elephants, horsemen and infantrymen participated in the battles of that time. It is significant, however, that the chariots come first in this list, and most of the heroes of the poem do not fight as horsemen or on elephants, but standing on chariots and leading their troops.
This is what chakra or chakram is.
If we discard all kinds of artistic exaggerations and descriptions of the use of all kinds of "divine weapons", the most fantastic in their action, then it will become obvious to any researcher of this poem that the bow and arrows occupy the most important place in its entire arsenal. The convenience of their use for warriors fighting in a chariot is obvious: one, standing on its platform, shoots, while the other drives the horses. In this case, the chariot often stands motionless, and the hero-warrior on it sends clouds of arrows at the enemy. The poem describes that the warriors do not hesitate to kill horses harnessed to each other's chariots and chariots. The chariot immobilized in this way becomes useless and then the warrior gets off it and rushes at the enemy with a sword and shield, or with a club, and, in extreme cases, having lost his weapon, he even grabs the chariot wheel and rushes into battle with him!
Various types of Indian edged weapons.
Of course, both of these warriors must be well trained, since it is not so easy to control the chariot, especially in battle. It is interesting that the Pandava princes in the "Mahabharata", demonstrating their dexterity in the use of weapons and horseback riding, hit targets with arrows at full gallop. That is, it speaks about their ability to ride and shoot from a bow from this position - that is, about the developed skills of horse archers. Then they show the ability to drive chariots and ride elephants, followed by archery again, and only in the very last place they show their ability to fight with swords and clubs.
No weapon - a chariot wheel will do! The main thing for Abhimanyo, the son of Arjduna, is to fight to the last!
It is interesting that if the bows of the heroes of Western European epics are always nameless, but swords and less often have names, the Vikings have axes, then the bows of the main characters of the Mahabharata, as a rule, have their own names. Arjuna's bow, for example, is called Gandiva, and in addition to it he has two never-running quivers, which are usually found on his chariot, and Krishna's bow is called Sharanga. Other types of weapons and equipment have their own names: this is how Krishna's throwing disc is called Sudarshana, Arjuna's shell, which replaced his horn or pipe, is Devadatta, and Krishna's shell is Panchajanya. It is interesting that the enemy of the Pandava princes, the son of the driver Karna, owns a wonderful weapon - an irresistible dart that never misses, and he also has a proper name - Amodha. True, it can only be thrown once and Karna is forced to save it for the decisive duel with Arjuna, in which, however, he cannot enter and spends the dart on another opponent. But this is the only example where a dart has a proper name. Swords, which are used by Pandavas and Kauravas in battle only after arrows and other types of weapons have been used up, do not have their own names. We emphasize once again that this was not the case with the medieval knights of Europe, who had their own names with swords, but certainly not bows.
War chariot of Arjuna and Krishna. But they are even more spectacular in the Indian TV series of 267 episodes.
To protect themselves from enemy weapons, the Mahabharata warriors usually put on shells, have helmets on their heads, and carry shields in their hands. In addition to bows - their most important weapon, they use spears, darts, clubs, used not only as striking weapons, but also for throwing, throwing discs - chakras and only last but not least - swords.
Antelope horns with metal tips and a shield.
Shooting from bows, standing on a chariot, the warriors of the Pandavas and Kauravas use different types of arrows, moreover, very often - arrows with crescent-shaped tips, with which they cut the bowstrings of the bows and the bows themselves, in the hands of their opponents, cut into pieces thrown at them clubs and enemy armor, as well as shields and even swords! The poem is literally filled with reports of whole streams of arrows spewed out by miracle arrows, as well as how they kill enemy elephants with their arrows, smash war chariots and repeatedly pierce each other with them. Moreover, it is significant that not every pierced person is immediately killed, although it happens that someone is struck with three, someone with five or seven, and someone with seven or ten arrows at once.
And the point here is by no means only the fabulousness of the plot of "Mahabharata". It's just that in this case, this is just an exaggerated display of the fact that many arrows, piercing armor and even, perhaps, getting stuck in them with their tips, could not inflict serious injuries on the warrior himself in this case. The warriors continued to fight even when they were stuck with arrows - a situation quite typical for the medieval era. At the same time, the goal for the enemy soldiers, as already noted, was not only a warrior fighting in a chariot, but also his horses and a driver, who, although he participated in the battle, did not actually fight himself. It should be especially noted that many of the chariots operating in the poem adorn banners, by which both their own and strangers recognize them from afar. For example, the chariot of Arjuna had a banner with the image of the god of the monkeys Hanuman, who in difficult times shouted loudly at his enemies, plunging them into terror, while a banner with a golden palm tree and three stars fluttered on the chariot of his mentor and adversary Bhishma.
The Mahabharata is filled with truly amazing fantasies. For example, a certain Vriddhakshatra swore to his son Jayadratha that if someone cut off his head on the battlefield and it falls to the ground, then the head of the one who cut it down will immediately burst into a hundred pieces! Here's how to kill someone like that? But Arjuna finds a way out: his arrow carries the head of the murdered son right to the knees of the praying father Jayadratha, and when he gets up (naturally, not noticing anything around!) And his head falls to the ground, then … what happens to him is what he himself invented ! What is it ?!
It is important to note that the heroes of the "Mahabharata" fight not only with bronze, but also with iron weapons, in particular, they use "iron arrows". However, the latter, as well as all the fratricide that takes place in the poem, is explained by the fact that by this time people had already entered the Kaliyuga, the "Iron Age" and the age of sin and vice, which began three thousand years BC.
Indian war elephant in armor, XIX century. Stratford Arms Museum, Stratford-upon-Avan, England.
In the poem, some of the actions of its heroes are constantly condemned as unworthy, while others, on the contrary, demonstrate their nobility. “… Before he joined with Arjuna, Bhurishravas attacked him and showered him with arrows; and Satyaki showered arrows at Bhurishravasa, and both struck each other with many powerful blows. Under the arrows of Bhurishravas, Satyaka's horses fell, and Satyaki struck down the enemy's horses with his arrows. Having lost their horses, both heroes got off the chariots and rushed at each other with swords in their hands, bleeding like two angry tigers. And they fought for a long time, and neither one could defeat the other, but, finally, Satyaki, exhausted in the struggle, began to yield. Noticing this, Krishna turned his chariot there and said to Arjuna: "Look, Bhurisravas is overpowering, he will kill Satyaki if you do not help him." And when Bhurisravas threw his opponent to the ground and raised his sword over him for the final blow, Arjuna with a quick arrow cut off the hero's hand along with the sword. Bhurishravas staggered and sank to the ground, losing strength. And, turning a reproachful glance at Arjuna, he said: "O mighty one, it is not befitting for you to interfere in our single combat!" Satyaki, meanwhile, jumped to his feet and, picking up his sword, cut off the head of Bhurishravas, who was sitting on the ground while he was whispering prayers. But for this act, unworthy of an honest warrior, he was condemned by Arjuna, Krishna, and other warriors who watched the duel with Bhurisravas."
Kalari payatu is the oldest martial art in India to fight with swords.
But even more interesting in the poem is the strange turn that occurs with its heroes who entered the war. So, the noble Pandavas are undoubtedly the good heroes of peacetime, and the Kauravas are shown by people of low moral qualities and cause universal condemnation.
Karna kills Ghatotkaca. Ghatotkaca is a Rakshasa demon and should not interfere in the battles of people. But he is the son of one of the Pandavas. And when his father asks him for help, he cannot refuse, although this is against the rules. "A righteous man can disregard the rules," divine Krishna tells his father, "if he has a worthy goal!" That is, this is the idea: if the goal is noble, any action is justified!
However, when a war begins, it is the Kauravas who fight fairly honestly and nobly, while the Pandavas indulge in various tricks and act in the most insidious way. For example, the god and driver of Arjuna Krishna advises to undermine the fighting spirit of their opponent Drona by falsely reporting the death of his son Ashwatthaman, so that later it would be easier to kill him. And they do it very cleverly. An elephant named Ashwatthaman is killed. And the most honest of the Pandavas, he informs Drona that he is killed, but the word elephant utters indistinctly. And he, naturally, thinks about his son! Why is this in the poem? What, the ancient authors wanted to show in such a way that war spoils and corrupts even the most noble? But then what about the Kauravas, who are already "bad"?
Krishna and Arjuna are blowing the shells.
Or, as one of the scholars put it, "the Pandavas are represented by the right in their weaknesses, and the Kauravas are guilty of their valor." Or does it show that the main goal in war is victory, and that everything is redeemed by it? Then we have before us, perhaps, the most ancient substantiation of the principle "the end justifies the means", expressed in an epic form! The Mahabharata directly states that the winner is always right. He can even change karma, because it is in his power to change the idea of it!
