03-28-2006, 08:33 AM
This is what I've written in my book.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->There is very little known about siege weaponry in Indian warfare although it would not be inconceivable to think that with the fortresses and elephant armies, Indian dynasties had employed some type of siege weapons in their wars. Much of what is known come from Muslim sources and are almost unanimous in their assertion that the Islamic invasions of the 8th century onwards saw the first introduction of catapults into the Indian subcontinent.
Typical is this source from the History of Pakistan from the internet;
  "Islam was first brought in by Arabs in early eighth century. At that time, the religion itself was only about a century old. In 711 AD Mohammad Bin Qasam, a brilliant 19 year-old Arab general from Basra (Iraq) marched into Pakistan by way of Persia and Balochistan with the army of 60,000 men. He employed a method of warfare never before seen in the subcontinent - large carriage-drawn catapults capable of hurling heavy stones and missiles across the distances of about 200 yards. He marched all the way to Nerun (Hyderabad) where he engaged Raja Dahir, the local Hindu ruler and his massive army of 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. Mohammad Bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir with contemptuous ease."
On the other hand, there are however a few references which dispute this assertion of muslim sources. King Ajátasattu (493 - 462 B.C.) of the Magadhan empire, in a battle ca. 478 B.C. against the republican states of the Lichchhavis, used a type of catapult called the Mahashilakantaka. Jain texts described its use together with a covered "tank" chariot called the Rathamusala which helped the King win his war. Then we find yet another catapult called the Sarvatobhadra which was a fortress wall mounted cart with wheels and capable of rapid revolutions for hurling stones all around. The Hastivaraka was yet another catapult, firing three-pronged iron rods to strike at elephants. In the Indian epics we find references to the Sataghni or "hundred-killer" mounted on top of city walls. They were wheeled columns of wood, stone or metal, studded with spikes which were hurled at an enemy trying to storm and scale the walls. Smaller versions were apparently mentioned as handheld battlefield missiles as part of a heroâs chariot equipment. In the famous epic Ramayana, we find mention of the term Yantras which were weapons that threw stones and arrows from fortifications and a few references referred to Yantras carried by elephants and chariots.
The campaigns of Alexander the Great in 326 B.C. brought his Greek army into the northern reaches of the Indian subcontinent where it is written that they encountered the artillery of the Oxydraces people of Punjab. In the words of Philostratus, we have the reply by Alexander to Apollonius on why the army was refraining from battle.
  "...these truly wise men dwell between the rivers of Ganges and Hyphasis. Their country Alexander never entered, deterred not by fear of the inhabitants but, as I suppose, by religious motives, for had he passed the Hyphasis he might doubless have made himself master of all the country round; but their cities he never could have taken, though he had a thousand men as brave as Achilles, or three thousand like Ajax; for they come not out into the field to fight those who attack them, but rather these holy men, beloved of the gods, overthrow their enemies with tempest and thunderbolts shot from their walls. It is said that the Egyptians Hercules and Bacchus, when they invaded India, attacked this people also, and having prepared warlike engines attempted to conquer them; they in the meantime made no show of resistance, appearing perfectly quiet and secure, but upon the enemy's near approach they repulsed them with storms of lightning and flaming thunderbolts hurled upon their armour from above."
This was a remarkable description of 4th century B.C. Indian incendiary and long range artillery by a non-Indian source, which when read together with the Indian epics of the period, points to the possible existence of catapults in the ancient Indian arsenal. The types and forms of these interesting catapults of the ancient Indians however, are lost to us, veiled in legends and myth, remaining as yet undetermined and unresearched and therefore unknown to this day. India, it would seem, suffers not from a scarcity of catapults but from a scarcity of information on its catapults.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->There is very little known about siege weaponry in Indian warfare although it would not be inconceivable to think that with the fortresses and elephant armies, Indian dynasties had employed some type of siege weapons in their wars. Much of what is known come from Muslim sources and are almost unanimous in their assertion that the Islamic invasions of the 8th century onwards saw the first introduction of catapults into the Indian subcontinent.
Typical is this source from the History of Pakistan from the internet;
  "Islam was first brought in by Arabs in early eighth century. At that time, the religion itself was only about a century old. In 711 AD Mohammad Bin Qasam, a brilliant 19 year-old Arab general from Basra (Iraq) marched into Pakistan by way of Persia and Balochistan with the army of 60,000 men. He employed a method of warfare never before seen in the subcontinent - large carriage-drawn catapults capable of hurling heavy stones and missiles across the distances of about 200 yards. He marched all the way to Nerun (Hyderabad) where he engaged Raja Dahir, the local Hindu ruler and his massive army of 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. Mohammad Bin Qasim defeated Raja Dahir with contemptuous ease."
On the other hand, there are however a few references which dispute this assertion of muslim sources. King Ajátasattu (493 - 462 B.C.) of the Magadhan empire, in a battle ca. 478 B.C. against the republican states of the Lichchhavis, used a type of catapult called the Mahashilakantaka. Jain texts described its use together with a covered "tank" chariot called the Rathamusala which helped the King win his war. Then we find yet another catapult called the Sarvatobhadra which was a fortress wall mounted cart with wheels and capable of rapid revolutions for hurling stones all around. The Hastivaraka was yet another catapult, firing three-pronged iron rods to strike at elephants. In the Indian epics we find references to the Sataghni or "hundred-killer" mounted on top of city walls. They were wheeled columns of wood, stone or metal, studded with spikes which were hurled at an enemy trying to storm and scale the walls. Smaller versions were apparently mentioned as handheld battlefield missiles as part of a heroâs chariot equipment. In the famous epic Ramayana, we find mention of the term Yantras which were weapons that threw stones and arrows from fortifications and a few references referred to Yantras carried by elephants and chariots.
The campaigns of Alexander the Great in 326 B.C. brought his Greek army into the northern reaches of the Indian subcontinent where it is written that they encountered the artillery of the Oxydraces people of Punjab. In the words of Philostratus, we have the reply by Alexander to Apollonius on why the army was refraining from battle.
  "...these truly wise men dwell between the rivers of Ganges and Hyphasis. Their country Alexander never entered, deterred not by fear of the inhabitants but, as I suppose, by religious motives, for had he passed the Hyphasis he might doubless have made himself master of all the country round; but their cities he never could have taken, though he had a thousand men as brave as Achilles, or three thousand like Ajax; for they come not out into the field to fight those who attack them, but rather these holy men, beloved of the gods, overthrow their enemies with tempest and thunderbolts shot from their walls. It is said that the Egyptians Hercules and Bacchus, when they invaded India, attacked this people also, and having prepared warlike engines attempted to conquer them; they in the meantime made no show of resistance, appearing perfectly quiet and secure, but upon the enemy's near approach they repulsed them with storms of lightning and flaming thunderbolts hurled upon their armour from above."
This was a remarkable description of 4th century B.C. Indian incendiary and long range artillery by a non-Indian source, which when read together with the Indian epics of the period, points to the possible existence of catapults in the ancient Indian arsenal. The types and forms of these interesting catapults of the ancient Indians however, are lost to us, veiled in legends and myth, remaining as yet undetermined and unresearched and therefore unknown to this day. India, it would seem, suffers not from a scarcity of catapults but from a scarcity of information on its catapults.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->