1876.] R. Maclagan— On Early Asiatic Fire Weapons. 



enraged, " put an arrow of fire on his bow, to dry up the water of the Sara- 

 yd."* The notice in Manu appears to he the earliest. And nearly two 

 thousand years after his time, arrows of this kind were in use in Kashmir ; 

 towards the end of the century in the beginning of which Mahmud had 

 been launching naphtha balls against his opponents in the neighbouring 

 plains of the Panjab. This is M. Troyer's translation of the passage in the 

 Mdjd Tarangini in which they are mentioned. " Quand il ne restait que 

 trois heures du jour, les ennemis, encore une fois rallies, exasperes par la 

 defaite, marcherent pour combattre Kandarpa. Alors il lanca dans le conflit 

 des Heches de fer, lesquelles etaient ointes d'huile d'herbes, et mettaient en feu 

 les espaces qu'elles traversaient."t This Kandarpa was the minister of two 

 kings of Kashmir, Utkarcha, who had a short reign in A. D. 1090, accord- 

 ing to M. Troyer's chronology, J and Harcha, who came to the throne the 

 same year and reigned twelve years. 



Besides the specific notices of arrows, and more indefinite references to 

 the undescribed weapons called by the names abovementioned, there are 

 other passages in the ancient Hindu books relating to the use of combusti- 

 bles in war. " In the JJdyoga Parva of the Mahabharata", Rajendralala 

 Mitra writes, " Yudhisthira is described as collecting large quantities of 

 rosin, tow, and other inflammable articles for his great fratricidal war ; but 

 nothing is there said of any engine with which they could be hurled against 

 his enemies." § Another part of the Mahabharata mentions the use of 

 igneous appliances in aid of defensive arrangements, and here also without 

 any indication of the way in which they were used. It is in connection 

 with the account of the Aswamedlia or horse sacrifice. The horse had 

 entered the country of Manipura, and approached the city of JBabhru-vaha- 

 na. " On the outside of the city were a number of waggons bound together 

 with chains, and in them were placed fireworks and fire-weapons, and men 

 were always stationed there to keep guard." |j 



* This Mdhdtmya is ascribed to Ikshvaku, son of Maim and king of Ayodhya, 

 (Muir's Sanscrit Texts, I, 115). 



f Troyer's Eadja Tarangini, Ch. XII, 983, 984. 



Was any such simple application of inflammable matter to pointed weapons ever 

 practised in Britain ? " Go, thou first of my bards, says Oscar, take the spear of Fin- 

 gal. Fix a flame on its point. Shake it to the winds of heaven." (Ossian, The tvar 

 of Caros.) Whether this fire at the spear's point (which must be meant for a signal in 

 this instance) may be meant to indicate also a familiarity with its application to other 

 nses, is doubtful. 



X Prof. H. H. Wilson assigns dates 23 years later. (Preface to Batnavali, Hindu 

 Theatre, Vol. III.) 



§ Antiquities of Orissa, I, 121. 



|| Talboys Wheeler, History of India, I, 405. 



