BY THE ANCIENT HINDUS. 



189 



enormous tubes by means of gunpowder, it must have been 

 a very formidable projectile. 52 



These twenty weapons, belonging to the amukta division, 

 are deposited in the second foot of the Dhanurveda. 



All these thirty-two weapons were, according to tradition, 

 taken from the body of the sage Dadhici. And this is the 

 way how it happened : — 



When the gods had been defeated by the demons in a 

 great battle, which defeat they owed in some part to their 

 insufficient knowledge of the Dhanurveda, they perceived on 

 their flight the great sage Dadhici, who was sitting near the 

 place they passed. To him they entrusted their arms and 

 continued their flight until they reached the high mountain 

 Mandara, under whose bulky body they sought and obtained 

 an asylum. Here they rested for many years, acknowledg- 

 ing Indra as their immediate superior. The sage meanwhile 

 guarded well these weapons, which through his penance had all 

 been changed into spikes, had entered his body and had 

 become his bones. Thus a long time passed away, until the 

 gods became at last anxious to recover once more their lost posi- 

 tion and to try another fight with the demons. In their dejec- 

 tion they appeared before Brahma, the father of all beings, 

 and requested him to help them. Brahma, moved to pity, 

 imparted to them the Dhanurveda, together with the spells 

 and all the necessary implements belonging to it. Supplied 

 with the Dhanurveda, his four feet and his six angas, the 

 gods went in search of Dadhici and requested him to 

 surrender to them their weapons. Dadhici was quite willing 

 to do so, even though this kindness should cost him his life, 

 provided he were allowed to ascend to the divine heaven. 



« See Ibidem, II. 20 ; V. 48, 49. 



48. SataghnI kantakayuta kalayasamayi drdha 

 mudgarabha caturhasta vartula tsaruna yuta. 



49. Gada valgitavatyesa mayeti kathita tava. 



