BY THE ANCIENT HINDUS. 



231 



Occasionally the word gun (tupaki) is prefixed to remove 

 any doubt as to what powder is meant. In Malayalam, the 

 word vedi, which means explosion, is prefixed. The Chinese 

 crackers are called by the Tamulians Smi vedi — Chinese 

 crackers — to distinguish them from the Indian crackers. The 

 word marimdu is most probably derived from the Sanskrit 

 past participle mardita, pounded, in the sense of different 

 ingredients being pounded together, as a medicine powder. 

 The meaning of gunpowder is then in a special sense derived 

 from this general expression. The Dra vidian equivalent of 

 curna is Sunndmbu in Tamil, Sunnamu in Telugu, chalk. 



From the subject of gunpowder we now turn to the 

 weapon, to which it is applied, i.e., to the firearms. 



Two kinds of firearms are described in the Sukraniti, 

 one is of small size and the other is of large size. The 

 former is five spans long, 119 has at the breech a perpendicular 

 and horizontal hole, and sights at the breech and muzzle 

 end of the tube. Powder is placed in the vent, near which is a 

 stone, which ignites the powder by being struck. Many 

 dispense with this flint. The breech is well wooded and a 

 ramrod compresses the powder and ball before the discharge. 

 This small musket is carried by foot- soldiers. 



A big gun has no wood at its breech ; moves on a wedge 

 in order to be directed towards the object to be shot at, and 

 it is drawn on cars. 



The distance which the shot travels depends upon the 

 strength of the material from which the gun is made, upon 

 the circumference of the hole, and the gun's compactness 

 and size. The ball is either of iron or lead or of any 

 other material. Some big balls have smaller ones inside. 

 The gun itself is generally of iron, occasionally also, as we 



119 A span (vitasti) is the. distance between the extended thumb and the 

 little finger. 



