BY THE ANCIENT HINDUS. 



237 



commentator of Manu, favors by his explanation the opinion 

 of those who take this passage in the sense " as darts blazing 

 with fire." 129 But then the questions arise, whether Kulluka- 

 bhatta, who lived about four hundred years ago, expresses the 

 whole meaning of the sentence, or whether Manu, though 

 mentioning only ignited arrows, does not rather allude to 

 firearms in general ? The translation found in Dr. Monier 

 "Williams' Sanskrit English Dictionary under agnijvalitate- 

 jana 4 having a point hardened in fire ' is quite beyond the 

 mark. 



The meaning of arrow (sara, banci) is much wider than is 

 generally supposed. It was, and became more so in time, the 

 usual term for any missile, whether it had the shape of an 

 arrow or not ; in the same way as the word Dhanu signified 

 in course of time every missile or weapon, so that the Dha- 

 nurveda, the knowledge of the bow comprised the knowledge 

 of all other arms. 



For instance, the shot out of a gun is called a sara, as we 

 have seen when describing the nalika, 130 but it may be a ball and 

 not an arrow. A rocket is generally styled a bana (compare 

 the Hindi term ban, a rocket) ; and bdnapattrai in Tamil, or 

 banapatram Telugu denotes a gunpowder or firework factory. 



A comparison of the context of the Manavadharmasastra 

 with those of the Sukraniti and the Nltiprakasika makes it 

 clear that Manu alludes to firearms. The Sukraniti runs 

 in our extract as follows : — 



277. A king, bearing in mind the six principles of policy 

 and the designs of his enemy and his own, should always kill 

 his enemy by fair and unfair fighting. 



129 See Kullukabhatta to Manu, VII, 90. Kutanyayudhani bahih 

 kasthadimayani antarguptanisitasastrani ; etaih samare yudhyamanah 

 satrum na hanyat ; napi karnyakaraphalakairbanaih ; napi visaktaih, 

 napy agnidlptaphalakaih . 



130 See note 25, dronicapasarerini, discharging the missile of the Droni- 

 capa. 



