THE NITIPRAKASIKA. 



15 



is, 0 friend, the destroyer of the Raksasas If 



thou killest our cow, horse or servant, we shall pierce thee 

 with lead, that thou mayest not kill weak creatures. 30 



The atrocity of the warfare is ascribed to the existence of 

 such barbarous nations as are the Huna, Pulinda, Sahara, 

 Varvara, Pahlava, Saka, Malava, Konkana, Andhra, Cola, 

 Pandya, Kerala, Mleccha, Candala, Svapaca, Khala, Mavel- 

 laka, Lalittha, Kirata, and Kukkura. 31 



The sixth chapter treats about the army, and as this is a Sixth 

 subject of greater interest and superior importance, I give Chapt 

 its translation nearly in full. 



30 See Atharvanaveda I, 16, 2 and 4 : 



Professor Weber calls this song (see Indische Studien IV, pp. 109, 110) 

 Besprechung eines Amuletts von Blei. As far as I understand the poem, it does 

 not refer to an amulet of lead, but to lead in general. Moreover lead is not 

 one of the metals of which amulets are made, for besides birch bark (bhurja- 

 pattra) only gold (svarna), silver (rajata), and copper (tamra) are mentioned 

 in the Mantras&stra as being used for this purpose. The translation of tarn 

 tvd sisena vidhydmo (si. IV) into " wir schlagen fort dich durch das Blei" ia 

 incorrect ; vyadh does not mean to repel, but to pierce. 



See also Sukrariiti IV, 7, line 408 {Weapons, p. 107), where leaden balls are 

 assigned to the smaller guns. 



31 See V, 56, 57 ; my Weapons, p. 33 ; Madras Journal, p. 199. Ramayana I, 

 41; IV, 40; Mahdbhdrata, I, 6685; III, 1991, &c ; Harivamsa 229, 4756. 

 In my monograph On the Weapons of the ancient Hindus I named on page 33 

 the above-mentioned tribes, and said incidentally in the note below " the 

 Hindus call the modern Europeans Huns ; this expression most probably arose 

 from the idea that the ancient Hunnish invaders came also from Europe." 

 To this the well-known weekly journal Nature remarks on page 581 (21st 

 October 1880): "A work (Nitiprakasika) which mentions the Huna8 

 (" Huns " or Europeans) cannot be of the antiquity to which he {Dr. Oppert) 

 would assign it." As the Hunas (or Hunas) are an ancient people and their 

 name is repeatedly mentioned in the most ancient Indian epics as the Maha- 

 bharata, Ramayana, not to quote other old works, and as I only said that 

 the name Huna is nowadays applied to Europeans, one can hardly believe 

 that a journal which aims at scholarship should risk such a remark. 



