Essay name: Samrajya Lakshmi Pithika (Study)
Author:
Artatrana Sarangi
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages
This is a study in English of the Samrajya Lakshmi Pithika (written by Lolla Lakshmidhara) representing an encyclopedic manual for emperors. The Samrajyalaksmipithika encompasses about 3870 verses in addressing topics such as public festivals, governance, warfare (military strategy), and rituals associated with the Tantric worship for the deity Samrajya-Lakshmi.
Chapter 5 - Forts, Castrametation and the Royal Army
60 (of 135)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
555
Thus it appears that the author wants to pass off while
giving information of a general nature on this topic while
leaving texts like Mbh. AS. and other texts on Military
Science (Dhanurveda) to take care of of the details.
Weapons: Bows and arrows etc.
53 In view of the importance of weapons (Ayudha) in
any military operation, the king should have a fair knowledge
about them. And therefore, SLP devotes are full patala
(135) for the weaponry. In this section we get informations
mainly about bows and arrows, targets and the qualities of
a bow-man.
Importance of bow : The bow is still considered to be the
greatest of all weapons (sarvayudhamahamatra). It is generally
made from high quality bamboo-canes (sadvamsa) which have
parvan (joints) and to its both ends (koti) are tied a
string (jya) The bow-man who is highly skilled, operates
such a bow to release arrows against the enemies. (1354-8).
Classification: It is primarily divided into two classes,
namely, the divine (daiva) and the human (manusa). The
53. The classical division of weapons into mukta and
amukta etc. is also not mentioned in SLP. See NP
(chapters 4 and 5) for this. SN 4.7. 191-193
divides weapons into two categories viz. astram
and sastram. Also it mentions weapons that are
rendered more potent with mantra and others, with fire.
