Page:Pre-Aryan Tamil Culture.djvu/41

 kaḷari, paṛandalai, mudunilam; these words also indicate waste uncultivated land, on which contests of all kinds took place and show that war did not imply the ruination of crop-bearing land. The army, paḍai, tānai, was divided into various groups, aṇi, uṇdai, oṭṭu; the front ranks were ākkam, koḍippaḍai, tār, tūśi, nirai, and the back ranks, kūḻai. This shows that military science was not unknown to the Tamils. In later times the army was divided into four sections, chariot-warriors, elephant-warriors, horse-warriors, and foot-soldiers. Of these all but the horse-arm came down from ancient times. South India was not the home of the horse and has always imported horses from the valley of the Sindhu, from Persia and other countries. But there is no doubt that the elephant was used from early times both for royal ostentation and military purposes. 'The warrior sits on an elephant, which looked like the god of death (maṛali). He has a broad and high breast, covered with a coat made of the tiger's skin, which the volley of arrows cannot pierce. The elephant resembles the ship that passes on the sea, the moon which moves among the stars; it is surrounded by armed maṛavar like sharks, and is so excited as not to recognize its mahout.' The elephants were skilfully trained and carefully looked after by the pāgan, tied to posts, kandu, taṛi, in the ālai, elephant-house, and fed with palmyrah trunks, rice and jaggery; they were bathed in tanks or rivers, their face painted with vermilion and decorated and armoured with face-plates, ōḍai, suḻi. Chariots heavily decorated with wood-carving, in the profusion of which Indians revelled, and brilliantly coloured, śayam tōytta, trappings in various patterns and elephant warriors and foot-soldiers decked with garlands of the leaves and flowers which were the badge of each royal house, formed the serried ranks assembled on the battlefield. Of the implements of war, some came down unaltered from the Stone Age, such as the club, taḍi, eṛul, taṇḍu, the shorter one being kuṇil, the bow, vil, kokkarai, śilui, taḍi, tavar, muni, besides the compound noun koḍumaram, bent-wood. Other implements were made of stone at first, and iron was substituted for stone in the early Iron Age: such as the sword, vāḷ, uvaṇi, ēdi, kaḍuttalai, tuvaṭṭi, navir, nāttam, vañjam, vaḷ, short swords being called kuṛumbidi, śurigai, katti, and bent ones.