Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/150

Rh sions of the wealthy citizens, had terraces and towers and separate bed rooms for the summer and winter seasons. Furniture of various descriptions was in use, such as raised seats, cots with canopies and cushions stuffed with swan’s down, lamps borne by statues, and swings for the amusement of women and children. The temples and palaces were also built of brick : and no buildings of stone are alluded to in the literature of this period except some of the great fortresses, the walls, ramparts and towers of which were constructed with rough hewn stone and mortar.

All the villages and towns were more or less fortified against the attacks of robbers and enemies. Every village was defended by a thick fence of thorny trees: and every town fortified with a wall and ditch and a broad belt of thorny jungle surrounding the ditch. In the great forts of Madura, Karur and Kanchi, many curious engines were mounted on the battlements to shoot arrows or to fling stones on those that besiege them. There were machines like the fishing rod and angle to catch and drag up those that approach the wall : and like iron fingers to seize and tear them to pieces. There were, besides, furnaces from which hot oil and molten metal might be poured on those that attempt to scale the wall: and iron spokes and spears to shove down those that might succeed in mounting the ramparts. The arsenals in the fort were stocked with daggers, swords and lances, bows and quivers full of arrows, shields and breastplates and chariots and harness for horses and elephants.

In besieging a fort the method adopted by the Tamils was first to cut open a wide passage through the jungle which enclosed the fort: then fill up the ditch to enable the army to approach the walls and finally scale the wall with ladders, or burst open the gates with the help of elephants trained to the work.

When the line of battle was drawn up, the elephants were placed first, the chariots and horsemen were ranged behind them, and the infantry occupied the rear. The ordinary foot soldiers carried in their left hand large bucklers made of ox-hide and in their right hand a lance or a battle-axe. The archers carried long bows in their left hand and quivers suspended at their backs. Both lancers and archers were armed with