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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAN
punished to death along with his fellow Sramapas (41.30-31) by a king bigot. A Tápasa who entered the harem and requested to marry a princess, was tied with ropes and publicly censured (39.116) by the king.
Divine Ordeal :-The PCV reveals that divine ordeals were ordered for testing the guilt of a person. When Sítā was asked to prove the purity of her character, she offered to undergo any one of the five ordeals (pañcasu divvesu 101.38) of which the four are mentioned as 'tulă = balance, jalapaṁ=fire, phalam=ploughshare and visam = poison'. Sītā underwent the fire-ordeal. She entered a pit ablazing with fire. She was chaste so the fire pit changend into a waterreservoir and she was acclaimed guiltless. Manu (7.114f) recognises two ordeals. viz. fire and water. The Sukraniti (4.747-52) adds to them the ordeals of vișa, ghata or tulā, dharma and adharma, tandula and sapatha. It states that when all the other methods fail the ordeals are resorted to for prosecuting the person who is charged with some crime.
C. Army and Warfare.
Army:-A strong army was maintained by rulers for the protection and the safty of the territories from external attacks and internal upheavals. Thus the PCV reveals that the kings had at their disposal strong army which is variously called as Bala (12.139), Sadhana (27.30), Sainya (59.11) and Anika (99.54). It consisted of four columns (caturangabala 8.242) namely the infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots (Sandanavaragayaturalgapäikkam 8.48; 12.139). In addition to the horses and elephants other beasts such as donkeys (khara), bulls (vasaha & go), bisons (mahisa) and camels (maya & karaha) were also employed in the army (7.14; 70,66; 99.52). Kautilya mentions that donkeys and camels should be employed for defensive purposes in case of the shortage of elephants (10.4.19). The references to the soldiers of Rāvana and Rāma riding on lions (kesari & siha), tigers (vaggha), Sarabha (saraha) and boars (varāha) indicate that the masks of the respective wild beasts were put on the faces of the ordinary beasts of burden to give them a frightening look (7.14; 70. 66; 99.52; See RKSj, p. 45).
The PCV (56.2-11) gives the measurement of the different units of army. It mentions that the smallest unit of army was called Pankti (Panti) which was comprised of one elephant, one chariot, three horses and five infantry soldiers. Then there were the successive larger units called Senā, Sanāmukha, Gulma, Vahini, Pștanā, Camū and Anikini which were three times larger than the preceding one
