Cultural Study of Nisitha Curni

Author(s): Madhu Sen
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

Page 65

POLITY AND ADMINISTRATION
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details regarding these soldiers are found in the text, but it can be presumed that the kstavsiti must have been the soldiers who were paid according to rules formulated and agreed to by the king, while the akstavịtti were the hereditary soldiers who subsisted upon the land-grants or such other trusts issued by the State. In other words, this two-fold division appears to have been a broad division of the soldiers into mercenary and hereditary troops. Yuan Chwang also informs us that “the recruitment ( of the soldiers ) was done by public proclamation, rewards were promised">1 and also that "a select body of guards was recruited from heroes of choice valour, a sort of hereditary military aristocracy."2 Besides, the employees like the bhada3 and cada' are also mentioned along with the sücakas or spies. Both these terms have been interpreted as 'regular' and 'irregular troops' by the scholars. The NC. does not enlighten us about the nature of their work, although they are seen as a class of employees of the State.
Weapons—Various types of offensive and defensive weapons were provided to the army. The various weapons for fighting as mentioned in the NC. were : capa or dhanu (bow ), sara," šalya and kanaka ( different kinds of arrows ), ar dha-candra”
1. Watters, op. cit., 1, p. 343; Beal, S., Buddhist Records of the
Western World, Vol. 1, p. 213. 2. Watters, op. cit., p. 171; Beal, op. cit., p. 87. 3. NC. 3, p. 245. 4. 31791 e arcgrefTC-T tuottaa tarvita-NC. 3, p. 42. 5. CII. III, p. 98, note 2. The cata and bhata are frequently mentioned
in the contemporary inscriptions--see Copper-plate Inscription of Mahārāja Hastin (475-76 A.D.) CII. III, No. 21, p. 98, text p. 96; Maliya Copper-plate Inscription of Maharaja Dhārasena II (571-72 A.D.) issued from Valabhi-CII. III, No. 38, p. 170. text p. 166, also
pp. 105, 109, 120. 6. NC. 2, p. 6. 7. NC. 4, pp. 306, 304. 8. NC. 3, p. 298. 9. Ibid.