Weapons of Bhaṇḍāsura’s Army

Paṭṭiśa · पट्टिश

The common description “a spear with a sharp edge” is basically sound. Traditional Sanskrit lexicography describes the paṭṭiśa as a weapon with an iron shaft and an extremely sharp cutting edge.

That suggests something more substantial than an ordinary narrow spearhead. Depending on context the paṭṭiśa has been compared to a spear, a lance, a halberd-like polearm, or a heavy cutting spear. The important point is that it possessed a real cutting edge. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also includes it in a battlefield weapon catalogue.

Mudgara · मुद्गर

Mudgara is much less mysterious. Its normal meaning is a hammer, a mallet, a heavy striking weapon, a war hammer. Unlike a sword or a spear it kills primarily through blunt impact. The Lalitopākhyāna mentions it again later, among the weapons surrounding Lalitā’s divine armaments.

The repeated appearance confirms that these were established weapon-names in the author’s vocabulary rather than exotic coinages for one scene.

Bhidura · भिदुर

The noun bhidura is traditionally glossed as a thunderbolt, while its underlying verbal association is with √bhid, “to split, break, cleave.” The name therefore carries the idea of a splitting or shattering weapon, which suits the thunderbolt — the vajra being the archetypal breaker of obstacles and fortifications.

Still, “thunderbolt” should not make us imagine every warrior carrying Indra’s unique divine Vajra. The term can function as a weapon-name connected with the idea of smashing or splitting.

Bhiṇḍipāla · भिण्डिपाल

This is one of the more interesting terms. It has often been rendered “short javelin thrown by hand.” That is possible, but the Sanskrit weapon tradition suggests something less ordinary. Lexicons give several interpretations: a small hand-thrown javelin; an arrow or dart; a sling; a stone fastened to a cord; a sling-like missile weapon.

The technical Nītiprakāśikā places the bhiṇḍipāla among the muktāyudhas, weapons that are released or thrown. Its description gives it approximately one cubit’s length and says that it has a crooked body, a broad form and a bent head, and that it is manipulated by whirling and releasing. That is not the description of a simple straight spear.

The Bhāgavatam independently confirms that bhiṇḍipāla was a recognised battlefield term.

Druhaṇa / Drughaṇa · द्रुहण / द्रुघण

The Lalitopākhyāna reads druhaṇaiḥ. A closely related and better-attested technical form is drughaṇa. The Nītiprakāśikā describes the drughaṇa as having a broad head, a crooked neck and substantial length, with movements associated with striking, smashing and splitting. The weapon therefore appears to belong to the broad family of heavy impact weapons.

Bhuśuṇḍī · भुशुण्डी

This is the weapon in the list that most requires caution. Some older English dictionaries and translations have suggested bhuśuṇḍī = firearm, and one English translation of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa accordingly gives “fire arms.” That identification is far from secure. The word occurs in Sanskrit literature in contexts where translators themselves wisely leave it as the name of a weapon.

Notice the company the bhuśuṇḍī keeps: clubs, swords, spears, axes, arrows. Nothing in the passage itself says “gun.”

The Nītiprakāśikā is more interesting still. It describes the bhuśuṇḍī as approximately three arm-lengths long, with a broad body, broad knots or swellings, a good hand-grip and a dark colour compared with a cobra, and movements including ghūrṇana, whirling or rotating. That description is difficult to reconcile with an ordinary firearm. It sounds much more like a large hand weapon or heavy missile.

We should not go too far in the opposite direction either. It is possible that the same word acquired different meanings in different historical periods. What we should not do is take a tentative later dictionary identification and declare that the Purāṇa describes guns. The Sanskrit evidence does not justify that certainty.

Kuṭhāra · कुठार

This is one of the clearest corrections to older translations. Kuṭhāra normally means axe or hatchet — not dagger. More importantly, the Lalitopākhyāna itself practically proves the distinction. Verse 10 lists kuṭhāraiḥ (कुठारैः), while verse 13 separately lists kaṭāraiḥ (कटारैः). The second term, kaṭāra, is the dagger-type weapon, so the two should not be confused.

The older translation “Kuṭhāras — daggers” should therefore be corrected. Kuṭhāra is the axe; kaṭāra, at number 25 below, is the dagger.

Musala · मुसल

The original meaning of musala is a heavy pestle used for pounding grain. Such an object is naturally usable as a formidable blunt weapon, and Sanskrit literature regularly treats the musala as a weapon in its own right. Balarāma is especially associated with the hala, the plough, and the musala. The basic distinction from a gadā is useful: the musala is originally pestle-shaped, while the gadā is a purpose-built mace.

Gadā · गदा

This requires little qualification. The gadā is one of the most famous weapons of Sanskrit epic literature, and its famous practitioners include Bhīma, Duryodhana, Balarāma and Jarāsandha. The martial discipline of mace combat is commonly called gadā-yuddha.

Śataghnī · शतघ्नी

This is another term that should not be casually modernised. The name is transparent: śata, hundred, and √han, to kill or strike — “that which kills a hundred.” Older translations sometimes call it a bombard, a cannon, a rocket or a siege engine, but ancient descriptions do not justify automatically picturing artillery. Traditional lexicography records a description of a śataghnī as a stone or cylindrical wooden object studded with iron spikes.

The Rāmāyaṇa associates śataghnīs with city defence. Ayodhyā is described this way:

Laṅkā is similarly imagined as a woman whose defensive weapons form her hair.

So the śataghnī clearly belonged to the vocabulary of powerful defensive and anti-personnel weapons. Yet another Rāmāyaṇa passage shows Rākṣasa troops themselves carrying them.

That warns us against assuming śataghnī always meant one enormous fixed siege engine.

Triśikha · त्रिशिख

The name means literally “three-pointed” or “three-crested” — tri, three, and śikhā, point, crest, peak. Because it appears beside arrows and missiles in this passage, it may indicate a three-pronged arrow or projectile, though triśikha is capable of describing other three-pointed weapons.

Viśikha · विशिख

This is simpler than some older translations make it. Viśikha is an ordinary classical Sanskrit word for an arrow. “Iron-tipped arrow” is unnecessarily specific unless the surrounding passage states the material.

Ardhacakra · अर्धचक्र

The name means ardha, half, and cakra, disc, circle or wheel — “half-disc.” In the context of projectile weapons this probably refers to a crescent-shaped cutting head, comparable in concept to the well-known ardhacandra, “half-moon,” arrowhead. Such a broad curved edge would be designed more for cutting than for simple penetration.

Mahācakra · महाचक्र

Cakra means wheel, circle or disc. As a weapon it can denote the well-known Indian war discus, with Viṣṇu’s Sudarśana-cakra providing the divine archetype. Mahā- simply means great, large or mighty.

Vakrāṅga · वक्राङ्ग

The word breaks down neatly into vakra, bent, curved or crooked, and aṅga, limb, body or part — “having a curved or crooked body.” In a weapon catalogue it probably describes the geometry of the object: a curved missile, a hooked blade, a crooked arrowhead, a bent projectile. We cannot reconstruct the precise form with certainty.

Uragānana · उरगानन

This term is occasionally corrupted in handwritten or copied lists to Uragāna. The Sanskrit is clearly उरगानन, uragānana, from uraga, serpent, and ānana, face or mouth — “serpent-faced” or “serpent-headed.” The expression probably refers to the shape of the point or head of a missile. It need not mean that an actual supernatural snake was attached to the weapon.

Phaṇiśīrṣa-prabheda · फणिशीर्षप्रभेद

This expression is descriptive rather than the name of one standardised weapon. Phaṇin is a hooded serpent, śīrṣa a head, and prabheda a variety, subdivision or distinct form — so the phrase means approximately “varieties of serpent-head forms.” The surrounding passage tells us that these are weapons, but prabheda itself simply means “varieties.”

Kṣepaṇika-śastra · क्षेपणिकशस्त्र

The word is related to √kṣip, “to throw, cast, hurl,” so kṣepaṇika describes something associated with throwing or discharging. Older translations sometimes identify these specifically as slings. That is possible, but the Sanskrit expression is broader. The Rāmāyaṇa independently uses a closely related term.

This shows that kṣepaṇī belonged to an old vocabulary of missile or throwing implements. Interestingly, shortly before the weapon catalogue, Bhaṇḍāsura gives an order.

That may suggest projectile devices useful in defence rather than merely ordinary hand-held slings.

Vajrabāṇa · वज्रबाण

The compound is transparent: vajra, thunderbolt, diamond, adamantine hardness, and bāṇa, arrow. This does not necessarily mean an arrow literally manufactured from diamond. Vajra may suggest exceptional hardness, a thunderbolt-shaped point, tremendous penetrative power, or a divine or ritual association.

Dṛṣadvara · दृषद्वर

This expression is surprisingly straightforward: dṛṣad, stone or rock, and vara, excellent, choice, best — “choice stones.” Stones were genuine battlefield projectiles in the ancient world. They could be thrown by hand, dropped from fortifications, launched with slings, or used with projectile devices. There is no need to turn them into a mysterious advanced weapon.

Yavamadhya · यवमध्य

Some English transcriptions mistakenly print Tavamadhya. The Sanskrit clearly reads यवमध्य, yavamadhya. This matters because yava has a recognisable meaning — barley grain — while madhya means middle or central portion. The name therefore seems to describe the shape of the weapon: perhaps broadening in the centre and tapering toward the ends like a grain of barley.

Muṣṭimadhya · मुष्टिमध्य

Muṣṭi is a fist and madhya the middle. The name may refer to a fist-sized central section, a grip shaped for the fist, or a weapon whose middle portion resembled a closed fist.

Valala · वलल

This one remains obscure. Without a reliable technical description it is better not to invent a modern equivalent. It is a good example of why leaving a Sanskrit term untranslated can sometimes be more accurate than producing an impressive-sounding guess.

Khaṇḍala · खण्डल

The form may suggest some relationship to khaṇḍa — piece, section, fragment, division — and could therefore imply a cutting, segmented or cleaving weapon. But that is not enough to reconstruct it.

Kaṭāra · कटार

This is the term that lets us correct the earlier mistranslation of kuṭhāra. The two are clearly separate: kuṭhāra is the axe, kaṭāra the dagger. The later Indian kaṭār is especially famous as a thrusting dagger.

Koṇamadhya · कोणमध्य

Koṇa is an angle or corner and madhya the middle. This is another geometrical weapon-name. The exact object cannot be reconstructed, but its shape apparently included an angular central section.

Phaṇidanta · फणिदन्त

Phaṇin is a serpent and danta a tooth or fang. A snake’s fang gives an obvious model for a weapon point: narrow, penetrating, possibly curved, tapering sharply.

Pāśāyudha · पाशायुध

Pāśa means cord, snare, noose or bond. The noose is both a practical and a symbolic weapon in Sanskrit traditions, associated iconographically with deities such as Varuṇa, Yama, Gaṇeśa, and Lalitā and other goddesses. Technical military literature also treats the pāśa as an actual weapon for entangling, binding, restraining and pulling an opponent. The Nītiprakāśikā describes a metal pāśa with weighted elements and movements corresponding to extension and wrapping.

Pāśatuṇḍa · पाशतुण्ड

This word should be treated cautiously. Pāśa is a noose and tuṇḍa a beak, snout or projecting point, so literally it suggests “noose-beaked” or “noose-snouted.” Perhaps it was some form of hooked noose, a projecting catching device, or a weapon combining a cord with a hook. Without a technical description this remains conjectural.

Kākatuṇḍa · काकतुण्ड

This name is clearer: kāka is a crow and tuṇḍa a beak. It almost certainly describes the weapon’s shape. A crow’s beak provides a useful model for a hooked point, a curved piercing blade, or a narrow projecting head.