Page 7 - Physical Education in Ancient India

Training of Warriors

The armies consisted of four divisions (chaturanga: elephants,

horses, war-chariots, and infantry). Skills in all four were taught.

Young warriors had also to learn the use of different kinds of

weapons such as sword, lance, javelin, axe, mace, nooses

(pasha), slings, etc.

Wrestling or bāhuyuddha (literally, fighting with arms) was the

only sort of fight without weapons. A wrestler was supposed to

have a precise and detailed knowledge of all the vital parts of

the body, the nerves, the muscles, the joints and ligaments.

Only with this knowledge could he vanquish his opponent.

Of all the arts of war, archery was

certainly the noblest. It is the one that

has inspired epic poets the most. They

regarded it as a symbol of supreme

victory and incomparable prowess. It is

deeply embedded in the Indian culture

and even now is still strongly engraved

in the mind and imagination of the

people of India. Who in India does not

have a special place in his heart for the

image of the two brothers, Rama and

Lakshmana, bows resting on their

shoulders, quivers on their backs,

walking through the forests? Who does

not shudder when he recalls the mighty

Arjuna at Kurukshetra, facing the army

of Dhritarashtra, and so overcome by

The Trial of the Princes by grief that he abandons his bow and

Nandlal Bose arrows? (Kireet Joshi)