Gun powder (Agnicurna) and Ancient Hindus

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Gun powder (Agnicurna) and Ancient Hindus

 

Sir A. M. Eliot tells us that the Arabs learnt the manufacture of

gunpowder from India, and that before their Indian connection they

had used arrows of naptha. It is also argued that though Persia

possessed saltpetre in abundance, the original home of gunpowder was

India. It is said that the Turkish word top and the Persian tupang or

tufang are derived from the Sanskrit word dhupa. The dhupa of the

Agni Purana means a rocket, perhaps a corruption of the Kautaliyan

term natadipika.

(source: Fire-Arms in Ancient India - By Jogesh Chandra Ray I.H.Q.

viii. p. 586-88).

 

Heinrich Brunnhofer (1841-1917), German Indologist, also believed

that the ancient Aryans of India knew about gunpowder. (source:

German Indologists: Biographies of Scholars in Indian Studies writing

in German - By Valentine Stache-Rosen. p.92).

 

In the light of the above remarks we can trace the evolution of fire-

arms in the ancient India. There is evidence to show that agni (fire)

was praised for vanquishing an enemy. The Arthava Veda shows the

employment of fire-arms with lead shots. The Aitareya Brahmana

describes an arrow with fire at its tip. In the Mahabharata and

Ramayana, the employment of agnyastras is frequently mentioned, and

this deserves careful examination in the light of other important

terms like ayah, kanapa and tula-guda.

 

The agnicurna or gunpowder was composed of 4 to 6 parts of saltpetre,

one part of sulphur, and one part of charcoal of arka, sruhi and

other trees burnt in a pit and reduced to powder. Here is certain

evidence of the ancient rockets giving place to actual guns in

warfare. From the description of the composition of gunpowder, the

composition of the Sukraniti can be dated at the pre-Gupta age.

 

(source: War in Ancient India - By V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar 1944.

p. 103 -105)