The Reality of Dhanurveda: The Military Science of India

In my school days back in the 90s, the most popular show was Mahabharata. The most alluring part of the serial was the scenes of the Kurukshetra war. It was enthralling to see the archers fire one arrow, which in its flight became ten arrows, all of them hitting the targets accurately. We were amazed by these scenes and often asked our elders about the secret of one arrow becoming multiple arrows in the sky. Our elders would bow their heads and get sunk in deep respect and would answer, “They were Gods; they could do anything. The ancient archers knew spells and hymns that multiplied the arrows in the air. They also explained that there were hymns known to the ancient archers that could pour fire and electricity from the arrow.

Later, after studying projectile motion in Physics, I concluded that the hymns and spells were all bogus explanations. The basic concept was the projectile motion. Arrows were fired simultaneously at intervals of small angles. This required the archer to have the skill of speed and accuracy. When consequent arrows are fired at angles varying slightly, then all the arrows will land on the target together. This is the same concept used in artillery firing in modern times.

The skilled archers of China and the Muslim army could fire arrows that could destroy the arrows of the opponent in the air. This was copied in the serial. Unfortunately, again, the glorious Indian past is once again going to be debunked.

In addition, the nationalists and the patrons of the ancient Hindu or Sanatan culture have always made claims of nuclear weapons being used in the wars depicted in the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Dhanurved: The Hindu text of military science.

Similar to multiple textbooks available among the Hindus describing their different sciences or knowledge in different fields, the Dhanurveda describes the military science that the ancient Hindus developed.

As with all Hindu texts, the Dhanurveda is also not untouched by the contamination of casteism. The proof lies in the following paragraph of the Dhanurveda.

The above paragraph says that the art of warfare is restricted to only two upper castes. The teacher should essentially be Brahman, and the disciple should be a Kshatriya. The Shudras or the lower castes can hunt by themselves and have no right to learn military science.

This paragraph provides a strong reflection of casteism and reservation deeply rooted in Hindu or Sanatan culture. The Brahmins were the teachers who would teach the techniques of war to the Kshatriya. This is ridiculous, as the Brahmans never used to fight in any battle. In fact, Brahmans refrained from any activity that required backbreaking work. The Brahmans kept themselves engaged in reading texts that they themselves could not understand and giving sermons about God to common people.

At this stage, the protectors of Mahabharata will fire examples of Dronacharya and Kripa, who were Brahmins and fought in the epic battle. But the authenticity of the epic and its battle are questionable.

The apathy towards the Shudras tells many things. The Shudras are said to hunt by themselves, so it is assumed that they know some techniques used in wars. However, hunting and fighting on a battlefield have a huge difference. The above excerpt from the Dhanurveda reflects that in wars, the commanding positions were held by the Kshatriyas, and the Shudras were the foot soldiers who were put on the front to face the enemy. The Shudras were equipped with only hunting techniques and were easy targets for the enemy. This could be a major cause that the ancient Hindus were inferior warriors and could not stand before the Mughals, Turks, and other invaders. The Peshwas of the Maratha empire had all Brahman commanders and Shudras as foot soldiers and cavalry soldiers. It is said that the Peshwa commanders maintained their customs of staying at a distance from the Shudras even on the battlefield. The Muslim and Pathan artillery units had a higher position in the Maratha army than the ordinary lower-caste soldiers. The Peshwas, Sadashiv Rai Bhau, and Baji Rao made formations in a manner that kept them at a distance from the Shudra foot soldiers. The result was devastating in the third battle of Panipat. Ahmed Shah Durrani, the Afghan commander, slayed the entire Maratha army in just two hours. An entire generation of the Peshwas was eliminated from the face of India.

The above paragraph is intended to show that if there was a victory of any Hindu king in any battle, the credit would go to the upper-caste Kshatriyas. The reservation of the techniques of the battlefield to the Kshatriyas has another conclusion. The Kshatriyas, who were deprived of any thought process and reasoning, were guided by the shrewd Brahmins. The Kshatriyas were actually puppets at the hands of the cunning pundits. In many cases, the Kshatriyas tortured the Shudras by attacking their villages, setting their houses and property on fire. If the Shudras had learned the art of warfare, then they would have put up resistance before the Kshatriya. To prevent any resistance from the lower-caste Shudras, they were deprived of learning the warfare techniques.

The best example of the Kshatriyas being the puppet of clever Brahmins is the prince of Ayodhya, Ram. Ram killed Shambuka, breaking the rules, got engaged in teaching and learning the Vedas. Provoked by the Brahmins, Ram slaughtered Shambuka. Thus, Ram was nothing but a robot controlled by the Brahmins.

There is more to come. The deadly situation of casteism and the ghastly situation of the Shudras can be seen in the following excerpt from the Dhanurveda.

In the above passage, the Dhanurveda instructs a king to use a physically strong Shudra as a human target. A piece of paper or a leaf should be held by the Shudra near his chest. The king should fire an arrow to hit that leaf. This act of archery has been called entertainment, and the King is instructed to practice this art in public.

This excerpt is enough to show the real face of ancient Hindu and Sanatan culture. These people boast of being humane and kind and shout out loudly in favor of non-violence.

Timeline of Dhanurveda

The Hindus and the protectors of Sanatan have only one weapon at their disposal. Sanatan implies that Hindu culture has existed since the creation of the universe. They claim that all their texts are eternal and were created by God, and they are the oldest texts that exist on Earth. Hindu radicals claim that all their stuff is eternal. However, a careful and scientific investigation can easily prove that the eternality is all a bluff. The same thing applies to this military science text, Dhanurveda.

The following excerpt raises questions about the authenticity and the timeline of the Hindu military text.

In this passage, the Dhanurveda defines the weapons that are thrown or fired. In the passage, there is the word goli. This implies bullets or projectiles that can be fired. Examples are bullets and artillery shells. The timeline claimed by the authors is the period of the Rishis like Vishwamitra. Keeping aside whether these characters existed or not, it can be confirmed that in those days, ancient Hindus had no knowledge of gunpowder, guns, artillery, or bullets. Gunpowder evolved in Turkey, and later, the Chinese made extensive use of gunpowder in making guns and cannons.

How unscientific is Dhanurveda

The first instance of the unscientific science called Dhanurvaeda is the instruction to the archer to chant some ine lakh times to invoke special powers in the arrow. How ridiculous it is to think that an archer in the middle of the field is chanting hymns to call special powers. The exaggeration of the Dhanurveda is exhibited in the following lines of the text. It is to be noticed how the ancient Hindus and present-day radicals have blown their own trumpet to make their false claims can be seen from these lines of the text.

Crossing the limits of imagination in the above lines, the author of the Dhanurveda describes arrows that could easily pierce through the bodies of horses, men, and even elephants.

In the above paragraphs, the great material scientists of ancient India describe the making of bows with materials like gold, silver, and iron. Perhaps they had no idea of material science. It is difficult to think a bow made of gold or iron used to fire arrows. Iron, silver, and gold are metals that have a high modulus of elasticity, and they require a very large force to bend. The force cannot be applied by human muscle wherever that person is. These materials can acquire potential energy when they are deformed. However, the force required can be applied by machines that were not available at the time the text was composed.

The text says that the ideal material for bows is iron. These bows would be higher and would be a total failure on the battlefield.

The teachings of Dhanurveda are a complete bluff and a failure

How the so-called science of Dhanurveda was a complete failure and illusion just to glorify Hindu culture can be observed from the comparison with the techniques that were developed by technocrats outside this backward country.

Composite Bow: The composite bow was developed by the Turks. A similar version was made by the Mongols. These bows manifest the magnificent knowledge of material science that the Turks and Mongols possessed. The Mongols conquered half of the earth with these bows. The composite bows were made by gluing different materials like horns, animal intestines, and the bark of the trees. The bows were flexible and could store a huge amount of potential energy. The biggest advantage was that these lethal weapons were light and could be easily carried by cavalry soldiers on horseback. The arrows fired from these bows could pierce body armor and were the pivotal factor behind the victory of the Mongols and the Turks.

The composite bows were used by the Mughal warriors, and this is how they slaughtered the inefficient, backdated, and sloth Rajput Hindu kings. It is described that in the battle against Maharana Pratap, the Mughal archers showered arrows that eliminated hundreds of Rajput soldiers, including higher ranks. The result was that Rana Pratap fled from the battlefield and ate chapatis made of grass.

The techniques of bow making and the bows described in the Dhanurveda stand nowhere before the composite bow.

Gakbung: The Korean Gakbung was another magnificent example of the advanced ancient technology of the Koreans that was far more advanced than the Hindu fictitious bows. Koreans made these bows from the horns of the water buffalo. The arrows could pierce through the helmets and skulls of the enemy soldiers. The backdated Hindus could not even think of such magnificent technology.

The English Longbow: The English longbow has evidence of existence much before the fraudulent claims of the Hindus. These longbows, as the name suggests, were about six to seven feet long. These bows were called the medieval machine guns. The flexible bows made of timber wood could penetrate chained armors.

The Hindu counterparts were immersed in the dark ages and existed in a world of ignorance. The Dhanurceda describes that bows should be made from the horns of animals with eight legs found in Kashmir. Perhaps the author of Dhaburveda was so intoxicated that he got the illusion of an eight-legged animal like a sheep.

The pictures depicted in the book show different positions of the archers in the battlefield. However, none of these images resemble the so-called Hindu warriors as presented in the epics. The images closely resemble Buddhist art.

These pictures have no relevance to Hindu mythological characters and can be confirmed by anyone.

The description of swords in the Dhanurveda

In his book “Book of Swords,” Richard F. Burton writes, “The history of swords is the history of mankind.

Wars have changed the history and geography of mankind many times. The pivotal component of ancient wars was swords. These lethal weapons have been made by different civilizations across the world. Frequently the designs were changed according to the requirements of the battlefield.

The history of sword-making is a narrative of craftsmanship and material science. For example, the making of the Japanese sword Katana is still a subject of investigation in the field of material science.

However, the glorious Hindu text Dhanurveda presents the shocking history of sword making. As usual, the ancient Hindu authors have added components of divinity and elements that are illogical and beyond any explanation in the Dhanurved. The description of sword making in the Dhanurved will appear shocking to any person who is guided by a scientific temperament and has the tendency to explain things logically.

The Dhanurved describes a strange, illogical, and totally nonsensical story. In Chapter 7 of the Dhanurveda, the author describes that the sword came into existence due to a yajna or sacrifice performed by Brahma in the Himalayas. Brahma performed this yajna for thousands of years to get rid of the asuras who had created turmoil among the gods.

Suddenly from the altar, a ghost appeared who had a frightening look. The ghost had a sharp tooth protruding from his mouth. The ghost had a dark complexion, and his body was wide near the stomach. The ghost was named Asi by Brahma and was used to slay the asuras and bring relief to the Gods.

This Asi later became the khadga or sword.

The authenticity of the text again becomes questionable in the above text. The word "talwar" was coined by the Muslims. Defenders may argue that the translator may have used the word and it is not in the original text. It must be noted that the Talwars had a different structure than that of the Asis described in the ancient Hindu texts. The Talwars are also different from the Khadaga described in the Hindu texts. Perhaps the translator has not researched properly about the terms.

The picture shows the swords described in the Dhanurveda.

The false claims and lack of knowledge of the warfare of the Hindus are evident from the text above. The Dhanurveda claims that the warriors on horseback can effectively suppress the enemy with the sword only. However, they do not know that the straight swords described in the Dhanurveda are a total failure on horseback and for fighting the enemies who are on horseback. The reason is that only the front section of the sword inflicts a wound on the enemy, which is too short.

The above picture shows the talwar that had its origin in Persia where it was called Shamshir. The characteristic is the curved structure. The Muslim talwar, on the other hand, has a convex surface which is edge and sharp. A single blow can inflict a larger wound that can paralyze or kill the enemy. The Talwar of the curved sword is easier to manoeuvre than the odd-shaped Hindu swords.

All the Hindu kings adapted the curved Talwar of the Mughal sword. The ancient Hindu swords have never been found in any wars.

Divine weapons

The Dhanurved, in its attempt to make the text more divine and glorify the ancient Hindu to the epitome of technology, have raised questions about authenticity.