Movement is the sign of civilization. Even today there is com¬petition for better and comfortable movements among men in general and technocrats and scientists in particular. Vimana or ratha (car/chariot) is a developed vehicle used for various purposes by gods, kings and warriors. Veda being the most ancient available document of India used to record ratha to be an essential vehicle for warfare. Macdonell and Keith1 expose ratha's description in the Veda and later Vedic works as opposed to anas-cart though the distinction is not absolute. Regarding differences in the structure of the two, no informa¬tion is available yet As the details of a car follow, the axle (aksa) in some cases is made of a harder wood2 (Sayana identifies as aradva, aksa) round its ends on which the wheels revolved. To the axle was attached the body of the chariot (Kosa). This part is denoted by the word Bandhura which more precisely means the 'seat' of the chariot. The epithet tribandhura is used for the chariot of the Asvins, seemingly to correspond with another of its epithets tri-cakra. As per Weber, a chariot with three seats and three wheels, was the real form of vehicle; but Zimmer3 contends that the vehicle was purely mythical. Garta also denotes the seat of warrior. The total number of horses seems to have been two, but three or four (RV, V, 83.3, Vi, 75.6) were often used. The measurement of iatha is given in the Sulvasutra4 of Apastamba as 188 ahgula (fingers) in breadth for the height, 104 ahgula for the axle or width, and 86 ahgula for the yoke or length.
The Vedic texts and ancillary literature, record ratha in abun-dance.The word ratha occurs about 1700 times in the Rgveda and about 300 times in the Aranyakas and Upanisads. It is rather difficult to determine the nature of ratha referred to in these references. Quite evidently ratha is meant for war and transport. A sample mantra to that effect throws light on this point. Savitr or the sungod moves on a ratha-
a krsnena rajasa vartamano nivesayannamrtarh martyarh ca
hiranyayena savita rathena devo yati bhuvanani pas'yan
"Returning through the darksome region, arousing the immor¬tals and the mortals, God Savitr comes on the golden chariot beholding all the creatures".
"Throughout the dusky firmament advancing and laying to rest the immortal and the mortal, in his golden chariot he cometh, Savitr God who looks on every creature".
This mantra clearly presupposes the necessity of a ratha for the movement. Indra's chariot is being driven by the charioteer Matali. The Amarakosa 1.1.4 speaks that there was a developed form of vehicle. The development of building ratha gives credit to a carpenter who builds it in the Yajurveda.
namah taksebhyah namah taksebhyah rathakarebhyah Yajurveda.
In an invocation to Indra in the Rgveda (1.6.2.) there is reference to ratha with high speed. The charioteer harnessed to Indra's car his two desirable coursers, placed on either side, bay-coloured high spirited chief bearing. Sayana explains ratha on the basis of the root ramu.
So he says, it is that on which man plays sport, ramante asminn iti ratha I ('kthan' suffix is added to ramu on the reasons of hani kusini ramikasibhyah kthan (Unadi 2 I 159) iti Kthan. The suffix 'Kthan' is anudatta by virtue of the sutra 'Kittvat anudattopadesa h' and nakara is elided by the sutra..... ityadina nakarlopah.
Yaska in his Nirukta speaks of ratha tesafn rathah prathamagami bhavati ratho ramhatergatikarmanah | sthirater va syad viparitasya | ramamanos- min tisthatiti va | ramater va (rasate rva) tasyaisa bhavati || IX.
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