Krishna, Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18th- to 19th-century painting.

Ratha (Proto-Indo-Iranian: *Hrátʰas, Sanskrit: रथ, rátha; Avestan: raθa) is the Indo-Iranian term for a spoked-wheel chariot or a cart. The term has been used since antiquity for both fast chariots and other wheeled vehicles pulled by animals or humans, in particular the large temple cars or processional carts still used in Indian religious processions to carry images of a deity.

Harappan Civilisation

Copper sculpture of a bull-cart and rider, from a hoard at Daimabad, Maharashtra - Late Harappan, c2000 BCE

The Indus Valley Civilization sites of Daimabad and Harappa in the Indian subcontinent, there is evidence for the use of terracotta model carts as early as 3500 BC during the Ravi Phase. There is evidence of wheeled vehicles (especially miniature models) in the Indus Valley Civilization, but not of chariots.[1] According to Kenoyer,

During the Harappan Period (Harappa Phase, 2600–1900 BC) there was a dramatic increase in the terracotta cart and wheel types at Harappa and other sites throughout the Indus region. The diversity in carts and wheels, including depictions of what may be spoked wheels, during this period of urban expansion and trade may reflect different functional needs, as well as stylistic and cultural preferences. The unique fonts and the early appearance of carts in the Indus valley region suggest that they are the result of indigenous technological development and not diffusion from West Asia or Central Asia as proposed by earlier scholars.[2]

Indo-Aryan Indigenists have argued for the presence of chariots before its introduction by the Indo-Aryans in the early 2nd millennium BCE. Archaeologist B. B. Lal argues that finds of terracotta wheels painted lines (or low relief lines) and similar seals indicate the existence and use of spoked wheel chariots in Harappan Civilization, as showed in the Bhirrana excavations in 2005–06.[3] Bhagwan Singh has made a similar assertion[4] and S.R. Rao has presented evidence of chariots in bronze models from Daimabad (Late Harappan).[5][note 1]

The earliest Copper-Bronze Age carts remains that have been found in India (at Sinauli) have been dated to 1900BCE which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled "chariots", predating the arrival of the horse-centred Indo-Aryans.[7][8][9] Others object, noting that solid wheels belong to carts, not chariots.[7][8]

Indo-Aryans

Proto-Indo-Iranians

The area of the spoke-wheeled chariot finds within the Sintashta-Petrovka culture is indicated in purple.

Horse-drawn chariots, as well as its cult and associated rituals, were spread by the Indo-Iranians,[10] and horses and horse-drawn chariots were introduced in India by the Indo-Aryans.[11][12][13][note 2]

The earliest evidence for chariots in southern Central Asia (on the Oxus river) dates to the Achaemenid period (apart from chariots harnessed by oxen, as seen on petroglyphs).[18] No Andronovian chariot burial has been found south of the Oxus.[19]

Textual evidence

Rama goes to the forest on a ratha.

Chariots figure prominently in the Rigveda, evidencing their presence in India in the 2nd millennium BCE. Notably, the Rigveda differentiates between the Ratha (chariot) and the Anas (often translated as "cart").[20] Rigvedic chariots are described as made of the wood of Salmali (RV 10.85.20), Khadira and Simsapa (RV 3.53.19) trees. While the number of wheels varies, chariot measurements for each configuration are found in the Shulba Sutras.

Chariots also feature prominently in later texts, including the other Vedas, the Puranas and the great Hindu epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata). Indeed, most of the deities in the Hindu pantheon are portrayed as riding them. Among Rigvedic deities, notably Ushas (the dawn) rides in a chariot, as well as Agni in his function as a messenger between gods and men. In RV 6.61.13, the Sarasvati river is described as being wide and speedy, like a (Rigvedic) chariot.

Remains

Horse-drawn chariot carved onto the mandapam of Airavateswarar temple, Darasuram (left), c. 12th century CE.

There are a few depictions of chariots among the petroglyphs in the sandstone of the Vindhya range. Two depictions of chariots are found in Morhana Pahar, Mirzapur district. One shows a team of two horses, with the head of a single driver visible. The other one is drawn by four horses, has six-spoked wheels, and shows a driver standing up in a large chariot-box. This chariot is being attacked, with a figure wielding a shield and a mace standing at its path, and another figure armed with bow and arrow threatening its right flank. It has been suggested (Sparreboom 1985:87) that the drawings record a story, most probably dating to the early centuries BC, from some center in the area of the Ganges–Yamuna plain into the territory of still neolithic hunting tribes. The drawings would then be a representation of foreign technology, comparable to the Arnhem Land Aboriginal rock paintings depicting Westerners. The very realistic chariots carved into the Sanchi stupas are dated to roughly the 1st century BCE.

In Hindu temple festivals

Ratha or Rath also means a large, often very large, wheeled cart made of wood, on which the murti of a deity is carried in religious processions, some of which are very important festivals. The Ratha may be pulled by devotees with rope, or pulled by horses or elephants. Rathas are used mostly by the Hindu temples of South India for Rathoutsava (Temple car festival). During the festival, the temple deities are driven through the streets, accompanied by the chanting of mantra, hymns, shloka or bhajan.

Ratha Yatra is a huge Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri in the state of Orissa, India during the months of June or July.[21]

Rathas buildings

In some Hindu temples, there are shrines or buildings named rathas because they have the shape of a huge chariot or because they contain a divinity as does a temple chariot.

The most known are the Pancha Rathas (=5 rathas) in Mahabalipuram, although not with the shape of a chariot.

Another example is the Jaga mohan of the Konark Sun Temple in Konarâk, built on a platform with twelve sculptures of wheels, as a symbol of the chariot of the Sun.

Rathas in architecture

Plans of the main types of buildings with rathas

In Hindu temple architecture, a ratha is a facet or vertical offset projections on the tower (generally a Shikhara).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The archaeologists at Daimabad are not unanimous about the date of the bronzes discovered there. On the basis of the circumstantial evidence, M. N. Deshpande, S. R. Rao and S. A. Sali are of the view that these objects belong to the Late Harappan period. Looking at the analysis of the elemental composition of these artifacts, D. P. Agarwal concluded that these objects may belong to the historical period. His conclusion is based on these objects containing more than 1% arsenic, while no arsenical alloying has been found in any other Chalcolithic artifacts.[6]
  2. ↑ According to Raulwing, the chariot must not necessarily be regarded as a marker for Indo-European or Indo-Iranian presence.[14] According to Raulwing, it is an undeniable fact that only comparative Indo-European linguistics is able to furnish the methodological basics of the hypothesis of a "PIE chariot", in other words: "Ausserhalb der Sprachwissenschaft winkt keine Rettung![15] "[16][17]

    References

    1. ↑ Bryant 2001
    2. ↑ Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2004), "Die KalTen der InduskuItur Pakistans und Indiens" [Wheeled Vehicles of the Indus Valley Civilization of Pakistan and India], in Fansa, M.; Burmeister, S. (eds.), Rad und Wagen: Der Ursprung einer Innovation Wagen im Vorderen Orient und Europa [Wheel and Wagon - origins of an innovation], Verlagg Philipp von Zabem, retrieved 23 January 2015 – via a.harappa.com
    3. ↑ The Sarasvati Flows on, 2002, pp. 74–75, Figs 3.28 to 331
    4. ↑ Harappan Civilization and the Vedic Literature, in Hindi, 1987
    5. ↑ L.S.Rao, Harappan Spoked Wheels Rattled Down the Streets of Bhirrana, Dist. Fatehabad, Haryana
    6. ↑ Dhavalikar, M. K. (1982). Daimabad Bronzes (PDF). in Gregory L. Possehl. ed. Harappan Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Warminster: Aris and Phillips. pp. 361– "66. ISBN 0-85668-211-X.
    7. 1 2 Witzel 2019, p. 5.
    8. 1 2 Parpola 2020.
    9. ↑ Daniyal 2018.
    10. ↑ Kuz'mina 2007, p. 321-322.
    11. ↑ Flood 1996, p. 34.
    12. ↑ Witzel 2019, p. 12, 21.
    13. ↑ Olson 2007, p. 11.
    14. ↑ Cf. Raulwing 2000
    15. ↑ I. e., "Outside of linguistics there's no hope."
    16. ↑ Raulwing 2000:83
    17. ↑ Cf. Henri Paul Francfort in Fussman, G.; Kellens, J.; Francfort, H.-P.; Tremblay, X. (2005), p. 272-276
    18. ↑ They were not used for warfare. H. P. Francfort, Fouilles de Shortugai, Recherches sur L'Asie Centrale Protohistorique Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, 1989, p. 452. Cf. Henri Paul Francfort in Fussman, G.; Kellens, J.; Francfort, H.-P.; Tremblay, X. (2005), p.272
    19. ↑ H. P. Francfort in Fussman, G.; Kellens, J.; Francfort, H.-P.; Tremblay, X. (2005), p. 220 - 272; H.-P. Francfort, Fouilles de Shortugai
    20. ↑ A discussion of the difference between ratha and anas is found e.g. in Kazanas, Nicholas. 2001. The AIT and Scholarship
    21. ↑ Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. Rosen. p. 567. ISBN 978-0-8239-3180-4.

    Sources

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