Word

Dhanurveda

Sanskrit

धनुर्वेद

IAST

dhanurveda

In General

Dhanurveda is the science of warefare. It is considered as one of the four Upaveda. There are various text related to this subject but most of them were lost. Few smaller texts bearing the name Dhanurveda like Vasista Dhanurveda, Ausana Dhanurveda, Sadasiva Dhanurveda is available. But Mahabharata and Agni purana gives some detailed study on the subject. Parasurama, Agastya, Agnivesa, Dronacharya, Kripacharya are some expert teachers of Dhanurveda.

An army in ancient time consists of men, horses, chariot and elephants. The topics of study in Dhanurva are Bahuyudha(fight by bare hands) Yantramukha (those related with machines), Panimukha(with simple weapons), Muktasandharita(with heavy weapons), Amukta (fight with sword).

Purana

Four chapters of Agni Purana are devoted to Dhanurveda.