War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
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Weapons System

Gada

Ancient

The gada is a mallet or blunt mace from the Indian subcontinent, made of wood or metal, with a spherical or spiked head fixed to a shaft; one surviving 17th-century Indo-Persian example is made of steel and gold and measures 26.5 inches (67 centimeters). Its use spread from the Indian subcontinent into Southeast Asia, where practitioners of silat martial arts still train with it today. The weapon carries deep religious weight in Hindu tradition as the signature weapon of the god Hanuman, venerated by wrestlers across the region, and of Vishnu, whose gada is named Kaumodaki; the epic Mahabharata names several legendary warriors, including Bhima and Duryodhana, as masters of the gada. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Sword / Polearm / Bladed 1
Classification
Service Status
Retired 1
Weapon Class
Mace 1
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Gada (mace)
  • Lead, first sentence
    is a mallet or blunt mace from the Indian subcontinent.
  • Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
  • Weapon class (sword-polearm-blade) is a pre-industrial/melee weapon type by its own nature per the entity's own sourced description text; not carried in current active military service.
View the Source
Wikidata: Gada
Wikidata Q130234, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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