Editing Chariot (section)

===Bronze Age Indian Subcontinent ===
{{Main|Ratha}}
[[File:Bullock cart with driver, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg|thumb|right|Copper sculpture of a bull-cart and rider, from a hoard at [[Daimabad]], Maharashtra - Late Harappan, c2000 BC]]

Models of single axled, solid wheeled ox-drawn vehicles, have been found at several mature Indus Valley cites, such as [[Chanhudaro]], [[Daimabad]], [[Harappa]], and [[Nausharo]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Toys and Civilization {{!}} Harappa |url=https://www.harappa.com/blog/toys-and-civilization |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=www.harappa.com}}</ref> While the late Harappan site of [[Pirak]], Pakistan, offers evidence of true horses present in South Asia, from c. 1700 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Baivab |date=2014-10-07 |title=The Identity of Aryan Culture (With Diagram) |url=https://www.historydiscussion.net/articles/the-identity-of-aryan-culture-with-diagram/2141 |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=History Discussion - Discuss Anything About History |language=en-US}}</ref>

Spoked-wheeled, horse-drawn chariots, often carrying an armed passenger, are depicted in second millennium BC [[Chalcolithic]] period rock paintings, examples are known from Chibbar Nulla, Chhatur Bhoj Nath Nulla, and Kathotia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Prehistoric Rock Art of India |first1=Erwin |last1=Neumayer |year=2013 |publisher=OUP India |isbn=978-0198060987}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chariots in the Chalcolithic Rock Art of India |url=https://www.harappa.com/content/chariots-chalcolithic-rock-art-india |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=harappa.com}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|Neumayer 1800–1200 BCE;<ref name="Neumayer_Chariots_slideshow">{{cite web | title=Chariots in the Chalcolithic Rock Art of Indian | last=Neumayer| first=Erwin | url=https://www.harappa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/WHEELS%20in%20Indian%20Rock%20Art%20Erwin%20Neumayer.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Harappan_Neumayer">harappa.com, [https://www.harappa.com/content/chariots-chalcolithic-rock-art-india Chariots in the Chalcolithic Rock Art of India]</ref> Celeste Paxton 2300–1000 BCE).<ref name="Paxton">Celeste Paxton (2016), in [https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2016/07/22/voices-past-researcher-mystery-40-centuries/ Voices from the past: Researcher explores a mystery across 40 centuries ].</ref> See Bradshaw Foundation, [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/india/pachmarhi/index.php The Prehistoric Paintings of the Pachmarhi Hills], for proto-historic/chalocolithic.}} There are some 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 depicts a biga and the head of the driver. The second depicts a quadriga, with six-spoked wheels, and a driver standing up in a large chariot box. This chariot is being attacked. One figure, who is armed with a shield and a mace, stands in the chariot's path; another figure, who is armed with a bow and arrow, threatens the right flank. It has been suggested (speculated) 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.{{sfn|Sparreboom|1985|p=87}} The very realistic chariots carved into the [[Sanchi]] [[stupa]]s are dated to roughly the 1st century.

[[File:Sinauli chariot ASI.jpg|thumb|Copper plated, solid wheeled chariot, discovered [[Sinauli]], c. 1865–1550 BC]]
[[Bronze Age]] solid-disk wheel carts were found in 2018 at [[Sinauli]],{{sfn|Parpola|2020}} which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled "chariots," predating the arrival of the horse-centered Indo-Aryans.{{sfn|Witzel|2019|p=5}}{{sfn|Parpola|2020}}{{r|Subramanian2018_Royal|group=web}}{{r|Daniyal2018|group=web}}{{r|Pattanaik2020|group=web}}{{refn|group=note|name=chariot|However, these carts dubbed as "chariots" do not have any spokes on the wheels like the chariots (Sanskrit: ''[[Ratha]]'') mentioned in Vedic literature.{{sfn|Parpola|2020}}}} They were ascribed by Sanjay Manjul, director of the excavations, to the [[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture]] (OCP)/[[Copper Hoard Culture]], which was contemporaneous with the Late Harappan culture,{{r|Rai2018|group=web}}{{r|Subramanian2018_Royal|group=web}}{{refn|group=note|name=Uesugi}} and interpreted by him as horse-pulled chariots.{{r|TheEconomicTimes2019|group=web}}{{r|Subramanian2018_Royal|group=web}} Majul further noted that "the rituals relating to the Sanauli burials showed close affinity with Vedic rituals.{{r|Subramanian2018_Royal|group=web}}{{r|TheEconomicTimes2019|group=web}} According to [[Asko Parpola]] these finds were ox-pulled carts, indicating that these burials are related to an [[Indo-Aryan migrations#Multiple waves of migration into northern Indian|early Aryan migration]] of [[Proto-Indo-Iranian language|Proto-Indo-Iranian]] speaking people into the Indian subcontinent,{{sfn|Parpola|2020|p=191}} "forming then the ruling elite of a major Late Harappan settlement."{{sfn|Parpola|2020|p=176}}

Horse-drawn chariots, as well as their cult and associated rituals, were spread by the Indo-Iranians,{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|pp=321–322}} and horses and horse-drawn chariots were introduced in India by the Indo-Aryans.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=34}}{{sfn|Witzel|2001|pp=12, 21}}{{sfn|Olson|2007|p=11}} These [[Aryan]] people migrated southward into South Asia, ushering in the [[Vedic period]] around 1750 BC. 

====In religion====
[[File:Chariot detail, Airavatesvara, Tamil Nadu.jpg|thumb|Chariot detail at [[Airavatesvara Temple]] built by [[Rajaraja Chola II]] of the [[Chola Empire]] in the 12th century AD]]
In ''Rigveda'', [[Indra]] is described as strong willed, armed with a [[Vajra|thunderbolt]], riding a chariot:{{blockquote|May the strong Heaven make thee the Strong wax stronger: Strong, for thou art borne by thy two strong Bay Horses. So, fair of cheek, with mighty chariot, mighty, uphold us, strong-willed, thunder armed, in battle.

— RigVeda, Book 5, Hymn XXXVI: Griffith<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv05036.htm|title=Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 5: Hymn XXXVI. Indra.|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2020-02-24}}</ref>}}Among [[Rigvedic deities]], notably the Vedic [[Sun God]] [[Surya]] rides on a one spoked chariot driven by his charioteer [[Aruṇa]]. [[Ushas]] (the dawn) rides in a chariot, as well as [[Agni]] in his function as a messenger between gods and men.

The [[Jain]] [[Vyākhyāprajñapti|Bhagavi Sutra]] states that Indian troops used a chariot with a club or mace attached to it during the [[Magadha-Vajji war|war]] against the [[Licchavi (tribe)|Licchavis]] during the reign of [[Ajatashatru]] of [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nefiodkin|first=Alexander K.|year=2004|title=On the Origin of the Scythed Chariots|journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|volume=53|issue=3|pages=369–378}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The State in Indian Tradition|last=Scharfe|first=Hartmut|year=2022|isbn= 978-9004491441|publisher=Brill|page=193}}</ref>