Anybody out there know the ancient sources for the Indian "Maiden Guards?"

[Dave Beatty]

I'm guessing Megasthenes Indika. 

[Duncan Head]

It's all in Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars. And I had a short piece on them in an old Slingshot somewhere.

Now the care of the king's person is committed to women, who also are purchased from their fathers; and the body-guards and the rest of the military force are stationed outside the gates. And a woman who kills a king when he is drunk receives as her reward the privilege of consorting with his successor; and their children succeed to the throne. Again, the king does not sleep in daytime; and even at night he is forced to change his bed from time to time because of the plots against him. Among the non-military departures he makes from his palace ...  is that to a kind of Bacchic chase wherein he is surrounded by women, and, outside them, by the spear-bearers. The road is lined with ropes; and death is the penalty for anyone who passes inside the ropes to the women; and they are preceded by drum-beaters and gong-carriers. The king hunts in the fenced enclosures, shooting arrows from a platform in his chariot (two or three armed women stand beside him), and also in the unfenced hunting-grounds from an elephant; and the women ride partly in chariots, partly on horses, and partly on elephants, and they are equipped with all kinds of weapons, as they are when they go on military expeditions with the men.

There are also references in Indian literature:

King (looks about) A bow! A bow! (Enter a Greek woman with a bow.)
Greek woman: A bow and arrows, your majesty. And here are the finger-guards.

(http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/shakuntala_ryder.pdf)

And plenty of armed women in Indian sculpture - there's a Kushan-era one at http://www.4to40.com/history/index.asp?p=Kushan_Period_130B.C._-_A.D._185&c=Costumes_and_Fashion&sc=Ancient_Indian_Costume

[Dave Beatty]

Perfect, thanks Duncan.