sentences:  Straight swords, (as well as other swords curved both inward and outward), have been used in Indian history since the Iron Age Mahajanapadas (roughly 600 to 300 BC), being mentioned in the Sanskrit epics, and used in soldiers in armies such as those of the Mauryan Empire.Several sculptures from the Gupta era (AD 280-550) portray soldiers holding khanda-like broadswords.These are again flared out at the tip.