During his prolonged sixteen-year war against the Vajji confederacy of Vaishali, the Magadhan monarch Ajatashatru deployed two unique military engineering innovations known as Rathamusala and Mahashilakantaka. What were the exact mechanical configurations of these devices?

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Ajatashatru modernized Magadhan warfare. In the struggle against the Lichchhavis, his engineers conceptualized two tactical weapons documented in Buddhist sources: the Rathamusala, which functioned like a modern mechanized scythed chariot to slice through enemy formations, and the Mahashilakantaka, a heavy siege weapon designed to launch massive boulders over enemy ramparts.

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