<P> The scythed chariot was invented by the King of Magadha, Ajatashatru around 475 BCE . He used these chariots against the Licchavis . A scythed war chariot had a sharp, sickle - shaped blade or blades mounted on each end of the axle . The blades, used as weapons, extended horizontally for a metre on the sides of the chariot . </P> <P> There is a chariot displayed at the AP State Archaeology Museum, Hyderabad, Telangana . </P> <P> A popular legend that has been around since at least 1937 traces the origin of the 4 ft ​ 8 ⁄ in standard railroad gauge to Roman times, suggesting that it was based on the distance between the ruts of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the Roman Empire . This is encouraged by the fact that the otherwise peculiar distance is almost exactly 5 Roman feet but there is no evidence to span the millennium and a half between the departure of the Romans from Britain and the adoption of the gauge on the Stockton and Darlington railroad in 1825 . </P>

Where have your horses run its been a while