Vedic Laws of War

09-24-2001, 07:40 PM

The Laws of War

When society became organized and a warrior caste (Kshatriya) came
into being, it was felt that the members of this caste should be
governed by certain humane laws, the observance of which, it was
believed, would take them to heaven, while their non-observance would
lead them into hell. In the post Vedic epoch, and especially before
the epics were reduced to writing, lawless war had been supplanted,
and a code had begun to govern the waging of wars. The ancient law-
givers, the reputed authors of the Dharmasutras and the
Dharmasastras, codified the then existing customs and usages for the
betterment of mankind. Thus the law books and the epics contain
special sections on royal duties and the duties of common warriors.

It is a general rule that kings were chosen from among the Kshatriya
caste. In other words, a non-Ksatriya was not qualified to be a king.
And this is probably due to the fact that the kshatriya caste was
considered superior to others in virtue of its material prowess.
Though the warrior's code enjoins that all the Ksatriyas should die
on the field of battle, still in practice many died a peaceful death.
There is a definite ordinance of the ancient law books prohibiting
the warrior caste from taking to asceticism. Action and renunciation
is the watch-word of the Ksatriya. The warrior was not generally
allowed to don the robes of an ascetic. But Mahavira and Gautama
protested against these injunctions and inaugurated an order of monks
or sannyasins. When these dissenting sects gathered in strength and
numbers, the decline of Ksatriya valor set in. Once they were
initiated into a life of peace and prayer, they preferred it to the
horrors of war. this was a disservice that dissenting sects did to
the cause of ancient India.

When a conqueror felt that he was in a position to invade the
foreigner's country, he sent an ambassador with the message: 'Fight
or submit.' More than 5000 years ago India recognized that the person
of the ambassador was inviolable. This was a great service that
ancient Hinduism rendered to the cause of international law. It was
the religious force that invested the person of the herald or
ambassador with an inviolable sanctity in the ancient world. The
Mahabharata rules that the king who killed an envoy would sink into
hell with all his ministers.