State and Government in Ancient India c21.36

c21.36

The rules of *kūṭayuddha* permitted attack at any time and under all circumstances; the enemy country was to be devastated, trees were to be cut, and crops and stores were to be burnt down; civilians were to be taken into captivity. Many of these calamities occurred when Aśoka conquered and annexed Kaliṅga and we may well assume that they were to some extent inseparable from all warfare in the post-Christian period. Scores of medieval inscriptions from Karnāṭak refer to the practice of Kūṭayuddha at the time. *Mānasollāsa*, written in *c.* 1140 A. D., refers to several varities of the Kūṭayuddha. In Deśanāśaka warfare villages were burnt down; in Janāṅgachhedaka warfare enemy subjects were mutilated; in Gograha warfare cattle were carried away; in Dhānyaharaṇa warfare, corn was plundered; in Bandigrāha warfare traders and wealthy men were imprisoned; in Sthānadāha warfare houses and palaces were burnt (II. 1038-82). There can, however, be no doubt that there was a constant effort made to follow the higher ideal as far as possbile; otherwise the high Rajput code of chivalry could not have survived till the medieval times.