Hindu Administrative Institutions c11.s9.29

c11.s9.29

Another occasion for war common to ancient North and South India was the refusal of girls in marriage by smaller states (குறும்புநாடு) for the conquering monarch. This is evident from the fifth and sixth chapters of the Tamil treatise. The men of these small states adorn themselves with garlands of *nocchi* and offer defence from their fortress on all sides. Here we also find siege warfare as practised in ancient South India. Again in the *Rāmāyaṇa* it is the forcible taking away of Sītā, the wife of Rāma, that led to the great war between Rāvaṇa and Rāma, and the consequent defeat and death of the former.