[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [War in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944) › c11.3 # War in Ancient India c11.3 War in Ancient India c11.3 - **Language:** English ### [c11.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c11.3) Notwithstanding the elaborate rules of war laid down in the epics and the law-books, insisting in the main that to wage war was the duty and privilege of every true Kṣatriya, in several cases the horrors of war made the belligerents think of the consequences and avoid outbreak of hostilities by a well calculated policy which we now term diplomacy. A recent writer says: ‘ Diplomacy is the name for a method of negotiation, persuasion and conciliation for promoting the common interests of different nations, and adjusting those interests which are opposed...... Without the diplomatic system war would be more frequent than it is. Behind the diplomatic system, however, lie the preparations for war: and in certain forms of policy, the threat of war is used as an instrument of diplomacy.’¹ It will be shown, in the sequel, how exactly this concept was enunciated and realised in ancient India. It may be noticed at the outset that the words negotiation, persuasion and conciliation are mere translations of the terms sāma, dāna and bheda, and the expression ‘ threat of war ’ may be equated with daṇḍa. These four were the cardinal points of the ancient Indian diplomatic system, and were effective instruments in averting many a war, which would otherwise have resulted in much bloodshed and economic distress.² - [Previous: c11.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c11.2) - [Next: c11.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c11.4) - [Up: c11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c11) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c11.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.dikshitar-1944.c11.3) · Pramāṇa