War in Ancient India c4.s2: Among the Tribes

War in Ancient India c4.s2

Language: English

Among the Tribes

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War is a political institution and a necessary evil. To-day we speak of a new world order and realise that the call to humanise has a precedence even over defence. In spite of this new view which implies the cultivation of international-mindedness, every country is now either at war or on a footing of war-preparedness. This means we are unable to shake off bellicosity completely.

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To the early tribes war was a holy function. Before the actual expedition, they offered sacrifices to the tribal god or goddess. The idea was that god was all-powerful and would protect the soldiers and confer victory in war. The notion was entertained that the gods of these tribes ‘ went in person with them to war—an idea which totemism bequeathed to more advanced stages in religion, for instance, to Peruvian polytheism.’² We learn from the Tamil classic *Śilappadikāram* that the Eiynar, perhaps the aborigines of South India, who lived by cattle-lifting and highway robbery, invariably invoked the aid of their goddess Korravai, the deity who led the Eiynar host in all their expeditions with a view to securing for them victory and getting in return sacrifices of both animals and men.³ Bows and arrows were their principal weapons, though the use of spears was not unknown.

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² F. B. Jevons: *An Introduction to the History of Religion* (6th ed.), pp. 108 and 242.

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³ V. R. R. Dikshitar: *Śilappadikāram*, pp. 180-89; ‘ Eiynar ’ in *Sen Tamil*, Madura, Vol. XXXI, No. 1.

Linked texts (1)

Cilappatikāram — Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ, Tamil