War in Ancient India c4.s3: The Early Indo-Aryans

War in Ancient India c4.s3

Language: English

The Early Indo-Aryans

c4.s3.1

The aboriginal tribes were not all entirely hunters or marauders. Some took to a pastoral life and they cultivated the arts of peace while pursuing a primitive form of agriculture. To this category belonged the so-called Indo-Aryans of the *Ṛg Vedic* period. They settled in the plains, especially on the banks of rivers and streams, and counted their wealth by the heads of cattle they possessed. These primitive nomad tribes, which took to agriculture and cultivated habits of peace and not of war, became warlike through the ages and by force of circumstances. First, the pressure of an ever-increasing population drove them to seek new settlements and new homes. In this expansion they came into effective contact with peoples alien to their culture, who would not suffer the intrusion of foreigners into their ancient and simple habitat. It was natural that they rose in revolt and the intruding tribes were forced to defend themselves against the armed attacks of the natives of the soil. Thus the defence complex fired their psychological impulses, and the result was the outbreak of hostilities.

c4.s3.2

In this connexion we may examine a few passages in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*³ᵃ where it is said that a war broke out between the Devas and the Asuras. The latter had an organization and a leader and were successful the unorganized hordes of the Devas, identified with Indo-Aryans, who were utterly routed. This signal defeat at the hands of the Asuras set the Devas think about their future. So they resolved to elect a king who was to be their leader in war. The Indo-Aryans attributed the success of their enemies to their leader and king. So the Aryan peoples met and elected a king from among themselves.

c4.s3.3

Here we have a reliable piece of evidence to prove that the institution of kingship in ancient India originated in war as it did in Europe. If we are to identify the Devas and the Asuras with the Aryans and Dravidians, the testimony of history supports the earlier advancement of political institutions among the Dravidians, which served for the Indo-Aryans as a model to copy and follow. We may note, in passing, that war, which is largely regarded as a political institution, was in existence before a political society came into being, and long before the primary political institution of kingship. Can we not, then, say that war preceded all political institutions, and that with a settled order of society with the monarch at its top it came to be regarded as a necessary political instrument? Survivals of implements of wood and stone of a very primitive epoch indicate that the institution of war was very ancient, more ancient than we are ordinarily led to imagine.

c4.s3.4

3a See Dikshitar: *Hindu Administrative Institutions*, pp. 62-63.

Linked texts (1)

Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit