War in Ancient India c4.s3.1

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.