War in Ancient India c4.s3.3

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.