War in Ancient India c4.s4.1

c4.s4.1

With a settled society, the State emerged and inaugurated laws of marriage and property. The sanctity of family life and the rights of private property led to the increasing complexity of society. This resulted in the formation of different classes, or what in India we would call *castes*. To ensure social harmony, society was divided into a number of communities, each community being assigned particular duties (*svadharma*), to be discharged by it for the common welfare of all communities, without prejudicially infringing the duties and rights of other communities. In short, society was evolved on an economic basis which was well suited to the exigencies of those days. With the introduction of stringent laws and conventions which tended to bind society together as one whole, it was found that without some absolute authority to enforce these laws and customs society would not progress. Hence the inauguration of *danda*, or punishment, for the infringement of laws and customs, and of the *dandadhara*, or King. The instruments of this *danda* were the police and the army, though the institution of police came later in the story of India’s political advancement.