War in Ancient India c4.s5.1

c4.s5.1

Thus the value and importance of the army were realised very early in the history of India, and this led in course of time to the maintenance of a permanent militia to put down dissensions within and arrest aggressions from without. Of capital importance to the execution of both foreign and home policy was the institution of the army. War or no war, the army was to be maintained, to meet any unexpected contingency. In a country where there were many castes and communities whose occupations were hereditary, the standing army came to consist largely of the members of the hereditary fighting castes, thus maintaining a group solely devoted to the waging of war. This gave rise to the Kṣatriya or warrior caste, and the kṣatram dharmam came to mean the primary duty of war. To serve the country by participating in war became the svadharma of this warrior community. How this had a salutary effect on the administration of the land, a study of the history of ancient India will demonstrate. The cut-and-dry distinction of the civil population from the military and the equally clear distinction between the civil and military functions of the State helped to a large extent not only the progress of civil administration but also the moral and material welfare of the land. This cut deep at the root of that mental attitude now called militarism.