War in Ancient India c4.s5.2

c4.s5.2

We are told that the educational system in Italy under the Fascists and in Germany under the Nazis has been directed so as to develop the militarist attitude among the people. It prepares the whole community for war. There are again nations which advocate conscription involving compulsory military service for male adults. This necessarily leads to the separation of the sexes and affects the entire social structure. Things were different in ancient India. No doubt there was compulsory military service. But it was confined to one particular caste and it was not universal. The necessary education, drill, and discipline to cultivate militarism were confined to the members of one community, the Kṣatriyas. This prevented the militant attitude from spreading to other communities and kept the whole social structure unaffected by actual wars and war institutions. Says the *Atharva Veda*: ‘May we revel, living a hundred winters, rich in heroes’.¹ The whole country looked upon the members of this particular community as defenders of their country and consequently did not grudge the high influence and power wielded by the Kṣatriyas, who were assigned a social rank next in importance to the community which ministered to the intellectual and spiritual needs of the society.⁵