War in Ancient India c4.s6.t1.8

c4.s6.t1.8

It is a fact that the ancient Hindu society was divided into a number of water-tight compartments. It had all the evils of rigidity with little or no chance for elasticity. A man, by virtue of his being born in a certain community, continued to be a member of that community all his life. It became a hereditary social system where a Kṣatriya could not become a Brahman, or vice versa. This was considered as virtually trespassing the duties and rights of another community. Any such trespass was punished by the State. So ancient Hindu society, as it was constituted, became necessarily a caste society, but with democratic social standards and conventions. In that state of society, in which a whole caste was set apart for the purpose of war, it was inevitable that that caste should be actuated by a warlike mentality, and that peace was despised. The assumption of that caste was that war was good for all time, and that war brought in its train not only glory to the individual knight but also glory and honour to the king and country. This aspect of the psychological impulse will be examined presently. But what deserves to be noted here is that with a settled community whose function was to defend the country by offensive or defensive methods, the mental atmosphere quickened the impulse to develop war-preparedness. This attitude of the mind was not entirely the result of a spirit of adventure but wholly the result of the realisation of the fact that by war the warrior and the hero were doing a piece of service which tended towards the common good and which was consequently acceptable to the common will. This was an important concept which was realised in abundant measure by every member of the Hindu warrior caste.