War in Ancient India c4.s6.t3: (3) Heroism and Adventure

War in Ancient India c4.s6.t3

Language: English

(3) Heroism and Adventure

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War is a school of strenuous life and heroism.¹² War and adventure assuredly keep all who are engaged in them from treating themselves too tenderly. The knights of ancient India were known as Śūras and sometimes Vīras, both the terms connoting that they were valorous. The Śūras and Vīras held a much higher rank than the ordinary run of warriors. In the *Atharva Veda Samhita*, Indra is addressed as a Śūra, and is said to possess heroism hundredfold. He pulled down the strongholds of Dasyus and scattered their army by slaying a hundred, a thousand, a ten thousand, and a hundred thousand millions.¹³ In fact the burden of the song in many a hymn of this Veda is heroism in exploits.¹⁴ Still above these were Rathis¹⁵ and Mahārathis.¹⁶ The terms themselves are evidence of the fact that such Knights were expert charioteers, who earned such titles by their valorous deeds displayed in previous engagements. Among those that won the laurel of a Rathi were Yayāti and Kārtavīrya Arjuna, both famous rājarṣis. The Mahārathas were there in numbers and all the five sons of King Ayuṣa who

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¹² W. James: *The Variety of Religious Experience* (Longmans,

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¹³ Bk. VIII, 8. 1-7. (H. O. Series).

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¹⁴ *Ibid.*, Bk. XIX, 13. 5-11.

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¹⁵ आत्मानंच सारथिं अश्वानं स्वसैन्यं रक्षितुं समः प्रहर्तापरसैन्यानां युद्धशास्त्रविशारदः युद्धशास्त्रेषु निपुणं स रथित्वेन संमतः

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¹⁶ एकोदश सहस्राणि योधयेत्यश्च धन्विनां पूर्वोक्त लक्षणैर्युक्तः पार्थिवस्याऽपि रक्षकः महारथीति कथितो युद्धशास्त्रविशारदैः ॥

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1908), p. 367; Cp. N. K. Sidhanta—*The Heroic Age of India* (London, 1929).

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escaped the fatal axe of Paraśurāma enjoyed the enviable status of Mahāratha. Thus by high-flown exploits did the ancient heroes win honourable titles, of whose deeds the epics and the Purāṇas are full.¹⁷ Some of the champions again go by the name of Atiratha¹⁸ and Apratiratha. In the later mediaeval works, like *Hariharacaturanga*, towards the close of Book vii, it is said that in a battle where a thousand śūras were slain the Kabandha engaged itself in a tāṇḍava or devil dance. But the author of the *Hariharacaturanga* would go further and state that in a war where one śūra killed a thousand śūras like him, the Kabandha danced in glee. This devil dance in a war is not a later idea introduced into the military literature of the Hindus. That it was a very ancient concept is seen from the description of the battle on the Ganges between Senguṭṭuvan and northern kings in the *Śilappadikāram* where Śūra Senguṭṭuvan slew hundreds of śūras of Northern India; the Kabandha (Tamil—Kavandam) felt overjoyed at this, and to the accompaniment of music by the daughter of the Devil, danced what is called the Peykkuravai.¹⁹

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¹⁷ See, for instance, the *Br. Purāṇa*, III. 68.20: 69. 21.

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¹⁸ अमिशान्योधयेतश्च पूर्वोक्तगुणसंयुतः विज्ञेयो अतिरथीनाम्ना शस्त्रास्त्रनिपुणसदा ॥

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¹⁹ Canto xxvi, 11, 206-210. See the description also in *Kaliṅgattuparaṇi* 503-586 edited by Kannaiya Naidu (1941).

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Cattle-Lifting

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In times of peace, besides the time spent in hunting, the Kṣatriyas took to a life of adventure to exercise their martial ardour. ‘At a time such as that represented by the first story of the Epic, the warrior was always a robber and a pillager. This life was Knight's support, and cattle-lifting provided needed gain.²⁰ All early raids were chiefly for cattle. There are a large number of hymns in the *Atharva Veda* praying for the protection of cows and cattle. In the thirteenth hymn of Book xix there are references to cow stalls and kine-winning chariots.²¹ From this reference and that in Book vi, 67.3 we may conclude that cattle-lifting was practised on an extensive scale in the Vedic Age. In fact this was the primitive habit of savage tribes. We see from the *Silappadikāram* that the Eiynar's profession was lifting cattle, looting and highway robbery. To these primitive men cattle constituted wealth, and a cattle raid meant the loss of one's property. In the *Purapporul Veṇbāmālai* are given details which mark out the different stages of a military enterprise of the nature of cattle-lifting. The soldiers who undertook this enterprise decked themselves with *vetchi* garland. The owners of the herds who came out to rescue their cattle wore the *karandai*, a kind of basil, as their badge.²² That this primitive form of cattle-lifting survived even when people became civilised is seen in the *Mahābhārata*²³ where under instructions from Duryodhana the king of the Trigarthas entered the city of Virāṭa and drove away the kine. Uttara and Bṛhannalā (Arjuna in disguise) recovered the cattle after a straight fight. In some cases, cattle-lifting was a prelude to military campaigns. Another fact that may be remembered in this connexion is the large number of gifts in the shape of cattle given to the king by foreign allies.

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²⁰ E. W. Hopkins, *J.A.O.S.*, XIII, p. 76.

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²¹ 5 and 7. See also Bk. II, 26; Bk. IV, 21; Bk. VI, 59.

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²² See *Vetcippadalam*; also Dikshitar: *Studies in Tamil Literature and History*, Sec. vi.

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²³ Mhb. Virāṭ Parva, Chh. xxxii ff.

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Capturing Girls

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Another occasion for the display of heroism and the spirit of adventure by the early Kṣatriya knights was afforded by the capture of maidens belonging to the neighbouring kings and countries. Shall we attribute this tendency to the psychological instinct of sexual passion? It is well-known that this primitive practice of running away with girls was once universal and not peculiar to ancient India alone. Indian conditions will be clear if we are sufficiently acquainted with the modes of marriage prevalent among the warrior caste. The most advertised form of royal marriage was svayamvara, which gave the maid the right of choosing her own husband, from among the princes assembled for the purpose.²⁴ Surely we can trace in this form of marriage survivals of the earlier and much simpler form which consisted of knights meeting girls openly or secretly and carrying them away with or without the knowledge of their relatives. In some cases the relatives of the girls acquiesced either because they themselves liked the match or felt too weak to offer a challenge to the captor. The latter was more probable. But a majority of such cases, as can be gathered from the fulness of descriptive details in the Epics and the Purāṇas, involved an outbreak of hostilities.

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²⁴ For evidence in Buddhist Literature, see B. C. Law: *A History of Pali Literature*, I, pp. 278-79; II, p. 459.

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It may not be out of place to cite an instance here. Bhīṣma, the royal sage, once met three girls in the course of his visit to Kāśi and carried them away. He threw out a challenge to the party that came to recover them. He fought with all the contestants and established his right of possession.²⁵

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²⁵ Mhb. Ādiparva, 102, 3 ff.

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Such instances, which could be multiplied, were the outcome of the virile temper of the Kṣatriya warriors in general. It was accepted as a primitive form of marriage by the law-givers. The law of the country named it the Gāndharva form of marriage, and brought it under the rājasa system which constituted three out of the eight forms of marriage in ancient India. Does this mean rape and was it countenanced by ancient society? We certainly cannot call this method of adventure a rape, for there was the obligation on the part of the adventurer to treat the seized maiden as his wife for all legal and social purposes. He could not and did not drive away or divorce her after the satisfaction of his lust. In short, the captured maiden became the wedded wife of the knight. Thus behind the rājasa form is to be traced a thin veil of the sātvika element.

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Instances of forcible abduction are not wanting. One signal instance is that of Rāvaṇa, the Rākṣasa king of Ceylon, carrying away by force and against her will, Sītā, the consort of Rāma, prince of Ayodhyā. This resulted in the great Rāma-Rāvaṇa yuddha in Laṅkā, which ended in the death of Rāvaṇa with all his hosts, and in the triumph of Rāma. We know again of the adultery committed by Vāli, king of Kiṣkindhā, with the wife of his brother Sugrīva, after driving him away by force out of the kingdom. For this Vāli lost his life, for he was killed by Rāma on an earnest appeal from Sugrīva.²⁶ These cases involved a deadly combat where invariably the aggrieved party came out crowned with victory. Be it remembered that these captors belonged to the primitive tribes, who had emerged by the time of the Rāmāyaṇa into a semi-civilised state. We are led to infer that such practices were un-Aryan. It may be noted, as pointed out by Hopkins in the cases of Gāndharva marriages, that caste weds caste.²⁷ The adventures of these gallant people were directed to the confines of the Kṣatriya caste. The girls of other castes, higher or lower, were not interfered with.²⁸ But Hopkins is positively wrong when he states that ‘ even with high caste girls the king is fond of connecting himself without formality ’.²⁹ The burden of proof lies on him who makes such a bold statement. The practice is to marry ‘ down ’ and not ‘ up ’. Whatever this may be, it is important to note that the instinct of sex impelled by passion and emotion led to the capture of girls and also to rape³⁰ which often led to wars in the ancient world, sometimes of great magnitude.

Linked texts (5)

Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Brahmapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Cilappatikāram — Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ, Tamil
Hariharacaturaṅga — Godāvara Miśra, Sanskrit