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War in Ancient India c4.s6.t5: (5) Defence Complex

War in Ancient India c4.s6.t5

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(5) Defence Complex

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We may now pass on to another psychological source of war. To-day we believe honestly and sincerely that defence and means of defence are quite essential for every nation to maintain its code of honour and to sustain the special national interests. Whatever theorists may say on the ethics of defence, it has come to stay as a force in politics, whether we will it or no. We therefore cannot ignore it but have to reckon with it as a necessary institution whether it is unmoral or non-moral. To-day capitalism and imperialism, infringement of trade rights, etc., have often been sufficient grounds for the outbreak of war. Again, the defence of a small state against the aggression of a big neighbouring power has been a cause of wars among the great Powers in modern times.

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∗ Jayaswal: *Imperial History of India*, p. 42. 47 Dikshitar: ‘*State and Society in Ancient India*’—*Aryan Path*, Vol. XI. No. 2.

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The economic factor as a cause of war did not loom large in the Indian horizon. In ancient India the State was itself a producing and manufacturing concern. All the key industries were undertaken by the State. There was little or no private enterprise, and the jealous eye of the State watched even this carefully. This system prevented the formation of a capitalist class which has become a potent force in modern politics. Nor were there war-traders in ancient India.¹⁸ The duty of these traders lies in the supply of arms and armaments to the soldiers. Their business thrives only as long as war goes on. So they leave no stone unturned to infuse into the nation the war spirit. In ancient India there was, to our knowledge, no private firm which manufactured weapons of war. Their manufacture and supply were a State monopoly. There was the arsenal which was a department attached to the War Office. There may have been in ancient India an economic motive on the part of the State to build up a sound economic democracy, as in the case of Daṇḍaka, an ancestor of Rāma, king of Ayodhyā, who realised the economic value of the forests to his empire, which was in itself a plain country, and who therefore led an expedition to South India as far as Kiṣkindhā and brought the whole forest territory of the Dakhan under his control. It is difficult to look for economic causes which could have led to wars in ancient India. Society and State were so constituted that no economic distress of an acute kind stared the ancient Indian in the face. Though we can trace overseas trade at the time of the Ṛg Veda, where a certain merchant Bhujja is mentioned as shipwrecked in the course of his commercial adventures, nowhere is there any evidence to show that international trade relations led to the outbreak of war.

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¹⁸ G. H. Perris: *The War Traders* (Chancery Lane Press, 1914).

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Defence and Aggression

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The ancient Hindus were a sensitive people, and their heroes were instructed that they were defending the noble cause of God, Crown and Country. Viewed in this light, war departments were ‘defence’ departments, and military expenditure was included in the cost of defence. In this, as in many cases, ancient India was ahead of modern ideas. All defence reduced to a theory becomes aggression. For what is defence to one nation is aggression to the other, and vice versa. The impulse of menace and a spirit of jealousy were the chief factors which actuated ancient Indian kingdoms and empires, and hence we find every writer on Arthaśāstra and Nītisāra insisting upon a heavy military expenditure for defence.

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Fear Impulse

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Every empire, not to speak of every small independent State, was obsessed by the fear impulse, as the psychologist calls it.⁴⁹ A sense of insecurity of life was often lurking in the State mind, and this led to the organisation of an elaborate machinery of defence. Many hymns in the *Atharva Veda* reflect this state of mind, which are designated under the group *abhaya gaṇa* of *Kauśika Sūtra* (16-8). A few of them may be reproduced here.*

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⁴⁹ R. S. Woodworth: *Psychology* (1930), p. 256.

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‘What we fear, O Indra, make thou fearlessness for us of it; O bounteous One, help that for us by thy aids; smite away haters, away scorners.

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‘Do thou knowing, lead us towards broad space, light that is heavenly, fearlessness, well-being; may we dwell under the formidable arms of thee the stout one, O Indra (those two) great refuges.

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‘May the atmosphere make for us fearlessness: fearlessness both heaven and earth here: fearlessness from behind, fearlessness from in front: from above, from below, be there fearlessness for us.

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‘Fearlessness from friend, fearlessness from enemy, fearlessness from one known, fearlessness from one away, fearlessness for us by night, fearlessness by day; be all places my friend’ (Bk. xix, 15). See also *Ibid.*, 16.

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‘Let Agni with the Vasus protect me on the east; in him I step, in him I take refuge: to that stronghold I go forward: let him defend me, let him guard me: to him I commit myself: Hail!’ (Bk. xix, 17.1. etc.).

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Added to this may be cited another hymn of the *Atharva Veda* (Bk. vi, 40):

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‘Let fearlessness, O heaven and earth, be here for us: Let Soma, Savitar, make us fearlessness: be the wide atmosphere fearlessness for us: and by the oblation of seven seers be there fearlessness for us.’

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∗ W. D. Whitney’s trn.

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‘For this village let the four directions—let Savitar make for us sustenance, well-being, welfare: let Indra make for us freedom from foes, fearlessness: let the fury of kings fall on elsewhere.’

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‘Freedom from enemies for us below, freedom from enemies for us above: O Indra, make us freedom from enemies for us behind, freedom from enemies in front.’

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On account of this fear the ancient Kṣatriya prayed to Indra and other Vedic deities for success over enemies, and these are called battle-hymns.⁵⁰ One verse runs as follows:

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⁵⁰ Sāmgrāmikāṇi—Bk. I, 19; Bk. II, 19; Bk. VI, 65; Bk. VII, 62 and 92; Bk. VIII, 8.

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‘Let their weapons fall down: let them not be able to fit the arrow: then, of them fearing much let arrows strike in the vitals.’⁵¹

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⁵¹ A. V. Bk. VIII. 8. 20.

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Again, ‘Let not the piercers find us, nor let the penetrators find (us): far from us make the volleys fly, dispersing, O Indra’.

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Among the deities invoked for this purpose were Arbudi and Nyarbudi as allies of Indra, as also Tri-sandhi.⁵² One form of prayer consisted of oblations like the thousand-slaying homa.⁵³

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⁵² Ibid., Bk. XI, 11, 4 and 23.

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⁵³ Ibid., Bk. VIII, 17; Cp. Bk. XI, 9 and 10.

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This fear was reciprocal. A subject nation, for example, entertains fears of being swallowed by the imperial power some day or other. On the other hand, the imperial power would closely watch the movements of this subject kingdom, lest it should slowly mobilise its forces in secret and raise the standard of revolt having always an eye to the proper time and place. For instance, Kalinga, a subject country under Candragupta and his son, rebelled when Aśoka came to the throne. Aśoka had to invade this kingdom and reconquer it at the expense of many lives including the innocents. Thus the subject kingdom which was actuated by the motive of getting rid of the yoke of imperial power, was keen on its defence. Instances of this type may be multiplied.

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