War in Ancient India c5.s1.55

c5.s1.55

Though the warrior’s code enjoins that all the Kṣatriyas should die on the field of battle,⁴⁵ still in practice many died a peaceful death. After a long and glorious rule the king often nominated his successor, invariably his eldest son, and retired with his family to the forest to lead a life of penance and prayer and attain Nirvāṇa, or Heavenly Bliss. It is a moot question whether the Kṣatriya could legally renounce the world and take to the fourth āśrama, the ascetic order or sannyāsa.⁴⁶ There is a definite ordinance of the ancient law books prohibiting the warrior caste from taking to asceticism. Only the Brahman may resort to asceticism, because the Kṣatriya may neither beg nor receive a gift. The very nature of a sannyāsin is to beg; hence he is called a bhikṣu. Action and not renunciation is the watch-word of the Kṣatriya.⁴⁷ It was realised that if this were allowed, the Kṣatriyas would become philosophers rather than warriors and this would result in the deterioration of man-power in the land. Therefore, a warrior was not generally allowed to don the robes of an ascetic. But Mahāvīra and Gautama protested against these injunctions and inaugurated an order of monks or sannyāsins. When these dissenting sects gathered in strength and numbers, the decline of Kṣatriya valour set in. Once they were initiated into a life of peace and prayer, they preferred it to the horrors of war. This was a disservice that dissenting sects did to the cause of ancient India.