War in Ancient India c5.s1.68

c5.s1.68

Whether an elder, a kinsman, a preceptor, or a Brahman, he must be attacked if he would attack him.⁵⁵ This was the point raised by Arjuna and answered by Kṛṣṇa as the veritable law of warfare, though it militated against the sādhāraṇa dharma inculcated by the law codes. The idea was that once a Brahman or a kinsman assumed the role of a warrior and a foe, there was no sin in killing him.⁵⁶