War in Ancient India c5.s2.6

c5.s2.6

Hindu military science recognizes two kinds of warfare—the dharmayuddha and the kūṭayuddha. There is another classification into prakāśayuddha and mantrayuddha. Dharmayuddha is war carried on the principles of *dharma*, meaning here the Kṣatradharma or the law of Kings and Warriors. In other words, it was a just and righteous war which had the approval of society. It was also termed prakāśayuddha, or open battle. There was to be no secrecy about it. The preliminaries of the battle were settled by the belligerents before the war actually began. There was no application of stratagem or artifice in the operations of this war. It was then a straight fight and a regulated fight. On the other hand, the kūṭayuddha was unrighteous war. It was a crafty fight carried on in secret. It was sometimes effected by the use of mantras and of charms and spells. Sometimes it went by the name of mantra-yuddha, permissible only for purposes of defence, and that too only as a last resort. More of this later on.