War in Ancient India c5.s5.1

c5.s5.1

There was another division of war—Dharmavijaya, Asura Vijaya and Lobha Vijaya, as contemplated by Kauṭalya and Aśoka, and occasionally mentioned in the epics and the Purāṇas. While the division of the Dharmayuddha and the Kūṭayuddha was in the epic tradition, this kind of division seems to have been an innovation of Kauṭalya, and an improvement on the old systems and methods. Dharmavijaya is an equivalent of Dharmayuddha, while Lobhavijaya and Asuravijaya come under the category of Kūṭayuddha, whose methods we shall presently examine. Before the discovery of the Arthaśāstra, and even several years after its discovery, the term dharmavijaya occurring in the inscriptions of Aśoka was a puzzle to Aśoka scholars, who unfortunately took for granted that the Emperor was a Buddhist, connected the term with the Buddhist Dharma, and interpreted it just contrary to what it connotes. We are told on no authority that the term which occurs in the XIII Rock Edict means ‘conquest by morality’. It is contended that Aśoka substituted ‘conquest by morality’ for ‘conquest by arms’. This is discussed at length in my The Mauryan Polity.¹³¹ Suffice it to say here that if we accept that Aśoka became a monk and gave up arms, then according to the Hindu and even the Buddhist conception he relinquished the throne and could not have been an emperor. And with complete disarmament, with States of people professing different faiths and creeds, the vast empire could not be maintained even for a short period.