War in Ancient India c5.s6.1

c5.s6.1

The foregoing survey may convince an impartial student of history that the ancient Hindus had evolved precepts on fair fighting which formed a chivalrous code of military honour. But it must be admitted that these laws of war including the laws of chivalry were so varied and so complicated that they led to ineffective discipline, in some cases owing to excess on the part of leaders and in others to the gradual extinction of the martial qualities by misplaced generosity through forgiving dangerous enemies who sought shelter or refuge in order to study the enemy's weakness and then attack him with redoubled force. Grahavarman's assassination and Rājyaśrī's incarceration may be referred to here as having evoked contemporary horror and condemnation in the seventh century A.D. ‘The sad fate of Pṛthivi Rāja Cahamāṇa at the close of the Hindu period,’ says a recent writer, ‘tells an eloquent tale of the military tragedy of ancient India.’¹⁶²