War in Ancient India c9.3

c9.3

We have already seen that ancient Hindu wars were generally of two kinds—Dharmayuddha and Kūṭayuddha, just and unjust wars. This is an arbitrary division from both the moral and religious standpoints. Another division, we have noticed, was three-fold—dharmavijaya, asuravijaya and lobhavijaya. Yet another division was daiva, mānuṣa and āsura, according to the weapons used. Here daiva and āsura seem to some extent to belong to the realm of mythology. The devāsura wars come under this head. Men of the epic age indulged to some extent in the asura modes of war; and one chief feature of this asura war was the larger use of machines or mechanical contrivances which resulted in wholesale slaughter. The mānuṣa kind of war was the only accepted one. Yet another division of wars is seen in the Mānavadharmaśāstra—land fights, hill and forest fights, and sea fights.¹