The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.24

c2.s5.24

ing for the dead is forbidden. Formal mourning with appropriate rites is fit service at the funeral of a warrior; but one should not lament long in his heart for those that are slain in battle. First, because he that does so ‘gets only woe on woe,’ since fighting and being slain is to the warrior what penance is to the priest and service to the slave, and the dead have obtained happiness; next, because one should console himself by himself, and not allow useless grief to cloud his mind; naught is better to the warrior than war; to avoid it is to lose place on earth and in heaven; to flee is un-Aryan, ungodly.*