The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.38

c2.s5.38

3. Military Tactics.—The formal account of possible military manœuvres given in the Manavic code is, as compared with the Epic, both redundant and deficient. Enough remains of exact similarity to show that the code speaks of movements well authorized by tradition as by precept. Probably both the Manavic law and the Epic are indebted for their full facts to the military codes published by the two greatest authorities on such matters, Brihaspati and Uçanas. That is to say, the completing Epic supplied itself with descriptions from the usually recognized possibilities of warfare, and the Manavic code copied the current military rules (*yuddhadharma*) ascribed to these men, and which may well have been existent in some form or other (as a manual) before our present Manu was composed.