The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s5.697

c2.s5.697

* All divine weapons are *ipso facto* magical. Droṇa and Arjuna do the same with their divine weapons (vii. 188. 33 ff.) as do a pair of demons, each 'skilled in magic,' and showering weapons (vii. 108. 30 ff.; 109. 2 ff.). The real difference is that when a good man uses magic it is right, and when a bad man or a demon uses it, it is wrong. It is holy magic, for example, when Vishnu converts a handful of grasses (*erakāḥ*) into a club (xvi. 3. 36). Of the popular magic, one sort is to become as small as a thumb and then large as the ocean (e. g. vii. 175. 63). The best devilish illusion is made by Rāvaṇa, e. g. iii. 290. 5. The godly illusion may concern itself with such small matters as the sudden appearance of Arjuna's magic ape with a lion's tail, to frighten the foe, iv. 46. 3 (*dāivī māyā*). The rules referred to above are (v. 193. 10) Bhīṣma's: 'fight fairly, but use magic against magic'; the 'eternal law,' iii. 12. 7 ('a trickster should be slain'); but, ib. 52. 22: 'it is not called a crime to kill a sinner in a sinful way.' The question of fighting properly (*nyāyataḥ*) or deceitfully (*chadmanā*) is discussed at large before the underhand attempt of Aṣvatthāman (x. 1. 49 to 6. 21). The fact that this knight entered the camp *advāreṇa* (x. 8. 10) may have given rise to the proverb *advāreṇa ripor gehaṃ dvāreṇa suhṛdo gṛhān praviśanti narā dhīrāḥ* (ii. 21. 53 : cf. M. iv. 73). The entrance into the *sabhā* must be *advāreṇa* when the priest is to cure an afflicted child by the hocus-pocus of his trade (expelling the sickness by bell, cymbals, etc.). In general it is a sign that evil is about if one does not go in by the door.