History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.474.3

v4.c62.474.3

These rules, though probably ideal and not strictly followed in every case, are far more humane as compared with the practice in modern warfare when non-combatants are killed from the air even at night without warning. In ancient times non-combatants went generally unmolested, to which Megasthenes bears testimony when he says (Frag. I. p. 32) 'Tillers of the soil even when battle is raging in the neighbourhood are undisturbed by any sense of danger, for the combatants allow those engaged in husbandry to remain quite unmolested.' Manu VII. 32 allows a king to harass his enemy's country, but Medhātithi on VII. 32 asks the invader to save his enemy's people if possible (particularly brāhmaṇas). The rule in *gadāyuddha* (fight with maces or clubs) was that no blow was to be struck below the navel (Śalyaparva 60. 6). But this rule was violated by Bhīma when he struck Duryodhana on the thigh with his mace. Duryodhana recounts (in Śalya 61) all the bad deeds of Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas and the only reply that Kṛṣṇa makes is that he too was guilty of numerous breaches of morality and the chivalrous rules of war (such as the slaying of Abhimanyu by many engaging him at one time). The general rule was that fighting ceased when the sun went down (Bhiṣma 49. 52-53). But in Droṇaparva 154 and 163. 16 ff. we have a description of night battles and it is provided that chariots, elephants and horses should carry lamps.