The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c8.88

Language: English

c8.88

Turning to the law of war, Baudhāyana holds that no king should ever use barbed or poisoned weapons. Nor should he strike women, infants, old men, Brāhmaṇas, those who are insane, intoxicated, terrified or who have lost their armour. From this humanitarian rule, only assassins are excepted.⁴ The statement is interesting as the first clear Hindu view of the ethics of war but we cannot be sure that it represents practical politics.

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