INDIA. PART II. drive his fist at Drona, and who shocked us by expecting HISTORY OF that the pupil would get the better of his preceptor? Perchance when Mount Sumara is levelled with the dust, and the earth rises above it, and men catch the wind with their fingers, Arjuna may take Drona prisoner, but not before then: But we are assured that whoever comes out to battle against Bhishma or Drona, be he man or elephant, will never escape with his life; and though you are our brethren and kinsmen, and have lived amongst us, yet you know nothing of our prowess; like the frog who dwells in a river and knows nothing of the caves beneath it: And although Arjuna prides himself on the protection of Krishna, and relies on his bow as long as a palmira tree, yet to obtain a Raj, men should have good fortune as well as strength, and of what use was the bow of Arjuna and the mace of Bhíma on the day of the gambling match when you staked yourselves to become our slaves? If Krishna were a thousand times as strong as he is, and Arjuna ten thousand times, they could not cope with us, nor match themselves with us on the field of battle." of the Pandavas. :- Bhima's reference to Krishna. sent by Krishna At this message from the Kauravas, the Pándavas were Extreme wrath so violently incensed that nothing could exceed their wrath. Bhíma looked towards Krishna, and said to his brethren "Where Krishna is present, it is not becoming of me to appear presumptuous, but I know full well what answer I would give to this contemptible fellow." Krishna then said. Mythical reply to the messenger :- "You, who all boast so proudly, and pre- to the Kauravas. sume to despatch such a message to a camp where I am present, will soon behold what will befall your own lives, and the lives of all your armies, from the power and majesty of Yudhishthira, and the strength and skill of Arjuna, whom you regard so lightly: Just as fire burns up dry grass will I consume your armies, and when I am mounted on the driving-seat of Arjuna's chariot, Duryodhana may mount up to the highest heaven or go down to the lowest hell, but he shall ever see my face urging Arjuna's chariot full against him: And as for the sneering message Duryodhana has sent to Bhíma, because he vowed to drink the blood of INDIA. PART II. HISTORY OF Duhsásana, I regard his vow as already fulfilled, for certain it is that he will perform all that he has said: On the morrow Yudhishthira, and Arjuna, and Bhíma, will display their prowess in the presence of all; they are not, as you are, prone to arrogant boastings; but they will prove by their deeds on the field of battle what they can do." Arjuna's reply to the challenge. Replies of juna carried to the Kauravas. Foregoing legend rendered dubious by the references to Krishna. Message of When Krishna had finished, Arjuna spoke thus to the messenger :- "Whatever may be said, or whatever may be done, there should be no boasting of valour: But say these words to Duryodhana :-'If you be a man speak for yourself, and do not brag of the valour of Bhishma or of Drona, for such conduct is only befitting in women: Had you been a man you would have spoken of yourself, and if you only send Drona and Bhishma to the field, you had better put a veil upon your head and remain with the women: Bhishma is our father, and he is lord of us as well as of you; and Drona is our tutor; therefore I shall not draw the sword against the face of either, unless either attack me; but let Duryodhana come himself to the field, and try my prowess: As for Duhsásana being in the army of the Kauravas, I am glad of it, for he is a disgrace wherever he is; and whatever may be the army in which he takes his stand, that army will never behold the face of victory: Go now and tell Duryodhana all that you have heard." So the messenger went his way, and told to Duryodhana and the Kauravas all that had been said; and Karna cried out:-"I have no patience with this peddling talk! We must now think of war, and messengers must be sent to all our armies that all may be ready when the drums beat on the morrow." And Duryodhana did as Karna had said. The force of the foregoing legend is somewhat weakened by the references to Krishna, and the introduction of Krishna's speech, which are evidently foreign to the main story. Indeed, the speech of ably mythical. Krishna is so palpably mythical and superfluous as juna probably to render comment almost unnecessary. In the to the challenge original tradition the message of Arjuna no doubt Krishna palp Message of Ar the only one sent INDIA. PART II. formed the sole and appropriate answer to the in- HISTORY OF sulting challenge of Duryodhana; for it is difficult to believe that the weak and bombastic language of Krishna could possibly have found a place in the Kshatriya story before it fell into the hands of the Brahmanical compilers. agreed to on ameliorating The next event which preceded the breaking out 4th, Rules of hostilities was the alleged agreement of both both sides for Kauravas and Pándavas to certain rules, which the horrors of tended greatly to ameliorate the savage character of The legend of this significant agree ancient war. the coming war. which preceded tion of the rules. Now at the same time that the messenger left the as- Circumstances sembly of the Pándavas, Raja Yudhishthira said :—"War is the promulganow close upon us, and we must appoint our warriors to their several posts." And it was agreed that Dhrishtadyumna should fight Drona, and Yudhishthira fight Salya, and Nakula fight Aswattháma, and Bhíma fight Duryodhana, and Arjuna fight Karna, and others of the Pandavas fight others of the Kauravas. by Bhishma and agreed to by And when it was evening and all was ready for the Rules framed battle, Bhishma and Drona sent certain messengers to Yud- Drona, and hishthira, saying:-"Now that a war is fully determined Yudhishthira. upon between us, it is necessary to settle that it should be maintained on right principles; let it, therefore, be agreed between us as follows: "1. We will make war on each other without stratagem, (1.) No strataand without treachery : gem or treachery. truce between "2. When we are fighting one with the other we will (2.) Perfect on each side stand to our arms to slay or to be slain, to the combats. take captive or to become captive; but when we leave off fighting, our people and your people are free to mess together, and may come or go to each other's quarters, and hold conference together : he "3. We will not slay the man who runs away, nor who throws down his arms, nor he who beats a drum, nor he who drives a chariot : (3.) Fugitives, suppliants, drummers, and chariot-drivers, to be treated as non-combatants. INDIA. HISTORY OF "4. Horsemen shall only fight with horsemen, riders on elephants with riders on elephants, warriors in chariots with warriors in chariots, and footmen with footmen : PART II. (4.) A superior arm to fight only its equal. (5.) No combat to take place during the pre liminary abuse. (6.) No combat to take place "5. When the warriors are fighting with words only, and are abusing one another, no one amongst them shall take up arms against the other: "6. No man shall take up arms against another without without warn- giving him warning: ing. (7.) No third "7. When two combatants are engaged with each other, warrior to inter- no third man shall interfere." fere between two combatants. Foregoing rules apparently of modern date. Disregarded in the war of the Mahá Bharata. Brahmanical origin of the rules. And when the messengers delivered these words to the Pándavas, Raja Yudhishthira and Krishna rejoiced greatly; and Yudhishthira said:-" Bhishma is our lord, and Drona is the preceptor of us all; therefore their words are a law to us which we will all obey." The foregoing rules are curious and suggestive, but they evidently belong to a later age of civilization than the war of the Mahá Bhárata. It will be seen, hereafter, that they were almost entirely disregarded in the deadly contest which ensued between the Kauravas and the Pándavas; and, indeed, they are out of keeping both with the barbarous character of the times, and the ferocious enmity which prevailed between the rival kinsmen. The probability is that they were inserted by the Brahmanical compilers as authoritative rules, promulgated under the special sanction of the heroes of the Mahá Bhárata, and consequently obligatory upon all warriors in after ages. Indeed, it may be inferred, from the tone of the rules, that they did not originate with fighting men; but rather with a priest caste who were but imperfectly acquainted with the theory of war, and who had no practical acquaintance with the spirit in which it must be tweenstratagem carried on. In the first rule stratagem is for Confusion be and treachery. 1 INDIA. PART II. ity of the con ring truces. bidden, and is apparently confounded with treach- HISTORY OF ery; whereas ambushes, surprises, and deceptive appearances were the life and soul of ancient warfare. Then again, the perfect peace which ac- Impracticabilcording to the second rule was to prevail between stantly recurthe twopirties in the intervals of fighting, could scarcely have been observed in that mortal struggle which was avowedly a war to the knife, in which neither party could gain the victory without the slaughter of all its antagonists. The third rule was Rational rule as apparently more reasonable. It virtually ordered combatants. that all fugitives, and all who threw down their arms, as well as all drummers and chariot-drivers, regards non rule that cavalry fight with caval > should be treated as non-combatants. The fourth Absurdity of the rule, which declared that horsemen should only fight should only with horsemen, elephant riders with elephant riders, ry, &c. chariots with chariots, and footmen with footmen, is evidently the conception of a philanthropic mind wholly ignorant of the practice of war. Ancient armies consisted mainly of infantry, and in all probability this was the case in the armies that fought in the war of the Mahá Bhárata; whilst horses, elephants, and chariots were employed, not so much to act against forces of a similar character, as to charge the masses of foot soldiers, and disperse that all-important arm. The fifth, sixth, and seventh rules Possible antimay have belonged to more ancient times, and in- 6th, and 7th deed are singularly illustrative of the primitive simplicity of primeval wars. The fifth rule provided Natural law that so long as two warriors, or companies of war- during the pre riors, were abusing each other, or confining them- ing, or for a selves to a mere battle of words, no man amongst interfere bethem should take up arms against another whatever batants. might be the provocation he had received. The quity of the 5th, rules. against fighting or without warn third warrior to tween two com |