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Exploring Hindu ethics of warfare: The Purāṇas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2024
Abstract
What rules of fighting (armed combat) does Hinduism espouse? The sacred texts are the pre-eminent sources, so these need to be summarized and compared to each other. Teaching mostly through stories, the texts describe deeds of people (especially warriors), gods and demons to show how to behave and not to behave in war. While the injunctions in the Mahābhārata and Arthaśāstra are already covered in the literature, including in this journal, this present work examines the Purāṇas in depth. After a thorough search of all relevant passages, we find the Purāṇas to be very similar to the epics in terms of the list of prescribed and proscribed actions in war that they provide. We also make comparisons to international humanitarian law (IHL); as in the epics, we find that the Purāṇas contain many similar provisions to those found in IHL but that they go above and beyond what is required by IHL in urging that fighting be fair at the tactical level (i.e., between individual fighters). Being religious texts, the Purāṇas also deal with the afterlife consequences of both righteous and unrighteous combat.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Selected Articles on International Humanitarian Law
- Information
- International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 106 , Issue 926: Selected Articles , August 2024 , pp. 542 - 564
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC
Footnotes
The advice, opinions and statements contained in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICRC. The ICRC does not necessarily represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided in this article.
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24 N. Gangadharan (trans.), Agni Purāṇa, Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Vols 27–30, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1998, p. 631.
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26 Z. Špicová. above note 2, p. 6.
27 N. Gangadharan (trans.), above note 24, p. 614. Also, the Nārada Purāṇa (10.21) echoes this: “Some of them confronted the elephants with their elephants, the chariots by means of their chariots, the horses with other horses.” See Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare (trans.), Nārada Purāṇa, Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Vols 15–19, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1995, p. 182.
28 N. Gangadharan (trans.), above note 24, p. 613.
29 Ibid., p. 489.
30 Ibid., p. 586.
31 Ibid., pp. 605–606.
32 Ibid., pp. 617–618.
33 Ibid., p. 611.
34 Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 2: Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005 (ICRC Customary Law Study), Rule 40, “Respect for Cultural Property”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule40.
35 N. Gangadharan (trans.), above note 24, p. 614.
36 Ibid., p. 614.
37 Ibid., p. 614.
38 Ibid., p. 614.
39 Ibid., p. 614. In comparison, IHL outlaws pillage, though permits war booty under certain circumstances. See ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 34, Rule 49, “War Booty”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule49.
40 AgP Chaps 228–250. See N. Gangadharan (trans.), above note 24, pp. 606–648.
41 N. Gangadharan (trans.), above note 24, p. 630.
42 Ibid., p. 631.
43 Ibid., pp. 606–608, 622–624.
44 G. Bailey, above note 4, p. 7.
45 N. A. Deshpande (trans.), Padma Purāṇa, Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Vols 39–48, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1988, p. 129.
46 Ibid., p. 129.
47 Ibid., p. 151.
48 Ibid., pp. 820–821.
49 Ganesh Vasudev Tagare (trans.), Kūrma Purāṇa, Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Vols 20–21, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1998, p. 522.
50 N. A. Deshpande (trans.), above note 45, p. 463.
51 Ibid., p. 620.
52 Ibid., p. 547.
53 Ibid., p. 822.
54 Ibid., p. 822.
55 Ibid., p. 837.
56 Ibid., p. 824.
57 Ibid., p. 844.
58 Ibid., p. 825.
59 J. L. Shastri (ed.), The Vāraha Purāṇa, trans. S Venkitasubramonia Iyer, Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Vols 31–32, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2003, p. 77.
60 Ibid., p. 269.
61 G. V. Tagare (trans.), above note 49, p. 479.
62 Ibid., p. 29.
63 J. L. Shastri (ed.), above note 59, p. 629.
64 Ibid., p. 264.
65 G. V. Tagare (trans.), above note 49, p. 267.
66 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 34, Rule 134, “Women”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule134.
67 Baman Das Basu (ed.), Matsya Purāṇa, The Panini Office, Bahadurganj, 1916, p. 130.
68 Ānandasvarūpa Gupta (ed.), The Vāmana Purāvarūpa, with English Translation, trans. Satyamsu Mohan Mukhopadhyaya, All India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi, 1968, p. 301.
69 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 34, Rule 54, “Attacks against Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Civilian Population”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule54.
70 Ibid., Rule 27, “Religious Personnel”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule27.
71 Ibid., Rule 138, “The Elderly, Disabled and Infirm”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule138.
72 Ibid., Rule 135, “Children”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule135.
73 Ā. Gupta (ed.), above note 68, p. 301.
74 Ibid., p. 301.
75 McComas Taylor (trans.), The Viṣṇu Purāṇa, ANU Press, 2021, p. 400, available at: https://doi.org/10.22459/VP.2021.
76 Bibek Debroy (trans.), Bhagavata Purana, Vols 1–3, India Penguin Classics, Gurgaon, 2018, p. 44.
77 Ibid., p. 55.
78 Ibid., p. 39.
79 Ibid., p. 40.
80 Ibid., p. 40.
81 Ibid., p. 373.
82 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 34, Rule 144, “Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law Erga Omnes”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule144.
83 B. Debroy (trans.), above note 76.
84 Ibid., p. 44.
85 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 34, Rule 65, “Perfidy”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule65. For helpful background information, see also Michael N. Schmitt, “Assassination in the Law of War”, Articles of War, 15 October 2021, available at: https://lieber.westpoint.edu/assassination-law-of-war/.
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87 Ibid., p. 121.
88 Ibid., p. 735.
89 J. L. Shastri (trans.), The Śiva-Purāṇa, Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Vols 1–4, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1950, p. 901. This sentiment is echoed in Śiva 53.34, where running away from the battlefield is considered worse than death. Śiva 1.19 states that kṣatriyas who do so have ceased to be valorous.
90 Ibid., p. 910.
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94 Ibid., p. 613.
95 Ibid., p. 481.
96 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 34, Rule 65, “Perfidy”, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule65.
97 Swami Vijnanananda (trans.), above note 93, p. 621.
98 G. Bailey, above note 3, p. 12.
99 G. Bailey, above note 4, p.12.
100 Ibid., p. 12.
101 Z. Špicová, above note 2, p. 44.