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Written and customary provisions relating to the conduct of hostilities and treatment of victims of armed conflicts in ancient India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

L. R. Penna
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Extract

Two thousand years before Grotius, Rachel, or Ayala recalled Europe to humanitarianism, ancient Indians had a body of rules for governing the relations between the States of the sub-continent in the event of armed conflicts. According to Professor A. L. Basham:

“…in no other part of the ancient world were the relations of man and man, and of man and the state, so fair and humane… No other ancient law-giver proclaimed such noble ideals of fair play in battle as did Manu. In all her history of warfare Hindu India has few tales to tell of cities put to the sword or of the massacre of non-combatants. The ghastly sadism of the Kings of Assyria, who flayed their captives alive, is completely without parallel in ancient India. There was sporadic cruelty and oppression no doubt, but in comparison with conditions in other cultures, it was mild. To us the most striking feature of ancient Indian civilization is its humanity.”

Type
Retracing the Origins of International Humanitarian Law
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 29 , Issue 271 , August 1989 , pp. 333 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1989

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References

1 Basham, A. L., The Wonder That Was India (1981), p. 8.Google Scholar

2 Manu in Sanskrit means “man”, and in Hindu legend refers to 14 progenitors, each ruling the world for one manavantara, or 4,320,000 years. The first Manu was called Swayambhuva, son of the self-existent. According to the Mahabharat, this Manu wrote the renowned Manu Smriti. It is said originally to have consisted of 100,000 verses. Modern scholars have dated Manu Smriti between 600 BC and 300 AD. It contains rules on the observance of ceremonies and rituals, and on moral and social instruction.

Vaivasvata, son of the Sun, the Manu of the present age, is the 7th Manu. Hindu legend, whose different versions are to be found in Mahabharat, depicts him as the hero, the Noah of the Hindu story of the flood.

Of the many English translations, “The Laws of Manu”, vol. XXV of the Sacred Books of the East, ed. F. M. Muller (1886)Google Scholar, is quite significant. Chapters and verses are referred to in the traditional way.

3 Derett, J. D. M., Religion, Law, and State in India (1968), p. 99 Google Scholar.

In Ganga Sahai v Lekhraj Singh, [1866] 9 I L R (All) 253, the Allahabad High Court “reckoned” that the Puranans are “a supplementary to the scriptures, and as such, constitute a fifth Veda”.

See Shastri, M. N. D., Agni Purana: A Prose English Translation (1967)Google Scholar, and Ancient Indian Tradition, Mythology Series (1970)Google Scholar, several volumes, for texts of the Puranas.

4 For an English translation, see Roy, P. C., The Mahabharata, 11 vols. (1919–1935)Google Scholar. Citations are from the parvas (parts), chapter and verse.

A new English translation in several volumes is by Buitenen, J. A. B. van, Mahabharata, University of Chicago Press. Vols. 1 (1973)Google Scholar, 2 (1975), 3 (1978), cover only up to the 4th book of Mahabharat.

5 For an English translation, see Raghunathan, N., Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam, 3 vols. (1981–1982)Google Scholar. References are to kanda (part), chapter and verse.

A new English translation in several volumes is being published by the Princeton Library of Asian Translations under the general editorship of Robert P. Goldman and with the title The Ramayana of Valmiki — An Epic of Ancient India. Vols. 1 (1984)Google Scholar and 2 (1986) cover only up to the 2nd part of Ramayan.

6 Supra no. 1, p. 127.

7 Santi Parva, 102.34–38.

8 Yuddhakanda, p. 116.Google Scholar

9 Singh, N., India and International Law, vol. 1 (1973), pp. 72 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 See McCrindle, J. W., Ancient India as described by Megasthenes (1926), p. 33.Google Scholar

11 Quoted in Viswanatha, S. V., International Law in Ancient India (1925), p. 18.Google Scholar

12 Manu Smriti, 7.90.

13 Yajnavalkya Rajadharama Prakaranam, pp. 322–3.Google Scholar

14 Shanti Parva, 11.3.

15 Sacred Books of the East, vol. II (1876), 10.17.Google Scholar

16 Ibid., 7.89.

17 Ibid., 7.91–93.

18 Ibid., 10.18.

19 7.216, quoted by Kane, P. V., History of Dharmasastra, vol. III (1973), p. 208.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., p. 210.

21 Sacred Books of the East, vol. XIV (1882), 1.10.18,11.Google Scholar

22 Ibid., Vol. II, 11.5.10,10–11.

23 Shanti Parva, 95.6–16.

24 Karna Parva, 90.109–110.

25 Shanti Parva, 100.27–29.

26 Ibid., 62.56–59.

27 Yuddhakanda, 18.27–34.

28 Ibid., 4.1177–1179.

29 Kangle, R. P., The Kautilya Arthasastra, Part II (1972), 132.4.52.Google Scholar

30 Kalki Purana, pt. 3, ch. 1.

31 Matsya Purana, 59.113.

32 10.3.47. See also Kane, , op. cit., p. 208.Google Scholar

33 Shanti Parva, 95.13–14.

34 Ibid., 102.32.

35 See Puggot, S., Prehistoric India (1950), p. 155.Google Scholar

36 236.61–65.

37 1.342–343.

38 Shanti Parva, 100.273.

39 7.203.

40 7.16.26–30.