Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia

Glossary

Acharya: Brahmin advisor, teacher
Ahimsa: Doctrine of non-violence, the opposite of himsa
Akharas: Centres in the countryside where Hindu military recruits were trained in various physical exercises, especially in wrestling
Amatya: Civil bureaucrat
Amitra: Deserters from the enemy’s army; at times also a state in the mandala that harbours enmity towards the vijigishu
Anitya: Uncertain, full of chance probability; result dependent on a random roll of dice
Ankush: An iron rod with a curved point at the top; it was used by the mahout to pierce the brain of an elephant when the latter became uncontrollable due to injuries sustained on the battlefield
Artha: Literal meaning: wealth; broadly, the term refers to anything connected to the material well-being of the people
Arthasastra: Non-Vedic knowledge system concerned with artha
Aryaputra: Literal meaning: sons of the Aryans; in early medieval India, the term referred to the Kshatriyas/thakurs and later to the Rajputs
Aryavarta: Domains of the Aryans, i.e., north India for the ancient and medieval Hindu intellectuals
Aswamedha yagna: Literal meaning: horse sacrifice; the conqueror sent a horse backed by his army. The horse traveled through the dominions of various kings. If these kings did not obstruct the horse, then theoretically they became tributaries of the conqueror. If any king stopped the horse as it was traveling through his dominion, then the army of the conqueror following the horse fought with that king. After victory, the horse was sacrificed in a yajna.
Atavi: Contingents provided by the tribal chieftains
Azad Hind Fauj: Literal meaning: Independent India’s Army; two such armies were created from the Indian POWs captured by Germany and Japan. The Japanese-sponsored Azad Hind Fauj, also known as the Indian National Army, was initially led by Mohan Singh and later by the ex–Indian National Congress politician Subhas Chandra Bose.
Bakshi: Commander-in-chief of the army of a Muslim state
Bala: Army/use of force
Bans: Primitive rockets used during warfare in pre-modern India
Bargi: A Maratha cavalier who was provided a warhorse or pony by the government or the Maratha sirdar
Bazaar: Market
Bhaga: Royal share of the produce from land
Bhalla: Heavy spear made of wood or bamboo
Bhang: A liquid drug made of hemp
Bharat: Bharat Varhsa (the country of Bharat), the Sanskrit name of Jambudvipa, i.e., the subcontinent; Bharat is the mythical first ruler of the subcontinent
Bharatiya: Indianness, the way of life in Bharat
Bheda: Divide-and-rule policy
Bhikkus: Ascetic Buddhist monks
Bhiksuki: Female spy dressed as a mendicant woman
Bhrata: Local volunteer auxiliaries or mercenaries
Brahmastra: Astra means weapons in Sanskrit, and Brahma’s astra means weapons of Lord Brahma (creator of the cosmos); it means weapons of mass destruction not to be used during dharmayuddha. Modern Indian commentators interpret brahmastra as nuclear weapons.
Cakkavattin/Cakravartin: A just monarch following the policies of peace and moderation; he is the opposite of vijigishu
Chara: Spy/secret agent
Charka: A circular weapon with serrated edges that was thrown towards the enemy; like a boomerang, it returned to the person who threw it. In Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna used this weapon.
Chaturanga Bala/Chaturangabalam: Four-limbed army comprising foot soldiers, cavalry, elephants and chariots
Chaturvarna: The ideal society of the Hindu jurists comprised of four castes: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (businessmen and merchants) and Sudras (cultivators)
Chela: Disciple of a guru
Danda: Literal meaning: a staff or a rod; it refers to the coercion (including the army) that should be used moderately by a ‘just’ ruler to maintain peace, prosperity and stability. Basically, it means use of force in a legal manner for running the polity.
Dandaniti: The theory of statecraft involving judicious use of force
Dar al Harb: Region of darkness, i.e., territories under non-Islamic rule
Dar al Islam: House of light, i.e., region into which Islam has spread
Darsana: Traditional Indian philosophy
Dhamma: Buddhist equivalent of Hindu dharma
Dharma: Not religion, but morality, code of conduct; dharma operates at three levels: at the personal level, at the community level and at the cosmic level
Dharmasastra: Sacred knowledge system concerned with dharma; it refers to the vast body of literature in Sanskrit produced in ancient India dealing with legal and juridical precepts
Dharmayuddha: Righteous war; it means war according to the sastras. Such a war could be started only for just reasons. Moreover, such a war must be waged in accordance with certain rules and regulations. It involves a set piece battle/combat at a place and time previously decided by the combatants. In Sanskrit literature this is known as prakasayuddha. Such a war involves minimal damage, and the combatants are forced to obey certain constraints on their conduct: non-combatants, prisoners and retreating soldiers are not harmed; flank and surprise attacks and nocturnal raids are not allowed, etc.
Dharmik: A righteous person/ruler; one who follows dharma
Duta: Diplomatic envoy
Faqir: Holy Muslim mendicant
Gada: Club/mace
Gauda: Ancient Sanskrit name of Bengal
Giridurga: Hill fort, i.e., a fort situated at the summit of a hill or in a mountainous region
Govisthi: Raids for acquiring cattle
Guptachar: The word is derived from Kautilya’s word chara. Literally, a chara means a spy, and guptachar means a secret spy.
Guptaghatak: A mercenary who would commit murder secretly
Guru: Literal meaning: master; the term refers to the acharya of a disciple
Harijan: M. K. Gandhi’s term for the untouchables, i.e., those outside the caste system such as the tribes (traditional term nishadas). Gandhi also brought out a newspaper with this name.
Himsa: Violence, aggressiveness, anger, jealousy, all negative feelings that are the opposite of ahimsa
Howdah: A box (made of wood and occasionally plated with iron) tied at the back of the war elephant with ropes. This box carried the mahout and the warriors. At times, the box was perforated to allow the archers inside to shoot their arrows.
Inam: Literal meaning: reward; this term refers to a hereditary grant of land made by the Muslim rulers to both their Hindu and Muslim service elites as a reward for special service or display of merit
Jaladurga: Water fort, i.e., a fort surrounded by water. It means a fort situated in a lake or lagoon or protected by wide, deep wet ditches.
Janapada: An inhabited settlement; a region full of people who practice agriculture, trade and commerce and yield revenue
Jihad: Islamic holy war against the infidels
Jizya: A discriminatory poll tax that the Hindus had to pay to the Muslim ruler in return for security under the Muslim regime
Kalaha: Serious struggle, tension, etc. that might escalate to war
Kalinga: Ancient name for Orissa
Kama: Desire, love and sex
Kamboja: Kandahar and this region were considered famous by the acharyas for their horses
Kamrup: Pre-modern name of Assam
Karma: Action/activities in life; the classical Hindus accepted the karma theory, which means circle of births. One’s activities, good or bad, determine the nature of rebirths.
Kavya: Poem
Khanda: Straight sword suited for slashing used by the Rajputs
Kliba: Impotent, useless, cowardly, worthless, lacking paurusha; the term often refers to a ruler who fails to offer security to his subjects, hence he lacks dignity and honour and is unfit to rule
Kopa: Internal rebellion, insurgency, popular uprising of subjects against an unjust ruler
Kosa: Royal treasury
Koti: Special units deployed at the outer flanks of an army deployed for battle
Kufr: Also known as kafir, meaning infidel, unbeliever
Kuta: Crookedness, evil genius; a component of kutayuddha
Kutayuddha: Realpolitik is an essential component of kutayuddha. Kutayuddha is the opposite of dharmayuddha. The basic assumption is that in war everything is free and fair. Kutayuddha is waged by a powerful king for no valid reason, but just for the sake of power. Kutayuddha is also waged by a weaker king when faced with a strong adversary against whom he cannot wage prakasayuddha. The conduct of kutayuddha is free from moral or ethical restraints. The techniques of kutayuddha involve covert actions, commando raids, assassination, abduction, terrorist activities, guile, treachery, bheda, misinformation, disinformation, biological warfare (use of poison, smoke, etc.), nocturnal attacks, ambushes, tactical retreat and flank attacks. One component of kutayuddha is mantrayuddha, which involves diplomatic coercion, deceit, etc. An extreme form of kutayuddha is asurayuddha, which means execution of the defeated king and absorption of his territory by the victor.
Labha: Literal meaning: greed; it means acquisition of things not one’s own
Lashkar-i-Islam: Army of Islam
Lok Sabha: Lower house of the Indian Parliament, which makes laws
Madhyama: Middle kingdom in the mandala. The attitude of the ruler of this kingdom is crucial for the vijigishu’s strategy. If madhyama becomes neutral, then it would aid the vijigishu, but if the madhyama turns against the vijigishu, then the latter’s plan to become the hegemon of the mandala would be unsuccessful.
Magadha: Traditional name of central Bihar
Mahajanapada: Big localities inhabited by people; the precursor of the state
Mahout: Elephant driver
Mandala: The circle of the state system. The term denotes the classical Hindu conception of the inter-state system. The classical Hindu scholars conceptualized the international state system as circular (like a wheel), with the vijigishu’s state located at the centre of the circle and surrounded by allies and enemy states.
Mansab: The term signifies a rank in the Mughal bureaucracy
Mansabdar: Holder of a mansab; a Mughal imperial official
Mantri: Minister, a crucial component (prakriti) of the polity
Matsanya: Literal meaning: a pond where smaller fishes are gobbled up by a big fish; this term refers to an intense power struggle in the international arena where, in accordance with the principle of ‘might is right’, the weaker polities are absorbed by the stronger polity
Maula: Regular soldiers of the standing army; at times the military service among them became hereditary
Mitra: Troops of an ally; at times also refers to a state in the mandala that is friendly to the vijigishu
Mlechchas: Literal meaning: unclean, and in the eyes of the orthodox Hindu intellectuals the term refers to the ‘barbarians’; this term was used to denote non-Hindu foreigners like the Sakas, Parthians and Huns who entered India between the beginning of the Common Era and the sixth century CE through the north-west frontier passes
Moksa: Salvation/liberation; breaking free from the cycle of births as propounded in the karma theory
Mujahideen: Jihadi, soldier of Islam who is ready to sacrifice his life in order to kill the infidels and further the cause of Islam
Namak Halali: Namak means salt, and halali means loyalty; the term means loyalty to the salt-giver, i.e., employer
Nawab: After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal provincial governors became independent and took the title of nawab
Nayaka: Vassal chief turned military commander of the king’s army; a nayaka is a semi-autonomous warlord
Palana: Protection and maintenance of subjects in order to ensure sustained growth; an essential function of a just ruler
Panchhazari mansabdar: A mansabdar holding a 5,000 mansab, meaning he was under the obligation of maintaining 5,000 cavalry soldiers for service with the emperor
Panchsheel: Literal meaning: five principles; it refers to the five principles of Jawaharlal Nehru’s foreign policy, which emphasized peace and amity with neighbours
Patti: Foot soldier of ancient India
Paurusha: Manliness, an important aspect of a just ruler; it also involves the sexual prowess of the ruler. Paurusha is a symbolic component of danda.
Prakriti Kopa: Internal rebellion that occurs due to malfunctioning of one or more of the components of the state
Raj: Literal meaning: rule; the term refers to the British government of India between 1750 and 1947
Rajadharma: Duties of the raja, i.e., ruler. It is somewhat similar to dandaniti as practiced by a just ruler.
Rajan: Leader of the tribe in the early Vedic age and later became raja/nripati, i.e., monarch
Rajukas: Mauryan government officials
Raksas: Literal meaning: demons; in the ancient period, the term referred to the non-Aryan, most probably Dravidian, people of the subcontinent. During the medieval era, the term referred to the Muslim invaders.
Raksha: Protection of the subjects; it is the caste duty of the Kshatriyas/ Rajputs and an essential function of rajadharma
Ramrajya: Literal meaning: kingdom of Rama where milk and honey flowed; actually it is a metaphor for good governance, i.e., a country with a just government that takes care of the people, who have to pay very low taxes
Rashtra: State/polity, i.e., mostly a monarchical state
Ratha: Chariot
Rathin: Warrior on the chariot
Sadhu: Hindu holy man engaged in worshipping the gods and goddesses
Saktism: Worship of the feminine principle of sakti (absolute power) in Hinduism
Samanta: Hindu feudal lord of early medieval India
Samantaraja: Warden of the marches/tributary or vassal chieftain at the frontier
Sandhi: Alliance for peacemaking or to avert war; occasionally it involves appeasement of the stronger party by the weaker party
Saptanga: According to classical Hindu theory, a state comprising seven elements (prakriti): monarch, ministers, territory and people, fort, army, allies and the treasury
Sarvapath sambhav: A key tenet of Hinduism; it means that all the paths/religions lead to the same goal, i.e., God
Sastra: Sacred system of knowledge; also refers to brahmanical customs and laws
Sastrasala: Arms production centre (factory/workshop) in ancient India
Sataghni: Literal meaning: hundred killer; it was a sort of stone-throwing machine that was used during siege operations. It is probably a sort of catapult/ballista.
Satyagraha: Love force or truth force based on ahimsa; in M. K. Gandhi’s eyes, it is a just instrument for achieving swaraj
Sena: Army, also referred to as vahini
Senapati: Commander of the sena, i.e., general of the army
Seniya: One who possesses a sena
Shanti: Peace, the opposite of ashanti, which means disorder, chaos
Shih: Strategic power
Shuddhi: Purification rituals to bring the unclean (non-Hindus) into the fold of Hinduism
Sindhu: River Indus
Sreni: Mercenary soldiers belonging to the private guilds and trading corporations; in general, the duty of the sreni was to protect the trading centres, commercial routes and caravans. But during emergencies, the rulers also hired them.
Srenibala: Military levies provided by the guilds
Suba/Subah: Mughal province administered by a subadar (provincial governor). Independent subadar took the title of nawab.
Suta: Driver of the chariot
Swaraj: Self-rule, independence
Tamraparni: West Bengal
Tanzeem: Islamic militant outfits operating in Kashmir
Tapas/Tapasya: Ascetic practice involving yoga for gaining spiritual and mental power. Such ascetic practice, including meditation, results in increasing the power of concentration and some believe results in acquiring supernatural power.
Trivarga: Three objectives of life: dharma, artha and kama
Turangas: Equivalent to mlechchas; the term Turangas is applied to all the non-Hindu groups along north-west India including the Huns, Sakas, Parthians and even the Persians
Uchchhvasa: Chapter
Udasina: A polity in the mandala that is neutral towards the vijigishu
Upayas: Various means or mechanisms or different techniques; at times the term also refers to different policies
Ura: Centre of the army deployed on a battlefield
Vahini: Equivalent to sena, i.e., an army
Vahlika: Bactria; a region considered by the acharyas to be famous for its supply of horses
Varna: Caste; an order in the traditional Hindu system
Vigraha: Inter-state war
Vijigishu: The ideal ruler, the would-be hegemon of the mandala system
Vishakanyas: Vish means poison, and kanyas means young ladies; the term vishakanyas refers to high-class prostitutes (scarlet women) who functioned as spies. They were educated and experts in dancing and singing. In other words, they had the skills to operate in elite society. They acquired information from their powerful clients while making love. At times, they also functioned as secret assassins. They would murder their powerful clients by administering poison in their food and drink.
Vyasanas: Calamities that can occur in a state; these calamities could be caused by either human or divine factors (beyond human control, natural calamities such as flood, famine)
Vyuha: Literal meaning: array; it means deployment or formation of troops in a specified manner. It is somewhat equivalent to the modern order of battle, i.e., ORBAT.
Yajna: Also known as yagna; it is a vedic ritual conducted by the Brahmins. This ritual involved the use of ghee (clarified butter) for lighting the fire and sacrificing an animal (probably a horse).
Yantra: Literal meaning: machine; for the acharyas the term refers to siege machine like a sataghni
Yavanas: The Ionians, i.e., Greeks; the Bactrian Greeks who invaded India during the Common Era and settled on the subcontinent are called Indo-Greeks by historians. The ancient Hindu intellectuals called them yavanas; they were also considered mlechchas.
Yogis: Hindu ascetic monks who were experts in practicing yoga and had renounced the world
Yuddha: Inter-state war, i.e., conventional warfare