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1572 berkshire encyclopedia of world history
belong to the duties of your profession, the penalty of evil of the tyrant’s sword, not by putting up against it a
karma will not attach to you” (Ferguson 1978, 29). In sharper-edged weapon, but by disappointing his expec-
fact, the entire Mahabharata tells the tale of a great tation that I would be offering physical resistance” (Fer-
multigenerational war between members of the Bharata guson 1978, 38).
clan. In its most beloved segment, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hence, while Hinduism traditionally preserves a priv-
warrior Arjuna debates whether to fulfill his dharma to ileged place for the warrior, in recent decades a revision-
fight or his dharma to protect life, since the two seem to ist interpretation of Hinduism, founded on the rejection
be incompatible; he is told by Krishna, an avatar of the of war and violence suggested by Gandhi and others, has
great god Vishnu, quite directly: “Fight, O Bharata!” become highly influential.
Not surprisingly, then, war is common in the history of
Hinduism. The Gupta empire (320–484 CE), often Buddhism: From No Harm to
viewed as the golden age of Hinduism, was established the Bushido Warrior Ethic
by Candragupta and his son Samudragupta, two soldier- Buddhism may well be the major religious tradition that
monarchs and unapologetic conquerors. In the early has most consistently rejected warfare, but the history of
eleventh century, when the Muslim Mahmud of Ghazna even this religion is far from uniform.
(971–1030 CE) invaded India, Hindus fought fiercely to The first of the Five Precepts of Buddhism, incumbent
defend the temple with, according to some accounts, fifty on monks and laity alike, is to not take life nor be a party
thousand men dying in a single battle. The Rajputs— to its taking.This prohibition applies equally to war, mur-
calling themselves the “sword arm of Hindustan” and the der, and the killing of animals for food or ritual sacrifice.
protectors of the Brahmans —emerged in the ninth cen- According to the Dhammapada, “Everyone is afraid of
tury and have fought foreign challengers to Hinduism violence; everyone likes life. If one compares oneself with
ever since. others one would never take life or be involved in the tak-
There is a counterstrain in Hinduism, though, found in ing of life” (Ferguson 1978, 47).The Buddha, Siddhartha
the Upanishads and other sacred texts. In the Chandogya Gautama (c. 566–c. 486 BCE), preached and lived by a
Upanishad, ahimsa (nonharmfulness or nonviolence) is code that mandated the causing of no harm, and he
seen as a foundational Hindu value, equal in importance attracted many adherents to pacifism, both in his lifetime
to austerity, almsgiving, uprightness, and trustfulness. and beyond. The Maurya emperor Asoka (c. 270–232
Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948), the great spiritual and BCE) was a military imperialist who, upon converting to
political leader of twentieth-century India, was the most Buddhism, established a welfare state, prohibiting all
influential advocate of ahimsa. In his teachings, Gandhi killing.The pervasive effect of the Buddha’s teachings with
attempted to explain classical Hindu works that had for respect to pacifism can be seen in the harsh words of
centuries been seen to support the warrior life as in fact Yuan Tchen (779–831 CE), who chastises Buddhists for
embodiments of the principle of nonviolence. The using their religion as an excuse for shirking military duty.
Mahabharata, Gandhi argues, ends by depicting not the Yet the historical Buddha, born into the Hindu Ksha-
glory but the futility of war; Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita triya caste, is also regularly depicted as employing mar-
tells Arjuna to fight, but only as a means of illustrating to tial analogies, even after his awakening to Buddha status.
Arjuna the essential incompatibility of violent acts and The Sutra of 42 Sections records: “A man practicing the
the spiritual obligation to remain unattached to the Way is like a lone man in combat against ten thousand
“fruits of action.” Gandhi emerges with an approach to . . . .[S]ome retreat; some reach battle and die; some are
combating evil, which is both grounded in Hinduism and victorious and return to their kingdoms triumphantly”
entirely nonviolent.As he writes,“I seek to blunt the edge (Sharf 1996, 45). The Suttanipata draws a distinction