Art of War in the Vedas

The book "Art of War in the Vedas" is perhaps the first exposition of general principles of war contained in the Vedas.

The Vedas proclaim the establishment of peaceful and prosperous world for the people in general and for the people of the country in particular.

The four Vedas of lndia have vast reserve of knowledge relating to all subjects touching concern of all. Therefore, it was an uphill task to extract mandates of the Veda regarding war or battle.

Ten battles as case studies have been given to simplify the implications of verses of the Vedas regarding war.

It is hoped that the book will be welcome by all specially the army personnel around the World.

DR. P.K. AGRAWAL is a renowned author of Hindi and English. He has more than Sixty Five Books to his credit including Twenty in English. Dr. Agrawal is widely acclaimed and honored for his creative writing in Hindi. He has five epoch making works on Indology i.e. Bhagwadgita : Natyaroop, Ramcharitmanas : Natyaroop, etc.

After retirement from the highest post in the Indian Administrative Science, Dr. Agrawal worked as an Advocate for more than Ten Years. At present Dr. Agrawal is the Managing Partner of VAS Global, a New Delhi based law firm and is practicing in Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

During the present times, India faces a dillema of war which she never faced in the past. In the past, foreign invaders attacked India and India either defended her sovereignty or surrendered to the foreign forces. But now-a-days. India's neighbor countries are up-in-arms against India for multiple reasons i.e., to take revenge of India's victories in war or to subdue India's growing identity as a nation in the world community. It has made the people of India prepared for war. However, India's foreign policies and past track record are against war cry.

At the same time, India is always, prepared to defend its sovereignty and integrity in self-defense. This is accepted by all in India.

In view of this background it becomes all the more necessary to examine what four Vedas say about war. The Vedas are the heritage scriptures of India. The Vedas are the repository of all kinds of knowledge and are sources of thinking and know ledge of the Indians. The four Vedas are very comprehensive and contain all types of knowledge about the individual about the world around him. It is a difficult task to extract about the war from the Vedas, because the Vedas go into cosmos from the physical world. An attempt is being made in this work to highlight about the concept of war, qualities of personnel involved in war including the king as a leader and conduct of war. Luckily, some ten case studies could be mined from the huge volume of the Vedic text which will simplify the matter for the reader, researchers or the army personnel.

Basically, the Vedas proclaim the establishment of peaceful and prosperous world for the people in general and subjects of the king or kingdom or country in particular. Peace is the bedrock of progress and prosperity. The king or leader ensures prosperity and security to its people. Prosperity and sense of security bring happiness among people. The war is also meant to bring about peace and drops of elixir for people.

Veda means knowledge. The Vedas since the time immemorial have been regarded as of divine origin. The Vedas were first chanted and were handed down from generation to generation. The Vedas remain recited daily by an unbroken chain of generation, like a great wave through the living substance of mind. Vedas could resist the ravages of times and could guide and enrich the religious and philosophical thoughts of innumerable races from the time immemorial. The Vedas became the fountain head of the subsequent knowledge and it continued to inspire human literature and mankind for millenniums of years.

The exponents of Vedas were happy and enthusiastic persons. They are called Aryas. They laid down norms to lead our personal life, social life, national life and the world as a whole. These norms are contained in 20, 516 verses in four Vedas i.e. Rig-Veda, Atharveda, Yajurveda and Samaveda. The four Vedas have mostly common subjects and special subjects like Rig-Veda deals with prayers, science and nature; Yajurveda Karma (work) and society, Samaveda system of prayer and music and Atharveda the system of treatment and knowledge of money. The four Vedas are like Sun giving light to live and to lead a happy and prosperous life.