05-22-2005, 03:13 AM
<b>The age of conventoinal warefare is over.</b>
IT IS THE AGE OF KUTAYUDDHA NOW IN THE 21st CENTURY
Although the AS puts a great deal of emphasis on devious warfare (kutayuddha), it prescribes that if a king has a clearly superior force and other factors are favorable, he should engage in open and rule-bound warfare (prakashayudha). Obviously in Kautilyaâs mind, a certain amount of odium continued to be associated with devious warfare. For it involved among other things attacking the enemy when he was vulnerable, feigning retreat to draw out the enemy into a trap, using elephants to break up closed ranks, attacking one flank and then the other, tiring out the enemy with oneâs inferior troops first and then attacking with superior ones, laying ambushes, attacking at night to deprive enemy soldiers of their sleep and then attacking them during the day with fresh troops, attacking the enemy troops when they were facing the sun and so forth. All such tactics are routine now but they were regarded as exceptional in Kaulilyaâs time.
The term koota, in the context of hunting, was used for a trap or snare. Consequently, in the context of warfare, it came to mean ensnaring or trapping the enemy. This included the use of magic spells and such other occult methods. (Sunzi decidedly rejected that use.) And when it came to weaponry prevalent in those days, it included the use of poisoned arrows, fire arrows and such other unauthorized weapons which could bring about destruction of men and property on a large scale. Other methods included poisoning of the enemyâs water sources, attack by stealth, enticing the enemy into an unfavourable position, bribery, assassinations and attacks at night.
Almost every single war described in the epics and the puranas incorporated at least some of these forbidden methods. Sometimes, only one side is said to have done this. In the Ramayana, for example, the raksasa side is said to have resorted to koota methods. In the numerous wars fought between the devas and aasuras the latter are always accused of having used unethical methods. In general, it seems that such methods we attributed to the side which was technologically superior but nevertheless lost the series of wars in the end. The didactic message of these classics was that righteousness always emerged victorious. A few epics like the Agni Purana, however, condoned the use of koota methods by the weak as a last resort.
IT IS THE AGE OF KUTAYUDDHA NOW IN THE 21st CENTURY
Although the AS puts a great deal of emphasis on devious warfare (kutayuddha), it prescribes that if a king has a clearly superior force and other factors are favorable, he should engage in open and rule-bound warfare (prakashayudha). Obviously in Kautilyaâs mind, a certain amount of odium continued to be associated with devious warfare. For it involved among other things attacking the enemy when he was vulnerable, feigning retreat to draw out the enemy into a trap, using elephants to break up closed ranks, attacking one flank and then the other, tiring out the enemy with oneâs inferior troops first and then attacking with superior ones, laying ambushes, attacking at night to deprive enemy soldiers of their sleep and then attacking them during the day with fresh troops, attacking the enemy troops when they were facing the sun and so forth. All such tactics are routine now but they were regarded as exceptional in Kaulilyaâs time.
The term koota, in the context of hunting, was used for a trap or snare. Consequently, in the context of warfare, it came to mean ensnaring or trapping the enemy. This included the use of magic spells and such other occult methods. (Sunzi decidedly rejected that use.) And when it came to weaponry prevalent in those days, it included the use of poisoned arrows, fire arrows and such other unauthorized weapons which could bring about destruction of men and property on a large scale. Other methods included poisoning of the enemyâs water sources, attack by stealth, enticing the enemy into an unfavourable position, bribery, assassinations and attacks at night.
Almost every single war described in the epics and the puranas incorporated at least some of these forbidden methods. Sometimes, only one side is said to have done this. In the Ramayana, for example, the raksasa side is said to have resorted to koota methods. In the numerous wars fought between the devas and aasuras the latter are always accused of having used unethical methods. In general, it seems that such methods we attributed to the side which was technologically superior but nevertheless lost the series of wars in the end. The didactic message of these classics was that righteousness always emerged victorious. A few epics like the Agni Purana, however, condoned the use of koota methods by the weak as a last resort.