VERSE NUMBER 13

IN TRANSLITERATION:

 Tatah shankaas cha bheryas cha

Panvaanakagomukdhaah

Sahasai vvaa bbhyahanyanta

Sa sabds tumulo bbhavat

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

THEN SUDDENLY BARED FORTH CONCHES AND KETTLEDRUMS, TABORS AND TRUMPETS AND COW-HORNS: AND TREMENDOUS WAS THAT NOISE.

Comments:

When the Pithamaha, and the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava side roared like a lion that he was, and also blew his conch, it was to initiate the war of dharma, in which he knew full well, the Kauravas would kiss the earth and dirt and death.

When he showed his impatience for the war of dharma to commence without anymore delay, he knew what was in store for him and the army he lead, but still he was subtly telling it was the Kauravas who, right from the beginning, because of their avarice, provided cause for the war, and the war should be commenced rightly by the blowing of the conches on the Kauravas side.

The war is a scene of uproarious sounds and tumult, and the conch-blowing also signifies one is not chickened out by the other sides mightiness or anything.

And the war should be started according to certain rites! Which must precede by certain reasons that can be sustained on the explanation of some plausibility of reasoning. All this was necessary in the yore to start a war. Contrast this with the direct invasion of India by the Muslim kings, and the indirect invasion on the sly by the British, who had come to this dharma bhoomy in the garb of traders!

Once again, contrast this , the way wars were waged in the ancient days in India with the way Sadam Husain’s Iraq was invaded by America and Britton. First of all, was there any justification for those two countries to invade Iraq under the garb of the mute UN’s sanction? Except the quest for oil, what could have been the reason for that totally unrighteous war? We call ourselves civilized peoples of the world! A nation is invaded for its riches only by the mighty powers with no fear of the world’s opinion. And the present leaders walk the earth as though they and their sinfully materialistic countries are the Saviours of the earth. Everything they do is to perpetuate their materialism. And who are the authors of the dreaded and the beastly fundamentalist organization, the ISI? Who manufactured them? And what right our smallish neighbour, Pakistan has to perpetuate terrorism as the state policy. All right, the Shivaji Maharaj used the gorilla warfare against the sinful and dreaded aliens, but could the same kind of warfare be justified by a modern State like Pakistan? Pakistan is an Army with a PM and a government to dance to its military tunes. And we have to be silent spectators when America comes up with dolling after dolling in the name of fighting the Afghan gorillas, but the real gorilla is the countries  who unrighteous countries like Pakistan to foster and continue to survive only on its unrighteous military policy!

India has never invaded a country in its millennial existence. The world has to take the lesson how and for what reasons wars between nations can be started, and what are the reasons to try to avoid it by all means and how to go about it!

Our forefathers laid down sastras even for waging of wars!