"The most curious thing was the code of war of those days; as soon as the battle for the day ceased and evening came, the opposing parties were good friends, even going to each other's tents; however, when the morning came, again they proceeded to fight each other. That was the strange trait that the Hindus carried down to the time of the Mohammedan invasion. Then again, a man on horseback must not strike one on foot; must not poison the weapon; must not vanquish the enemy in any unequal fight, or by dishonesty; and must never take undue advantage of another, and so on. If any deviated from these rules he would be covered with dishonour and shunned. The Kshatriyas were trained in that way. And when the foreign invasion came from Central Asia, the Hindus treated the invaders in the selfsame way. They defeated them several times, and on as many occasions sent them back to their homes with presents etc. The code laid down was that they must not usurp anybody's country; and when a man was beaten, he must be sent back to his country with due regard to his position. The Mohammedan conquerors treated the Hindu kings differently, and when they got them once, they destroyed them without remorse."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Military history of India
19 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Military history of India →
Related Quotes
"Its water is dark; its fruit is bitter and poisonous; its land is stony, and its earth is saltish. A small army will …"
"In war the Indians were by far the bravest of all the races inhabiting Asia at that time."
"No Indian ever went outside his own country on a warlike expedition, so righteous were they."
"Anticipating war the hero should train himself to master archery, swordsmanship, cavalry and also fight on elephants …"
"While the Greek and Roman historians have not failed to point to Alexander's weaknesses and the difficulties encounte…"
"At most periods of her history India, though a cultural unit, has been torn by internecine war. In statecraft, her ru…"
"Hindus could not, even in the wildest stretch of their imagination, conceive of a war that defied description. Until …"
"No military unit in recent years has undertaken a more delicate and demanding peacetime mission than that faced by th…"
"The total numbers of men fielded by the various parts of the British Empire [during World War II] were immense. All t…"
"India had barely become independent, in 1947, when Pakistan invaded Kashmir, which at the time was ruled by a maharaj…"