The Warlike Bodhisattvas

Indian religions were all practically ambivalent vis-a-vis violence. Persecution existed, but widely spread state patronage kept bloodshed to a minimum.

- Upinder Singh

A strong tradition of non-violence is one of the most striking features of ancient Indian religious history. Jainism and Buddhism, both of which were non-god-oriented and emphasised renunciation as the path to liberation, stress the importance of ahimsa. Non-violence also appears in the Brahmanical tradition, in association with the idea of the sannyasi and as one of the elements of samanya-dharma or sadharana-dharma, the dharma that applies to all, regardless of social class or gender. Within Hinduism, non-violence also came to be associated with Vaishnavism.

To what extent did religions centred on non-violence rem­ain true to their original principles in the long run? Are followers of ahimsa-oriented religions more non-violent or compassionate than others? To what extent did the ethics of non-violence have an impact in the political sphere, especially in the attitudes towards war?

Attitudes towards war

Jainism is the most non-violent of all ahimsa-oriented religions; members of the monastic community and laity are supposed to practice ahimsa, alt­hough in different degrees. In Jaina texts, attitudes towards war range from disapproval to ambivalence, tacit acceptance and justification. Killing in war should be avoided. So, for inst­ance, in the eighth-century Adipurana, Bahubali fights his half-brother Bharata for his kingdom to prevent a war. Although he overpowers Bharata, he does not kill him, and instead heads to the forest in search of liberation. In the Jaina Ramayana, Rama does not want to kill Ravana. Lakshmana commits this act and goes to the same hell as Ravana. On the other hand, in the