This chapter will examine some of the martial messages contained in six chapters of the voluminous Santi Parvan (Book of Peace), which is the twelfth book of India's great epic, the Mahabharata (MBh).

The six chapters - namely, MBh 12.98-103 - appear in an identifiable segment of the text, MBh 12.93-107, which James Fitzgerald entitles ‘Law, Force, and War',^[1266] and this section is set within one of the major divisions of the Santi Parvan (MBh 12.1-128), entitled ‘The Laws for Kings' (rajadharmaparvan).

While the six chapters are complex in their martial messages, I will examine primarily the discourse about the sura, the paradigmatic ‘heroic warrior'. According to the six chapters, the sura perfectly embodies the martial ideals of the army. The chapters are clear that this character's actions and demeanour define the standards by which all warriors will be judged. In other words, the role of the sura is an aspirational standard expected of all soldiers, whether high-born members of the aristocratic Ksatriya class or men from the lower classes.^[1267] Consequently, the concept of ‘heroism' (saurya, derived from sura) is not merely a romanticised ideal reserved for epic archetypes because a sura can come from the ranks of many different kinds of men from various regions.

The importance placed on the sura in the six epic chapters is particularly interesting. As I have argued elsewhere, in the Rgveda (c. 1200 bce) the accented term sura designates the quintessential heroic champion, whose martial role is exemplified by the warrior god Indra in his battle with the demonic serpent Vrtra.^[1269] Since the Mahabharata was composed in Sanskrit at around the turn of the Common Era,^[1270] the six epic chapters draw on and propagate a much older ideal of heroism dating back a thousand years or more. As will be seen, the use of Vedic precedents is further seen in the concept of the ritual of battle, in which the bodies and body parts of warriors

are equated with sacrificial offerings in a violent rite that bestows heavenly rewards upon the slain. The six epic chapters are thus enormously significant for our understanding of the concept of heroism in ancient India. In addition, they help us to understand the role the ancient Indian state played in fostering heroic ideals while allowing us to speculate on some of the institutionalised practices that may have informed the identities of real high-born warriors and common soldiers. (It is important to note here that the state is in essence the kingdom ruled by an all-powerful king who resides at its imagined centre with his royal family, partisans and conquered vassal lords paying tribute. Enemy kings may exist outside its borders, but need to be allied with or conquered.)^[1271] Consequently, this chapter will consider some of the complex ways in which men were socialised into a state-sponsored ideology of warfare in ancient India while exploring various discursive strategies that sought to convince men, young or old, that fighting and dying in battle was the expected, right and most honourable thing to do.