The Tradition of Kshaatra in India

History Sep 29, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in Women

There are many references to show that women too were endowed with the spirit of kshaatra. For instance, in the Ramayana, we have the Kaikeyi episode. When Dash...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 26, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – The Skill of Kshaatra Karma

In the Vedas, alternative words for kshatriya are ‘गोप,’ ‘पशुप,’ ‘शर्धा,’ ‘व्रात,’ etc. The word ‘गो’ has ten meanings of which one of them is ‘earth.’ Other me...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 22, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Lineage of Seers

In our tradition, of the lineage of seers, the family that stands out is the Bhrguvamsha (or the Bhargavavamsha). Bhargava was one of the leaders of our country...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 19, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India: Awareness of Kshaatra in Poetry

Awareness of Kshaatra in Kalidasa Arguably the greatest of poets, Kalidasa, shows clearly in the Raghuvamsha how a kingdom should nurture kshaatra and how it sh...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 15, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Mahabharata

The Mahabharata was also known as Jaya (victory). By using the word ‘जय,’ Vedavyasa speaks of kshaatra and valor. There, both dharma and adharma are permanent,...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 12, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Ramayana

When describing Rama, Valmiki says, “कुलोचितमिति क्षात्रं धर्मं स्वं बहुमन्यते” in the beginning of the Ayodhya Kanda (1.16). Rama opined that kshaatra was the...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 08, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Itihasas

The maxims that can be gleaned from the Ramayana and Mahabharata are predominantly destruction of the wicked and protection of the righteous. Investigating into...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Mar 18, 2018

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India: Weakness of the Gana-Tantra System

Samudragupta had a wife named Dattadevi. Ramagupta and Chandragupta Vikramaditya were their sons. We are fortunate to know their names and other details fr...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Sep 01, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Dharmashastras

In the dharmashastras, there are sections exclusively dedicated to raja-dharma that are both specific and elaborate. In the smrtis of Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Aug 11, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Atharva Veda

In the राजनीति (politics) and युद्धनीति (warfare) sections of the Atharva Veda, there is a prayer – “O deities! Ensure that we don’t have any enemies at all...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Aug 02, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Awareness of Kshaatra in the Yajurveda

In the Yajurveda, we see manifestly the greatness accorded to the essence of kshaatra. An important representative of the essence of kshaatra is the ashvam...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

History Jul 25, 2016

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – Indra

The Age of the Vedas: Indra – a great symbol for kshaatra In the Vedas, Indra has been called Purandara. It means that he is the Indra who destroyed the puras...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar