Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 152

Sec. VIII] STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATĪ SÜTRA 127 *Yathārthameva yoddbavyam na kruddhyet jighāṁsataḥ,"
(S. 12.95.) “Dharmeņa nidhanam śreyo na jayan pāpakarmaņā”
(S. 12-95). While the Gita advocates the same ethics of war embodied in the Mahābhārata thus that “having thought or regarded happiness and sorrow, profit and loss, victory and defeat equal, so you get ready for war, you will not attain sin by this kind (of war)".
"Sukhaduḥkhe same křtvā Lābhālābhau jayājayau tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivam pāpamavāpsyasi".
The evidences of the Bhs regarding the ethics of war thus clearly reveal that a note of pacifism has pervaded the wbole approach to the ideal of war. And its echoes are also heard in the Mahābhārata, the Kalinga Edict of Asoka, and the Gzia.
EIGHTH SECTION
Inter-state Relations
Inter-state relations as reflected in the Bhs during the time of Lord Mabāvīra may be studied under two titles— war and Peace.'
The denotation of the term Diya'l (ambassador) mentioned in this canonical work and other texts clearly indicates that all the states established and maintained diplomatic relations with one another through their respective ambassadors in times of war and peace.
It appears from the Bhs that the guiding principle of every independent sovereign of that period was the achievement of the supreme political power and material prosperity of his state at the expense of his neighbouring kingdoms. This motive force led him to follow a foreign policy of expansion and selfaggrandisement.
1 Bhs, 7, 9, 300, 303. ; also see --Nirayāvaliyā, Sutta-1,