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ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
so far as the traditions of the Warrior's Dharma became ingrained in the Kshatriya's nature. Indian warriors were bred and brought up in an atmosphere of chivalry that was itself a part of a glorious Dharma which had led men to the attainment of the coveted nirvana! There is no wonder, then, if the Kshatriyas sought to maintain their principles with their lives. Outside India such rigid adherence to the Kshatriya's Code of Honour is but a rare thing.
The military class which the varn2 scheme gave to India was thus a proud race of fearless warriors who esteemed their lives as nothing when compared with the Warrior's Dharma. The injunction against the fusion, or rather the confusion, of var as was really directed against the opening of the door to inferior worth in the Kshatriya class which might have disastrous consequences, in the moment of need. This is why so much was made of the purity of blood - which means not the red fluid circulating in a person's veins, but descent from glorious ancestors-by all classes of Kshatriyas. They aimed at the purity of descent both in regard to their kula (paternal line) as well as the jāti (maternal stock), though the former, if pure, was considered quite sufficient. Besides this, insistence on the excellence of the maternal blood could not always be deemed wise, especially where circumstances rendered it necessary to raise up a nation of fighters to fill in the gaps in the ranks of the army, occasioned by wars. For this reason Kshatriyas were allowed to marry a large number of women, and practically from any class. In this way large armies of proud warriors were always available and could further be speedily raised, without anything like a hitch or difficulty
The reason for all this was to be found, as already stated, in the fact that generally a warrior with a glorious ancestry was likely to acquit himself better and more honourably on the battlefield than one who had no such ancestry to fire his imagination. It is, for instance, not to be expected that a dhobi's son (a laundry lad), who has spent all his life in washing and spreading out soiled linen, would make as good a soldier as the young Rajput conscious of his descent from the royal Pratap. The glorious traditions of the Kshatriya race, stories of ex citing adventures of brave Rajput warriors, memories of deeds of undy ing glory of his own ancestors, to say nothing of the thousand and on
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