Page 257 - Proceedings book

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back on him and destroy him. The second concept, relevant to our discussion,

concerns the duties of the major varna groups. The duty of the Ksatriya lay primarily
in his role as warrior. Fighting in battle was considered part of the inherent nature

(svadharma) of the Ksatriya. Death in battle in pursuit of this Ksatriya ideal was
supposed to ensure birth in heaven. [Cakkavatti]

Early Buddhism represents a totally different strand of South Asian thought in respect
of its attitude toward violence. The good Buddhist was expected to refrain from

causing physical injury. He abstained from taking life even of the smaller and
elementary forms. The ideal king, according to this line of thought, was one who did

not fight any wars. The attitude to legal, or judicial, forms of physical violence was

more complex. On the one hand, physical violence inflicted as punishment was the
result of the offender's own sinful deed, his karma. However, the officials who mete

out punishment themselves accumulate bad karma for their deeds. One may detect a
contradiction here, but the total abhorrence of physical violence is beyond doubt. In

early Buddhist thought, politics was invariably associated with violence. As such, the
science of politics or the science of the Ksatriyas was described as a base and vile

science. This attitude is reiterated in later works such as the Jatakas. In these writings

the practice of politics is understood as a single-minded quest for power during the
course of which codes of ethical conduct were trampled under foot. The seeker for

power was encouraged by science even to murder his own parents in order to secure
his path to power. In some of the Jatakas, the exemplary Buddhist or the Bodhisatta

prefers renunciation to kingship because of the association of politics with violence.

Discussion

The Buddhist approach to violence did have its impact on kingship in Sri Lanka. At
least one ruler is said to have formulated a penal code which was based on

punishments inflicting physical injury. Some kings did attempt to follow the non-

violent path. However, as would be expected, these were, on the whole, unsuccessful
experiments. The non-violent king was either easily deposed or he was, at best, an

ineffectual ruler. Most kings were generous patrons of Buddhism but, in other
respects, were very distant from the Buddhist ideal of kingship. In fact, some of the

greatest patrons of the sangha were also great warriors. Dutthagamani, or Gamani the
wicked, had fought an extensive series of campaigns to unify the island during which

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