Sacred Concord

Mbh 7.141.1d

Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

And both of those heroes leapt beautifully and both showed their skill in that battle, began also to make skilful passes at each other, and having struck each other, O king, those heroes took rest for a moment in the sight of all the troops. Having with their swords cut in pieces each other’s beautiful shield, O king, decked with a hundred moons, those tigers among men, engaged themselves in a wrestling encounter. Both having broad chests, both having long arms, both well-skilled in wrestling, they encountered each other with their arms of iron that resembled spiked maces. And they struck each other with their arms, and seized each other’s arms, and each seized with his arms the other’s neck. And the skill they had acquired by exercise, contributed to the joy of all the warriors that stood as spectators of the encounter. And as those heroes fought with each other, O king, in that battle, loud and terrible were the sounds produced by them, resembling the fall of the thunder upon the mountain breast. Like two elephants encountering each other with the end of their tusks, or like two bulls with their horns, those two illustrious and foremost warriors of the Kuru and the Satwata races, fought with each other, sometimes binding each other with their arms, sometimes striking each other with their heads, sometimes intertwining each other’s legs, sometimes slapping their armpits, sometimes pinching each other with their nails, sometimes clasping each other tightly, sometimes twining their legs round each other’s loins, sometimes rolling on the ground, sometimes advancing, sometimes receding, sometimes rising up, and sometimes leaping up. Indeed, those two and thirty kinds of separate manoeuvres that characterise encounters of that kind.
Mbh 7.141.1d · Mahabharata · DRONA PARVA

Themes in this passage

WarLeadershipJoyProtection

War in other traditions

The same theme, as Christianity, Taoism, Islam and Hellenism address it.

For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.
1 Samuel 17:21 · Bible · 1 Samuel
A master of the art of war has said, 'I do not dare to be the host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act on the defensive). I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to retire a foot.' This is called marshalling the ranks where there are no ranks; baring the arms (to fight) where there are no arms to bare; grasping the weapon where there is no weapon to grasp; advancing against the enemy where there is no enemy.
Tao Te Ching 69.1 · Tao Te Ching
Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah; and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devil. Lo! the devil's strategy is ever weak.
Quran 4:76 · Quran · Women
He spoke, then rush’d amid the warrior crew, And sent his voice before him as he flew, Loud, as the shout encountering armies yield When twice ten thousand shake the labouring field; Such was the voice, and such the thundering sound Of him whose trident rends the solid ground. Each Argive bosom beats to meet the fight, And grisly war appears a pleasing sight.
Iliad 14.15 · Iliad · 14

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