​Why were the kshatriya codes violated during the Kurukshetra war?

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Transcript

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In the battle of Kurukshetra itself, the rule of fighting between equals is violated.
So, how is that? Yes, at the start of the Kurukshetra war, initially when the Kauravas and the Pandavas were about to start fighting. By Kauravas and Pandavas, they are referring to the two armies basically. So, at that time, Duryodhana came there.
So, basically there were two commanders who were meeting. The two commanders were Dhristadyumna on the Pandavas’ side and Bhishma on the Kauravas’ side. And at that time, Duryodhana came there.
And normally when the commanders meet, Duryodhana has no business there, literally speaking. Dhristadyumna has no business there. He can go and report.
Just like if in India-Pakistan there is a conflict, it’s not that when the two secretaries of defence or two army generals are meeting. The Prime Minister doesn’t have to go there. So, Duryodhana went there and he told the Pandavas, he told Dhristadyumna, remember the codes of war and you should always fight according to the codes of war.
So, Dhristadyumna was just about to nod. He said, of course. But then he started thinking.
He said, you know, the Kauravas themselves have acted so many times in horrendously unethical ways. They are not there trying to burn the Pandavas when they were alive. Now, what kind of Kshatriya code is that? So, he said, he told him that we will not be the first to violate the Kshatriya codes.
But if you violate them first, we will not hold ourselves back. So, the first major violation, there were some minor infractions that might have happened in the heat of the war. But the first major, it’s just like even in sports, sometimes in the heat of the moment, sometimes somebody may do something wrong.
So, it’s like, say, one player, one batsman is running between the wickets and they are running and suddenly the fielder comes in and the fielder just charges in between the batsman and the batsman gets knocked over and then the batsman gets injured or whatever. Now, at a particular time, it may be a little difficult to know whether a person did this intentionally or unintentionally. Or even if it was like in the heat of the passion, somebody did that.
That’s one thing. But, you know, if, say, if you know a little bit about cricket history, there was a time when there was a body line series, wherein the team planned in such a way to attack the body of the batsman and to injure them. Now, that is not unintentional.
That is clearly unintentional and that was in violation of the code. So, the point is, what I am making is, in the heat of the passion, sometimes there might have been some minor infractions that might have happened earlier. But the first major violation of Kshatriya Code happened on the 13th day when Abhimanyu was singled out and killed by six warriors attacking simultaneously.
And that was a brutal violation. And once that violation took place, then the Pandavas did not hold themselves back. And it was not that the Kauravas did that only once.
The next day, when Arjuna penetrated into the Kaurava rank in order to take revenge and kill Jayadrath, at that time also, so many Kshatriyas attacked him simultaneously. It was not just one after one after one. Multiple times they were attacking.
At one particular time, Arjuna’s horses got tired and Arjuna had to get off the horse so that Krishna could rest and rejuvenate the horses. And at that time, all his opponents who were on their horses, their chariots, their elephants, they kept attacking him. And Arjuna had to hold them back without any charioteer, without any chariot.
And he did that. He did not complain at that time. Oh, you are unfair, you are fighting.
So, once the Kauravas violated the course and on two successive raids, they violated brutally. On first day, they actually killed Abhimanyu. Second day also they tried to kill Arjuna.
So, after that, the Pandavas did not hold themselves back. And they also checked it. They also countered it later on.
And again, there are also scales of violation. There are scales of violation. That means, the kind of thing that the Kauravas did in killing Abhimanyu, that was a very maliciously planned operation.
And because they did that, eventually when Karna was on his chariot’s wheel, was trying to get his chariot wheel out of the ground, Krishna told him that Karna, whatever morality you have used for fighting in this war against the Pandavas, Arjuna will use that same morality. That same morality and he fought and killed. So, it is the Kauravas who had violated the Kshatriya codes right from the beginning, even before the war.
And even in the war, they violated the Kshatriya codes first. And that’s how the Pandavas retaliated in kind. And that was the agreement of that particular war that if the Kauravas violated, the Pandavas also violated.
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